28 Communication

Dr.Shafali Nagpal

30.1 Learning Objective

30.2 Introduction

30.3 Concept and definitions

30.4 Principles of communication

30.5 Communication Process

30.6 Elements of Communication

30.7 Types of Communication

30.8 Theory of Communication

30.9 Summary

Learning Objectives

After completing this module, you will be able to:

To know the concept of communication
To understand communication process
To analyze the importance of communication

Communication is a process, and if the process breaks down, communication will fail. In this lesson, you’ll learn about the communication process. We’ll also discuss how the concept of noise can disrupt this process. Communication is the process of conveying information between two or more people. The communication process is the steps we take to achieve a successful communication.

The concept of Communication:

Communication might be defined as follows:

Communication might be defined as the transfer of – facts, information, ideas, suggestions, orders, requests, grievances etc. from one person to another to impart a complete understanding of the subject matter of communication to the recipient thereof; the desired response from the recipient to such communication.

(1) “Communication is a way that one organisation member shares are meaning and understanding with another.” -Koontz and O’Donnell

(2) “Communication is the process of passing information and understanding from one person to another.” -Keith Davis

(3) “Communication is the sum of the things one person does when he wants to create understanding in the mind of another. It is a bridge of meaning. It involves a systematic and continuous process of telling, listening and understanding.” Louis A. Allen

Features of Communication:

By the above definitions and the surrounding knowledge, we can gather the following salient features of the concept of communication:

(i) Communication is necessary and required in all managerial functions. However, it is an integral part of the directing process; and assumes greater significance at the directing stage.

(ii) Communication is a function of every manager. Hence, it is a pervasive managerial function. All managers would have to make necessary communications to their subordinates and get feedback to their communications from the latter.

(iii) Communication is a continuous process, throughout the organisational life. It is the basis of organisational functioning. “No communication; no functioning of the organisation.” thus goes an old managerial adage (proverb).

(iv) Communication is a complete and rational process; only when the recipient of the message has an understanding of the subject matter of communication. Communication is, in fact, a transmission of understanding from the sender to the recipient of the message – something, which is an important requirement from the human relations perspective, of communication.

(v) Communication usually is and ought to be a two-way process. This emphasizes on the feedback aspect of communication, i.e. the sender of the message must get the necessary response (or reaction) of the recipient to the communication made to him.

(vi) Communication is always done with a purpose, i.e. with the objective of evoking the desired response out of the recipient, to the communication made. For example, if the communication is a work-order by the superior to some subordinate; the latter must comply with the order – undertaking the necessary actions for the implementation of the order

(vii) Communication process requires, at least, two parties’ sender of a message and the recipient of it. Naturally, one person would not make any communication to the self.

(viii) Communication is a circular process. Its process starts with the sender of the message and travelling through various stages completes with feedback to communication from the recipient to the sender.

Principles of Communication:

To be effective and meaningful, the managerial function of communication must be guided by the following principles:

(i) The principle of Understanding:

Communication must be such, as transmits an understanding of the communication message to the recipient as per the intentions of the sender. A practical application of this principle requires that the message must be expressed whether made orally or in writing.

Further, the message must be complete – leaving no scope for any doubts likely to confuse the recipient and compel him towards a misinterpretation of the message.

(ii) The principle of Attention:

Communication must be made in such a manner, that it invites the attention of the recipient to it. For a practical application of this principle, it is imperative that not only must the message be expressed pleasantly and soundly; but also the purpose of the sender in making communication, must be clarified.

(iii) The principle of Brevity:

The message to be communicated must be brief; as usually the recipient, especially an executive, would not have much time to devote to a single piece of communication. However, the brevity of the message must not be sought at the cost of clarity or completeness of the message. The sender must strike a balance between these three factors -brevity, clarity and completeness.

(iv) The Principle of Timeliness:

The communication must be timely, i.e. it must be made at the high time when needed to be communicated to the recipient. An advanced communication carries with it the danger of ‘forgetting’, on the part of the recipient; while a delayed communication loses its purpose and charm, and becomes meaningless when the right time for action on it has expired.

(v) The Principle of Appropriateness (Or Rationality):

The communication must be appropriate or rational, in the context of the realization of organizational objectives. Communication must be neither impracticable to act upon; nor irrational, not contribute to common objectives.

(vi) The principle of Feedback:

Communication must be a two-way process. The feedback (or reaction or response) of the recipient to the message, must be as easily transferable to the sender, as the original communication made by the sender.

The idea behind emphasizing on the feedback aspect of communication is that it helps the sender to modify his subsequent communications given the reactions of the recipient – making for better and improved human relations.

(vii) The principle of the Constructive and Strategic Use of Informal Groups:

The management must not hesitate in making a valuable and strategic use of informal groups, for ensuring and facilitating speedier communication in emergency situations. Such a use of informal groups would also help develop good human relations by upgrading the status of informal groups and their leaders.

