UNIT 01

COMMUNICATION AS ASKILL :TYPES OF COMMUNICATION ,BARRIERS TO

COMMUNICATION ,NEED FOR EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION

COMMUNICATION SKILLS
Communication is the life blood of social as well as corporate world. We
exist because we communicate.Even our scilence communicates a lot.
Communication is derived from the Latin word ‘communis’ which means ‘to
share’. Briefly communication can be defined as,”the act of transmitting
and receiving information.”
DEFINITION:
1.According to Keith Davis - “Communication is a process of passing
information and understanding one person to another.”
2.According to W.H. Newman – “Communication is an exchange of facts,
ideas, opinion or emotions by two or more persons.”
COMMUNICATION CYCLE
COMMUNICATION CYCLE
Communication is the process of information between individual and
organizations. In every communication situation there are two parties a
sender and a receiver. Sender transmit a message, he expects a response.
The observation of receiver’s response is called feedback. The whole
process involves in a cyclic manner. This cycle is called Communication
Cycle.
ELEMENTS OF COMMUNICATION CYCLE
• SENDER - Who sends message to receiver.
• MESSAGE - Verbal or non-verbal information, feeling or emotions.
• CHANNEL - The medium through which message is sent to the
receiver.
• RECIVER - One who receives message from sender.
• FEEDBACK - The receiver’s response or non-response to the message.
• BRAIN DRAIN - It is the misunderstanding of message at any level of
communication cycle.
COMMUNICATION PROCESS
Communication has been defined as a process. The process gets started as
soon as we decide to convey a fact, an idea, an emotion or an opinion to
others. The transmission of the senders’ idea to the receiver & the
receiver’s feedback or reaction to the sender constitute the
communication cycle.
STEPS TO COMMUNICATION PROCESS
• SENDER: Sender is the person who intends to make contact with the
objective of passing the message to other person.
• MESSAGE: It is the subject matter of the communication which is
intended to be passed to the receiver from the sender. The message may be
in the form of suggestions, orders, idea, opinions, views, feelings.
• ENCODING: Since the subject-matter of communication is abstract &
intangible, its transmission requires the use of certain symbols such as
words, pictures, gesture. This process of converting the message in to
communication symbols in known as encoding.
• CHANNEL: The message encoded into symbols is transmitted by the
sender through a channel like written form, personal contact, phone call
etc.
• RECEIVER: Receiver is the person to whom the symbols are
transmitted.
• DECODING: Decoding is the reverse of encoding. The receiver
receives the subject matter of communication in the form of
communication, symbols, in which the sender has encoded his messages. The
receiver decodes these symbols into message.
• FEEDBACK: It is necessary to ensure that the receiver has received
the message & understood it in the same sense as the sender intended.
While giving feedback the receiver assumes the role of the sender & the
sender becomes the receiver.
OBJECTIVES OF COMMUNICATION
Communication is a two-way process of exchanging ideas or
information.Communication has some goals to achieve and that is called
objective of communication.Its main objective are:
• Information- The most important objective of communication is the
exchange of information with others. The employees are informed about the
goals, policies and rules. Meetings, telephones, notices, handbook,
bulletins are used to convey necessary information to the employees.
External sources or outsiders are informed about products, policies,
contribution to social responsibilities etc.
• (ii) Orders- An order is a direction to do something. An order is
enforceable because the superior has got power to use sanctions against a
subordinate who refuses to carry out an order or do so in an appropriate
manner. Orders may be oral or written. Sometimes it becomes necessary to
give written orders so that they may not be overrule.
• iii)Education- Business firms train their employees for greater
productivity and educate consumers about the quality and uses of
products. Consumers and general public are also educated.
• (iv) Advice-The managers often give advice to their colleagues and
subordinates on both personal and official matters. Advice involves
personal opinion of the advisor and so may be subjective (biased).The
purpose of offering is to influence the behaviour of the other party.
Advice comes from an expert. .
• (v) Counseling- It is factual and objective (without any bias).The
managers provide counseling to their subordinates when they are under
difficulty or stress. For example, an employee is having some family
problems and is not able to do his job properly. In such a situation,
psychological counseling can help in modifying the behaviour of the
employee under stress and in overcoming his problems. It also helps in
molding employee’s behavior favorably. It will lead to better industrial
relations and go a long way towards achieving greater acceptance of new
ideas. It will also reduce workers’ resistance to change.
• (vi) Persuasion- it means making efforts to change or influence
the behaviour and attitude of others. When employees have to be convinced
of the need for greater efforts, when goods have to be sold despite
competition, when dues have to be collected from an unwilling customer-
all these situation call for persuasive efforts.

