INTRODUCTION TO COMMUNICATION SKILLS

INTRODUCTION TO COMMUNICATION

Introduction: Communication is a very important feature of all aspects of life. Every human being,regardless
of occupation, responsibility, authority, station in life, age or gender needs to communicate. It is, therefore,
necessary that we are able to communicate effectively.
Definition:

1. Communication is an exchange of facts, ideas, opinions or emotions by two or more persons (W.H.
Norman & Summer)
2. Communication is common understanding through communion of minds and hearts.
3. The English word ‘communication’ is derived from a Latin word “communis” which means
‘common’.
4. Communication is the sharing of information
5. Communication is the giving and receiving of messages
6. Communication is the transfer of information from one or more people to one or more other people
7. Communication is the activity of conveying meaningful information. Communication requires a
sender, a message, and an intended recipient, although the receiver need not be present or aware of the
sender's intent to communicate at the time of communication; thus communication can occur across vast
distances in time and space. Communication requires that the communicating parties share an area of
communicative commonality. The communication process is complete once the receiver has understood
the message.
8. The process by which meaning is exchanged between individuals through a common system of
symbols, signs, or behavior.
9. the imparting or exchanging of information by speaking, writing, or using some other medium:
10. the act or process of using words, sounds, signs, or behaviors to express or exchange information or
to express your ideas, thoughts, feelings, etc., to someone else
11. Two-way process of reaching mutual understanding, in which participants not only exchange
(encode-decode) information, news, ideas and feelings but also create and share meaning.
12. Any act by which one person gives to or receives from another person information about that person's
needs, desires, perceptions, knowledge, or affective states. Communication may be intentional or
unintentional, may involve conventional or unconventional signals, may take linguistic or nonlinguistic
forms, and may occur through spoken or other modes."
13. The process of sending and receiving messages through verbal or nonverbal means--speech (oral
communication), writing (written communication), signs, signals, or behavior.

Context - Communication is affected by the context in which it takes place. This context may be physical,
social, chronological or cultural. Every communication proceeds with context. The sender chooses the
message to communicate within a context.

Summary: No matter the type or mechanism of communication, every instance of communication must have
a message that is being transferred from sender to receiver. In order for communication to be successful, the
sender and receiver must have some signs symbols, words or signals in common with each other so the sent
message can be understood. The ideal definition of communication is a two-way interaction between two parties
to transmit information and mutual understanding between themselves. The interchange of
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information from one party to another is best communicated when a discussion is available so the receiver can
ask questions and receive answers to clarify the message.

Note: The terms ‘Communication’ and ‘effective communication’ are distinctly different. One can
communicate without effectively communicating the message. The main goal of communication is to ensure that
there is effective communication.

PURPOSE OF COMMUNICATION
Why communicate?
Effective communication is achieved when we speak, write or express ourselves through body actions; visual
symbols to achieve the intended purpose. When we write, speak, persuade, inform, entertain, explain, convince
or educate, we strive to achieve one or more of the following objectives:
✓ To be heard and to be understood
✓ To read and comprehend
✓ To be acceptable
✓ To have action taken

As noted above, we always have an objective when communicating. Effective communication will also enable
you to:

▪ Get the job you want

▪ Boost your chances for promotion
▪ Help others get things done
▪ Benefit your business
▪ Improve your grades,
▪ Advance socially
▪ Ensure a bright future
▪ Enhance other skills
▪ Helping others get ahead

Successful and effective communication within an organization stems from the implementation of the
communication process. All members within an organization will improve their communication skills if they
follow the communication process, and stay away from the different barriers. It has been proven that individuals
who understand the communication process will blossom into more effective communicators, and effective
communicators have a greater opportunity for becoming successful.

Why Good Communication Skills? Good communication skills are skills that facilitate people to communicate
effectively with one another. Effectual communication engages the choice of the best communications channel,
the technical know-how to use the channel, the presentation of information to the target audience, and the skill
to understand responses received from others. Self development, interpersonal skills, mutual understanding,
mutual cooperation and trust are also important to set a complete channel of most effective and winning
communication skills.

There are mainly three types of communication skills, expressive skills, listening skills and skills for managing
the overall process of communication. The basic fundamental of all these types of communication is emotional
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skills.

