Professional Documents
Culture Documents
UNIT1
Basic elements of Communication-Concept ,Need and importance
Objectives
Elements of Communication
Process
Role of communication in Business
Barriers to communication-Physical, Semantic and language, Socio-psychological ,Cultural
barriers
Principles of effective communication
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
OUTLINE
Basic elements of Communication-Concept ,Need and importance
Objectives
Elements of Communication
Process
Role of communication in Business
Barriers to communication
Physical,
Semantic and language,
Socio-psychological ,
Cultural barriers
Principles of effective communication
7C’s of Communication of effective communication
Overview
According to the Wisconsin business alumni, Robert Kent, former dean of Harvard Business
School said, “In business, communication is everything.” Businesses are made up of people on
every level. The employee answering the phones, the customers and the other business
relationships are all a vital part of business. Effective business communication is dependent on a
company’s organizational structure and its leadership.
What is Communication?
The word communication has been derived from the Latin word communis, which means to
share or to participate. Thus, communication stands for sharing or transmission of information,
an idea, an opinion, an emotion, a fact or an attitude. It includes both, the act of communicating
as well as the message to be communicated.
Attempts have been made by different authors to define communication. A few are enumerated
below:
“Communication means to share in, to give to another or the interchange of – thoughts, opinions
or information.” Webster
“Communication is an exchange of facts, ideas, opinions, or emotions by two or more persons.”
W. H. Newman and C. F. Summer Jr.
“Communication in its simplest form is conveying of information from one person to another.”
Hudson
“Communication is the process of passing information and understanding from one person to
another.” Keith Davis
“Communication is a continuing and thinking process dealing with the transmission and
interchange with understanding of ideas, facts and courses of action.” George R. Terry
“Communication is the transmission of information, ideas, emotions, skills, etc. by the use of
symbols, words, pictures, figures, graphs, etc. It is the act or process of transformation that is
usually called communication. ” Berelso and Steiner
Sender:
The sender is the person who transmits a message. He is the communicator. He is the one
who gets the entire process of communication started. He wants to get his opinions, ideas,
facts, thoughts or information across to the receiver. He is, therefore, also said to be the
transmitter of a message.
Message:
A message is the actual information that has to be conveyed. Communication is unthinkable
without a message. A message triggers a response from the receiver. Messages can broadly
be divided into verbal and non-verbal. The message must be clear, complete, unambiguous
and courteous.
Encoding:
The seeds of communication are sown the moment the sender thinks of transmitting a certain
message. These thoughts have to be converted into suitable words, pictures, charts or
symbols so that they can be delivered to the receiver.
This process of converting thoughts into suitable words, charts, symbols or any other form in
which they can be understood by the receiver is called encoding. The choice of the method of
communication is made here – will the message be verbal or non-verbal?
Channel:
How does one communicate? This is what a channel deals with. Communication is achieved
through a channel. The channel can be a letter, an email, a fax, a telephone or memos,
reports, bulletins, posters and manuals.
The choice depends on the relationship between the sender and the receiver as well as on the
message that has to be communicated. Other factors that tend to influence the choice of a
channel include the gravity of the message, the number of receivers, the costs involved and
the amount of information.
Objectives of communication
Communication is meant:
i. To inform
ii. To reassure
Business Communication is goal oriented. The rules, regulations and policies of a company have
to be communicated to people within and outside the organization. Business Communication is
regulated by certain rules and norms. In early times, business communication was limited to
paper-work, telephone calls etc. But now with advent of technology, we have cell phones, video
conferencing, emails, satellite communication to support business communication. Effective
business communication helps in building goodwill of an organization.
Communication is one of the most basic functions of management in any organization. Its
importance can never be over emphasized. It is the process of transmitting ideas, thoughts,
information, opinions, and plans between various parts of an organization or sometimes to those
on the outside of an organization who have a vested interest in the business and need to know the
information.
Human relations cannot be present without communication. Good and effective communication
is required for both personal relationships and successful business relationships. You can use
business software and other popular applications for writing communications, or you can utilize
the telephone and in-person methods for the spoken part. No matter how you communicate,
make sure there is both talking and listening going on and that you take the time to carefully
consider what is being said to you.
