TOPICS:

 GENERAL PRINCIPLES OF EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION

 PRINCIPLES OF EFFECTIVE ORAL COMMUNICATION
 PRINCIPLES OF EFFECTIVE WRITTEN COMMUNICATION
 ETHICS OF COMMUNICATION

PRESENTED BY: JIMAR JOSEPH G. VITAL

GENERAL PRINCIPLES OF EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION

Clarity, Attention, Feedback, Informality, Consistency,

Timeliness and Adequacy. Communication is perceived to be
effective only if the receiver receives the message in the same
form and context as it is sent by the sender.
THE PRINCIPLE OF CLARITY

• The idea or message to be communicated should be clearly spelt out. It should be

worded in such a way that the receiver understands the same thing which the
sender wants to convey. There should be no ambiguity in the message. It should
be kept in mind that the words do not speak themselves but the speaker gives
them the meaning. A clear message will evoke the same response from the other
party. It is also essential that the receiver is conversant with the language,
inherent assumptions, and the mechanics of communication.
THE PRINCIPLE OF ATTENTION

• In order to make communication effective, the receiver’s attention should be drawn

towards message. People are different in behavior, attention, emotions etc. so they may
respond differently to the message. Subordinates should act similarly as per the contents
of the message. The acts of a superior also draw the attention of subordinates and they
may follow what they observe. For example, if a superior is very punctual in coming to
the office then subordinates will also develop such habits. It is said that ‘actions speak
louder than words.
THE PRINCIPLE OF FEEDBACK

• The principle of feedback is very important to make the communication effective. There
should be a feedback information from the recipient to know whether he has understood
the message in the same sense in which the sender has meant it.
THE PRINCIPLE OF INFORMALITY

• Formal communication is generally used for transmitting messages and other

information. Sometimes formal communication may not achieve the desired results,
informal communication may prove effective in such situations. Management should use
informal communication for assessing the reaction of employees towards various
policies. Senior management may informally convey certain decisions to the employees
for getting their feedback. So this principle states that informal communication is as
important as formal communication.
PRINCIPLE OF CONSISTENCY

• This principle states that communication should always be consistent with the
policies, plans, programmes and objectives of the organization and not in conflict
with them. If the messages and communications are in conflict with the policies
and programmes then there will be confusion in the minds of subordinates and
they may not implement them properly. Such a situation will be detrimental to
the interests of the organization.
THE PRINCIPLE OF TIMELINESS

• This principle states that communication should be done at proper time so that it
helps in implementing plans. Any delay in communication may not serve any
purpose rather decisions become of historical importance only.
THE PRINCIPLE OF ADEQUACY

• The information communicated should be adequate and complete in all respects.

Inadequate information may delay action and create confusion. Inadequate
information also affects efficiency of the receiver. So adequate information is
essential for taking proper decisions and making action plans.
PRINCIPLES OF EFFECTIVE ORAL COMMUNICATION

Successful or effective oral communication requires some principles to existing in the

communication to overcome the defects and eliminate the reasons for the failure of oral
communication
WELL-PLANNED
Before presenting something, there should be proper planning regarding the
audience, topics to be delivered, timing, and other factors: so, a person must be
well-prepared to deliver his speech.

CLEAR PRONUNCIATION
To make oral messages meaningful to receivers, words should be clearly and correctly
pronounced. There should not be any lack of clarity, otherwise, the communication would
be a confusing one.
BREVITY
Effective oral communication desires that a message should be brief. If the sender
took a long time for talking, his message may not get the attention of the receiver.

PRECISION
Precision is needed to make oral communication effective. There should not be any
confusing words rather message to be delivered should be specific so that there is
no misunderstanding.
NATURAL VOICE
Any sort of unnatural voice may distort the message. A natural voice can do a lot to
make oral communication effective.

LOGICAL SEQUENCE
Ideas should be organized in a sequential way to make the message communicative
and attractive. Unorganized ideas do not provide a clear sense while a logical
sequence of ideas gives a clear sense.
SUITABLE WORDS
Word have different meanings to different people in different situations in oral
communication, a speaker should use common, simple, and familiar words so that
the receiver can react to the message without any problem.

