COMMUNICATION

UNIT-4
• Communication is the sending and receiving of information and can be
one-on-one or between groups of people, and can be face-to-face or through
communication devices. Communication requires a sender, the person who
initiates communication, to transfer their thoughts or encode a message.
This message is sent to the receiver, a person who receives the message,
and finally, the receiver must decode, or interpret the message. This sounds
simple enough but is more complicated.
• Language involves symbols and signs and is distinct to the culture that
speaks and writes in that language. Effective communication requires a
shared language and understanding of common concepts. It's also important
to bear in mind that a receiver may interpret what the sender puts out
differently than what the sender intended, and that this is less likely if the
two share the same culture and language.
Communication: Process
• Describe the levels of Communication in detail.

• Ans. The levels of communication are the following..

1) INTRAPERSONAL COMMUNICATION- Between Human Mind and Body (in the form of Electro
mechanical and electrical signals) Intrapersonal communication is the active internal involvement of
the individual in symbolic processing of messages. The individual becomes his or her own sender and
receiver, providing feedback to him or herself in an ongoing internal process. It can be useful to
envision intrapersonal communication occurring in the mind of the individual in a model which contains
a sender, receiver, and feedback loop.
Although successful communication is generally defined as being between two or more individuals,
issues concerning the useful nature of communicating with oneself and problems concerning
communication with non-sentient entities such as computers have made some argue that this
definition is too narrow.
In Communication: The Social Matrix of Psychiatry, Jurgen Ruesch and Gregory Bateson argue that
intrapersonal communication is indeed a special case of interpersonal communication, as "dialogue is
the foundation for all discourse."
Intrapersonal communication can encompass:
Day-dreaming
Nocturnal dreaming, including and especially lucid dreaming
Speaking aloud (talking to oneself), reading aloud, repeating what one hears; the additional activities of
speaking and hearing (in the third case of hearing again) what one thinks, reads or hears may increase
concentration and retention. This is considered normal, and the extent to which it occurs varies from person
to person. The time when there should be concern is when talking to oneself occurs outside of socially
acceptable situations.[1]
Writing (by hand, or with a wordprocessor, etc.) one's thoughts or observations: the additional activities, on
top of thinking, of writing and reading back may again increase self-understanding ("How do I know what I
mean until I see what I say?") and concentration. It aids ordering one's thoughts; in addition it produces a
record that can be used later again. Copying text to aid memorizing also falls in this category.
Making gestures while thinking: the additional activity, on top of thinking, of body motions, may again
increase concentration, assist in problem solving, and assist memory.
Sense-making (see Karl Weick) e.g. interpreting maps, texts, signs, and symbols
Interpreting non-verbal communication (see Albert Mehrabian) e.g. gestures, eye contact
Communication between body parts; e.g. "My stomach is telling me it's time for lunch."
• INTERPERSONAL COMMUNICATION-
Interpersonal communication -(Person to Person Communication )is defined by communication scholars in
numerous ways, though most definitions involve participants who are interdependent on one another, have a shared
history. Communication channels are the medium chosen to convey the message from sender to receiver.
Communication channels can be categorized into two main categories: Direct and Indirect channels of
communication.
Direct channels are those that are obvious and can be easily recognized by the receiver. They are also under direct
control of the sender. In this category are the verbal and non-verbal channels of
communication. Verbal communication channels are those that use words in some manner, such as written
communication or spoken communication. Non-verbal communication channels are those that do not require silly
words, such as certain overt facial expressions, controllable body movements (such as that made by a traffic police to
control traffic at an intersection), color (red for danger, green means go etc), sound (sirens, alarms etc.).
Indirect channels are those channels that are usually recognized subliminally or subconsciously by the receiver, and
not under direct control of the sender. This includes kinesics or body language, that reflects the inner emotions and
motivations rather than the actual delivered message. It also includes such vague terms as "gut feeling", "hunches" or
"premonitions".
Channels means mode of communicating the messages.
Participants are the communicators who are both senders and receivers.
Context refers to the interrelated condition of communication. It consists of such factors as:
• physical Milieu Balance of interpersonal communicationThe
Johari window model focuses on the balance of interpersonal
communication. Interpersonal communication encompasses:
∙ Speech communication
∙ Nonverbal communication
∙ Unconscious communication
∙ summarizing
∙ listening
∙ questioning
∙ Initiating: Declaring one's conversational intent and inviting
consent from one's prospective conversation partner
∙ Turn-taking: Managing the flow of information back and forth
between partners in a conversation by alternating roles of
speaker and listener
• Having good interpersonal communication skills support such
processes as:

