COMMUNICATION PROCESS

COMMUNICATION PROCESS

Inward journey

(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 the 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 the sensitivity of the senses. How sensitized they vary 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 beside 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.

Communication skills are;

Communication skills are;

 advantageous in personal life
As private citizens, individuals take part in a lot of activities like sports, club work, social work, community work etc. People also participate in other social, cultural and religious activities. If they are good communicators, they get noticed quickly and can be appointed or nominated to many such activist groups. Before long, they become a well-known and prominent member of the community.

 hone leadership traits
From the foregoing discussions, it is easy to understand that all leaders in business, industry or political arena, have notably better skills in communication. They are able to deliver informative and persuasive speeches to the audience at large. They are able to draw up, compose and distribute the most effective posters, banners, and circulars. Thus effective communication skills propel them to positions of leadership.

 Dividends from effective communication skills
Communication skills have come to be recognized as an integral part of one‟s upbringing and personality. His choice of words and phrases and their use is quite unique to him and can directly give clues to his personality.
In the modern age of knowledge society when education, training, and skills are being formally taught, communication skills have become of critical importance in everyday life. It is said that it is no use having brilliant ideas if one cannot put them across properly, accurately and lucidly.

Communication skills

Communication skills 

essential for promotion, problem-solving, ignite enthusiasm&enhance motivation

Communication skills have emerged as the most critical prerequisite for promotion to senior executive positions in the industry. Consequently, managers at lower rungs of organizations should also have good command over the spoken and written language of the business. As a general rule, managers should have the ability to make their communications heard, read or understood.
Individuals who have had a quick rise to senior level positions, attribute it to their being good in conversation and in articulating topical issues besides being very good in written communications - be it in writing persuasive letters or producing concise and compelling reports.

A person can become a good communicator only when he is a clear and systematic thinker. Acquiring effective communication skills adds to one‟s self-esteem and confidence. This helps managers to be able to collect relevant information and get around people quickly that are essential prerequisites for any problem-solving effort.

If a person is able to articulate viewpoint of the group he belongs to, it enthuses him because he becomes the automatic choice as their representative. The person becomes more spirited and involved and his group activities increase manifolds. People rally around such persons more readily and they progress into more important roles.

People who have good oral or written communication skills usually develop into very good listeners. Listening to others leads to added learning that influences their attitude and behavior. It goes a long way in re-orienting their mindset towards work and enhancing their performance. Such persons become more aligned to firm‟s objectives and are motivated to accomplish them.

Communication skills as a vital job requirement

Communication skills as a vital job requirement

Human beings are communicating all the time. Ability to express powerfully and influence the attitude and behavior of people for giving better performance on their jobs has emerged as a job skill of critical importance for managers/leaders at all levels of management. Thus all employees are expected to:
1 Write good correspondence
2 Be good in oral conversation
3 Develop and cultivate powerful body language
4 Be able to sell ideas and products effectively
5 Be very good in weaning away customers from a competitor and retaining them
It is now increasingly understood that even specialists like accountants, engineers, technicians etc should have good communication skills. In the present day knowledge society, competitive advantage of acquiring excellent communication skills cannot and perhaps need not be emphasized!

BUSINESS COMMUNICATION-External communication

BUSINESS COMMUNICATION-External communication

As a business enterprise in the modern society, it has to interact, pro-actor reacts to happenings in other institutions viz.
 Government bodies, statutory/regulatory agencies, municipal authorities etc
 Distributors, dealers, and retailers
 Customers, community and society at large
Reputed organizations are concerned about their public image, goodwill, and trust. In order to further reinforce their reputation, they participate in a number of activities:
 Public speeches by senior executives
 Tactful responses to comments and criticisms in the media
 Preparation and distribution of informative pamphlets about the firm
 Marketing communications or advertisement/publicity
 Production and dissemination of product catalogs, videos etc
Because of their importance, these activities are centralized in the Public Relations and Corporate Communications department of large corporations. These activities have emerged as specialist skills of critical importance to the well being of the company. Successful messaging can:
 Eliminate unnecessary correspondence
 Save time and expense
 Build favorable impression in public mind
 Enhance reputation and goodwill
 Help increase company profits and profitability

Internal communication

Internal communication

Before the end of the nineteenth century, businesses were small; they started growing in size from the beginning of the twentieth century. Contemporary business enterprises are very large and have not only become multinational but also transnational in character. Besides, they have grown in complexity in terms of a wide array of products and services they deal in and the number of countries and continents they are operating in. Also, arising from the liberalizing of many national economies, global competition has intensified and the rate of change in the marketplace has accelerated. Market forces have also become very dynamic, almost verging on chaos.

With business becoming very large in size, complex in nature and rapidly changing dynamics, enterprises must put in place effective internal communication so that everyone can be kept informed of happenings within the large corporation. It is the only way managers/leaders can build understanding among people located in far-off communities, countries, and continents – stringing them together into a beautiful necklace that everyone can be proud of.

Communication

Communication is the lifeblood of an organization

An organization cannot function without people interacting, conversing or corresponding with one another. All enterprises require human beings working for it or with it, to:
 Interact and react
 Make assumptions about future or forecast future events
 Plan or draw up a rough blueprint for the future
 Organize/design a format of how to get resources together to achieve the plan
 Staff or gather / recruit people and get them to desired locations
 Lead or direct people, and devise their jobs so as to adhere to the plan
 Exchange information, ideas, plans and proposals
 Measure and monitor
 Coordinate and control
Communication has been described as the „glue‟ that holds the entire organization together as one entity. Without communication, managers/leaders are not able to influence the attitude and behaviour of people to achieve common objectives.