COURTEOUS
Courtesy costs nothing but can earn many things. So, a speaker should be courteous
while addressing listeners. It helps create a good impression in the mind of listeners
regarding the speaker.
ATTRACTIVE PRESENTATION

It is another principle to make oral communication effective. A speaker should

deliver his speech in a very nice and sweet language so that the receiver is attracted
to take part in the communication.

AVOIDING EMOTIONS
Speaker must control his emotions to make oral communication effective. Too
much emotion will take the speaker away from the main subject.
EMPHASIS
The speaker must be knowledgeable regarding the portion of the speech where he
should give emphasis. Giving emphasis on respective points will help draw the
attention of the audience.

CONTROLLING GESTICULATION
Speaker on many occasions, consciously or unconsciously, gesticulates for
expressing his ideas or thoughts. This is a habit and should be avoided. Otherwise,
the application of such a habit may lead to % disinterest of the audience. Besides,
objective information, the capacity of the listener, interesting language, proper
fluency should be considered also as the principles of oral communication.
 PRINCIPLES OF EFFECTIVE WRITTEN
COMMUNICATION
Good written communication sticks to the point and doesn't meander around or include lots
of extraneous information. Correctness - To be effective, the written communication should
use the correct tone, inoffensive language, and appropriate grammar.
CLEAR
Any message needs to come out clearly from your communication rather than the
recipient having to assume things and coming back to you for more information.
This will only lead to more time being wasted on emails.

CORRECT
When too many emails are being written in a day, people tend to type fast and therefore
might make spelling mistakes. Spell check will not be able to catch it if the wrongly spelt
word is in fact another word in the English language. You also need to ensure that you
address people the right way and spell their names correctly. Additionally, you need to
ensure that the reader has sufficient knowledge and education to understand the technical
terms that you use in your communication.
COMPLETE
A complete message will have all the information the reader needs to know to be able to respond
or take action. If you require the reader to take some kind of action, ensure that you have a ‘call-
to-action’ in your email and also communicate the urgency of the task in question. Incomplete
messages lead to iterations, a lot of back-and-forth, and waste of time and effort on both ends.

CONCISE
People more often than not tend to write 4 sentences in a place where they could have
finished the message in 2 sentences. This wastes the time of the sender and the receiver and in
turn limits their productivity too. Furthermore, try not to add fillers such as ‘I mean’, ‘sort of’,
‘for instance’, ‘basically’, etc. Your message needs to be accurate, to the point and crisp. Here
is an example of a bad email.
CONCRETE
You need to believe in you what you want to convey to the audience. Concreteness is
a quality which needs to come to the fore especially during marketing or advertising
campaigns. There need to be details that capture the attention of the audience, not
bore them.

COHERENT
Your message needs to have a logical flow. All sentences in your email or report
should be connected to the previous one and stick to the main topic. Without
coherence, the reader will easily lose track of what you have conveyed.
COURTEOUS
Being courteous is of profound importance in a corporate setting. Individuals who work together are not necessarily friends and therefore, to
maintain a healthy working relationship, being courteous is a necessity. Hidden insults and aggressive tones will only cause trouble among
individuals and result in reduced morale and productivity.
 ETHICS OF COMMUNICATION

Advocate, truthfulness, accuracy, honesty, and reason as essential to the integrity of

