INTRODUCTION TO COMMUNICATION
(1). Meaning and Definition:
As man is a highly social being, he needs to exchange views and ideas with his family members, friends, teachers, colleagues, etc. Sometimes he expresses emotions such as anger, love, compassion, joy, etc. This exchange of views and ideas and expression of emotions is nothing but communication. We are always trying to state something, to convey something to others. When you send an SMS to your friend, you are communicating with him/her. When you relate your experiences to your classmates, you are communicating the chain of events that occurred in a part of your life. Various news channels on TV are communcating to you the latest news. Simply stated then, "communication is nothing but the process of transferring information from one person to another." Communication has been studied for decades, and many of the theories used today have existed since Aristotle, yet most people still have difficulty writing effective documents and performing effectively in common on-the-job communication tasks. Why do people have such insurmountable problems applying communication concepts?
The word 'communicate' is a derivative of the Latin verb 'communicare' which is 'to impart, to participate, to share or to make common'. Thus, to communicate means to share and to make common. The Webster's Dictionary defines communication as 'sending, giving, or exchanging information and ideas'. We send, give and exchange information every day even if we are not conscious of it. Communication does not have to involve language and does not have to be spoken; deaf and dumb people can communicate through the sign language; a baby communicates its hunger through crying. We have a strong desire to understand others and to be understood by them and we do this by interpreting messages received from others and by sending out messages to them.
Many experts have done research on communication and have defined it in their own way. Some of these are reproduced below:
(2). THE PROCESS OF COMMUNICATION:Â Â Â Â
From the definitions given above it will be clear that communication always requires at least three elements - a sender, the message itself and a receiver.
Elements of the communication process are explained below:
(a). The Sender:The sender is the one who begins the process of communication whenever he feels the need to express himself to others. The need could be based on his desire to share a story or pass an order or merely to express an opinion, etc. Every message has intent and the sender must bear in mind the level of understanding of the recipient of his message. Failure to understand who he is communicaing with will result in delivering messages that are misunderstood. There are five factors which influence the sender in any message he transmits:-
These five factors also influence the receiver.
(b). Encoding: Encoding is the process of translating the desire to communicate into words or symbols or other means of sending a message which the sender thinks will be best understood by the receiver or receivers. The message could be encoded into words spoken or written, or into a gesture, behaviour or body language that the sender feels will help him to best communicate his message according to his intent, depending on the situation.
(c). Channel: The channel of communication is the means by which the message will be sent. It could take the form of a letter, a face-to-face communication, a telephone call or use of the mass media.
(d). Noise: Any message has to pass through a channel before it reaches the receiver. The channel or medium of communication has the potential to introduce noise or distortion into the message which may not be intended by the sender. Example, if the medium used is a telephone, there could be noise created by static which may interfere with the ability of the receiver to understand what the sender may be trying to say. A message can also be distorted by mispronunciation of the words in spoken communication or misspelt words in the written format. If the sender uses words unknown to the receiver, or expressions or slang typical of an area, the receiver may have difficulty in understanding the message. Therefore, the possibility of the message being not understood in the intended manner needs to be considered by the sender who should do his utmost to minimise noise.        Â
(1). Meaning and Definition:
As man is a highly social being, he needs to exchange views and ideas with his family members, friends, teachers, colleagues, etc. Sometimes he expresses emotions such as anger, love, compassion, joy, etc. This exchange of views and ideas and expression of emotions is nothing but communication. We are always trying to state something, to convey something to others. When you send an SMS to your friend, you are communicating with him/her. When you relate your experiences to your classmates, you are communicating the chain of events that occurred in a part of your life. Various news channels on TV are communcating to you the latest news. Simply stated then, "communication is nothing but the process of transferring information from one person to another." Communication has been studied for decades, and many of the theories used today have existed since Aristotle, yet most people still have difficulty writing effective documents and performing effectively in common on-the-job communication tasks. Why do people have such insurmountable problems applying communication concepts?
The word 'communicate' is a derivative of the Latin verb 'communicare' which is 'to impart, to participate, to share or to make common'. Thus, to communicate means to share and to make common. The Webster's Dictionary defines communication as 'sending, giving, or exchanging information and ideas'. We send, give and exchange information every day even if we are not conscious of it. Communication does not have to involve language and does not have to be spoken; deaf and dumb people can communicate through the sign language; a baby communicates its hunger through crying. We have a strong desire to understand others and to be understood by them and we do this by interpreting messages received from others and by sending out messages to them.
Many experts have done research on communication and have defined it in their own way. Some of these are reproduced below:
- Allen Louis: Communication is the sum of all things one person does when he wants to create understanding in the mind of another. It involves a systematic and continuous process of listening and understanding.
- George Terry:Â Communication is an exchange off tacts, ideas, opinions or emotions by two or more persons.
- John Adair: Communication is essentially the ability of one person to make contact with another and to make himself or herself understood.
- Newman and Samner: Communication is an interchange of ideas, thoughts, emotions and information among two or more individuals.
- Berelson and Stagner:Â Communication is a projection of ideas, information, thoughts, emotions and skills with the help of words, pictures, figures and graphs.
- Schater: Communication is a technique to command others.
- Rothwell: Communication is a transactional process of sharing meaning with others.
- Frey, Botan, Friedman and Kreps: Communication is the management of messages for the purpose of creating meaning.
(2). THE PROCESS OF COMMUNICATION:Â Â Â Â
From the definitions given above it will be clear that communication always requires at least three elements - a sender, the message itself and a receiver.
Elements of the communication process are explained below:
(a). The Sender:The sender is the one who begins the process of communication whenever he feels the need to express himself to others. The need could be based on his desire to share a story or pass an order or merely to express an opinion, etc. Every message has intent and the sender must bear in mind the level of understanding of the recipient of his message. Failure to understand who he is communicaing with will result in delivering messages that are misunderstood. There are five factors which influence the sender in any message he transmits:-
- The level of his communication skills.
- His attitude towards the receiver.
- His level of knowledge on the subject.
- His position in the social system.
- Culture.
These five factors also influence the receiver.
(b). Encoding: Encoding is the process of translating the desire to communicate into words or symbols or other means of sending a message which the sender thinks will be best understood by the receiver or receivers. The message could be encoded into words spoken or written, or into a gesture, behaviour or body language that the sender feels will help him to best communicate his message according to his intent, depending on the situation.
(c). Channel: The channel of communication is the means by which the message will be sent. It could take the form of a letter, a face-to-face communication, a telephone call or use of the mass media.
(d). Noise: Any message has to pass through a channel before it reaches the receiver. The channel or medium of communication has the potential to introduce noise or distortion into the message which may not be intended by the sender. Example, if the medium used is a telephone, there could be noise created by static which may interfere with the ability of the receiver to understand what the sender may be trying to say. A message can also be distorted by mispronunciation of the words in spoken communication or misspelt words in the written format. If the sender uses words unknown to the receiver, or expressions or slang typical of an area, the receiver may have difficulty in understanding the message. Therefore, the possibility of the message being not understood in the intended manner needs to be considered by the sender who should do his utmost to minimise noise.        Â
Source...