• (vii) Suggestion- The person who offers suggestion may or may not
be an expert. A suggestion is usually welcome because accepting a
suggestion is a person’s discretion. Suggestion from employees to
management (that is upward) are encouraged in modern organizations.
Suggestion boxes are placed at some convenient place in the office or the
factory.
• (viii) Motivation- It is the process of inducing people to work
hard for achieving organizational goals. Joint consultation, praise for
outstanding efforts, awarding incentives, certificates etc. help to
improve motivation.
• (ix) Raising Morale- Free flow of communication helps to release
pent up emotions and provide a feeling of reassurance to the staff.

• (x) Warning – It involves informing about the unpleasant and

unfavorable consequences, if certain course of action is not changed.
Certain course of action may be negligence, misbehaving with others. The
purpose is to ask the employee to abide by the rules and regulations and
work with dedication and discipline. Thus , we find communication as the
tool of a well established, a cultured society.
PRINCIPLES OF COMMUNICATION (7 C’S OF COMMUNICATION)
An effective communication is essential in achieving an overall goals of
an organization. It occurs only when the sender obtains his intended
results from the receiver. In a good communication , comprehending is
the goal that is achieved .For making a communication effective the
following principles of communication should be considered which are
as follows :
• Principle of Clarity : The message to be communicated should be
clear, simple and easy to understand .Clarity of thought is the soul of
communication .Selection of words to be used in communication should be
made properly so that the words do not have dual meaning .Jargon and
clichés should be avoided so as to make the communication effective .
• Principle of Completeness : The message should be complete with
respect to thought as well as content .Incomplete content messages
create confusion in the mind of the receiver and forced to seek
clarification from the sender. To ensure completeness , all questions
must be answered and relevant facts must be provided.
• Principle of Conciseness : Ruskin Bond conveys “Say all you have
to say in the fewest possible words .“ It should not contain irrelevant
words and contents . Irrelevant details, repetition of the same ideas and
words should be avoided and the message should be properly organized .
• Principle of Courteousness : Courtesy means a friendly and helpful
behaviour towards others. Congenial and healthy communication helps to
make the communication effective. We should communicate with a friendly
and compassionate and avoid sarcastic nature in our words . Harsh and
rude language must be avoided so as to communicate effectively .
• Principle of Correctness : We should not transmit any message
unless we are sure about the accuracy and authenticity .The message to be
communicated should be correct in spelling ,grammar ,format, contents
,information etc. Delayed and outdated messages cause loss of time and
money . It is often referred as “information delayed is information
denied”.
• Principle of Consistency : The communication should be consistent
with the plans , policies , programme and objectives of the enterprise .
Above all the communication should also be consistent . Inconsistency in
communication may reduce the effectiveness of communication and remains
unreliable too.
• Principle of Candidness : The message to be communicated must be
candid that is it must be straight forward and frank .One should not beat
about the bush while communicating which may amount to active
concealment.
TYPES OF COMMUNICATION IN AN ORGANISATION
DOWNWARD COMMUNICATION:
Downward communication flows from a superior to a subordinate. Orders,
Individual Instruction, Policy Statements, Job-Sheets, Circulars etc.,
fall under downward communication.
The main objective is –
• To give specific directives about the job being entrusted to a
subordinate.
• To explain policies and organization procedures.
• to apprise the subordinate of their performance.
• To give the subordinates information about the rationale of their
job.
Limitations:
• Delay: the lines of communication here being very long,
transmitting information’s to the lowest worker is a time-consuming
process.
• Loss of information: Unless the communication is fully written, it
is not transmitted entirely. A part of it is, almost certain to be lost.
 • Distortion: In long lines of communication information is not only
lost but also distorted. When a piece of information passes from one
individual to another, it loses a little of its authenticity.

