COMMUNICATION
Definition, Meaning, Nature, Communication
Process, Types and Barriers to Communication
Meaning and Definition of Communication
▪ Communication is the exchange of messages between people for the purpose of
reaching common understandings, and achieving common goals.
▪ CYRIL L. HUDSON: Communication in its simplest form is conveying of information
from one person to another.
▪ KOONTZ AND O’DONNELL: Communication is an exchange of facts, ideas, opinions
or emotions by two or more people.
▪ NEWMAN AND SUMMER: Communication is an exchange of facts, ideas, opinions or
emotions by two or more persons
NATURE/FEATURE/CHARACTERISTICS
▪ Goal Oriented
▪ Two- way process
▪ Internal Process
▪ Perpetual Process
▪ Administrative Process
▪ Human Process
▪ All pervasive
PROCESS OF
COMMUNICATION
PROCESS OF COMMUNICATION
▪ Sender: The actual process of communication is initiated at the hands of the
sender; who takes steps to send the message to the recipient.
▪ Message: This is the background step to the process of communication,
which, by forming the subject matter of communication necessitates the start
of a communication process. The message might be a fact or an idea, or a
request or a suggestion, or an order or a grievance.
▪ Encoding: Encoding means giving a form and meaning to the message
through expressing in into—words, symbols, gestures, graph, drawings, etc
▪ Medium: It refers to the method or channel, through which the message is to
be conveyed to the recipient. For example, an oral communication might be
made through a peon or over the telephone, etc; while a written
communication might be routed through a letter or a notice displayed on the
notice-board, etc.
PROCESS OF COMMUNICATION
▪ Recipient (or the Receiver): Technically, a communication is complete,
only when it comes to the knowledge of the intended person i.e., the
recipient or the receiver.
▪ Decoding: Decoding means the interpretation of the message by the
recipient; with a view to getting the meaning of the message, as per the
intentions of the sender. It is at this stage in the communication process,
that communication is philosophically defined as, ‘the transmission of
understanding’.
▪ Feedback: To complete the communication process, sending feedback
to communication, by the recipient to the sender is imperative.
‘Feedback’ implies the reaction or response of the recipient to the
message, comprised in the communication.
Types of communication – Based on direction
▪ Downward - Supervisors explaining how to complete a project.
▪ Upward - Employees submitting weekly progress reports.
▪ Horizontal - Meetings between marketing and sales teams to align on product
promotions.
▪ Diagonal - HR personnel consulting a team leader about a team member's
performance.
Types of communication – Based on methods
▪Verbal - Meetings, phone calls,
presentations.
▪Non-verbal - A manager nodding during an
employee's presentation (positive
feedback).
Types of communication – Based on styles
▪Formal - Official memos, emails,
reports.
▪Informal - Employees chatting
informally during lunch breaks.
Types of communication – Based on structure
▪Internal - Newsletters, team
meetings, intranet updates.
▪External - Advertising, PR
campaigns, negotiation with
vendors.
Types of communication – Based on purpose
▪Persuasive - Marketing pitches to potential
customers.
▪Informative - Sharing updates about policy
changes.
▪Feedback - Employee feedback surveys.
BARRIERS TO EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION
▪ Filtering: Filtering refers to a situation where sender manipulating information so it will be seen
more favorably by the receiver. The major determinant of filtering is the number of levels in an
organization's structure. The more vertical levels in the organization's hierarchy, the more will be the
opportunities for filtering.
▪ Selective Perception: Selective perception means seeing what one wants to see. The receiver, in
the communication process, generally resorts to selective perception, i.e., he selectively perceives
the message based on the organisational requirements, the needs and characteristics, background
of the employees, etc.
▪ Example: The employment interviewer who expects a female job applicant to put her family ahead
of her career is likely to see that in female applicants, regardless of whether the applicants feel that
way or not.
BARRIERS TO EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION
▪ Emotions: How the receiver feels at the time of receipt of information influences effectively how he
interprets the information
▪ Example: When you are angry, it is harder to consider the other person’s viewpoint and to choose
words carefully. The angrier you are, the harder this task becomes.
▪ Extreme emotions: Such as jubilation or depression – are most likely to hinder effective
communication. In such instances, we are most prone to disregard our rational and objective
thinking processes and substitute emotional judgments.
▪ Language: Communicated message must be understandable to the receiver. Often,
communication gap arises because the language the sender is using may be incomprehensible,
vague and indigestible. Language is a central element in communication.
▪ Stereotyping: It is the application of selective perception. When we have preconceived ideas about
other people and refuse to discriminate between individual behaviours, we are applying selective
perception to our relationship with other people.
BARRIERS TO EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION
▪ Status Difference: The organisational hierarchy poses another barrier to communication within the
organisation, especially when the communication is between employee and manager.
▪ Use of conflicting signals: A sender is using conflicting signals when he or she sends inconsistent
messages. A vertical message might conflict with a non-verbal one.
▪ Projection: Projection has two meanings:
▪ (a) Projecting one’s own motives into others’ behaviour:
▪ Example: Managers, who are motivated by money, may assume their subordinates also motivated
by it. If the subordinate’s prime motive is something other than money, serious problems may arise.
▪ (b) The use of defense mechanism to avoid placing blame on oneself: As a defense mechanism,
the projection phenomenon operates to protect the ego from unpleasant communications.
Frequently, individuals who have a particular fault will see the same fault in others, making their
own fault seem not so serious.
BARRIERS TO EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION
▪ The “Halo Effect”: The term “halo effect” refers to the process of forming opinions based on one
element from a group of elements and generalizing that perception to all other elements.
▪ Example: In an organisation, a good attendance record may cause positive judgments about
productivity, attitude, or quality of work.
BARRIERS TO EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION
▪ OVERLOADED COMMUNICATION
▪ NEGLECT OF INFORMATION ORDER
▪ SELECTION OF IMPROPER MEDIUM
▪ SENTIMENTAL
▪ FEAR
▪ FAILURE IN CONVEY OF INFORMATION