All three forms of communication are important to a business. The written communications can
serve as a record of sorts while the phone conversations can facilitate the beginning of a great
business relationship. The in-person communication will also help to further promote the
business principles as well as the products. Face-to-face communication is especially important
between companies and their customers. This is what keeps them coming back time and time
again and what can place the business in the forefront of many situations that are perfect for
acquiring and maintaining customers
Barriers to Communication
Most people would agree that communication between two individuals should be simple. When
you communicate, you are successful in getting your point across to the person you're talking to.
People often hear what they expect to hear rather than what is actually said and jump to incorrect
conclusions.
Semantic Barriers
The meaning of words, signs and symbols might be different from one person to another and the same
word might have hundreds of meanings. So, when a message is sent by a sender to a receiver, it might be
interpreted wrongly in a communication process causing misunderstandings between them. This can
happen due to different situations that
form the semantic(of, relating to, or arising from the different meanings of words or other symbols) of the
sender and the receiver, known as the semantic barrier. It also arises due to language, education, culture
and place of origin (dialect or accent) or most likely their experiences.
Bad Expression: The message is not formulated properly and the language used is so difficult
that it could be misinterpreted by the recipient. The message is said to be badly expressed if the
wrong words are chosen, the sentences are not sequenced properly, and there is a frequent
repetition of words or sentences. The badly expressed messages consume a lot of time as it
requires corrections and clarifications and also the impact of the message gets reduced.
Symbols, or Words with Different Meanings: There are several words that carry different
meanings and often, people get confused with these words and interpret these differently due to
the difference in their educational and social backgrounds. Such as, the word “Crane” has
different meaning as shown in the sentences below: The bird sanctuary is full of cranes.
The builder used a crane to lift heavy steel rods.
The girl has to crane her neck to watch the movie.
Faulty Translation: Sometimes, the sender translates the message as per his level of
understanding irrespective of the recipient’s comprehension level. For example, a manager
Thus, semantic barriers lead to misunderstanding of the information and the objective of
communication, i.e. for which it was intended, gets disrupted.
The communication largely depends on the mental condition of a person, if the person is not mentally
or emotionally sound, then he cannot communicate effectively either as a sender or a receiver.
Lack of Attention: When the person is pre-occupied by some other things and do not listen
carefully what the other person is speaking, then arises the psychological barrier in the
communication. When the person does not listen to others, then he won’t be able to
comprehend the message as it was intended and will not be able to give proper feedback.
Premature Evaluation: Many people have a tendency to jump to the conclusions directly
and form judgments without considering all the aspects of information. This is generally done
by the people who are impatient and resort to a selective listening. This premature evaluation
of the information acts as a barrier to the effective communication and lowers the morale of
the sender.
Poor Retention: The retention refers to the capacity of a brain to retain or store things in the
memory. The brain does not store all the information came across but in fact, retain only
those which deems to be helpful in the future. Therefore, much of the information gets lost
during the retention process, and this acts as a barrier to the effective communication.
Loss by Transmission: The loss by transmission means, whenever the information
exchanges hand its credibility reduces. It is most often observed in the case of an oral
communication where people handle information carelessly and transmits the information
which has lost some of its truth. Thus, the improper and lack of information being transmitted
to others acts as a hindrance in the communication process.
Distrust: To have an effective communication, it is must that both the communicators
(sender and receiver) trust each other. In case there is a lack of trust between both the parties,
then they will tend to derive negative meaning out of the message and often ignore what has
been communicated. If the receiver has no trust, then he will not listen to whatever is being
said by the sender, and this will result in a meaningless communication.
Emotions: The communication is greatly influenced by the emotions of a person. If a person
is not in a good temperament, then he would not listen properly to whatever is said and might
say things offending the sender. Several other emotions such as anger, nervousness,
confusion, restlessness, etc. affects the communication process.
Thus, every human being has a unique mind which is composed of varied emotions, beliefs,
perceptions, opinions, and thoughts that facilitate different forms of communication.
The Organizational Barriers refers to the hindrances in the flow of information among the
employees that might result in a commercial failure of an organization.
Organizational Rules and Policies: Often, organizations have the rule with respect to
what message, medium, and mode of communication should be selected. And due to the
stringent rules, the employees escape themselves from sending any message.