∙ parenting
∙ intimate relationship
∙ management
∙ selling
∙ counseling
∙ coaching
∙ mentoring and co-mentoring, which is mentoring in groups
∙ conflict management
• 3) ORGANIZATIONAL COMMUNICATION

A process by which activities of a society are collected and coordinated to reach the goals of both individuals and the
collective group. It is a component to effective management in a workplace environment.
TYPES:

• a). Formal Communication:

• Such a communication is that which is associated with the formal organisation structure and the official status or the
position of the communicator and the receiver. It travels through the formal channels officially recognised positions in
the organization chart.

• b). Informal Communication:

• Informal communication is also known as ‘Grapevine’. It is free from all sorts of formalities because it is used on
informal relationships between the parties, such as friendship, membership in the same club or association.

• Persons at the executive levels also use informal communication when they find it difficult to collect information from
the workers. Such communication includes comments, suggestions etc. It may be conveyed by a simple glance,
gesture, smile or mere silence.
• 4) MASS COMMUNICATION:

• Mass communication is "the process by which a person, group of people, or large organization
creates a message and transmits it through some type of medium to a large, anonymous,
heterogeneous audience." This implies that the audience of mass communication are mostly made
up of different cultures, behavior and belief systems. Key elements of mass communication are:

∙ LARGE REACH

∙ HETEROGENEOUS AUDIENCE

∙ FEEDBACK IS NOT IMMEDIATE.

Gatekeeper’s presence is necessary.

• Communication Flows:

Downward Communication:

• Communication which flows from the superiors to subordinates is referred to as downward

communication. In an organizational structure, the executives must exercise their powers to achieve
the desired objectives which imply that they may be engaged in issuing orders, instructions and
policy directives to the persons at the lower levels. This may be called downward communication.
Under downward communication, immediate performance of a job is expected.

• Katz And Kahn Have Identified Five Elements of Downward Communication:

• 1. Specific task directives; Job instructions.

• 2. Information designed to produce understanding of the task and its relation to other organisational
tasks.

• 3. Information about organisational procedures and practices.

• 4. Feedback to the subordinate about his performance.

• 5. Information of an ideological character to inculcate a sense of mission, programming of goals.

• Communication from superior to subordinate can be face to face as well as through written memos,
• Upward Communication:

In an upward communication, the persons from the lower level are expected to have communication
with those who are above them. It is just the reverse of downward communication. This sort of
communication includes reactions and suggestions from workers, their grievances etc. Contents of
upward communication are reports, reaction, suggestion statements and proposals prepared for the
submission to the boss.

• Upward Communication can be divided into four categories on the basis of what employee
says:

• (i) about himself, his performance and problems,

• (ii) about others and their problems,

• (iii) about organizational policies and practices, and

• (iv) about what needs to be done and how it can be done.

• The main features of upward communication are:

• (1) it is condensed and summarized as it passes through various levels in the hierarchy. It gives feedback on the
extent of effectiveness of downward communication. This feedback is used for improving communication
effectiveness.

• (2) It provides the management about the viewpoints, reactions, attitudes and feelings of employees.

• (3) It provides means of control.

• (4) Finally, it gives information and data for decision making.

Upward communication may get distorted owing to the nature of superior- subordinate relationships. An employee is
not likely to give any information which may affect him adversely. Moreover, he may transmit wrong information to
impress his superiors. It flows through many media e.g. chain of command, suggestion boxes, personal contacts,
attitude and morale surveys, grievance procedure, private lines, labour unions etc.
• Horizontal Communication:

• When the communication takes place between two or more persons who are subordinates of the
same person or those who are working on the same level of organization, the communication is
known as horizontal (lateral) communication.

• The communication between functional managers or among subordinates working under one boss,
the communication between managers of various factories is the examples of such communication.
Horizontal communication may be oral as well as written.

• Horizontal Communication satisfies peoples’ needs to know from their own peers without taking into
account other levels in the organization. It is really difficult for an organization to function efficiently
without such horizontal communication flows. Although the formal organization design does not
provide for such communication flows, it is needed for the coordination and integration of diverse
organizational functions.

