COMMUNICATION PROCESS a constructive approach

COMMUNICATION PROCESS a constructive approach

In order to develop a deep understanding of the subject of communication, it is important that everyone understands the complete process of communication. Broadly, it has two parts:
 Process at communicator‟s end (Senders‟ Part)
 Process at communicatee‟s end (Receivers‟ Part)

 PROCESS AT COMMUNICATORS‟ END (SENDERS‟ PART)

The process at communicators‟ end can also be looked at in two halves as below:

(1) Inward journey

It entails the following steps:
(i) As received by senses
A human being perceives the world around him from spoken words, written words, visuals and cues from body language in terms of sounds, gestures, expressions, signs, signals etc through the five human senses of seeing, smelling, hearing, tasting and touching.
These are the external five senses – our antennas. However, ultimately senses only capture feelings, images etc and convey them to the human brain which is main receptacle of what is perceived by the five senses. That is why it is said that it is not the eyes that see but the brain; it is not the nose that smells, it is the brain; it is not the ears that hear, it is the brain; it is not the tongue that tastes, it is the brain and it is not the skin or hands that feel, it is the brain.

All that is captured by the human senses from environments are far from ideal i.e., without noise or distractions. On the contrary all kinds of distractions intervene and messages transmitted to the brain are far from perfect.
Additionally, there is also the problem of sensitivity of the senses. How sensitized they are varies very widely from one person to another. Someone remembers a scene from a movie very vividly after many years and another person cannot recall the scene from a movie seen a few minutes ago. Some people can detect a smell from long distance while others would not notice it even when they are passing besides its source. Some singers can hear a small variation in a note very clearly while others cannot. Thus this process of perceiving is very heavily dependent upon the faculty of receivers. Human beings vary widely in their ability to perceive different sensual inputs.
(ii) Influence of sources of distraction
If one is hearing music, even a small level of noise can be very disparaging – no wonder, music recording studious are noise proof. Similarly, speech delivered in noisy circumstances can be very difficult to understand and absorb. Noisy classrooms can be lethal for good learning. Even visuals placed in noisy room fail to make the impact they are intended to. Similarly, listeners may miss many cues from the body language that normally forms a major chunk of the message being delivered. A shabbily dressed person cannot make as good an impression as a well-dressed one.
If there are too many distractions behind or besides the speaker, the message may fall flat. The situation is similar to a young man having gone to see a bride at a place where there are many more beautiful girls present, finds very difficult to decide!
(iii) Receiving information by the brain
When information arrives at the brain, it passes through a kind of sieve that separates out difficult, strange or awkward words and simplifies them into familiar words. This is a part of the process of abstraction that takes place before the message is classified and stored
(iv) Searching for similar material in the brain memory
This is the second part of the process of abstraction that goes on in the brain – it is somewhat like classifying the message before storing. Once this search is completed, the material is stored next to the similar stuff already in the memory. Rarely, one can get identical material and one should be happy to get as near to the one in memory as possible. If it is totally new or alien material, it may not be possible to retrieve it when required!
(v) Storing the material in the brain
This is a complex stage. Needless to say that human memory is still the fastest to retrieve and recall. Owing to overload or bounded rationality, there is

always a limit to what and how much can be stored in the human memory. This faculty or capacity to store also varies widely among individuals and has a significant influence on ones‟ competence to communicate.

(2) Outward journey

When an individual has the need to communicate with others, the process starts with the happenings in the brain of the sender who is already subjected to a lot of experiences, emotions, knowledge and opinions.
(i) Retrieval of information from human memory
This is very much like pulling a file from the filing cabinet. Since it is in response to a need, the file pulled out may not always be the one most appropriate to the stimuli. This may bring in variations in interpreting the message received.
(ii) Choosing the right words and phrases
This stage is highly subjective and is greatly influenced by the mastery of the sender over the language used for communication. Besides, linguistic competence extends to proper use of form of verbs, adjectives, adverbs etc
(iii) Delivery of message
Role of sender continues to be important as the style, speed and manner of speaking decide the impact of the message. The body language and ability of the sender to throw his voice towards the audience form the major part of the message delivered.
(iv) Sources of distraction
Once again, the message passes through a medium that may have one or several sources of distraction, impairing the message as received by the communicatee.

 PROCESS AT COMMUNICATEES‟ END (RECEIVERS‟ PART)

The entire process at the communicators‟ end repeats in two parts:
 Inward journey
 Outward journey
The process follows all the steps as described above.

