CHAPTER ONE

COMMUNICATION-AN OVERVIEW

Meaning of Communication
 The word ‘communicate’ is derived from the Latin word communicare or
communis which means to share, participate, talk, gesture, write, put in use,
relate.

Communication is a two way process of exchanging thoughts, ideas and

feelings between people in a commonly understandable way.
 We, as human being, exist because we communicate.
It is a social activity.
Communication involves a systematic and continuous process of telling, listening, and
understanding.
It is the process of sending and receiving messages.
Communication in its simplest form is conveying of information from one person to
another.
It is an exchange of facts, ideas, opinions or emotions by two or more people.
Administrative communication is a process which involves the transmission and
accurate replication of ideas ensured by feedback for the purpose of eliciting/getting
actions which will accomplish organizational goals
Communication is considered effective when it achieved the desired responses or when
it has an effect on the receiver.
Effective administration is the function of effective communication.
 Significance of Communication
1. Communication is the lifeblood of an organization
 organization by definition is a group of people working together to achieve a common
goal

 its effectiveness requires a great deal of interaction and without communication an

organization cannot function.

 People in organizations exchange information, ideas, feelings and proposals, make

decisions, plans, policies, rules, contractual agreements which all require effective
communication.
2. Communication is important in our career and personal life.
 Our jobs, promotions and personal reputation often depend on the success or failure of
our written and oral communications.
 if your job requires mainly mental work, your success will be strongly influenced by how
effectively you communicate your knowledge, ideas, proposals, reports etc.
3. In some jobs, communication skills are the main responsibilities

The following are some instances where good communication skill is given emphasis.
 Public relations,
customer relations,
labor relations,
sales,
teaching etc.
 Process and Simple Communication Model
A simple model of communication shown below depicts how a sender encodes a message in
a medium and transfers it to a receiver.
Environment

Encoding Decoding
Sender Message Receiver

Understanding

Action

Decoding feed back

Feedback message
Encoding feed back

Fig.1-1 simple communication model Noise

 The Elements of communication
There are many essential elements of communication. These are ,
1. Sender-are persons/groups who want to transmit message to the other persons/groups.
It is the source from where the message being communicated.
The sender is the source of information.
The sender is also a receiver of a message (feedback message).
2. Message-is a content of communication (ideas, thoughts, and feelings) that is composed
by the sender.
3. Channel-refers to the physical transmission of the message from the sender to the
receiver. Some commonly known communication channels are,
 Face to face discussion
 Letter, memo, reports, manuals
 computer, internet, e-mail, video disks
 Radio, television
 News papers, magazines
The choice of an appropriate channel depends on the following factors:
•The importance of the message,
•The type, number and location of receiver,
•Urgency of the message,
•Cost of the channel,
•Whether permanent record is needed or not,
•Whether formality is desired,
•Size of the message
4. Receiver-refers to listener, reader, or viewer of the sender.
The receiver is also called audience. The receiver has decoded the message before
receiving
The receiver is most likely to receive a message accurately if:
i. There is no physical interruption of the message.
ii. The receivers mind processes the message as the sender intends.
The choice of an appropriate channel depends on the following factors:
•The importance of the message,
•The type, number and location of receiver,
•Urgency of the message,
•Cost of the channel,
•Whether permanent record is needed or not,
•Whether formality is desired,
•Size of the message

4. Receiver-refers to listener, reader, or viewer of the sender.

The receiver is also called audience.
The receiver has decoded the message before receiving .
The receiver is most likely to receive a message accurately if:
i. There is no physical interruption of the message.
ii. The receivers mind processes the message as the sender intends
5. Feed back –refers to the verbal and visual response to the message.
It is the only means through which the sender can know whether or not messages set are
interpreted as intended.
The success or the failure of communication is indicated with the feedback

Advantages of feed back

Increase employee understanding and performance and minimize mistakes.
Increase employee satisfaction with the job because of the opportunity to ask or make
suggestion

Disadvantages of feed back

Feedback is difficult to extract.
Feedback is time consuming. It takes time to make sure that everyone understands the
message.
Feedback may cause people to feel psychologically under attack. When feedback seems
negative people of become defensive.
Ways to improve feedback
a. Tell people about your feedback.
b. The sender should reward feedback (psychological reward) by using statements like
thank you, really, interesting, aha etc.
c. Silence- encouraging the receiver to speak more, particularly in face to face and telephone
communication.
d. specify the needs and urgency of the message.

6. Environment -includes time, place, physical and social settings in which the
communicators find themselves.

7. Noise-can be internal or external.

External Noise-includes distractions in the environment such as the speakers poor
grammar, phones ringing, people talking, room temperature, poor lighting etc
Internal Noise-refers to conditions of the receiver himself such as a headache,
daydreaming, lack of sleep, pre-occupation of mind with other problems, lack of knowledge
about the topic etc.
The above elements or issues interact/act together in five different activities to produce full
cycle of communication .These are:-
A. The sender has an idea
B. The idea becomes a message
C. The message is transmitted
D. The receiver gets a message
E. The receiver reacts and sends a feed back to the sender

A. The sender has an idea

 This person is sometimes referred to as ‘encoder’

 At least two things must happen before the sender even wishes to send a message.
 First, an internal or external stimulus prompts you to send a message
 second requirement to send a message is sufficient motivation.
B. The idea becomes a message

The process of framing a message is called as ‘encoding’.

It may consist of verbal (written or spoken) symbols and / or non-verbal
(unspoken) symbols
Whenever a message is composed, one has to consider
what contents have to be included,
how the receiver will interpret it and
how it may affect your relationship.
 When formulating a message several things can go wrong. Some of them are
i) Indecision about message content,
ii) Lack of familiarity with the situation or the receiver (s),
iii) Emotional conflicts and
iv) Difficulty in expressing the idea (s).
 C. The message is transmitted

How the message can be sent?

Should one speak or write?
What is the appropriate means to convey the message?
The forms of communication may be verbal or non-verbal.

D. The Receiver Gets the Message

The receiver (also known as ‘decoder) is the individual to whom the message is directed.
 When the encoder’s message is picked up, the receiver tries to make sense out of it by
decoding it
This decoding is a process the receiver goes through in trying to interpret the exact
meaning of the message.
 E. The Receiver Reacts and Provides Feedback to the Sender

Feedback is the receiver’s response to a message.

 It is the final link in the communication chain.
Feedback is a key element in the communication process as it enables the sender to
evaluate the effectiveness of the message
If the receiver does not understand the meaning of the message, it can be gauged by the
feedback.

1.6. Objectives of Communication

The objectives of communication may be to:
1. Initiating Action: Initiating action may be achieved by two basic categories of
communication
a. Expressing needs and requirements
b. Persuading and motivating others
2. Imparting Information: Imparting information, feelings, ideas, and beliefs may have any
number of specific purposes.
Creating Awareness
 Persuading Others
Creating Understanding
 Influencing others
3. Establishing Relation
Establishing, acknowledging, and maintaining with other people, is a vital function of
communication.

Communication in Administration/Management
Communication is part of the three major skills needed by administrators/managers
human skills,
conceptual skills,
technical skills).
All administrative/managerial roles and functions require effective communication.
 1.6. Organization communication climate

Organization’s climate has several definitions. According to Tagiuri (1968),

organizational climate is a relative quality of the internal environment of an organization
experienced by
 its members, affecting their behavior and can be described as values of a set of certain
characteristics of the environment

Organizational climate is a concept that reflects the content and strength of the general
values, norms, attitudes, behaviors, and feelings of members towards a social system.