CHAPTER TWO

THE COMMUNICATION PROCESS

Introduction
At each point in the communication process, events occur that affects the eventual
meaning the recipient assigns to the message. That meaning becomes the actual
message communicated whether intended or not. The sender’s goal and
responsibility are to make sure that the recipient assigns the right meaning to the
signals and therefore gets the intended message.

To make sure the recipient receives the message as intended, the sender can ask for
feedback form the recipient. Asking recipients if they have questions or requesting
them to summarize. The sender should look also for nonverbal indications from the
recipient that may suggest either understanding or misunderstanding such as a
confused look, frown, or head shaking from side to side.

The actual communication process is a familiar one. People constantly use it. Yet the
importance of examining this process is not in describing each step but in identifying
events that can cause communication to go wrong. Anticipating barriers to effective
communication gives the message sender a chance to modify the message or to
modify how, when, or where it is sent. Minimizing or eliminating the barriers creates
the best opportunity for effective and efficient communication-the transmission of
understanding that results in desired action. Now let’s look at each step in the
communication process in brief.

2.1. Elements of Communication

The following are the elements of communication:

i. Sender – Sometimes called the communicator or the source. The originator (initiator) of
communication is an organizational framework. The sender is an employee with ideas,
intentions, information, and a purpose for communication.

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 ii. Encoding - Within the communicator, an encoding process must take place that
translates the communicator’s ideas into a systematic set of symbols expressing the
communicator’s purpose. The major form of encoding is language.
iii. Message - The result of the encoding process is the message-either verbal or nonverbal.
Message is a meaningful idea that people want to share with others. This is the content of
the communication. Message is an idea, thought, feeling or emotion that is organized or
composed by the sender.
iv. Medium – This is a path, route or channel through which a message is transmitted The
medium is the carrier of the message. Organizations provide information to members in a
variety of ways, including face to-face communications, telephone, group meetings,
memos, policy statements, production schedules, and forecasts.
v. Receiver - The person to whom the message is sent. Or it is the person whose senses
perceive the sender's message.
vi. Decoding - The process of interpreting the sender's message into meaningful information
by the receiver.
vii. Feedback -A channel for receiver's response that enables the sender to determine
whether the message has been received and has produced the internal response.
viii. Noise - Those factors that confuse, disturb, distort; or diminish

2.2. The process of Communication

Technically speaking, communication is effective or successful only when mutual understanding

occurs, that is, when one not only transmits information, but also makes one self-understood by
others. In most organization, communication is a dynamic and vital process for ease of
discussion; the communication process can be divided in to seven steps.

Step-1. Idea generation/organization of idea- The first step in the communication process. A
sender has information, which may consist of ideas, facts, opinions, and so on.

Step-2. Encoding- This step is encoding where the sender translates ideas into message to be
conveyed as a set of symbols, which he believes that the reliever will understand as intended.

Step-3 Messaging- the third step is the actual transmission of the message as encoded. Messages
can be transmitted verbally or non-verbally.

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Step –4. Receiving- Receiving of the message by a person to whom it is intended.

Step –5. Decoding- The receiver o f a message perceives and interprets it to have a particular
meaning.

Step-6. Understanding- It is the sixth step in communication process. As noted, communication

is effective only when mutual understanding results.

Step-7. Feedback- The final step in communication process is feedback. It allows a sender to
verify that an intended message has been accurately delivered.

2.3. Barriers of Communication.

Communication can be hampered or affected due to different reasons. The following

are the major ones:
 Semantic problems
 Lack of motivation and interest
 Selective Perception
 Perfunctory attention
 Lack of feedback
 Poor listening skills
 Information overload
 Distraction/noise
 Perceptual barrier
 Source credibility and others
Semantic Problems: these are barriers which arise because of the different meanings that
different words have in different contexts. The same word may have one meaning in the mind of
the sender and a different meaning in the mind of the receiver which can block the understanding
between the two parties.

