1

INTRODUCTION TO THE COMMUNICATION

PROCESS
DEFINITION OF COMMUNICATION
• The development and exchange of information or
meaning between individuals or groups.
• Communication is interactive (between two or more
parties) and dynamic (ongoing).

Panteli Tritchew © 2002

 2
INTRODUCTION TO THE COMMUNICATION
PROCESS
THE THREE BASIC ELEMENTS OF COMMUNICATION

MESSAGE
SENDER RECEIVER
Medium

Panteli Tritchew © 2002

 3
INTRODUCTION TO THE COMMUNICATION
PROCESS

CONTEXT
• All communication occurs in context—the situation or
background in which the message is developed,
transmitted or received:
• Cultural contexts,
• Physical contexts,
• Organisational contexts,
• Psychological or emotional contexts
• Context affects the communications dynamic, and the
message affects the context

Think About It?

What is the communications context for our classroom?

Panteli Tritchew © 2002

 4
INTRODUCTION TO THE COMMUNICATION
PROCESS

SENDER
• The person who develops and transmits a message.
• Encodes their ideas into words, symbols or body
language to transmit the message.

Panteli Tritchew © 2002

 5
INTRODUCTION TO THE COMMUNICATION
PROCESS

MESSAGE
• Either written or oral, and they are made up of words,
signs, symbols or body language.

Panteli Tritchew © 2002

 6
INTRODUCTION TO THE COMMUNICATION
PROCESS

MEDIUM
• The medium (or channel) is the means by which a
message is transmitted.
• Written: memos, letters, reports etc.), fax, or digital
(email).
• Oral: interpersonal (spoken) medium, along with notes,
flipcharts, or projection devices.

Panteli Tritchew © 2002

 7
INTRODUCTION TO THE COMMUNICATION
PROCESS

Receiver (Audience)
• The person who receives the message.
• Once message makes contact with receiver,
communication has occurred.
• Successful communication only occurs if receiver
successfully decodes (interprets) the message and
understands its meaning in the way intended by the
sender. Throughout this text, we will refer to the
receiver of our messages as the audience.

Panteli Tritchew © 2002

 8
INTRODUCTION TO THE COMMUNICATION
PROCESS

Feedback
• Feedback occurs when receiver transmits a message
back to the sender
• When feedback occurs, original receiver becomes a
sender, and original sender becomes a receiver.
• Communication an interactive process.

Panteli Tritchew © 2002

 9
INTRODUCTION TO THE COMMUNICATION
PROCESS

Communication as an Interactive Process

Sender Receiver
encodes decodes
message Message message

Receiver Sender
decodes encodes
message Message message

Think About It?

Think of the last time that you were involved in a workplace
miscommunication.

What happened?

Was the problem with the SENDER or with the RECEIVER?

Panteli Tritchew © 2002

 10
INTRODUCTION TO THE COMMUNICATION
PROCESS
FOUR COMMUNICATION CONTEXTS
Cultural context
• Refers to cultural values, attitudes and norms of a
country, or an organization = corporate culture.

Physical context
• Refers to physical setting or environment in which
communication will occur.
• Important primarily in oral presentations.
• E.g., presentation to six people in small boardroom vs
presentation to 40 people in conference hall

Organizational context
• The corporate issues, structures and infrastructures
that frame the background or genesis of the message.
Psychological or emotional context
• How the message might affect the mood or feelings of
the receiver.
• Each message will affect the receiver is some way, and
it is very difficult to predict how your audience will
respond or react to your message.
• In business and technical writing, we aim to present
factual information in a neutral and objective tone so
that readers respond to our messages rather than react
to our messages.

Panteli Tritchew © 2002

 11
INTRODUCTION TO THE COMMUNICATION
PROCESS
Barriers to Effective Workplace Communication

Think About It
Think of a recent miscommunication that had some
significant consequences:

Jot down in point form a synopsis of what happened,

and the consequences:

Panteli Tritchew © 2002

 12
INTRODUCTION TO THE COMMUNICATION
PROCESS
Barriers to Workplace Communication
Any type of interference caused by your message can be
considered as NOISE.
Five Types of Message Interference or Noise

INTERFERENCE DEFINITION
Channel Occurs when an
Interference inappropriate channel or
medium is used to transmit
the message.

Semiotic or Occurs when visual devices

Visual used as signals or signposts
Interference for reader interfere with
meaning of the words.

Situational Occurs when a message

Interference lacks sufficient background
for audience to understand
its relevance or significance,
even if they understand its
meaning.

Panteli Tritchew © 2002

 13
INTRODUCTION TO THE COMMUNICATION
PROCESS

Semantic Occurs when words

Interference themselves interfere with
intended meaning. Some
examples include messages
that are too wordy, or words
that are inaccurate, vague,
ambiguous, or too subjective
or emotive.
Emotional Occurs when either tone or
Interference content of the message
affects the feelings or mood of
the audience. Emotional
interference can be caused by
any one or more of the other
four interference types.

