Ambiguity an absurdity
5th August 2024
अविस्तरम् असंदिग्धम् अविलम्बितम् अव्यथम् | उरःस्थम् कण्ठगम् वाक्यम् वर्तते मध्यमे स्वरम् || Valmiki Ramayan 4.-3-31
First two skills in the list of eleven attributes for effective communication given by Valmiki are Listening and ‘Being concise’. Third skill is ‘Avoiding ambiguity’
असंदिग्धम् – #Unambiguous
Sandhigdham means ambiguous and adding the prefix a negates the meaning. Your speech should be clear and unambiguous.
asandhigdham includes clear, unambiguous, explicit and not obscure. Purpose of your communication is for the other party to understand your communication so that appropriate follow-up actions can be expected. Communication will be a failure if the other party cannot understand your communication.
Previous communication tip was to keep your communication crisp and short. Short means cutting the flab but not essential communication, you cannot keep the recipient in guesswork on the guise of keeping your communication ‘short’.
Ambiguity leads to misunderstandings. When communication is unclear or open to multiple interpretations, it increases the chances of misinterpreting the intended meaning or message. Ambiguity can arise from various factors, such as vague language, ambiguous phrasing, making wrong assumptions or lack of context.
When people receive ambiguous information, they often rely on their own assumptions, prior knowledge, or personal biases to fill in the gaps. As a result, different individuals may understand the same ambiguous statement in completely different ways. This can lead to confusion, conflicts, or unintended consequences.
In written communication, ambiguity can be particularly problematic since it lacks the nonverbal cues and immediate feedback that can help clarify meaning in face-to-face interactions. Even in verbal conversations, ambiguity can arise due to unclear pronunciation, accent, or choice of words.
Assumptions and Feedback
To mitigate misunderstandings caused by ambiguity, it is crucial to strive for clarity in communication. This involves using precise and unambiguous language, providing relevant context, and being aware of potential alternative interpretations. Additionally, active listening and asking clarifying questions, or getting from the recipients if they have understood properly can help ensure that both the parties are on the same page.
Overall, while some level of ambiguity is inevitable in language and communication, minimizing it can greatly reduce the likelihood of misunderstandings and promote effective and accurate exchange of ideas.
Funny short story on misunderstanding
Mala was a student in eighth standard. One day, Mala’s cousin came to her school to pay her a short visit. He took permission from the teacher and took Mala for a short conversation. The conversation took longer than expected. After a while, Mala returned back to the class. The teacher was busy writing in the blackboard and nodded her head in return for Mala’s request and Mala returned to her seat.
After a short amount of time, the teacher walker over to Mala’s desk and asked her who he was. Assuming that the teacher was unhappy about her absence from the class for longer time, Mala replied “My cousin teacher”. The teacher got angry and repeated the question and Mala too repeated her answer. The teacher got wild and this time asked the same question but in a raised voice and eyebrows raised.
Mala could not understand the reason for the change in the tone. She replied “I am sorry teacher, But he is my cousin only, direct cousin”. Teacher got wild and asked Mala to get out of the class.
Luckily, Mala’s close friend Kala understood the situation and clarified to the teacher. “Mam, Mala was not in the class when you were explaining this lesson and you did not notice it. She was talking about the person who came to meet her” and clarified to Mala “Mam was asking about who Galileo was and she thought you were making fun of her”. Entire class burst into laughter.
Though the class had good time at the expense of the teacher and Mala, there are some lessons to learn from this comic story.
The ambiguity in communication is from both Mala and the teacher. The teacher could have clarified that she was asking about Galileo. The teacher failed to reason out possible confusion in her communication because of her anger. Mala assumed that the teacher was unhappy about her cousin disturbing the class and was giving her answers based on that assumption.
Making wrong assumptions is the biggest reason for confusions in communication. Mala could have clarified with her teacher if the teacher was asking about her meeting with a visitor. Clarification from the teacher or Mala could have resolved the issue. Unfortunately, Fear and lack of confidence would not help in getting the clarity.
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#PositiveNewsPage
I happened to meet an interesting personality this week, Dr. Shekhar Pawar and he becomes the focus of positive news for this week. Dr. Pawar has a doctorate in Cyber Security and runs campaigns at his cost for enhancing awareness on Cyber Security. Topic of the positive news is about his works on developing a new cyber security framework for MSMEs ie Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises.
Dr. Pawar’s research subject was about building a business oriented Cyber Security framework for MSMEs
Special Framework for MSMEs
According to NCSC’s (National Cyber Security Center) statistics, one out of two MSMEs has a chance of undergoing a cyber breach. Also, around 43% of industry-targeted cyber-attacks are happening on small businesses.
BDSLCCI as the Solution
To address this global problem, Dr. Shekhar Pawar invented a new cybersecurity framework as part of his doctorate studies from SSBM Geneva, Switzerland. This framework has been in the global market since 2022, under the name Business Domain Specific Least Cybersecurity Controls Implementation #BDSLCCI.
According to his interaction with top management of MSMEs from 19 different countries, Dr. Pawar found out that these organizations are facing three major issues. Firstly, they don’t have enough funds to implement cybersecurity standards, Secondly, they are lagging in knowledgeable employees who can implement and maintain cybersecurity standards; and these organizations are not able to realize return on investment (RoI) after investing money and time for cybersecurity protection. Hence, it is difficult to expect these organizations to adopt leading industry best-practice standards and frameworks such as ISO/IEC 27001. But they cannot afford to completely ignore cyber security protection. #BDSLCCI provides the answer.
BDSLCCI framework is now available for access from www.BDSLCCI.com, which is an AI-ML-driven web platform that provides a tailored list of cybersecurity controls based on the business domain of the MSME and related mission critical assets of that organization. The idea is that ‘one shirt does not fit all” especially in the case of cyber security controls for MSMEs. Controls are specifically custom designed for each business requirement.
Once the MSME company registers on the web platform, it receives various policy and guidelines documentation, a daily cyber alert email notification service, awareness posters/banners, and an endpoint vulnerability scanner tool, etc. almost free of charge. At a very reasonable price, MSMEs can avail the online cybersecurity awareness training for their employees so that they don’t need to reinvent the wheel using their staff, followed by a certificate for each module.
With incremental small cost, the MSME can even apply for the online assessment of their BDSLCCI implementation. On successful completion of the assessment, the company is given a certificate and web analytic report. Depending on the number of controls implemented, the BDSLCCI certification is issued in 3 levels.
BDSLCCI framework-related knowledge is also available as research papers, chapters, and a book. BDSLCCI has been utilized by various domains of MSMEs in India and abroad.
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Conceived, compiled and posted as a weekly motivational newsletter #MondayMusings by Jaganathan (www.authorjaganathan.com) every Monday so that the readers can start their work week in a positive note. Please subscribe, read, like, share, comment, learn, grow and share your feedback.