When a plant manager announces that a budget increase is necessary for the growth
of the plant, the manager may have in mind the necessity for new equipment, an
expanded parts inventory, and more personnel. To the existing personnel, however,

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growth may be perceived as excess funds that can be used for wage and salary
increases.

Lack of Motivation and interest: our interest to send or to receive a message can determine the
effectiveness of communication. The more we are interested, the more we will be motivated to
communicate. Lack of interest and motivation in either sending or receiving message is an
obstacle for communication.
Selective Perception: occurs when people block out new information, especially
when it conflicts with what they believe. Thus, when people receive information,
they are apt to hear only those parts that conform to or reaffirm their beliefs.
Information that conflicts with preconceived notions is either not processed or is
distorted to confirm our preconceptions.
 Perfunctory attention:  this is a difference between speaking and listening capabilities of the
communicating parties. If the speaking speed is more than the listening speed, the receiver may
not grasp all the messages of the sender. Similarly if the listening speed is more than the
speaking speed, there will be an idle time between listening and speaking that will make listener
diver this/her attention to other ideas.
Lack of feedback: Feedback is the mirror of communication. Feedback mirrors what the sender has
sent. Feedback is the receiver sending back to the sender the message as perceived. Without
feedback, communication is one-way.
Poor Listening Skills: Listening should consume about half of the time that a
superior and subordinate spend together; it does not happen this way often, because
one or both persons fail to listen
Information Overload: Managers are surrounded with a pool of information. It is essential to control
this information flow else the information is likely to be misinterpreted or forgotten or over
looked. As a result communication is less effective.
Distraction/Noise: Communication is also affected a lot by noise to distractions. Physical
distractions are also there such as, poor lightning, uncomfortable sitting, unhygienic room also
affects communication in a meeting. Similarly use of loud speakers interferes with
communication.

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Perceptual barriers: in contrast, are internal. If you go into a situation thinking that the person you
are talking to is not going to understand or be interested in what you have to say, you may end up
subconsciously sabotaging your effort to make your point.
Source Credibility: Source credibility refers to the trust, confidence, and faith that
the receiver has in the words and actions of the communicator. The level of
credibility that the receiver assigns to the communicator directly affects how the
receiver views and reacts to the words, ideas, and actions of the communicator.

Thus, how subordinates view a communication from their

manager is affected by their evaluations of the manager. The
degree of credibility they attach to the communication is
heavily influenced by their previous experiences with the
manager.

Value Judgments: In every communication situation, receivers make value judgment

by assigning an overall worth to a message prior to receiving the entire
communication. Such value judgments may be based on the receiver's evaluation of
the communicator, the receiver's previous experiences with the communicator, or
the message's anticipated meaning.
Filtering: Filtering is a common occurrence in upward communication in
organizations. It amounts to manipulating information so that the information is
perceived as positive by the receiver. Subordinates cover up unfavorable
information in messages to their superiors. The reason for such filtering should be
clear. Upward communications carry control information to management.
Management makes merit evaluations, grants salary increases and promotes
individuals based on what it receives by way of the upward channel. The temptation
to filter is likely to be strong at every level in the organization, especially below the
director's level.

The design of the organization determines the extent to which

information can be filtered. The more levels through which
upward communications must flow, the greater is the
opportunity for each successive layer of management to take
out what it does not want the next level to know. An
advantage of flat organizational designs is that they minimize
the problem of filtration. 5
Time Pressures: The pressure of time is an important barrier to communication. An
obvious problem is that, managers do not have the time to communicate frequently
with every subordinate. Time pressures can often lead to serious problems. Short-
circuiting is a failure of the formally prescribed communications system that often
results from time pressures. What it means simply is that, someone, who normally
would be included, has been left out of the formal channel of communication.