However, management must assure itself that rumours are not spread by informal groups and for this, a guard over the manner of functioning of informal groups, while transmitting a formal communication, is but imperative.

Communication Process

The communication process consists of several components. Let’s take a look.

A sender is a party that sends a message. Mridul is the sender say for example. He’ll also need the message, which is the information to be conveyed. Mridul will also need to encode his message, which is transforming his thoughts of the information to be conveyed into a form that can be sent, such as words.

A channel of communication must also be selected, which is the manner in which the message is sent. Channels of communication include speaking, writing, video transmission, audio transmission, electronic transmission through emails, text messages and faxes and even nonverbal communication, such as body language. Mridul also needs to know the target of his communication. This party is called the receiver. Say Dwij is the receiver here.

The receiver must be able to decode the message, which means mentally processing the message into understanding. If he cannot decode, the message fails. For example, sending a message in a foreign language that is not understood by the receiver (Dwij) probably will result in decoding failure.

Sometimes, a receiver will give the sender feedback, which is a message sent by the receiver back to the sender. For example, a member of Dwij’s team may provide feedback in the form of a question to clarify some information received in Mridul’s message.

The goal of communication is to convey information—and the understanding of that information—from one person or group to another person or group. This communication process is divided into three basic components: A sender transmits a message through a channel to the receiver. (Figure shows a more elaborate model.) The sender first develops an idea, which is composed into a message and then transmitted to the other party, who interprets the message and receives meaning. Information theorists have added a somewhat more complicated language. Developing a message is known as encoding. Interpreting the message is referred to as decoding.

The other important feature is the feedback cycle. When two people interact, communication is rarely one‐way only. When a person receives a message, she responds to it by giving a reply. The feedback cycle is the same as the sender‐receiver feedback noted in Figure. Otherwise, the sender can’t know whether the other parties properly interpreted the message or how they reacted to it. Feedback is especially significant in management because a supervisor has to know how subordinates respond to directives and plans. The manager also needs to know how work is progressing and how employees feel about the general work situation.

The critical factor in measuring the effectiveness of communication is a common understanding. Understanding exists when all parties involved have an agreement as to not only the information but also the meaning of the information. Effective communication, therefore, occurs when the intended message of the sender and the interpreted message of the receiver are the same. Although this should be the goal in any communication, it is not always achieved.

The most efficient communication occurs at a minimum cost regarding resources expended. Time, in particular, is an important resource in the communication process. For example, it would be virtually impossible for an instructor to take the time to communicate individually with each student in a class about every specific topic covered. Even if it were possible, it would be costly. This is why managers often leave voice mail messages and interact by e‐mail rather than visit their subordinates personally.

Steps or elements of communication process

The communication process refers to the steps through which communication takes place between the sender and the receiver. This process starts with conceptualizing an idea or message by the sender and ends with the feedback from the receiver. In details, communication process consists of the following eight steps:

Developing idea by the sender: In the first step, the communicator develops or conceptualizes an idea to be sent. It is also known as the planning stage since in this stage the communicator plans the subject matter of communication.
Encoding: Encoding means converting or translation the idea into a perceivable form that can be communicated to others.
Developing the message: After encoding the sender gets a message that can be transmitted to the receiver. The message can be oral, written, symbolic or nonverbal. For example, when people talk, speech is the message; when people write a letter, the words and sentences are the messages; when people cry, the crying is the message.
Selecting the medium: Medium is the channel or means of transmitting the message to the receiver. Once the sender has encoded him into a message, the next step is to select a suitable medium for transmitting it to the receiver. The medium of communication can be speaking, writing, signalling, gesturing etc.
Transmission of a message: In this step, the sender transmits the message through a chosen medium. In the communication cycle, the tasks of the sender end with the transmission of the message.
Receiving the message by the receiver: This stage simply involves the reception of sender’s message by the receiver. The message can be received in the form of hearing, seeing, feeling and so on.
Decoding: Decoding is the receiver’s interpretation of the sender’s message. Here the receiver converts the message into thoughts and tries to analyze and understand it. Effective communication can occur only when both the sender and the receiver assign the same or similar meanings to the message.
Feedback: The final step of the communication process is feedback. Feedback means receiver’s response to sender’s message. It increases the effectiveness of communication. It ensures that the receiver has correctly understood the message. Feedback is the essence of two-way communication.

Types of Communication – Formal and Informal:

Communication, very broadly, is classified into the following two categories:

(a) Formal communication

(b) Informal communication

Formal communication is that, which takes place in an enterprise, in a formal manner via the scalar chain or the line of command.

This type of communication has the following variations:

(1) Downward communication

(2) Upward communication

(3) Sideward (or horizontal) communication

(1) Downward Communication:

Downward communication moves downwards in an organisation, from the top management to middle and lower level management travelling via various links in the scalar chain. Such communication is imperative for organisational purposes.

