II Year B.Tech. Civil Engg. I – Semester L T P To C

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HS217 SOFT SKILLS LABORATORY

Course Rationale

Effective communication and interpersonal skills are crucial to increase employment opportunities

and to compete successfully in the business environment. The real key to the effectiveness of

professionals is their ability to put their domain knowledge into effective practice. In this context, soft

skills have a crucial role to play. If future managers know how to deal with people at the emotional

level (peers, subordinates, superiors, clients, suppliers, etc.) through Emotional Intelligence (EI), they

can build and sustain effective relationships that will result in mutual gain.

Course Objectives:

By the end of the soft skills training programme, the students should be able to:

Develop effective communication skills (spoken and written).

Develop effective presentation skills.

Conduct effective business correspondence and prepare business reports which produce results.

Become self-confident individuals by mastering inter-personal skills, team management skills, and leadership skills.

Develop all-round personalities with a mature outlook to function effectively in different circumstances.

Develop broad career plans, evaluate the employment market, identify the organizations to get good placement, match the job requirements and skill sets.

Take part effectively in various selection procedures adopted by the recruiters.

Course Content

The following Course Content is prescribed for the Soft Skills Lab:

Functional English

Starting a conversation – responding appropriately and relevantly – using the right body language – role play in different situations.

Vocabulary building – Synonyms and antonyms, word roots, one-word substitutes, prefixes, suffixes, study of word origin, analogy, idioms and phrases.

Group Discussion – Dynamics of group discussion , intervention, summarizing, modulation of voice, body language, relevance, fluency and coherence.

Aspects of Interpersonal Communication – Personal grooming, body language, assertiveness and negotiation skills.

Presentation Skills – Understanding the audience, Planning & Organising the content, Setting expectation, Using visuals, Using numbers.

Career planning – Goal Defining, SWOT Analysis, Time Management & Stress Management.

Interview Skills – concept and process, pre-interview planning, opening strategies, answering strategies, interview through tele and video-conferencing.

Resume writing – structure and presentation, planning, defining the career objective, projecting ones strengths and skill-sets, summary, formats and styles, letter-writing.

Listening Comprehension.

Different types of Listening, Top- Down Approach and Bottom – up Approach.

Reading comprehension – reading for facts, guessing meanings from context, scanning, skimming, inferring meaning and critical reading.

Technical Report writing – Types of formats and styles, subject matter – organization, clarity, coherence and style, planning, data-collection, tools and analysis.

REFERENCE BOOKS:

1. Abraham. H.Maslow, “Motivation and personality” 3rd ed., Pearson Education, 2008.

2. John Adair Kegan page, “Leadership for Innovation” 1st ed., Kogan, 2007.

3. Boone L E and Kurtz D.L , “Contemporary Business” , 1994.

4. M.Ashraf Rizvi, “Effective Technical Communication”, 1st ed., Tata McGraw Hill, 2005.

5. Krishna Mohan & NP Singh , “Speaking English Effectively” 1st ed., Macmillan, 2008.

6. Drummond Mary Ellen, “Fearless and Flawless Public Speaking with power polish and pizzazz”, S.Chand & Co, 1995.

7. Soft Skills Material provided by Infosys Under the Academic Initiative of Campus Connect

8. K.R. Lakshminarayana, “Managing Soft Skills”, 1st ed., Scitech Publications, 2009.

9. Dr. S.P. Dhanvel, “Soft Skills for Engineers”, 1st ed., Orient Blackswan, 2010.