 COMMUNICATION MODEL

In managerial terms, the process of communication follows the following six steps:

1 Sender has a idea to communicate (Conception)
2 Idea becomes a message (Encoding)
3 Message is transmitted through a medium (Transmission)
4 Message is received by the other person (Decoding)
5 Message is interpreted by the receivers‟ mind (Interpretation)
6 Receiver responds and give a feedback to the sender (Feedback)
This is illustrated as below:

(1) Conception

(i) Mental images
All individuals are continuously bombarded by information flowing from
 Sights (Scenes)
 Sounds
 Scents
These streams of sensation are conveyed to the human mind. Each individual has a unique „mental filter‟ because of own experiences, exposures, emotions etc. The mental filter converts these streams of sensation in to a mental map of the event that becomes the basis of perception of the reality. No two mental images of the observers of the same event will be identical!
All sensations received in the mind go through the process of abstraction and simplification.
(ii) Psychological factors

A person tends to hear what he wants to and rejects what he does not want to hear. This is because of several factors as below:
 Sensory factors
 Demographic factors
 Psychographic factors
 Loyalty of individuals
 Personality of individuals

(iii) Technical aspects

These days communication is greatly influenced by the technology and choice of the medium of transmission. Followings should be taken in to account:
 Transmitter
 Transmission process
 Receiver
In most cases, a certain amount of repetition may be desirable to ensure that the message is not mutilated.

(iv) Role of being logical and systematic

The message, to be effective, should be logical and conveyed in a systematic manner. Messages suffer from:
 Logical errors
 False analogy
 Concluding from limited data
 Understanding syllogism (Deductive logic)
 Arguing in circles
Usually in such cases, the middle of the message remains undisturbed but most receivers tend to get misled.

(v) Conclusions

Arriving at the conclusion from the various conflicting and diverse factors is the real issue. As a rule, four possible conclusions are:
 Valid and true
 Valid and false
 Invalid but true
 Invalid and false
Communicators have to avoid the pitfalls and look for valid and true conclusions.

(2) Encoding

The process of how the mind converts an idea into words is not yet fully understood. Choice of words by the speaker depends up various factors as below:
 Subject
 Purpose
 Audience
 Personal style
 Mood
Besides, length of the message, tone and style are influenced by:
 Content of the message
 Familiarity of the receiver(s)
 Emotional conflicts
 Difficulty of expressing ideas

(3) Transmission

Choice of transmission mode depends upon the followings:
 Message
 Audience
 Need of speed / urgency
 Situation
In all cases, it is important to control the transmission link. This not only ensures its availability but also avoids distortion and level of noise. Also, remember that longer the chain of communication, bigger is the problem of ensuring correct transmission of the messages.

(4) Decoding

The receiver has to read or hear the message before he can understand it. One of the most common barriers to communication is the lack of attention by the receiver. Human mind tends to drift when it is forced to hear something. It is said that mind is like a horse; it is very difficult to control it. Usually, a person‟s mind has around 6,000 ideas flashing across in one day!
There are many words in all the languages with multiple meanings. To be able to understand the correct meaning in the context of the message or the way sender has used it to convey his intent is quite a challenge.

(5) Interpretation

If the background and the experience of sender and receiver vary considerably, understanding of the message can be very different. Following three diagrams show pictorially the impact on getting the meaning and understanding of the message:

(6) Feedback

Communication is a two way process. The communication loop is not complete until the sender of the communication receives a feedback from the receiver. The feedback may be verbal or non-verbal through the body language. Many a times, audience conveys through expressions, gestures or sounds. A sensitive speaker can always understand the feedback from the way the receivers stoop forward or backward, the way they yawn and the way they twitters their fingers. There are a large numbers of cues, signs and signals to pick up and interpret!

SUMMARY

Communication is a vast subject; it stands for connectivity and networking in its broadest sense. In the context of an enterprise, business communication is the process of influencing others to achieve common, shared objectives. Communication is a two way process and is completed only when the feedback is received by the sender. Information flow is a one way process.
Communication can be verbal covering oral and written form and non-verbal that uses a large number of signs, signals, gestures, expressions and sounds. As learning about the non-verbal communication increases, it is changing the way people look at both the oral and written communications. Everyone seems to be communicating all the time especially during waking hours. By mastering the art of observing and interpreting body language and related aspects of communication, every one can become a better communicator!
Business communication is not only the life blood an organization but also the heart of its internal and external communications. Effective communication skills form vital part of a job requirement, are prerequisite for promotion to higher positions and are essential to all problem solving. They ignite enthusiasm, enhance motivation and hone traits of leadership. Communication skills are also advantageous in personal life and
community work. They enhance will to work, skill to work and thrill to work. They promote joy at work, impart satisfaction and happiness.
A deeper understanding of the process of the inward and outward journey at the senders‟ and receivers‟ ends goes a long way in students‟ ability to draft and deliver effective messages. The six-stage model of business communication would enable them to gain deeper knowledge of the subject and acquire more effectiveness in communication skills – the strategic asset they must possess before they can move in to senior corporate positions.