UPWARD COMMUNICATION:
If the managers transmit the information down the line of authority, then
they also have to receive information from levels below them.
Limitations:
• Employees are reluctant to express themselves.
• Employees fear that their criticism may be interpreted as a sign of
their personal weakness.
• There is greater possibility to distortion in upward communication,
because superiors lose their cool if they are confronted with criticism
or unpleasant facts. Hence information is suitably edited and distorted
before passing on.
• Sometimes, workers become too bold and bypass their just superiors.
Here the bypassed superiors feel insulated and relation strain & work
suffers.
HORIZONTAL COMMUNICATION
Communication between departments or people on the same level of an
organization may be termed as horizontal communication/lateral
communication. Horizontal communication is most effectively carried on
through oral means. Face-to-face exchange of view or a brief conversation
over telephone is very convenient for horizontal communication.
Periodical meetings among the department heads are also used for oral
communication. Among written means, letters, memos and reports are most
frequently used.
CONSENSUS:
The concept of consensus is quite familiar in the political sphere. Here,
unanimously a group of people arrive at a common conclusion/decision.
Consensus does not imply unanimity, for perfect unanimity is just
impossible. Unanimous decisions helps to project a good image of the
organization.The process of consensus involves consultation. The views of
a number of people are listened carefully and the one on which large
number of people agree is accepted.
INFORMAT TYPES OF COMMUNICATION IN AN ORGANIZATION
GRAPEVINE
Apart from the formal channels of communication there operates in every
organization an informal channels of communication, called the grapevine.
It follows no set lines, nor any definite rules, but spreads like the
grapevine, in any direction, anywhere and very fast.
Here the people at different levels talk to each others regarding
appointments, promotions or even domestic affairs. Information on most of
these matters is supposed to be secret, but somebody or the other
whispers it to other person’s ears & thus the secret is known to
everybody.
According to Prof. Keith Davis, Grapevine is classified into four basic
types: Single strand, Gossip, Probability & Cluster on the basis of its
pattern of movement.
TYPES OF GRAPEVINE
According to Prof. Keith Davis, "the informal channel of communication
is classified
into four basic types: Single strand,
Gossip, Probability & Cluster".
ssSINGLE STRAND - The single strand chain involves the passing of
information through a long line of person to the ultimate recipient. A
tells B, who tells C, who tells D, and so on, till the information has
reached most of the persons concerned.
GOSSIP - In the gossip chain, A actively seeks and tell everyone. The
chain is just like the wheel whare A isat the center and information
passes along the the spokes of the wheel to others stationed on the rim.
PROBABILITY - The probability chain is a random process in which A
transmits the information to others in accordance with the laws of
probability and then these others still others in a similar manner. This
chain may also b called random.
CLUSTER CHAIN – In the cluster chain, A tells selected persons who may in
turn relay the information to other selected individuals. Most of the
informal communication follow this chain.
IMPORTANCE OF GRAPEVINE:
• Safety Valve: It acts as a safety valve for the pent-up emotions of
the subordinates.
• Promotes organizational solidarity.
• If properly used, it may raise the morale of the workers. .
• Supplement to other channels.
• Quick Transmission
• Feedback: The grapevine provides feedback to the management.
Demerits of Grapevine:
• Distortion: One of the major drawbacks of this channel is that it
may spread baseless and distorted news which may prove harmful to the
employees.
• Incomplete Information: The information through grapevine is
usually incomplete, hence there are more chances of misunderstanding &
misinterpretation.
• Damaging Swiftness: The swiftness with which the grapevine
transmits information may be damaging.
To use the grapevine effectively, the managers should adopt these
measures :
• keep an eye on the rumor-mongers, and keep them well informed. so
that harmful rumours do not reach the employees
• It should be used primarily for feedback.
• The management should immediately use the official channel to
contradict the rumours promptly.
• To involve the workers in the decision making process, hence, the
rumour mongers will be frustrated.
Grapevine is the only informal channel in an organisation that is
independent of the constraints of rules and directions and brings forward
both beneficial and disastrous results.

