Communication Process
Hypothesis The following hypothesis is used as a logical approach for completion of the essay. A hypothesis is used in order to identify all the key elements of the essay in a logical and a systematic order. The hypothesis is as follows; “Is effective communication more about identifying and overcoming barriers to communication? What is the nature of effective communication? ” Based on the above hypothesis, I have listed the following key elements. 1. Communication 1. Communication process 2. Types of communication 3. Importance of communication 2.
How communication can influence an organization? 3. Effective & ineffective communication 1. What is effective communication? 2. Importance of effective communication 3. What is ineffective communication? 4. How both effective and ineffective communication affects an organization? 4. Identifying & overcoming communication barriers 1. Barriers to effective communication 2. How to overcome barriers to communication? 1. Introduction “Communication is the use of verbal and non-verbal communication between people trying to create shared meaning. ” (Yoder, Hugenberg & Wallace 1996)
Throughout the history of mankind, their uniqueness in communication has become the key element in their success to become the most developed and well organized living beings among thousands of others. It is no different when comes to the corporate world, better the communication process that an organization posses, better the performances they achieve in today’s competitive world. So it has become vital for an organization to keep its communication process as effectively as possible in order achieve its organizational goals in a both effective and efficient manner.
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So the following essay was prepared with the intention of giving the readers a better understanding and a clear view of what is effective communication and what makes the communication a process an effective one. 2. 0 What is communication? Communication is where two or more people will transfer information, feelings, ideas and opinions between or among each others. 2. 1 The communication process This is the standard model of a communication process. This process always takes place between two parties.
Sender – The starting point of the communication process, sender will encode the message Message – The information which is sent to the receiver. Channel – Is the medium which transfers the message from the sender to the receiver. Barriers – Barriers are the distortions which make the message not to be conveyed as intended. Receiver – The person who’s at the end of the process and who’ll decode the message Feedback – It will be the final step of the communication process where receiver sends a message as reply to the sender. 2.
Types of communication Different forms of communication media like televisions, radios are used by people in order to communicate information,opinions, etc, among each others. The most primitive ways of communication are by body language,speaking,sign language and eye contact. All of those communication methods can be broadly divided in to two main types. Those two types of communication are as follows. • Verbal communication • Non verbal communication 1. Verbal communication Verbal communication includes sounds, words, language and speaking.
When it comes to business, verbal communication is very important for the reason being that you are dealing with a variety of people through out the day. In some cases you may deal with people who have different culture, ages and with different levels of experience. Fluent verbal communication is essential to deal with people in business meetings. Business communication self-confidence plays a vital role which when matched with fluent communication skills. 2. Non verbal communication
Non-verbal communication involves physical ways of communication, like, tone of the voice, touch, smell and body motion. Symbols and sign language are also included in non-verbal communication. Body language is a non-verbal way of communication. Body posture and physical contact convey a lot of information. Body posture matters a lot when you are communicating verbally to someone. Folded arms and crossed legs are some of the signals conveyed by a body posture. Physical contact, like, shaking hands, pushing, patting and touching expresses the feeling of intimacy.
Facial expressions, gestures and eye contact are all different ways of communication. 3. Importance of communication Every action a person or an organization takes is mostly based on the information available; to perform that specific action as intended, relevant information will be required. Even after performing the act, the party which performed it will need a feedback to identify whether the performed act bore the intended results. So it is clear that, without communication, none of those would be possible. 3. 0 Involvement of communication in an organization.
For an organization to run smoothly, it has to have a well structured communication process inside its own. According to Kondrat (2009), Communication is the “lifeblood” of every organization. A vital means of attending to company concerns is through effective internal communication. Decision making is the most vital activity in an organization, to make decisions, to implement them and to reassess those decisions, organizational management will require relevant information. As discussed previously to have better information, better communication among all layers is required.
So it is evident that, better the communication inside the organization, better the decision it makes and also better the results. 3. 1 Formal communication channels Formal channels are used within an organization in order to make the flow of information smoother among all levels in the chain of command. In the general aspect, there are three main communication flows within an organization. Those are downward, upward and horizontal communication. 3. 1. 1 Downward communication It is the communication flow which is used by managers in an organization mainly to give orders and instructions.
In a downward communication, the information flow will be from top to bottom, where managers will send messages to their subordinates. Those messages will include implementation of managerial decisions such as goals, plans and strategies, job instructions, rationale, procedures, practices, performance feedbacks, etc. 3. 1. 2 Upward communication Under this channel, information flow will be from the lower levels to the higher levels. Upward communication is more popular in learning organizations, where the lower levels of employees do get involved in the decision making process by giving their suggestions.
Upward communication can be helpful in problem solving as the parties who are actually involved in the problem can give their point of view to the higher management. 3. 1. 3 Horizontal communication In horizontal communication, parties which are in the same level will communicate with each others. (e. g. inter departmental) This can be helpful to coordinate activities and request support. 3. 2 Informal communication channel These are the communication channels which are not authorized as formal communication channels and it doesn’t have a clear pattern of the hierarchical levels included.
Literally an informal communication channel is a channel which can connect anyone in the organization. Examples for informal communication channels • Management by walking around (MBWA) • Grapevine 4. 0 Effective and Ineffective communication As the topic of this essay relates, achieving effective communication is vital. So before discussing about methods of achieving effective communication, it is more sensible to discuss what is meant by effective communication and what is meant by ineffective communication. 4. 1 What is effective communication?