Panteli Tritchew © 2002

 14
INTRODUCTION TO THE COMMUNICATION
PROCESS
Channel Interference
• When we use an inappropriate medium or channel for
our message
• Phoning someone when we should have sent a letter
• E-mailing someone when we should have stopped by to
see them in person.
• Leaving several voice-mails to explain a complex
procedure forcing audience to replay message several
times, not only to understand it, but also to record it.
• Distractions that interfere with message transmission,
such as static on telephone, busy signals for a fax
transmission, or server problems that make e-mail
undeliverable.

Panteli Tritchew © 2002

 15
INTRODUCTION TO THE COMMUNICATION
PROCESS
Semiotic or Visual Interference
• Any interference caused by the message’s visual
appearance.
• Semiotics is the study of signs and symbols.
• E.g., a red traffic light is a signal that tells us to Stop!
when we are driving.

Panteli Tritchew © 2002

 16
INTRODUCTION TO THE COMMUNICATION
PROCESS
Semiotic Devices in Business Writing
• White-space signals a new paragraph or topic
• Punctuation, headings, bold, italic or underlined text,
figures or tables, stacked lists, correct spelling,
shading and colour
• Incorrect spelling
• Facial expressions and body language are powerful
semiotic devices.
• Table 1.2 lists some common mistakes that cause
semiotic interference in workplace communication.
• Headings and lists send a visual signal (important shift
in topic ) even before audience can decode the words
• Stacked lists signal that several items have been
grouped or clustered together because they share
common characteristics.

Panteli Tritchew © 2002

 17
INTRODUCTION TO THE COMMUNICATION
PROCESS

Situational Interference
• Any interference that occurs when the audience’s lack
of background knowledge interrupts the meaning of the
message.
• Even if meaning is clear, reader may become confused ,
upset, or angry.
• A reader might ask:
• What is this about?
• Who authorized this document?
• Why am I receiving this document?
• Why am I receiving this document at this time?
• What is the background for this message?
• When did this issue start?
• When were these decisions made, and why wasn’t I
involved with the discussion?
• In many cases of situational interference, the message
is perceived as too abrupt and the reader is left with the
feeling that this has come out of the blue damage to
credibility of sender
• reader feels “ambushed”  emotional interference.

Panteli Tritchew © 2002

 18
INTRODUCTION TO THE COMMUNICATION
PROCESS

Think About It

Think of the last time that you felt confused or upset by

a message or document because you didn’t understand
the context, background or genesis of the message:

How did reading the document make you feel?

How did you perceive the sender?

How did this “communication” change your relationship

with the sender?

Did you respond or react to the message?

Were there any consequences for you or the sender?

Most importantly, did the sender’s document achieve its

purpose?

If not, what did it achieve?

Panteli Tritchew © 2002

 19
INTRODUCTION TO THE COMMUNICATION
PROCESS
Semantic Interference
• When the intended meaning of the message is disrupted
by words themselves.
• Audiences who receive a message they find confusing,
don’t say, “Oh look, here’s a case of semantic
interference” . Here’s what they do say: “ This person
can’t write.”

Panteli Tritchew © 2002

 20
INTRODUCTION TO THE COMMUNICATION
PROCESS
Types of Semantic Interference

Interference Definition Audience Response

Wordy writing More words are used than are Resistance to reading, confusion or
or very long necessary for the meaning. fatigue.
sentences
Fragmented Statements without a subject or a Confusion and frustration.
writing verb that pretend to be complete
sentences.
Vague writing The meaning of the words is Confusion, frustration or incorrect
unclear. interpretation of the message.
Ambiguous Words have more than one Confusion, frustration or incorrect
writing meaning, or sentences have more interpretation of the message.
than one interpretation.
Inaccurate Statements that simply aren’t true, Confusion, frustration or hostility.
statements. either because of mistaken
assumptions, inadequate research
or unethical practise.
Misleading Statements or facts that Confusion, hostility, anger or hurt.
statements deliberately mislead the reader or
try to hide the facts.
Subjective Words that mean different things Frustration with trying to interpret
words or to different people. For example, the intended meaning or confusion
quickly, as soon as possible, that leads to misinterpretation of
terrible. meaning.
(Subjective) Statements that pass judgement Resistance, hostility, anger or hurt.
Value rather than present facts
statements objectively. For example, The
presentation was long and boring.

Any one of the errors above can affect the reader’s mood and cause them to react
negatively to your message. If the disruption is severe enough, or if the interference is
frequent enough, then the reader may experience emotional interference.

Panteli Tritchew © 2002

 21
INTRODUCTION TO THE COMMUNICATION
PROCESS
Emotional Interference
• Occurs when visual appearance, content or tone of the
message affects the feelings or mood.
• Can be caused by channel interference, semiotic or
visual interference, situational interference, semantic
interference or any combination of these.

Panteli Tritchew © 2002

 22
INTRODUCTION TO THE COMMUNICATION
PROCESS
Interference in the Communication Process

Situational
Semantic Noise
Channel Noise
Noise

SENDER MESSAGE RECEIVER

Semiotic
Noise
Emotional
Noise

Panteli Tritchew © 2002