BARRIERS TO COMMUNICATION
Communication is the process of transmitting information. A lack of
understanding about what really transpires in a communication exchange is
a major barrier to good communication. Miscommunication can originate at
three levels: At the level of the transmitter, of the medium and of the
receiver.
1.WRONG CHOICE OF MEDIUM:
While properly chosen medium can add to the effectiveness of a
communication, an unsuitable medium can act as a barrier. So each
communication must be transmitted through an appropriate medium.
2.PHYSICAL BARRIERS:
(a)Noise: Noise is quite often a barrier to communication. Noise here can
be loud noise of machines, blaring, physical interferences like illegible
handwriting smudged copies, poor telephone connections etc.
(b)Time & distance: Time & distance act as a barrier to the smooth flow
of communication. Use of telephones along with computer technology has
made communication very fast & has overcome the space barrier. However
mechanical breakdown render these facilities ineffective. Here, the
distance between the receiver & transmitter becomes a might barrier.
There is also a kind of communication gap between person working in
different shifts. Faulty seating arrangement in a room can also become a
barrier in effective communication.
3.SEMANTIC BARRIERS:
Any barriers due to language result in semantic problem i.e. different
meaning being given to same word by different person is called semantic
barrier.
(a)Interpretation of words:If the receiver of message does not assign the
same meaning to a word as the transmitter had intended.This causes a
miscommunication or barrier to communication.
(b)bypassed instruction:Bypassing is said to have occurred if the sender
and receiver of the message attribute different meanings to the same word
or use different word for the same meaning.
4.DIFFERENT COMPREHENSION TO REALITY
The reality of an object, a person or an event is different to different
people. Reality is not a fixed concept; it is complex, infinite and
continually changing. Besides, each human being has limited sensory
perceptions & a unique mental filter. No two persons perceive reality in
identical manner. This may sometimes lead to miscommunication.
(a)Abstracting: It is defined as a process of focusing attention on some
details & omitting others. This poses a great barrier to communication,
for details which look important to one persons may look insignificant to
others. We don’t make allowances for these difference & misunderstanding
arises.
(b)Slanting: It is giving a particular bias to reality. It is in a way
similar to allness. Here we know only a part & are ignorant of the rest,
but we think that we know the whole. To overcome this, we should try to
be objective in our observations & assessments, & try to avoid the
mistake of judging the whole by what might be only a fraction.
(c)Inferring: It means coming at a decision from observation. Hence a
wrong inference can be a barrier to communication. So while drawing
inferences, we should distinguish between facts & assumption & make sure
that our inferences are based on verifiable facts.
5.SOCIO-PSYCHOLOGICAL BARRIERS
(a)Attitudes & Opinions: Personal attitudes & opinions often act as
barrier to effective communication. If an information disagrees with our
views, we don’t accept it & react unfavourably. e.g. A change in policy
of an organization proves advantageous to an employee, he welcome it, if
not, he consider it a whim of the director.
(b)Emotion: Emotional state of mind plays an important role in the act of
communication. if the sender is perplexed, worried, excited, afraid,
nervous, his thinking will be blurred or he will not be able to organize
his message properly. It is extremely important that emotions are not
allowed to impede the smooth flow of communication.
(c)Closed mind: A person with a closed mind is very difficult to
communicate with. He is a man with deeply ingrained prejudices. He is not
prepared to reconsider his opinions. Such a persons is not open to
conviction & persuasion.
(d)Status consciousness: It exists in every organization and is one of
the major barriers to communication. subordinates are afraid to
communicate upward any unpleasant information. They are either too
conscious of their status or are afraid. Status conscious superior think
that consulting their juniors would be compromising their dignity.
(e)Source of communication: If the receiver has a suspicion or prejudices
about the source of communication, there is likely to be barrier to
communication. People tend to react according to their attitude to the
source of facts than to the facts themselves.
(f)Inattentiveness: People often become inattentive while receiving a
message, particularly if the message contains a new idea, for the adult
human mind usually resists change. It also threatens security and
stability.
(g)Faulty transmission: A message is never communicated from one person
to another wholly or entirely. This is true to the case of oral messages.
In the process of translation, interpretation, simplification etc. a part
of the message gets lost or distorted.
(h)Poor retention: Poor retention of communication also acts as a
barrier. Studies show that employees retain only about 50% of the
information communicated to them. The rest is lost. Poor retention may
lead to imperfect responses, which further hampers the communication
process. Oral messages in particular are lost due to poor human
retention.
(i)Unsolicited communication: This communication has to face stronger
barriers than solicited communication. We are unresponsive if the
communication is unsolicited.
EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION
Any communication that fulfills the need of sender and receiver and a
positive feedback is arrived at is known es effective communication.Its
importance in day to day life.
ESSENTIAL OF EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION:
An effective communication system is one which achieves it objectives.
The ultimate objective of communication is to bring desired behaviour.
The various elements of communication are clarity, adequacy, timing and
integrity.
• Clarity: The communication process must ensure clarity of
communication, avoiding unnecessary seeking and clarifications. Thus the
communications must be expressed in a language and transmitted in a way
that will be comprehended by the receiver.
• Adequacy: The process of communication must ensure that all the
message needed by various individuals in an organization for effective
discharged of duties must flow-up to them and further that this flow must
be adequate.
• Timing: The utility of any message is affected by its timeliness.
Thus the process of communication should not only ensure that the message
reaches the receivers, but should also ensure that it reaches him when
required.
• Integrity: Effective communication is not an end in itself, rather
it is a means to get some ends. The immediate objective is to get
response, but the ultimate objective may be to get change in response
from the receiver. Thus communication to be effective should be
persuasive and convincing.

STEPS FOR MAKING COMMUNICATION EFFECTIVE

• Clarity in idea: The communicator should be sure and clear about
what he wants to communicate.
• Purpose of communication: Every communication has some purpose, the
basic purpose being to get some response. .
• Empathy in communication: Empathy in .communication means being
sensitive towards the receiver's needs, feelings, and perceptions, i.e.
projecting oneself into the view point of the other person. This way much
of the misunderstanding is avoided.
• Two-way communication: Communication is a two-way traffic and this
must be realized in communication. It involves a continuous dialogue
between sender and receiver.
• Appropriate language: The subject matter of communication is
transmitted by encoding in the form of words, gestures etc. i.e. the
language used should be understandable by the receiver.
• Supporting words with action: It is said that "action speaks louder
than words". While communicating the sender might use actions to
emphasize a point. This enhances understanding.
• Credibility in communication: One aspect of communication is
credibility and believability. A subordinate follows an order, if the
superior demonstrate competence through his ability/worth. Thus
maintains trust and credibility.
• Good. Listening: A communicator must be a good listener too. By
this he is not only giving a chance for others to speak but also gathers
useful information for further communication.