The communication process can be recognized as an effective one, when the receiver decodes and understand the message as intended by the sender. Furthermore, a proper feedback from the receiver to the sender will also facilitate effective communication. 4. 2 Importance of effective communication Effective communication skills is most likely to prevent conflicts and solve current conflicts it is learnt that through effective means of communication people can negotiate and arrive at possible solutions. The benefits of effective communication are many as they enhance all aspects of personal and professional lives. . 3 What is ineffective communication? This is a process by which the meaning the receiver attaches to a message may be completely different to the message intended by the sender. So it is evident that the basic concept of communication, which is sharing ideas and information among each other will be broken down if ineffective communication takes place. 4. 4 Importance of effective communication to an organization According to Panse (2009), Most companies and organizations have people working in small teams.
This has been found to be more effective and productive than a single individual toiling away at a project. When you have three or four more people working on an issue, you have the advantage of having access to more ideas and solutions for the project, of having more checking safeguards against any flaws in the plan, and of being able to establish more network connections. A group is also more likely to take on and complete large-scale, complex projects. For the team to operate smoothly there must be open and efficient communication between the members of the team
Team communication is important for the following reasons - • Project-related information needs to be shared. • Each member of the team needs to be acquainted with the team goal and his/her role in the team. • Effective and open communication lines create feelings of trust and of belonging to the team. The more the members feel valued the more dedicated they are likely to be, and this in turn makes it easier for the team as a whole to achieve its goals. 4. 5 Affects of ineffective communication on an organization Ineffective communication hampers organizational success.
This can also be seen as miscommunication. In an organization ineffective communication can occur due to many reasons. So it is important as a manager to curb these issues and create an effective communication channel. Ineffective communication leads to conflict within the organization and lead to distortion of information and this misunderstanding between department and individuals. Lack of effective communication may lead to a breakdown in interactions between employees in the organization. 5. Identifying and overcoming communication barriers.
As discussed under the communication process, communication barriers are universal for any type of communication. In the perspective of an organization, barriers to communication can be divided into two main categories as individual barriers and organizational barriers. 5. 1 Individual barriers – Individual barriers are fatigue, poor listening skills, attitude toward the sender or the information, lack of interest in the message, fear, mistrust, past experiences, negative attitude, problems at home, lack of common experiences, and emotions. . 2 Organizational barriers – One of the major organizational barriers is the high power distance between low and high level employees. Due to this subordinates will not share sensitive information with their superiors as a result of the fear of facing negative reactions from the top management towards them. Poorly structured organizational channels will also active as an organizational barrier towards communication. 5. 3 Methods of overcoming barriers • Using constructive feedback Training employees to involve active listening when they communicate • Training employees to constraint their emotions • Eliminating differences in perception • Proper communication channel selection By using some or all of the methods mentioned above, an organization can reduce the impact done by communication barriers. 6. Conclusion In conclusion under the current situation, effective communication has universally become mandatory in order to achieve success. According to Kondrat (2009), Communication is the “lifeblood” of every organization.
A vital means of attending to company concerns is through effective internal communication. If a manager is able to communicate their ideas clearly, so that employees definitely know what is asked of them, the subordinates will, consequently, perform their jobs correspondingly. On contrast, an aggressive way of managing reports results in employees’ getting more and more frustrated often guessing what their real faults are To achieve effective communication, one must have a clear understanding about the communication process and how it functions.
On the other hand, having a thorough understanding about the communication process will not help to build up effective communication. So it is wiser to find out what factors make communication effective. As discussed above, what make a communication process ineffective are the communication barriers. When those barriers are in place, they can disrupt the communication process in a huge manner. Those barriers will make, encoding and decoding the message hard. If it happens, the message will not be sent and received as intended.
So then the whole communication process will become ineffective, as the sole reason for the process’ existence relies on conveying the intended message properly. This proves that identifying and overcoming communication barriers are important to have effective communication. Understanding the communication process will definitely help to make communication effective, but it will not eradicate the main obstacles for effective communication, which are the communication barriers.
So it is now very clear that identifying and overcoming the communication barriers are far more important for effective communication than understanding the communication process. 7. References Communication Skills-Start Here, (1995). Retrieved on April 30, 2010 from http://www. mindtools. com/CommSkll/CommunicationIntro. html Management Skills Resources, (2009). Retrieved on May 1, 2010 from http://www. bizmove. com/skills/m8g. htm Maya Pillai, (n. d). Barriers to effective Communication, Retrieved on May 1, 2010 from http://www. buzzle. om/articles/barriers-to-effective-communication. html Mortensen (1998) Communication Models, Retrieved on May 1, 2010 from http://www. shkaminski. com/Classes/Handouts/Communication%20Models. htm Overcoming Communication Barriers, (n. d) , Retrieved on May 1, 2010 from http://managementstudyguide. com/overcoming-communication-barriers. htm Sonal Panse, (2009). Effective team communication. Retrieved on May 1, 2010, from http://www. buzzle. com/articles/small-group-communication-effective-team-communication. html ----------------------- Feedback Barriers Receiver Message Sender
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