COMMUNICATION

Definitions of Communication
 An exchange of facts, ideas, opinions or emotions by two or more persons.
 Verbal interchange of thoughts or ideas.
 Transmission of information, idea, emotion, skills, etc., by the use of symbols,
words, pictures, figures, graphs, etc.
 A process involving the selection, production and transmission of signs in such a
way as to help the receivers perceive a meaning similar to that in the mind of the
communicator.

Function and Purpose of Communication

Communication links people together in an organization to achieve a common
purpose. Communication links people who believe in a common cause, together with a
view to strengthen relationships. For example, Gandhiji’s messages brought all
freedom fighters together. His messages linked him with other freedom fighters.

Why do we communicate the way we do? Imagine you have written a letter to your
friend stating that you have joined a Hotel management course in a university. On
reading your letter, he will be happy about your decision and will understand that you
have selected a university course with a view to create better employment
opportunities for yourself. He will now know that you want to be a professional in the
hotel industry. Before reading your letter, he regarded you as a friend who has just
completed his Pre-university Course. But now he knows that you are a university
student. Such a change in his understanding is the outcome of your letter. He may also
send you a letter of congratulation. Therefore, we can say that the primary goal or
purpose of communication is to ‘to bring about a change’. Communication may also
lead to a ‘new action’. In this example, the ‘new action’ is the act of sending a
message of congratulation by your friend.

The Process of Communication

In communication the information or message is transferred from one person to
other(s). The person who sends the message is called the sender. The person(s)
receiving the message is the receiver. The sender is expected to send the information
in a format which the receiver(s) can understand. The process of converting the
information that has to be sent, into a format which the receiver can understand is
known as encoding.

Messages can be encoded into a variety of formats-oral, written or visual. Once the
message is encoded in a desired format, it is transferred through a medium called
channel. A channel connects the sender to the receiver. Channels of communication
may be a letter, computer, telephone, fax, television, sms. The choice of the correct
channel depends on the situation under which the communication takes place. For e.g.,
when you have to communicate extremely confidential information, direct face-to-face
communication or communication through a sealed letter, is better than a telephonic
conversation.

The information which is transferred to the receiver has to be interpreted. The process
of interpretation is known as decoding. In order to decode the message, the receiver
should be ready to receive the message. He should not be pre-occupied with other
thoughts that would distract him.

Finally, the receiver will send a message back to the transmitter. It may be a reply to
the query made by the sender or any response to the message delivered by the sender.
This reply confirms whether the information sent has been understood or not. This
process is known as feedback.

To sum up, all communication events have a source. The source can be ideas or
thoughts or any information which the sender wants to convey to others. Hence, there
is a message. The sender encodes the message into a preferred format. Selecting a
suitable channel, the message is then transferred to the receiver who decodes it and
understands it. Finally, the receiver will send a message back to the sender.
Barriers to Effective Communication
In the process of communication, at the stage of encoding and decoding, there is a
possibility of interference. This may hinder the communication process. Such
interference is known as noise because of which when a piece of information is
transferred from the sender to the receiver, the information may not be received by the
receiver fully. We may misinterpret a message because of barriers. We must identify
barriers to communication and remove or minimize them to make messages clear to
others.

To give an example, we know that sometimes people misunderstand our words and
react in a way that we do not expect. Consider this situation. You affectionately keep
telling your younger brother that he is too young to understand certain facts. He may
not react to this remark. He may even ignore it as a silly remark. But if you make this
remark in the presence of his friends or other people, he may take it seriously and even
quarrel with you, as he feels insulted by your remark. Thus, what must be taken as an
affectionate remark might be misunderstood as an insult.

In this situation, what you meant and what your brother understood are different. Your
brother misunderstands your message because the presence of others around him
influence the way he takes in the meaning of your utterance. Although they remain
neutral, their mere presence makes your brother attach a different meaning to your
message and react in a different way. The presence of others around you and your
brother, therefore acts as a ‘barrier’ to effective communication.

Different types of barriers

1. Linguistic and Cultural Differences: The receiver may not completely understand
the language used by the sender. This may happen if the sender’s language is
foreign to the receiver. There may also be language problems, if the message
relates to technical information and the receiver is not familiar with the technical
terms used. Poorly chosen words, poor organization of ideas, awkward sentence
structure, and inadequate vocabulary are some of the common reasons for the
poor transmission of messages. Cultural differences created by one’s background
and experience affect one’s perception of the world. Such cultural differences
may affect the interpretation (decoding) of the message sent.
2. Environment: The environment in which the sender or receiver are, should be
compatible. If it is noisy and full of sound, the sounds may prevent the message
from being fully understood. Background noise, often created by colleagues,
vehicles and machinery, may hinder the process of communication.
3. Channel: If the channel used to transfer the information is inappropriate, it may
prevent all or some of the information from being transmitted. A faulty fax
machine, a crackling phone or illegible handwriting are some of the barriers to
communication.
4. Receiver’s Attitude and Behaviour: If the receiver is not interested in the
message or unable to give his full attention to decoding, the amount of
information received may be drastically reduced. It may also lead to inaccurate
hearing of the information. Similarly, the receiver may misinterpret the message
by ‘jumping to conclusions’ or reading the message in a manner that suits his
own interests and thereby distort the true meaning of the message.
5. Lack of Planning: Communication will be ineffective if the person, who is
communicating, does not devote sufficient time to think, plan and state the
purpose of the message. By providing the reasons for a particular instruction,
selecting the most appropriate channel, and releasing the message at the right
time, an individual can ensure that his message is understood by the receivers.
6. Improper Feedback: Though one way communication is quick, two way
communication is more accurate. It is always advisable to have some interactions
between the sender and the receiver. This clears the doubts and misconceptions
of both the parties. If a proper feedback system is not installed, then in such a
case two way communication becomes difficult.