Similarly, the organizational policy defines the relationship between the employees and
the way they shall communicate with each other maintaining their levels of position in
the organization. Such as, if the company policy is that all the communication should be
done in writing, then even for a small message the medium used should be written. This
leads to delay in the transmission of the message and hence the decision making gets
delayed.
Thus, communication is the key factor in the success of any firm, and the communication is said to be
effective when the employees interact with each other in such a way that it results in the overall
improvement of the self as well as the organization.
Personal Barriers
The Personal Barriers relate to the factors that are personal to the sender and receiver and act as
a hindrance in the communication process. These factors include the life experiences, emotions,
attitudes, behavior that hinders the ability of a person to communicate.
The most common personal barriers are:
Lack of Listening Skills: The efficiency of communication process gets disturbed when the
receiver listens only with ears but do not apply his mind. Often, the receiver listens what he
In the organizational context, both the superiors and the subordinates have their personal
barriers that impede them to communicate effectively. These barriers are:
Less faith in subordinates: Often, the superiors have a lack of confidence in the
subordinates and, therefore, doubt on their capacity to provide relevant information. They
deliberately ignore the suggestions and recommendations from the subordinates and
discourages them to further communicate. This lowers the morale of the employees and
hinders the communication process.
Fear of challenge of Authority: There is a fear in the minds of the superiors that if they
will not perform in line with their authority, they will be demoted to the lower levels.
And, thus in order to maintain their level they intentionally hide their weaknesses by not
communicating their ideas to others.
Thus, there are several personal factors, varying from person to person, influences the
communication to a great extent and might obstruct the purpose for which the
communication was intended.
Physical Barriers
Physical barrier is the environmental and natural condition that act as a barrier in
communication in sending message from sender to receiver. Organizational
environment or interior workspace design problems, technological problems and
noise are the parts of physical barriers.When messages are sent by the
sender, physical barriers like doors, walls, distance, etc. do not let the communication
become effective. The barriers are less if the proximity of the sender and the receiver
is high and less technologies are required.Disturbance in hearing due to thunders,
telephone call disconnection, problems in television reception, message not being sent
in chat, etc. are some examples of physical barriers of communication.
Noise
Noise is the disruption found in the environment of the communication. It interrupts
the communication process and acts as a barrier as it makes the message less
accurate, less productive and unclear. It might even prevent the message from
reaching the receiver.
Culture is all socially transmitted behavior, arts, architectures, languages, signs, symbols, ideas,
beliefs, norms, traditions, rituals, etc. which is learnt and shared in a particular social group of the
same nationality, ethnicity, religion, etc. Cultural diversity makes communication difficult as the
mindset of people of different cultures are different, the language, signs and symbols are also
different.
Different cultures have different meaning of words, behaviors and gestures. Culture also gives rise to
prejudices, ethnocentrism, manners and opinions. It forms the way people think and behave. When
people belonging to different cultures communicate, these factors can become barriers.In America,
people communicate freely and that is a part of their culture. In Germany, an Indian who is used to
being very indirect with his communication might find their direct way of speaking rude. Being
direct is part of the German culture and it is reflected in the way they communicate. Communication
shapes culture and culture shapes communication.
Religion
Similar to ethnocentrism and stereotyping, religion also disrupts communication as it creates
a specific image of people who follow other religions. People find it difficult to talk to people
who follow different religions. Religious views influence how people think about others. It
creates differences in opinions.
For example, in Pakistan, the Christians have to speak up for their rights as the majority is of Islam
and the Christians are discriminated. There is also a lack of communication between these religious
groups.
Use simple words to convey the message. To have an effective process of interpersonal
communication, you have to simplify language. Everyone hates to decipher spoken
words, reserve the deciphering to the writing and when speaking, keep it simple and easy
to understand.
Learn the art of listening. A person will always try to get his opinions across first
before listening to the other person's point of view. To improve interpersonal
communication, listen both attentively and proactively.
Keep composure while communicating. The process of interpersonal communication is
more effective if emotions are kept at bay. Keeping your composure while talking or
negotiating with a business partner will keep you on the right track towards your goal.
Provide constructive criticism. Constructive criticism is perhaps the best sign that you
are communicating with the other person on a more personal level. Both the sender and
receiver of communications may use feedback for effective interpersonal communication.
7 C’s of Communication
Seven C’s of Effective Communication
There are 7 C’s of effective communication which are applicable to both written as well as oral
communication. These are as follows: