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Communication Process
Copyright Daria Borovko
Communication process model
Communication process can be defined as a process of message transmission from a sender to a receiver in understandable way. It is very important to master communication skills in our professional as well as personal lives.
The communication process model is shown in the Figure 1.
Figure 1. Communication process (Source: GUFFEY, Mary Ellen and LOWELY, Dana. Essentials of Business Communication. 9th edition. Mason, USA: Cengage Learning, 2013. p.10)
Communication process consists of five key steps:
- Idea formation
- Message encoding
- Message transmission (through communication channel)
- Message decoding
- Feedback (not necessarily present in a communication process)
Further, we will consider each step separately.
A sender (individual, group or organization) is the one who initiates the communication process. It usually starts when the sender generates an idea of the message he/she would like to communicate to a receiver.
The next step of communication is message encoding process. Encoding here means converting the sender’s idea into words and/or gestures with the purpose to convey its meaning to the receiver. In case of verbal communication, the main problem is the tendency of some words to have different meaning for different people.
It is important to remember that the idea creation and encoding process are influenced by professional and cultural background, his/her knowledge, experience, and skills, as well as the context of the situation and mood.
Then the encoded message is sent to the receiver through communication channel. The communication channel is a medium for transmitting the message. The channels are usually oral (talk, oral report, telephone talk, etc.) and written (letter, e-mail, fax, etc.). Although with current technology development, visual channels (like video conferences and presentations) became widely used.
The effectiveness and efficiency of various channels depends on the characteristics of a communication. When immediate feedback is necessary, it is useful to choose oral communication channels. On the other side, when reaching several recipients, using e-mail or other written channel is more appropriate.
For choosing the right communication channel the sender should ask him/herself different questions, like:
- Is the message urgent?
- Is immediate feedback needed?
- Is documentation or a permanent record required?
- Is the content complicated, controversial, or private?
- Is the message going to someone inside or outside the organization?
- What oral and written communication skills does the receiver possess? (Source: SANCHEZ, Nick. Communication Process. Lecture. Available on < http://web.njit.edu/~lipuma/352comproc/comproc.htm>)
When the message is transmitted to the receiver the decoding stage of the communication process begins. Decoding process involves accepting and interpreting the message by the receiver. Successful communication takes place when the receiver correctly understands the meaning of sender's message. This is very hard to achieve, not only due to noises in communication channels, but primarily due sender and the receiver having various backgrounds, knowledge, experience, etc.
Feedback is the final stage of the communication process. It can take either verbal (spoken comment) or written (written message), or non-verbal (smile, sigh, etc.) form. The feedback is very important component of communication process, because it allows the sender to evaluate whether the message was interpreted correctly by the receiver or not. The sender can also encourage feedback from the receiver by asking questions, such as "Is what I said clear for you?", "Do you understand what I meant by...?" etc.
Usually no participant of the communication (neither the sender, nor the receiver) understands and controls all five components of sematic structure. The speaker can clarify his/her motivation and knows the meaning of individual words he/she uses, but can’t define properly the meaning of the message, perceived by the receiver and effect of the communication on him/her.
The receiver, on the other hand, subjectively interprets meanings of the words and sentences. So, the result can be different from the sender’s idea. Additionally, the receiver doesn’t have to understand an effect the communication has on him/her, especially in the beginning of the communication process. Sometimes only after the effect accumulates by aggregating several messages carrying similar meaning, the receiver realizes the impact communication has on him/her.
Semantic aspects of interpersonal communication
There are defined two aspects of interpersonal communication:
- Factual – factual content of communication, information expressed in words
- Attitudinal – person’s attitude towards the things which he/she talks about; attitude to the person he/she speaks with; his/her current feelings, self- perception.
People usually don’t express their attitudes verbally. So, they are usually communicated indirectly through non-verbal expressions.
Although the factual side of the communication should be primary in business relationships, the attitudinal aspects are something that cannot be ignored in a workplace. An atmosphere in a workplace significantly affects quality of employees work and the efficiency of the organization. Mutual understanding of attitudinal aspects is very important for overall functioning of communication process within the organization.
Here are examples of attitudinal aspects we should communicate within the organization:
An attitude towards things:
“I believe in what I say.”
An attitude to the person with whom we speak:
“It is nice to work with you.”
“I respect you.”
Self-perception:
“I am an expert.”
“I am a person who can be trusted.”
“I am here to cooperate.”
Control questions
- Name and describe forms of communication.
- Describe communication process model.
- Describe semantic structure of a communication process.
- What are the semantic aspects of interpersonal communication? Name and describe them.
- Think about the reasons for communication failures. How can we prevent them?
Bibliography
GUFFEY, Mary Ellen and LOWELY, Dana. Essentials of Business Communication. 9th edition. Mason, USA: Cengage Learning, 2013. 592 p.
SANCHEZ, Nick. Communication Process. Lecture. Available on .
LUKÁŠOVÁ, Růžena. Komunikace ve správních činnostech ÚSC: Průběžné vzdělávání úředníků ÚSC. Učební text. Brno, CZ: Masarykova Univerzita, 2006. 46 p. Available on .
Emphasize the essential
Distinguish the main information from details and less important parts of the message – emphasize the essential. Your speech will be clearer for the message recipients, they will understand and remember better. Also the impression left after the dialogue will be better.
Be correct
Be correct: strictly distinguish facts from opinions and assumptions. Give facts as facts and your views as your views (“in my opinion ...” ), assumptions as assumptions (“I think that ... “ ).
Adjust yourself
Choice of words may essentially affect whether the others understand or not. Professional terminology is usually a very precise and accurate language for situations at work. However, it can be only effective if your communication partner knows the professional terms properly. If not, you have to choose a language of a common user. There is one important rule – adjust the language of your message to the information recipient.
You should also adjust the tempo of your speech to the message recipient. People usually like to listen to a speech in the tempo they use themselves. If your tempo is considerably different from your communication partners’ tempo, they will feel uncomfortable. Moreover, if the message recipient’s personal tempo is slow and yours is fast, their impression of you will not be favourable and, mainly, they will not be able to follow.
Ask questions, verify their comprehension
If you want to be sure that the listeners have understood your message as you meant it, verify their comprehension. It is mainly important when you are setting a task to do, delegating rights, etc. It is not enough to ask: “Do you understand?” This question is often answered by a simple “yes” without your colleague really understanding. The questions need to be entirely specific, or you can ask your colleague or subordinate to say what they are going to do or repeat what you have agreed on.
Never assume that your colleagues would ask if they did not understand. Sometimes they may not be motivated to do so, sometimes they are afraid to be embarrassed, sometimes they even do not know they did not understand well or missed a piece of important information.
However, it is necessary to verify comprehension even in the case you are the listener. Not everybody can communicate clearly and comprehensibly and if you want to prevent troubles it is up to you to provide the clarity. For this you can use control questions or paraphrasing, e.g., “Do I understand well that you mean ...?” or “Are you of the opinion that the most suitable solution is ...?” , etc. The answer to your control question will be a confirmation or precision of what has been said.
Control questions
- Name the general rules of effective verbal communication. Explain the meaning of each rule.