Mostly it consists of communicating plans and policies of the enterprise to lower level managers; and in particular, issuing orders and instructions to subordinates, for initiating action according to these for execution of assigned jobs.

(2) Upward Communication:

This type of formal communication is a feedback to downward communication. Upward communication proceeds upwards in an organisation from the lower level management to middle and upper levels of management, travelling via various links, in the scalar chain.

Upward communication, usually, takes the following forms:

(i) Reports by subordinates to superiors on work-performance

(ii) Grievances, problems or difficulties of subordinates forwarded to superiors, at appropriate levels.

(iii) Suggestions and ideas of subordinates to upper management, for kind consideration and appropriate implementation.

(iv) Clarifications sought by subordinates from superiors as to the orders and instructions issued by the latter (i.e. superiors).

(3) Sideward (Or Horizontal) Communication:

This type of formal communication takes place among managers, placed at the same rank, in the organisation. It is necessary for achieving coordination of actions of individuals, doing the similar type of work, under managers of equal ranks.

For example, communication between two assistant production managers is an instance of horizontal communication. Sideward communication, might take place through the ‘gang-plank’, as suggested by Fayol; or through the scalar chain, hierarchically.

(b) Informal communication:

Informal communication, also called grapevine communication, takes place through informal groups, existing inside or outside the formal organizational structure. This communication has no formal manner of routing. It might spread from any person to any person, in any manner and any direction, like the structuring of a grapevine.

Communication Theory

Communication theory was proposed by S. F. Scudder in the year 1980. It states that all living beings existing on the planet communicate although the way of communication is different.

Plants communicated their need to be taken care of and watered immediately through visible changes in the colour of the leaves and the falling of leaves and flowers. Animals communicate by sounds, several movements to indicate that they are hungry or unwell or need medical attention. A mother would never understand that her child is hungry unless and until the child cries. Crying is again a form through which the child communicates that he is hungry and needs food. The same applies when he is injured, where he uses crying again as a tool to communicate his pain and need of urgent medical attention.

Thus the universal law of communication theory says that all living beings whether they are plants, animals, human beings communicate through sound, speech, visible changes, body movements, gestures or in the best possible way to make the others aware of their thoughts, feelings, problems, happiness or any other information. If a child scores fewer marks in examinations, parents would not speak to the child for some time- again an effort to communicate that the parents are angry over the child’s performance and he needs to buck up for his further examinations. Try to irritate a stray dog; he will surely bark on you – again an animal’s way to communicate that he is angry and should not be irritated further.

Like human beings, animals also communicate among themselves through gestures and body movements. Monkeys always carry their babies with them wherever they go, again a way through which the mother tries to communicate that their babies are safe and the mother is there to take good care of them. During the mating season of animals, communication through gestures plays a significant role in bringing them close, the same way a peacock dances to attract its partner.

Another model of communication says that communication is simply the process of transferring information from the sender to the recipient where the recipient decodes the information and acts accordingly. A large number of people also support this model of communication.

Communication Theory Framework

Let us examine communication and communication theory through the following viewpoints:

Mechanistic – The mechanistic viewpoint says that communication is simply the transmission of information from the first party to the second party. The first party is the sender and the second party being the receiver.
Psychological – According to the psychological viewpoint, communication is simply not the flow of information from the sender to the receiver but the thoughts, feelings of the sender which he tries to share with the recipients. It also includes the reactions, feelings of the receiver after he decodes the information.
Social – The social viewpoint considers communication as a result of interaction between the sender and the receiver. It simply says that communication is directly dependent on the content of the speech. “How one communicates” is the basis of the social viewpoint.
Systemic – The systemic viewpoint says that communication is a new and a different message which is created when various individuals interpret it in their way and then reinterpret it and draw their conclusion.
Critical – The critical viewpoint says that communication is simply a way with the help of which an individual expresses his power and authority among other individuals.
The point to note about these theories is that they are representations of reality as seen by the proponents and also reflect the idealistic aspirations of these theorists. There is nothing to say that such structures alone exist or that they are not valid. Instead, a nuanced view of organizational theory that has emerged in recent years with the systems view of organizations is something that is contemporary and relevant to the agile and nimble organizations of the 21st century.
Indeed, these theorists discussed here were pioneers during their time, and likewise, the emerging crop of management experts now are taking the views of these theorists to the next level. In conclusion, all management theorists acknowledge the natural progression of organizational models and hence their contributions to the field of organizational control and communication are akin to each wave of theorists standing on the shoulders of giants who were there previously.

Summary

In this module we have studied that Communication is the process of conveying information between two or more people. The communication process is the steps we take to achieve a successful communication and if the process breaks down, communication will fail. We also learnt about the communication process and discussed the barriers and types i.e fomal and informal communication and its variants. We also discussed the basis of communication theories framework.

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References

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