2.4. Interpersonal Communication and Team Work

Interpersonal Communication
Within an organization, information flow from individual to individual in face-to-face and group
settings. Such flows are termed as interpersonal communications. Interpersonal
communication involves the transmission and reception of verbal and nonverbal messages
between two people. The basic purpose of interpersonal communication is to transmit ideas,
thoughts, or information to someone else so that you are understood and so that you understand
the response. In addition to providing the needed information, interpersonal communication also
influences how people feel about the organization.
 Interpersonal styles - Interpersonal style refers to the way in which an individual prefers to
relate to others. The fact that much of the relationship among people involves communication
indicates the importance of interpersonal style.
For better understanding of interpersonal styles, let us begin by recognizing that information
is hold by oneself and by others but each of us does not know that information. There are
four different combinations of knowing and not knowing relevant information arena, blind
spot, facade, and unknown (The Johari Window Model).

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 The Arena - In this setting, all of the information necessary to carry on effective
communication is known to both the communicator (self) and the receivers (others). This
region is most conducive to effective interpersonal relationships and communication.
 The Blind spot - This is a situation where relevant information is known to others but not
the self. Others may interpret yourselves differently than you expect. Consequently,
interpersonal relationship and communication suffer.
 The Façade -In this region, the information is known to the self but unknown to others.
As a result the self may react to present a false front or facade out of fear, desire for
power, or whatever reason.
 The Unknown - This region constitutes that portion of the relationship where relevant
information is not known by the self or by other parties. It is often stated. "I don't
understand them, and they don't understand me." It is easy to see that interpersonal
communication will be poor under such circumstances. This kind of situation often occur
in organizations when individuals in different specialties must communicate to coordinate
what they do.

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Interpersonal communication can be improved by utilizing two strategies, exposure and
feedback.
i. Exposure - Increasing the arena area by reducing the facade area requires that the
individual should be open and honest in sharing information with others. The process that
the self uses to increase the information known to others is termed as exposure.
ii. Feedback - When the self does not known or understand, communications that are more
effective can be developed through feedback from those who do know. Thus, the blind spot
can be reduced, with a corresponding increase in the arena. Obtaining feedback is
dependent on the active cooperation of others, while exposure requires the active behavior
of the communicator (the self).
Managerial Styles and Interpersonal communication

The day-to-day activities of managers place a high value on effective communication. Managers
provide information (which must be understood); they give commands and instructions (which
must be obeyed and learned): and they make efforts to influence and persuade (which must be
accepted and acted upon). Thus, the way in which managers communicate is crucial for
obtaining effective performance. In practice, managers differ in their ability and willingness to
use exposure and feedback although they have desire to expand the arena in theory. At least four
different managerial styles can be identified.
a) Type A - Managers who use neither exposure nor feedback are said to have a Type A
style. The unknown region predominates in this style because such managers are
unwilling to enlarge the area of their own knowledge or the knowledge of others. If an
organization has a larger number of such managers in key positions, then interpersonal
communication would be poor and ineffective. Type A managers often display the
characteristics of autocratic leaders.
b) Type B - Some managers desire to have some degree of satisfying relationships with
their subordinates, but because of their personalities and attitudes, these managers are
unable to open up and express their feelings. Consequently, they cannot use exposure and
must rely on feedback. The subordinates probably will distrust such managers because
they realize that these managers are holding back their own ideas and opinions.
c) Type C - Managers who value their own ideas and opinions, not the ideas and opinions
of others, will use exposure at the expense of feedback. The consequence of this style is

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 the perpetuation and enlargement of the blind spot. Subordinates will soon realize that
such managers are not particularly interested in communicating, only in telling and in
maintaining their own sense of importance prestige.
d) Type D - The most effective interpersonal communication style is the one that uses a
balance of exposure and feedback. Managers who are secure in their positions will feel
free to expose their own feelings and to obtain feedback from others. To the extent that a
manager practices type D behavior successfully, the arena region becomes larger and
communication becomes more effective.