• Since organizational horizontal communication ordinarily do not exist in facilitation is left to

individual managers. Peer to peer communication necessary for co-ordination and can also provide
social need satisfaction.
Diagonal Communication: Diagonal communication refers to
communication between managers and workers located in
different functional divisions (Wilson 1992). Although both
vertical and horizontal communication continue to be
important, these terms no longer adequately capture
communication needs and flows in most modern organizations.
The concept of diagonal communication was introduced to
capture the new communication challenges associated with new
organizational forms, such as matrix and project-based
organizations.
1. INTRAPERSONAL BARRIERS

•Individuals are unique because of their idiosyncrasies. This is mainly because of difference in
education, value and personality. Each of us interpret the same information in different ways as our
thinking varies. Certain common causes are responsible for an individual's inbuilt barriers. These are
the causes that lead to the intrapersonal barriers.

a) Wrong assumption: Most of the times we work on the basis of our assumption which if is wrong,
becomes a cause of barriers to communication.

b) Varied perceptions: Everybody works on the basis of his perception. If your perception is different
from the speaker’s perception, you would not be able to understand the real message.

c) Differing background: Background develops the thought process of an individual. If speaker and
listener’s background is different, this would act as a barrier to communication as one cannot
understand something which is not part of his thought process.
d. Wrong inferences: Coming to conclusion, without knowing the
background can become a barrier to communication, which no
doubt is the state of mind.
e. Impervious categories: People those who are misoneist (
closed mind), cannot understand the message properly because
their mind is not receptive.

f. Categorical thinking: Pan sophists (they know it all attitude)

cannot understand what is conveyed to them as they don’t listen
to people properly.
 • INTERPERSONAL BARRIERS
• Interpersonal barriers occur due to the inappropriate transaction of words between two or more people. The
two broad categories into which this barrier can be classified are:

If there are two people involved in communication, the traits that distinguish them as individuals can be the root
cause of a communication problem

• The most common reasons for interpersonal barriers are as follows:

a) Limited vocabulary: Due to lack of proper words people are not able to convey the message, and this limited
vocabulary at receiver’s end also acts as a barrier because he is not able to understand the message.
b) Emotional outbursts: Due to excessive emotions, sometimes people are not able to convey the exact
message, bursting out of emotions is a major reason of conveying what you don’t want to say.
c) Communication selectivity/Selective Perception: We respond to our choice of sound, hence if there are
several voices in the environment, we react according to our selection which hinders our understanding with
less favourite messages.
a) Poor listening skills: Listening is a cognitive process. If one is not a good listener, it acts as a barrier to
communication.
b) Noise in the channel: If there is a problem with the channel we are using to convey our message, it would act as a
barrier to communication.
c) Cultural variations: People those who belong to different cultures act accordingly, this non-acceptance of someone’s
message is only because the you behave according to your mentality which is governed by your cultural background.
Hence culture plays a major role in communication.
d) Poor Retention: is an Interpersonal barrier.
1. ORGANIZATIONAL BARRIERS

a) Wrong Selection of media: can be proved as a barrier, important and secret messages are to be
conveyed face to face, any flaw in the channel can distort the seriousness of the message.

b) Poorly Defined Authority and Responsibility: Many a times, it is seen that the organization chart
does not show where true authority and responsibility is vested. In the absence of this knowledge, the
communications may by-pass individuals or certain levels. This by-pass may be by design or may just
be an act of omission. Such a situation leads to the emergence of power of communication centers, due
to leadership qualities, access to information or technical knowledge of some people in the organization.
d) Too Many Levels in Organization Structure/too many transfer stations: Longer the passage
through which a message is to travel, more are the chances of its distortion. It can also result in
delays or even total failure of the message to reach its destination. If the distance through which a
message has to travel is great, there is every possibility that it may be changed, modified,
shortened, amended or interpreted during transit in such a manner that even the original sender
may not be able to recognize the contents of the communication.

e) Fear of Superiors: Fear of superiors act as a barrier to communication, sometimes one does
not say the fact only because he has fear of being punished or humiliated.

f) Negative tendencies: People in an organization negative tendencies against people who are
not from their group, subgroup and hence they disagree, avoid whatever they have to offer.
REQUISITES OF SENTENCES—TECHNICAL STYLE

• A. Add variety to the sentences in these ways:

• 1. Structure: Using a variety of clauses and phrases, and vary their order within the sentence helps in
avoiding beginning each sentence in the same way as well as showing the relative importance of each part
of the sentence.