Non-verbal communication

Non-verbal communication

Non-verbal communication uses signs, signals, gestures, expressions, and sounds. It is God-made language and, as a rule, should not suffer from any limitations excepting the fact that our knowledge about the language is limited by our lack of understanding of nature‟s ways of communication! In common parlance, non-verbal communication is also called body language. As a rule, it does not lie or mislead unless someone has mastered the art of deceit or camouflaging. It is the richest language known. During the last few decades, a lot of research has been done to identify and isolate all the signs, signals, gestures, expression and sounds among humans.

The non-verbal communication has changed the way we look at the subject of communication. We seem to be communicating all the time through gestures, expressions, sounds, signs, and signals.
Everyone can recall the personal experience they would have gone through when they had to ask for a favor from mother, father, elder brother or even boss. When they went to speak to the person on the appointed date and time, one quick look at the person made them change their mind, thinking that the day and time was not propitious for seeking favor because of the mood he was emoting. The interaction would have been very upsetting but they could avoid it because they could observe from the body language of the person that the response would not be favorable.

Similarly, it is said that we emote even when we are asleep! We have also read a story in Mahabharata that Abhimanyu, son of Arjun, had picked up the art of entering a kind of warfare known as Chakarvyu while in the womb of his mother. It has been thought to be rather an unbelievable phenomenon. The recent advances in medical history confirm that a child has already well developed five senses and mind as early as the seventh week of its conception when even mothers may not have become aware of their pregnancy!

Another thing students must appreciate is the body language is not man-made; it is God‟s own creation. Studies are directed to observing those gestures, expressions, sounds etc and record their meaning for its students to understand the language. Body language rarely lies and if one can master it, it will propel them on a fast track to become good communicators.

Another well-known story common in India is that good vid of ayurvedic medicines were able to diagnose the type of ailment from the feel of the pulse and general examination of their patients!

Verbal communication

Verbal communication

Verbal communication happens through the use of words. It must be understood that communicator has to depend on the language that has been designed, developed and propagated by humans. As a result, it suffers from a lot of limitations despite the fact that some languages of the world are very developed and command a vast vocabulary.
Verbal Communication, in turn, can be further divided into two groups:
(i) Oral Communication
Oral communications are the messages that come through words, phrases, and idioms from the mouth of the speaker. His appearance, mannerism, body language and the way he throws his voice can make a significant difference in impacting the audience, their attitude, and performance.
It is a very convenient form of expression and presentation. It is almost instantaneous, quick and least expensive.
(ii) Written Communication
This requires preparation and can be thought out properly before committing in writing. It takes time and is expensive. However, it is more accurate and is the norm for technical, legal and most diplomatic communications.
With an increase in the size of organizations, their complexity, and dynamism, many times written communication is the only way to communicate. With technological advancement in our ability to send/receive emails, fax messages, short messaging service (SMS) on mobile phones, instant messaging etc, written messages have become very common and popular.
Ability to send online reports across continents has won the race against time and distance. It is significantly influencing the way people shall do business in the twenty-first century.

Information as a one-way process

Information as a one-way process

Information flow is another related process. Information is knowledge; it comes from the processing of raw data which records the events as they take place in every minuscule of an organization or an institution. Knowledge is power. The flow of information is considered to be an extremely powerful tool at the disposal of men at all levels of a business enterprise.
However, the difference between communication and information flows must be understood clearly. Whereas communication is a two-way process, information is a one-way process. It is, therefore, half of the process. Yet it is used very extensively in organizations. As businesses grow in size, complexity, and dynamics, it is very difficult to ensure two-way process all the time. Much of the time, information flows one way – downwards, upwards or horizontal along formal lines of command. These lines of command become the channels of information flows and serve as the cornerstones of communication, coordination, and control.

Communication as a two-way process

Communication as a two-way process

Communication is a complete process - it starts with communicators sending messages to receivers, the „communicates‟. An experienced sender of the message, whether oral or written, would think of the audience as his customer. He would try to gauge or guess the kind of level of communication the receiver is comfortable with. Thereafter, he would craft his message in a manner and in the language, words, phrases, and idioms that the receiver is familiar with. Each receiver of the message is really a customer whose needs and wants should be as well known to the sender as it happens in a marketplace. Obviously, like the sender who chooses words, phrases, and idioms from his vocabulary depending on own learning, experience and exposure, the receiver also has his own mental filter that is the product of his learning, experience, and exposure. To absorb the message in his mind, he does the abstraction of the message into words, phrases, and idioms that he is familiar with or has command over. This leads to his formulating his response to the message received. Once again, it goes through the mind filter and ultimately comes out of the communicatee and starts its return journey to the sender of the message. It conveys back what is understood by the receiver.
A sensitive speaker is able to judge the reaction of his audience from the gestures, sounds, and expressions of the audience – the way they sit, the way they yawn or the way they twitter their fingers etc. It is thus a complete cycle because it is a two-way process. Until the full process has been gone through the process of communication is considered to be incomplete.