How to Prepare Interpersonal Skills Including Communication Skills for Civil Services Prelims
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Interpersonal Skills Including Communication Skills For UPSC Exam
Interpersonal skills are the skills that a person uses to interact with other people. It is also sometimes called communication skills. Positive interpersonal skills increase the productivity of the organization since the number of conflicts is reduced. It also allows communication to be easy and comfortable.

Some ways to improve interpersonal skills are:

Think positive and maintain a good relationship.
Do not criticize others or yourself and be patient.
Develop the practice of listening; 80% listening and 20% talking is excellent.
Be sensitive to others and treat others and their experience with respect.
Praise and compliment the people and subordinates when they deserve it.
Be cheerful and make the people smile.
Do not complain and look for solutions.
Treat your team members and colleagues as friends and not as strangers or subordinates.
Communication: Communication is the transfer of information from a sender to a receiver. Communication is generally understood as spoken or written words. But in reality, it is more than that. It is the sum total of directly or indirectly, unconsciously or consciously transmitted words, attitudes, feelings, actions, gestures and tones. A slight lift in the brow is often more expressive disapproval than hundreds of words put together.

The importance of communication in administration can be judged from the following points:

Communication is required to disseminate the goals and the objectives of the organization.
It helps the administration in arriving at vital decisions.
Communication helps in planning and coordination.
It is a tool of supervision and control.
It is a basic tool for motivation and an increase in the morale of the employees.
It bolsters the maintenance of good human relations in the organization.
Questions

You are a teacher in a University and are setting a question paper on a particular subject. One of your colleagues, whose son is preparing for the examination on that subject, comes to you and informs you that it is his son’s last chance to pass that examination and whether you could help him by indicating what questions are going to be in the examination. In the past, your colleague had helped you in another matter. Your colleague informs you that his son will suffer from depression if he fails in this examination. In such circumstances, what would you do?
(a) In view of the help he had given you, extend your help to him.

(b) Regret that you cannot be of any help to him.

(c) Explain to your colleague that this would be violating the trust of the University authorities and you are not in a position to help him.

(d) Report the conduct of your colleague to the higher authorities.

While travelling in a Delhi-registered commercial taxi from Delhi to an adjacent city (another State), your taxi driver informs you that as he has no permit for running the taxi in that city, he will stop at its Transport Office and pay the prescribed fee of Rs. forty for a day. While paying the fee at the counter you find that the transport clerk is taking an extra fifty rupees for which no receipt is being given. You are in a hurry for your meeting. In such circumstances, what would you do?
(a) Go up to the counter and ask the clerk to give back the money which he has illegally taken.

(b) Do not interfere at all as this is a matter between the taxi driver and the tax authorities.

(c) Take note of the incident and subsequently report the matter to the concerned authorities.

(d) Treat it as a normal affair and simply forget about it.