communication, endorse freedom of expression, diversity of perspective, and tolerance of
dissent to achieve the informed and responsible decision making fundamental to a civil
society.
BE TRUTHFUL AND HONEST
Being honest means communicating what is known to be true (only 100 percent the facts to a
listener, with no intent to deceive or present only parts of the truth. It also means being as
objective as possible, that is, not tailoring the story based on what the speaker wants the listener
to believe. Letting the listener take the data that is objectively presented and believe what they
choose to believe is a core goal of ethical communication. Ethical communication should be based
on accurate information and facts – in a word, do not lie.
ACTIVE LISTENING
Hearing someone and listening to them are two different things. In order for ethical
communication to be effective, it is necessary for the recipient to pro-actively listen to
the speaker, and to not just hear what they want to hear, or to hear only parts of the
conversation. This also means asking questions when any point is not completely
understood, for the sake of clarification.
SPEAK NON-JUDGMENTALLY
Ethically and concisely communicating means speaking in a non-judgmental manner with
every recipient, negating unnecessary conflict, which typically creates a breakdown in
communication and causes misunderstandings. Unnecessary conflict is never good for any
business, and such conflicts usually result from unethical communications, with judgmental,
accusatory, and overly-critical comments often being the catalyst for such breakdowns in
communication.
CONSIDER THE RECEIVER’S PREFERRED COMMUNICATION
CHANNEL
You risk losing an audience if you use a communication channel that is not preferred by your intended receiver. To
effectively communicate with your listeners, use the most preferred communication channel, whether that be face-to-
face, email, conference call, phone call, messenger app, etc. Also, when presenting data to a business audience, be
aware of the preferred method of presentation for that business, whether it be graphs, slides, powerpoint
presentations, etc. Additionally, since body language is very important, it is often preferred to meet business clients
face-to-face.
SPEAK FROM YOUR OWN EXPERIENCE
Bringing your personal experience into a dialogue with business listeners is important,
providing backup for your arguments with something more tangible. Such a communication
method (experiential communication) paints a complete picture for your audience and
helps to prove your points so that the listeners have a better understanding of what is being
said.
STRIVE TO UNDERSTAND
While it is important to be proactive in listening, it is important for listeners to also
strive to fully understand what is being said before responding. While asking for
clarification or confirmation of a point is fine, many times questions that listeners pose
have already been answered. Listeners should think about what has been said before
constructing a reply. Reading “in between the lines” is also an important skill that
allows for understanding what isn’t said, but was implicitly said or implied.
AVOID A NEGATIVE TONE
Ethically communicating assumes the speaker will avoid rudeness, be polite and professional, and have tact. The ethical communicator knows that
it’s not only important what you say, but how you say it. Tone is one of the most critical facets of communication. A listener may miss the meaning
altogether if the tone is wrong, which can lead to unnecessary confrontations that decrease business productivity. Controlling one’s tone goes along
with self-control, a soft skill that allows one to know how they wish to reply to a terse business message (for instance) versus the most effective
manner for replying. Essentially, keeping the tone positive or neutral is best, as the tone of a written message – or of one’s voice – is always picked
up by the receiver, and can alter how the message is received and/or understood. Additionally, while it is acceptable to be honest and open, tact –
and professional maturity – means knowing when it is inappropriate to speak up, and when it is crucial to. Tact also means knowing that being
completely honest does not equate with being rude or negative – it is possible to be completely honest and open with one’s thoughts and feelings
while still remaining polite and respectful.
DO NOT INTERRUPT OTHERS
Allowing others to speak is important for the creation of a civil, effective working environment.
Interrupting others results in misunderstandings and unnecessary conflicts and a breakdown
in workplace communications, which only hinders corporate progress and creates problems.
Interrupting others not only shows a lack of respect, but does not allow the listener to fully
grasp what is being said, which often results in incorrect assumptions being made.

RESPECT PRIVACY AND CONFIDENTIALITY

Most businesses should include a clause in their code of ethics defining what is
appropriate when it comes to honoring client and employee confidentiality and privacy.
This can have a wide range of implications, including minimizing workplace gossip, and
mitigating toxic conversations about the private lives of clients and/or personnel.
ACCEPT RESPONSIBILITY
As noted before, a core tenant within any ethical communication framework is taking responsibility for the actions that result from one’s words,
whether it be good or bad. This includes both short term and long term consequences of one’s communications. Owning one’s words reinforces the
importance of being conscientious about ethical communication.
END OF TOPICS
QUESTIONS:

1. What are the 7 general principles of effective communication?

2. Among the 7 general principles, what do you think is the most important? Why?
3. What is the benefits of oral communication?
4. Give at least 4 principles of effective oral communication.
5. Why do you think written communication is on the hardest principles?
6. In your own opinion, why ethics communication is important to the students? Expand
your answer.
THANK YOU FOR LISTENING!