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The aim of this literature review is to recognise the needs of communication skills by computing professionals discuss briefly problems that arise from lack of communication skills among computing professionals and suggest possible solutions.

Communication is part of each and everyone life and is contributing positively in any aspect of life, communication brings about mutual understanding and help in tightening relationship with people. The question we need to ask our self is how we can communicate with each other, we can do that only if you have the skills. Communication skill is about how we use the skills we have to send information and receive a reply from same person. The following authors (Riva, G., Anguera, M.T.,Wiederhold, B.K and Mantovani, F. 2006) describe communication as the effectively base on our skill of the globe. Many different factors come into play at this point; since skill is difficult structure which is made up of sensorial and perceptual, cognitive and affecting, inter personal and literary process, commonly linked with each other. Consequently, communication is inclined and guided by perceptual, cognitive and expressive constraints that organize and supervise the communication with truth. Geppertet, A. (1995) contends that the ability of engineers to communicate effectively has always been important to industry and academic world but it matters even more today because of the growing complexity of systems and the cross-disciplinary team approach to engineering. Engineers may be technically competent; however, computing professionals often lack good communication skills that are necessary in order to transfer information and reasons. This situation makes excellent technical skills redundant. It is obvious that communication skills are critical tools for success (Dulevicius & Nagineviciene, 2005).

Communication skills is classified into two main parts, the verbal communication skills which we communicate by using our voice and the non verbal communication skills which we use signs and body languages. Formby, C. (2007) suggests general forms of communication which are oral or verbal communication and written communication. Effective communication skills are now an essential professional requirement and are considered vital to convert your performance into success. Whether it is your specialized life and for your personal discourse, communication plays an essential role in all walks of life. (Barrie, 2004; Further Education Unit, 1989; Jessup, 1991; Kemp & Seagraves, 1995) contend that there may be variation in organization of professional skills, however the most important is on developing written and verbal communication skills, interpersonal skills, Problem-solving skills, numeracy, and information technology and in some models self-management and foreign language ability.

Importance of communication skills

Communication skills help to improve vividly in one's ability or relationship with workers and other people either at home or in street. Formby,C. (2007) suggest the importance of communication skills in two ways, which are business and relationships. Formby, C. (2007) continues that the importance of communication skills can be related in the business sector when we give example with the job advertisement which there is small chance in coming across of a job advertisement that does not mention that the candidate should possessed good communication skills. Conceivably it is the only way to create an encouraging impact when a candidate will go for an interview for recruitment. This is done to test the ability and the technical credentials are probable to be additional or fewer with other candidates that are applying. In addition Formby,C. (2007) suggested that lacking of good communication skills by computing professionals means it will be impossible lead lower managerial level and other level of organisation. Promotions will be only done to people that have good communication skills and be able to speak in public. The second importance of communication is that of relationships, this must be remembered that maintaining high-quality dealings is a way to a strong communication with our close to and valued ones. These are people you stay with and know you better than everyone. Good communication skills assist the relationships to build up along excellent lines, and be able to understand each other without reveal what has happened to others and arguments should be reduced to the minimum level. And also a good communication is to avoid arguments and insults at all the time.

Problem-solving when there is lack of communication skills by IT professionals

As a professional in IT, one should be able to express his self in public or be able to present his/her self to other member of the staff. Trubitt, L., & Overholtzer, J. (2009) propose some challenges faced by IT professional when they lack good communication skills. The problems connected with good communication cannot be loud. In some instance, every IT professional represents the face of the IT group to the rest of the site. In a perfect world, all IT personnel would do extremely well in all communication skills. This suggests the need to enhance interpersonal and communication skills across the whole organization, but particularly amid IT professionals who usually cooperate with those in the community. Customer communication with exercise can assist to achieve this purpose, as can a managerial culture that values soft skills. Deliberately that a distinct awful impression can torpedo the best approach, many IT leaders are promoting positive communication as the duty of every IT professional. In view of that, IT personnel must become skilled at responses that are approachable and open and that attain constancy between the two incredible reactions to requests. Learning how to speak in plain English may be one of the biggest hurdles that IT professionals must overcome. The mystique associated with acronyms, terminology, and technical details can set technical staff apart as a distinctive group of professionals, but it can also alienate others. As information technology has become everywhere, people have acquired the ability to manage their own IT experience. As a result, IT clients now have higher expectations about understanding the technology and less patience with terminology and explanations that they don't understand. For IT professionals at colleges and universities, this means that others on campus must be able to understand, without too much difficulty, the information being shared. The need to communicate well is not limited to helping customers resolve individual problems; it is also a critical factor in the success of engaging the campus community to help leverage the value of information technology to benefit the institution. IT leaders face an increasing number of service issues that could dramatically affect the campus. Institutions that are moving to virtualized environments, considering cloud computing, and evaluating new collaboration strategies will make better decisions if they have ongoing input from the campus community. At the same time, these issues need to be framed in ways that all constituents will be aware of it. In such cases, it is not technical details but, rather, explanations of the large image, of the advantages and the disadvantages from a client's perception, and of changes in service delivery that will likely inspire participation across the campus. Some individual will take translating technical information into simple writing style is easy and natural; for others, it is relatively complex.

Furthermore, computing professionals will not have to depend on IT skills only in the work place but need to know that communication skills is what matters most, because in every aspect of work communication skills has to be prioritise. Hubbs,V.J., & McGill, T.J.(1996) concluded that "It has not been possible to attempt any evaluation of the quality of students' communication skills when using the module, for example, comparing students who used the computer for planning and drafting their essay with those who used it only for the final copy. Our main focus was on using communication skills as an effective way to acquire computer literacy skills, rather than the reverse."


As technology is advancing, the need of communication skills to computing professionals have to be prioritise and professionals must have to acquire those skills because they cannot do without it in everyday work situation. Grangrande jr., E. (2000) suggests that "It was widely appreciated that communication skills are an important part of the preparation of computer science majors about to enter computing industry." In addition Grangrande jr., E. (2000) also stated that communication is just more than writing it also includes finding, understanding, and verbal presentation of topics.

Furthermore it brings about mutual understanding and respect in work place because the ability to write effectively and present yourself is particularly important as professionals in computing must be able to evidently identify problems and document solutions to the problems and to be able to communicate among others and their clients.