Communication: An overview

Prepared by:

Rasila Jambucha

Meaning of communication

- Term ‘communication’ derived form the Latin word Communis which means to share ,I. e. sharing of ideas, concept, feelings and emotions.

- Literally communication means to inform, to tell, to show, or to spread information.

Definitions of communicationGeorge vardman – “purposive interchange, resulting in workable

understanding and agreement between the sender and receiver of a message”.

Robert Anderson – “communication is interchange of thoughts, opinions, or information, by speech, writing, or signs”.

Allen Louis – “communication is the sum of the entire things one person does when he wants to create understanding in the mind of another; it involves a systematic and continuous process of telling, listening, and understanding”.

Keith Davis – “ The transfer of information and understanding from one person to another. It is a way of reaching others with facts, ideas, thoughts and values. It is a bridge of meanings among people so that they can share what they feel and know. By using the bridge, a person can cross safely the river of misunderstanding that sometimes separate people”.

Koontz and O’Donnell – “ The transfer of information from one person to another whether or not it elicit confidence”.

George Terry – “communication is an exchange of facts, ideas, opinions or emotions by two or more persons”.

The American Management Association – “ communication is any behaviour that results in an exchange of meaning”.

D. E. McFarland – “communication may be broadly defined as the process of interaction among human beings. More specifically it is the process by which meaning are perceived and understandings are reached among human beings”.

Peter Little – “communication is a process by which information is passed between individuals and/or organizations by means of previously agreed symbols”.

Process of communication

- As communication is two way process there is an exchange of ideas. It includes five key components.

Sender/encoder/speaker

Message

Medium/Channels

Receiver/Decoder/Listener

Feedback

Process of communicationCommunication process follows the following steps: There is a sender The sender has an idea The sender encodes the idea into a message The message travels through the channel Noise in the transmission process The receiver gets the message The receiver decodes the ,message The receiver gives the feedback

1. The sender has an idea

- The intent of this phase is to start the process at a time when a sender intentionally decide to send a message to someone else. So, the sender has an idea.

2. The Sender encodes the idea- When encoding one’s idea, one has to pick the code that will fit the

message and that will allow the receiver to understand. Humans use a multitude of symbols to represent their ideas. Some symbols are linguistic (verbal or written) code developed into complex languages. Languages are many: the Morse code, the Braille language, the American Sign Language, and all the spoken and dead languages of the world. Other symbols are also in use to communicate: mathematical formulas, paintings, pictographs, hieroglyphs, traffic signals, zip codes, baseball gestures signaling instructions from managers to players.

3. The sender transmits the message- In order for the sender to transmit the encoded message, the

sender has to choose a channel, a medium through which to send the message. Senders can send information verbally or nonverbally. In nonverbal communication, messages are sent through gestures, tone of voice, use of space, etc. In verbal communication, messages are sent through speeches or through documents.

- A good medium is one that (1) can convey a message using more than one type of clue (visual and verbal and vocal), (2) can facilitate feedback, and (3) can establish personal focus. The richest medium is a face-to-face conversation

4. The receiver gets the message5. The receiver decodes the message: The receiver always decodes

the message using his or her knowledge of the code used to encode the message.

6. The receiver send feedback to the sender- Using the same phases as the sender, the receiver send a

message back to the sender providing information on his or her level of comprehension of the message.

Noises or barriers to communication process:- Throughout the communication process, unintentional

interferences occur, distorting or interrupting the process. These interferences are called noises. Noises can be real noises, auditory stimuli, like phones ringing, people talking. Noises distractions and distortions as well: static over a phone, solar flares altering a television’s reception, or psychological illnesses modifying how people perceive the world. Communication without noises has yet to happen. Therefore, recognizing the sources of noise and attempting to minimize its effect is essential to improving the efficiency of one’s communication.

Process of communicationThis involves a series of actions taking place that involve various types of expressions, interpretations, response.

verbal communication – use of languageNon verbal communication – use of sign & symbol

Oral communication

Anything comes from the mouth is referred to as oral. We can involve,

Listening - audio clips(ex. Music, today we also got audio clips in

WhatsApp) Speaking- Face to face conversation- Telephone- Presentation- Public speech- Interview- Meeting

Written communication- Anything which was in written form (ex. News paper,

magazines, Email)- The word Write derived from the old English word Writan

which means to scratch, draw or inscribe.- Written communication requires conscious and creative

efforts.- Create a permanent record

Reading-Book late-Newspaper-Magazines

writing

Letter

Memo

Notice

Circular

Report

Minutes

Non verbal Communication- Communicate without using the words (not even written or spoken)- use of sign and symbols categorized into four parts:

Four parts

Body language

paralanguageSpace

language

Sign language

1)body language covers this points:

Facial expression Eye contact

Gestures Gestures Appearance

2)

3) sign language

Telephone booth No SmokingNo

Electrical Danger

Objectives of Communication

To inform

Merits and Demerits of Upward Communication

What does mean by Upward Communication ?- Process of information flowing from the lower levels of hierarchy

to the upper level- Ex. Complain and suggestion box, job satisfaction survey,

feedback- Keeps managers aware of how employees feel about their jobs,

coworkers and organization in general- Managers also gets ideas on how things can be improved

Merits Demerits

Merits Demerits

Merits and Demerits of Downward communicationWhat does mean by Downward communication ?

Merits Demerits

Merits and Demerits of Vertical & Horizontal Communication

What does mean by vertical Communication ?

- in this communication, transmission of message takes place in two opposite level as per situation

- Ex. Just as worker in organization communicating with the manager of his department, at the same time he communicates with his co-workers

Merits (Advantage)- Conveying message of subordinate- Maintains good labor-management

relations- Maintains organizational discipline- Explaining polices and plan- Effective decision making- Help in decentralizations- Avoid by-passing

- Maintains chain of command- Assigning jobs and evaluating performance- Increase efficiencyDemerits (Disadvantage)- Delay process- Disturbing discipline- Efficiency reduces- Loss or distortion of information- Reduces relationship- Slowness system- Negligence of superiors

Merits & Demerits of Horizontal Communication

Merits Demerit

Merits & Demerits of Grapevine Communication

Merits & Demerits of Kinds of Communication Network

• Two types of communication network: 1. Internal communication 2. External communication

Internal communication – interaction between members of the same organization

Merits

It can be readily used It is instantaneous It is persuasive and cost

effective It facilitates effective

person-to-person exchange It works very well in small

groups It can be supplemented by

non verbal messages

Demerits

It is not very effective when the target group is spread out

It is constrained by language, accent and vocabulary

It is also constrained by noise and other physical barriers

It is not normally recorded or documented

It does not permit repeated references

Merits & Demerits of Oral Communication

Less expensive Save time Immediate feed back Personal contact Useful for all kind of

audience Adjustable clarification

Demerits

It is often dependent on memory

Time consuming Easily forgotten Wide Scope of errors No useful for long distance No records Misunderstanding Not useful if speaker is poor

Merits

Merits

It has an extremely wide reach

It creates record and is easily documented

It can be erased and rewritten

Take a time in high level of planning and structuring

Repeated references Permanent record Legal document Suitable for long message

Demerits

Take a time in reaching the target

Less interactive Depends on word power Takes more time to get

feedback Depends on the messenger

and the mode of transmission Slow and time consuming Lengthy and expensive Unsuitable for illiterate people Does not provide instant

feedback

Merits & Demerits of written Communication

Formal & Informal Channel of CommunicationRecorded vs. Live Communication - Prepared in advance of its delivery- Ex. Audio tapes, video tapesAdvantage – delivers a consistent message each time and the

recipient can access the communication at a time that suits themLive Communication- Delivered as it happens, in real time- Ex. Live Radio, T.V broadcast, meeting, video conferencingAdvantage - it is immediate

Passive vs. Interactive communication- Receiver is not able to respond directly Ex: Audio tapes ,printed

materials ,radio and TV broadcast.Advantages:

Requires less efforts from the receiver because there are no opportunities for interaction.

Interactive communication:- Two way communication-Each party in the process is able to send and receive messages .Ex: Emails, Phone calls, videoconferencing callsAdvantages:

Provides feedbacks

Local vs. Remote communication- t It Stand-alone and off-line.- Ex. Letters, printed materials, audiotapes, videotapesAdvantage

no sacrifice has to be made to quality because of bandwidth limitations, and that there are fewer restrictions on where the media can be used or communication take place

Remote Communication- Delivered from distance- Ex. E-mails, internet, videoconferencingAdvantage

there is no delay in sending the message to receiver, whenever they are. So it can take place over large distances

Push vs. Pull Communication- Message will be sent to specific receiver- Ex. Letter - in college in Uni. Send a letter , it was for principle or

managing head not for teachers or student. So here the specific receiver is principle or managing head.

Advantage message will reach its target within an appropriate timeframe

Pull communication- Made available to be enter at the receivers desire- Ex. Internet, radio, TV broadcastAdvantage

it is less stressful for the receiver, and that very large quantities of information can be made available at any time

Let’s see the example in Business,