Communication is simply the act of transferring information from one place, person or group to

another.
Every communication involves (at least) one sender, a message and a recipient. This may sound
simple, but communication is actually a very complex subject.
The transmission of the message from sender to recipient can be affected by a huge range of
things. These include our emotions, the cultural situation, the medium used to communicate,
and even our location. The complexity is why good communication skills are considered so
desirable by employers around the world: accurate, effective and unambiguous communication
is actually extremely hard.
Communication is considered effective if it receives the desired result, response or reaction. All
Communications are related to some context. In any context, a communication loop exists to
enable successful communication. At one end of the loop is the sender of a message or
information. He receives a stimulus to send a message across. The stimulus may be external or
internal. There might be an urging from an outside source which is external stimulus. The
internal stimulus might be a desire from within the person to send across a message or
information. He converts the message into a code. This process is called encoding. The sender is
also called the encoder. He chooses the appropriate verbal or non-verbal code and puts the
message into that code. Then the encoder transmits the coded message through an
appropriate medium. The sender or encoder chooses the appropriate medium based on several
factors such as the receiver, the message, its urgency or otherwise. He may choose a non-verbal
signal, body language, speech, writing or any other available medium to transmit the encoded
message. The message gets transmitted to the receiver. The receiver decodes the message and
perceives it. Unless the receiver is aware of the code and is adept in using the medium, he
cannot decode it. Misinterpretation may arise even if there is interference in the medium. The
receiver’s response or reaction is the feed back that the sender gets. The feedback may again
be a signal or an action.

Communication can be divided into two parts:

1. Stimulus: You have very little control over the stimulus component, which often includes
criticism, ridicule, judgement and invalidation of yourself
2. Response: What you can change, is your response. It is especially programmed past
responses that can, and most often have to be hanged to enhance your communication and
effectiveness in dealing with customers and colleagues.
In real life (i.e., outside of that dictionary definition), communication might be either intentional
or unintentional. Intentional communication means that one person is sending a message to
another person in a purposeful way. Lots of communication happens this way; intentional
communication can be either language based or non-verbal (e.g., gestures, body language,
facial expression, tone of voice, et cetera). Alternatively, sometimes communication happens
that is unintentional. This refers to situations when one person does something that is
interpreted by another person as a message, even if the first person didn’t knowingly mean for
it to be. Unintentional communication is always non-verbal; it often comes in forms that are
demonstrated unconsciously (e.g., physical posture, tone of voice, behaviour, et cetera). When
looking at an individual’s forms of communication, it is always important to evaluate what type
of message is being sent. Is the message sent with purpose or rather, a by-product of how
someone is feeling and/or what he/she is experiencing personally at that moment? When the
latter form of communication occurs, the responsibility for interpreting the message falls to the
receiver.
We don’t see things as they are, we see things as we are.” - Anais Nin
Cultural frame of reference can be described as our (usually subconscious) cultural
characteristics. These characteristics are determined by the social environment which we live in
(e.g. family, school, age, nation etc.). We often make judgments according to our cultural frame
of reference. We make assumptions, and when something fails to satisfy these assumptions we
form a negative impression.
However, it is possible to step out of our own cultural frame of reference by following these
simple tips:
• Listen to and try to understand others
• Place yourself in someone else’s shoes
• Accept that nobody knows everything
• Do not assume everything is either right or wrong