Expressive skills are required to convey message to others through words, facial expressions and bodylanguage.
Listening skills are skills that are used to obtain messages or information from others. These help to clearly
understand what a person feels and thinks about you or understand the other person closely. Skills for managing
the overall process of communication help to recognize the required information and develop a strong hold on
the existing rules of communication and interaction.

Importance of communication skills can never be ignored or neglected. These skills are the key to executing
good management skills. With good management skills, you can have a team of members who together create
an ambience of open communication, concise messages, probe for clarifications, recognize nonverbal signals,
and mutual understanding. Good communication involves a set of complex skills.

The modern world today, calls for high scale effective communication skills in order to win the heavy
competition in all spheres of life. For effective communication, a sender transmits his or her message in a clear
and organized form to maintain and promote the need and interest of the receivers. Receivers or listeners show
interest only if the person communicating is loaded with confidence, gestures and softness. Apart from
management professionals, good communication skills are also required at all stages of life.

EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION

Definition of Effective Communication

➢ Effective communication is a process through which the sender conveys a message that the receiver
readily receives and understands. It is a two-way process instead of a one-way process.
➢ A two way information sharing process which involves one party sending a message that is easily
understood by the receiving party. Effective communication by business managers facilitates
information sharing between company employees and can substantially contribute to its commercial
success.

Effective communication is the process through which a message is passed to the intended recipient and it
is understood by him or her, thus eliciting the required response. It involves the use of body language, gestures,
listening skills and emotional awareness

What is the Importance of Effective Communication in Organizations?

The Importance of Effective Communication in organizations:

Effective communication is a basic prerequisite for the attainment of organisational goals. No organisation, no
group can exist without communication.

Co-ordination of work is impossible and the organisation will collapse for lack of communication. Co-
operation also becomes impossible because people cannot communicate their needs and feelings to others.

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Every act of communication influences the organisation in some way or other. It is a thread that holds the various
interdependent parts of an organisation together. When it stops, organisation activity ceases to exist. An idea,
however great it is, is useless until it is transmitted and understood by others.

When communication is effective, it tends to encourage better performance and job satisfaction. People
understand their jobs better and feel more involved in them.

It is through effective communication that an executive ultimately gets work done by others. Therefore, a
successful executive must know the art of communication. Moreover, communication is a means whereby the
employee can be properly motivated to execute company plans enthusiastically. It is the means by which
behaviour is modified, change is effected and goals are achieved.

The first executive function is to develop and maintain a system of effective communication-the tool for
understanding. It is commonly said that what nerves are to human organism, communications are to an industrial
system.

Since management has been described as getting works done by people, it is necessary to communicate what the
management wishes to accomplish by the various tasks which the organisation has undertaken.

Communication is also an intramanagement problem. It is the force that binds the people of an organisation
together. Through communication they can attain a common viewpoint and understanding and co-operate to
accomplish organisational objectives.

Good communication presupposes a two-way flow of information from the top down and from the bottom up
(ie downward and upward communication). It can be compared to a mighty river on the banks of which business
life is built.

McGregor sees all communication as a major factor in influencing others. All social interactions involve
communication. In organisation communication is a two-way traffic whereby objectives, orders and policiesare
transmitted downward and desires and dissatisfactions are transmitted upward.

A successful executive should have the ability to receive, analyse and transmit information in motivating his
subordinates in the right direction. Thus effective communication is a skill of management.

Communication is the link between knowledge and information. Possession of knowledge is of no use until it
is converted into information. Hence, knowledge alone is not adequate for managerial success; what is required
is knowledge plus ability to communicate accurately.

The popular saying ‘knowledge is power’ should be modified to ‘applied knowledge is power.’ And to apply,
it requires effective communication.

In organisation communication transmits orders for work, aids in doing the work, buying raw materials and in
advertising and selling the product. It is the means used to hire, fire, promote, praise, urge, censure, persuade
and so on.

Communication plays a major role in dealing with employer employee relation problems, employee productivity,
in short, with all human relations matters. Bad communication is often the root cause of many problems. Secrecy
breeds rumours and a hush-hush attitude breeds harmful rumours.

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As far as possible, management should supply all relevant information to employees. The employees of an
organisation have great curiosity to know what the company is going to do with, say computers or bonus or DAs.