• 2. Length: Too many short sentences together sound choppy; too many long sentences together might
make the sentences difficult to read.
• B. Add emphasis to parts of the sentences by using:

1. Parallelism: Items in a series should have the same grammatical form.

• Incorrect: Three requirements for good health are good nutrition, getting enough sleep, and to
exercise regularly.

• Correct: Three requirements for good health are good nutrition, adequate sleep, and regular exercise.

2. Repetition: Repeat ideas or words (or words similar in meaning) to emphasize them.

• Example: The child was ready to go, waiting to go, and wanting to go.

3. Active Voice: Generally, use active verbs rather than passive verbs.

• Passive: The contest was won by my cousin. (weaker)

• Active: My cousin won the contest. (stronger)

4. Structure: Arrange the wording of the sentence to show the relative importance of ideas.
 • Coordination: Show that two or more ideas are of equal importance by using
a coordinating conjunction (for, and, nor, but, or, yet, so) to connect words,
phrases, and clauses.
• Example: The mechanic replaced the tires and balanced the wheels.
• Subordination: Put the important or desired information to emphasize in the
main clause and the less important ideas(s) in a dependent clause or phrase.
• Example: The neighbour listens to music while he does yard work.
• While the neighbour does yard work, he listens to music.
• He talked to me yesterday, but he didn’t mention the move.
• She walks to work, and she reads during lunch.
• C. Use concise wording to create more powerful sentences. Eliminate all grammatically unnecessary wording
and redundancy of content. Use a phrase instead of a dependent clause or a word instead of a phrase if you
can do so without losing the effectiveness of the sentence.

Example 1. Omit words:

• Wordy: I feel that my employer has not recognized the fact that many of the employees of this
company feel they are ignored.

• More concise: My employer has not recognized that many of his employees feel ignored.

Example 2. Combine words groups:

• Wordy: The commuter was frustrated and impatient; he had waited for the bus for forty minutes, and
it was long overdue.

• More concise: Frustrated and impatient, the commuter had waited forty minutes for the long overdue
bus.
• D. Achieve clarity (clear meaning) by avoiding these problems:

• 1. Shifts (lack of agreement) in:

• Verb Tense (time)—Do not shift back and forth between present and past without a reason.

• Incorrect: In the beginning of the novel the character seems honest, but his later actions revealed
his deceptiveness.

• Correct: In the beginning of the novel the character seems honest, but his later actions reveal his
deceptiveness.

• Order: To emphasize a part of a sentence, place it at or towards the beginning of the sentence.

• Example: Through the gate and down the road galloped the horse.
• Point of View—Do not switch between first, second, and third person points
of view. Use third person for most college writing.

• Incorrect: One cannot change the past, but you can change your future.

• Correct: One cannot change the past, but one can change the future.

• Number (singular/plural)—A subject and verb should match in number, and

a pronoun should match its antecedent (the noun it stands for) in number.

• Incorrect: The flock of birds are flying south for the winter.

• Correct: The flock of birds is flying south for the winter.

 • Type of Discourse—Use quotation marks only around a person’s exact words.

• Direct Discourse: He said, “I have finished my assignment.”

• Indirect discourse: He said that he had finished his assignment.

• Incorrect: He said, “That he had finished his assignment.”

• 2. Mixed Constructions (incorrect combinations of grammatical forms):

• Incorrect: She was sick was the reason for her absence.

• Correct: Her sickness was the reason for her absence.

• 3. Logic Errors—The grammar is correct, but the idea is expressed illogically:

• Incorrect: Poor management and rising costs were the downfall of the company.

• Correct: Poor management and rising costs caused the downfall of the company.
• E. Achieve specific meaning by using modifiers (words, phrases, and
dependent clauses which act as adjectives or adverbs):
• Too general: The salesman relaxed.
• More specific: Exhausted by his travels, the salesman relaxed in his quiet
hotel room.
UNITY IN PARAGRAPH
1. Inductive Method
2. Deductive Method
3. Spatial Method
4. Chronological Method
5. Interrupted Method
6. Exposition/Expository writing