Communication can be defined as the process
A very upset staff member
of transmitting information and common
understanding from one person to another.
The communication process. Two common
elements in every communication exchange are
the sender and the receiver. The sender
initiates the communication. In a school, the
sender is a person who has a need or desire to
convey an idea or concept to others. The
receiver is the individual to whom the message
is sent. The sender encodes the idea by
selecting words, symbols, or gestures with
which to compose a message. The message is
the outcome of the encoding, which takes the
form of verbal, nonverbal, or written language.
The message is sent through a medium or
channel, which is the carrier of the
communication. The medium can be a face-to-
face conversation, telephone call, e-mail, or
written report. The receiver decodes the
received message into meaningful information.
Noise is anything that distorts the message.
Different perceptions of the message, language
barriers, interruptions, emotions, and attitudes
are examples of noise. Finally, feedback occurs
when the receiver responds to the sender's
message and returns the message to the
sender.
Process Barriers Every step in the
communication process is necessary for
effective and good communication. Blocked
steps become barriers. Consider the following
situations:
• Sender barrier. A new administrator with an
innovative idea fails to speak up at a meeting,
chaired by the superintendent, for fear of
criticism.
• Encoding barrier. A Spanish-speaking staff
member cannot get an English speaking
administrator to understand a grievance about
working conditions.
• Medium barrier.
sends an emotionally charged letter to the
leader instead of transmitting her feelings face-
to-face.
• Decoding barrier. An older principal is not
sure what a young department head means
when he refers to a teacher as "spaced out."
• Receiver barrier. A school administrator who
is preoccupied with the preparation of the
annual budget asks a staff member to repeat a
statement, because she was not listening
attentively to the conversation.
• Feedback barrier. During a meeting, the
failure of school administrators to ask any
questions causes the superintendent to wonder
if any real understanding has taken place.
The Source/Encoder The sender begins the
communication process by forming the ideas,
intentions and feelings that will be transmitted.
As the sender, you are required to filter out the
details that are unimportant and focus your
energy on the most relevant information. The
source, or encoder, makes the decision to
communicate. The source also determines what
the purpose of the message will be to inform,
persuade, or entertain.
Message The second element of the
communication process is the message, or that
information which is being communicated. The
source encodes an idea and then determines
whether or not to inform, persuade, or
entertain. After deciding what message to send,
the source uses symbols to get the message
across to others.
Channels are the means (that is, pathways or
devices) by which messages are communicated.
Channels may be described and analyzed in two
different ways. The first involves the form in
which messages are sent to receivers. Forms
include both verbal and nonverbal channels of
communication.
Receiver/Decoder The person (or persons) who
attends to the source’s message is the receiver.
The act of interpreting messages is called
decoding. Receivers decode messages based on
past experiences, perceptions, thoughts, and
feelings. We receive messages through all our
senses, but most often we decode messages by
listening or seeing. We first have a physiological
reception of stimuli (a noise causes sound
waves to hit our eardrum or a movement
catches our eye). We then pay attention to both
the verbal and nonverbal stimuli.

Feedback Another element in the

communication process is feedback. Each party
in an interaction continuously sends messages
back to the other. This return process is called
feedback. Feedback tells the source how the
receiver has interpreted each message.

Feedback can also be ambiguous, not clearly

positive or negative. “I see” and “mm-hmm” can
be examples of ambiguous feedback.