If the management does not provide information, the employees will concoct information through grape vine
rumours which may have damaging results for the company. In order to avoid such problems, it is the duty of
the management to supply all the relevant information through appropriate media at the right time.

Communication is not confined solely to employees. Management must communicate with its customers,
owners, the community as well as its prospective and present employees. But our discussion is restricted to
interpersonal communication and the organisational communication process.

Why Learn Effective Communication? The ability to communicate effectively is an art that can be used in
many areas of your life, from employment and education to parenting and relationships. An effective
communicator takes into account the audience or listener receiving the message and communicates accordingly.

Effectively Communicating Your Message To effectively communicate a message, you must understand how
a receiver will process your message. It is important to include visuals, auditory effects as well as kinesthetic
information (the interpretation of body language such as facial expressions and gestures — or, more formally,
non-verbal behavior related to movement, either of any part of the body or the body as a whole) to appeal to the
widest range of listeners.
Knowing Your Audience If you want to know details about your audience, send out a survey asking specific
questions about age, interests, type of job performed, whether a parent or not. This information can assist you
with formulating the message you will be sharing.
Paying Attention to Nonverbal Cues Effective communication means also paying attention to the nonverbal
cues of the receiver. People who are listening attentively will often give you eye contact or a gesture such as a
smile or a nod of the head to let you know they are listening.
Removing Barriers to Communication Remove barriers to communicating your message. For example, do not
think about what happened right before you arrived to speak, whether it is a flat tyre or whether you received
bad news. Focus all of your attention on the receiver and deliver the message in a way that he will understand.

Effects of Negative Communication in the Workplace:

Common elements of negative communication include rumors, misinformation, misinterpretation, incomplete

information and employee slander. While many of the elements are purposely initiated -- for example,employee
slander(grapevine) other elements occur without any intent of malice, such as unknowingly relaying incomplete
information. Communication is essential for maintaining a productive workplace. By understanding the effects
of negative communication in the workplace, you can develop policies that help to decrease the problem and
encourage positive communication.

(a) Conflict. A negative side effect to negative communication is workplace conflict. When one employee
spreads false rumors about another staff member, the result can often be a verbal or physical altercation
between the two parties. But conflict resulting from negative communication is often not that
straightforward. For example, if an administrative assistant relays instructions from her manager that are
incomplete, but she does not realize they are incomplete, then any anger resulting from the incomplete
instructions would be directed at the assistant, but she would not understand why the conflict started.
(b) Morale. Negative communication, whether intended or not, can have an effect on staff morale. Persistent
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 intended negative communication can add stress to the workplace that makes it difficult to develop a
productive work environment. Unintentional negative communication can be forgiven up toa point, but
when it becomes habitual, it can lead to a drop in staff confidence in the company.
(c) Structure. When there is a culture of negative communication in the workplace, it tends to have an
effect on organizational structure. Communication between departments and other parts of the

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 company breaks down because the negative communication has degraded organizational
communication to the point where it is no longer functional. This will leave departments and work
groups on their own to answer their own questions and develop their own methods of getting the job
done. In the end, the structure of the organization starts to break down.
(d) Recovery An atmosphere of negative communication can be extremely difficult for a workplace to
recover from. Intentional and unintentional negative communication erodes trust, and it pervades
discourse to the point where information must be checked several times before it is acted upon. The
longer negative communication is allowed to degrade the quality of communication and teamwork in
the workplace, the longer it takes for the workplace to recover and become productive.

ELEMENTS OF COMMUMUNICATION

For effective communication to take place, the following elements MUST be present:
- Sender: The sender initiates communication
- Message: The message is what the sender communicates to the receiver
- Channel: This is the means used to transmit the message from the sender to the receiver.
- Receiver – the recipient of the message
- Feedback: this is the response the sender gets from the receiver

Communication Situations: Communication situations are often classified in either of the following:
(a) Formal Communication: Formal communication situations typically have a determined set of behavior
that is expected of communicators. They are usually characterized by how people are expected to
behave, dress, the manners they are expected to display and what they discuss. Thismeans there are
set rules that must be strictly followed.
(b) Informal Communication: Informal communication has fewer or no rules and, of course, very few
expectations. Informal communication occurs without any planning and in many cases outside the
formal circles. Discussions, clothing are more relaxed and a wide range of unplanned topics are covered.

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