Introduction

• Communications is fundamental to the existence and survival of

humans as well as to an organization. It is a process of creating and
sharing ideas, information, views, facts, feelings, etc. among the
people to reach a common understanding. Communication is the key
to the Directing function of management.
• A manager may be highly qualified and skilled but if he does not
possess good communication skills, all his ability becomes irrelevant.
A manager must communicate his directions effectively to the
subordinates to get the work done from them properly.
 Communication Process
• The communication is a dynamic process that begins with the conceptualizing of
ideas by the sender who then transmits the message through a channel to the
receiver, who in turn gives the feedback in the form of some message or signal
within the given time frame. Thus, there are Seven major elements of
communication process:
• Sender: The sender or the communicator is the person who initiates the
conversation and has conceptualized the idea that he intends to convey it to
others.
• Encoding: The sender begins with the encoding process wherein he uses certain
words or non-verbal methods such as symbols, signs, body gestures, etc. to
translate the information into a message. The sender’s knowledge, skills,
perception, background, competencies, etc. has a great impact on the success of
the message.
• Message: Once the encoding is finished, the sender gets the message that he
intends to convey. The message can be written, oral, symbolic or non-verbal such as
body gestures, silence, sighs, sounds, etc. or any other signal that triggers the
response of a receiver.
• Communication Channel: The Sender chooses the medium through
which he wants to convey his message to the recipient. It must be
selected carefully in order to make the message effective and
correctly interpreted by the recipient. The choice of medium depends
on the interpersonal relationships between the sender and the
receiver and also on the urgency of the message being sent. Oral,
virtual, written, sound, gesture, etc. are some of the commonly used
communication mediums.
• Receiver: The receiver is the person for whom the message is
intended or targeted. He tries to comprehend it in the best possible
manner such that the communication objective is attained. The
degree to which the receiver decodes the message depends on his
knowledge of the subject matter, experience, trust and relationship
with the sender.
• Decoding: Here, the receiver interprets the sender’s message and
tries to understand it in the best possible manner. An effective
communication occurs only if the receiver understands the message
in exactly the same way as it was intended by the sender.
• Feedback: The Feedback is the final step of the process that ensures
the receiver has received the message and interpreted it correctly as
it was intended by the sender. It increases the effectiveness of the
communication as it permits the sender to know the efficacy of his
message. The response of the receiver can be verbal or non-verbal.
 Barriers to Communication

• The process of communication has multiple barriers. The intended

communique will often be disturbed and distorted leading to a
condition of misunderstanding and failure of communication.
The Barriers to effective communication could be of many types like
linguistic, psychological, emotional, physical, and cultural etc. We will
see all of these types in detail below.
Linguistic Barriers
• The language barrier is one of the main barriers
that limit effective communication. Language is
the most commonly employed tool of
communication. The fact that each major region
has its own language is one of the Barriers to
effective communication. Sometimes even a thick
dialect may render the communication ineffective.
• As per some estimates, the dialects of every two
regions changes within a few kilometers. Even in
the same workplace, different employees will have
different linguistic skills. As a result, the
communication channels that span across
the organization would be affected by this.
• Thus keeping this barrier in mind, different
considerations have to be made for different
employees. Some of them are very proficient in
a certain language and others will be ok with
these languages.
 Cultural barriers
• Cultural barriers are a result of living in an
ever-shrinking world. Different cultures,
whether they be a societal culture of a race
or simply the work culture of a company,
can hinder developed communication if
two different cultures clash.
• In these cases, it is important to find a
common ground to work from. In work
situations, identifying a problem and
coming up with a highly efficient way to
solve it can quickly topple any cultural or
institutional barriers. Quite simply, people
like results.
Psychological Barriers

• The communication largely depends on the mental condition of a

person, if the person is not mentally or emotionally sound, then he
cannot communicate effectively either as a sender or a receiver.
• There are various mental and psychological issues that may be barriers
to effective communication. Some people have stage fear, speech
disorders, phobia, depression etc. All of these conditions are very
difficult to manage sometimes and will most certainly limit the ease of
communication.
 Physical Barriers
• Communication is generally easier over shorter distances as more
communication channels are available and less technology is
required. Although modern technology often serves to reduce the
impact of physical barriers, the advantages and disadvantages of
each communication channel should be understood so that an
appropriate channel can be used to overcome the physical
barriers.
• Physical barriers may prevent an individual from being able to
interpret non-verbal cues. This is more common in communication
methods relying on technology rather than face-to-face.
• Background noise
• Poor lighting
• Communicating close to the time of your break/ lunch/ end of
work hours
• Large work areas or working in an area that is physically separated
from colleagues
• Closed doors
Organisational structure barriers

• Companies with unclear structures

can make communication difficult.
For example, they may have an
inefficient information sharing and
communication system, employees
may not know what their role is in
the communication system etc.
• If a company has a complex structure
with lots of management levels,
information will be lost or distorted
as it travels through each layer of the
hierarchy.
• For decades, man has known the importance of communication. Today, with
various means by which one can communicate, it has become much easier
to communicate a message to the other party, than it was several decades
ago.
• Every organization, no matter what their expertise and where they are
situated, and what scale they operate, realize and value the importance of
good communication.
• This communication for organizations takes place both within the
organization as well as with other outside stakeholders outside.
• Therefore, it is vital for any business organization to understand the
communication models out there, so they can use them for enhancing
effective communication in the organization.
• Communication models are systematic representations of the process
which helps in understanding how communication works can be done.
Models show the process metaphorically and in symbols. They form general
perspectives on communication by breaking communication from complex
to simple and keeps the components in order. Communication models can
sometimes encourage traditional thinking and stereotyping but can also
omit some major aspects of human communication.
Three types of Model
1. Linear Model
2. Interactive Model
3. Transactional Model
1. Linear Model of Communication
• The linear or transmission model of communication, describes
communication as a linear, one-way process in which a sender intentionally
transmits a message to a receiver.
• Although the receiver is included in the model, this role is viewed as more
of a target or end point rather than part of an ongoing process. We are left
to presume that the receiver either successfully receives and understands
the message or does not.
• Think of how a radio message is sent from a person in the radio studio to
you listening in your car. The sender is the radio announcer who encodes a
verbal message that is transmitted by a radio tower through
electromagnetic waves (the channel) and eventually reaches your (the
receiver’s) ears via an antenna and speakers in order to be decoded. The
radio announcer doesn’t really know if you receive their message or not,
but if the equipment is working and the channel is free of static, then there
is a good chance that the message was successfully received.
• Different models that follow linear model of communication are:
• Aristotle’s Model
• Shannon Weaver Model
• Berol's S-M-C-R Model
• Aristotle Model is mainly focused on speaker and speech. It can be
broadly divided into 5 primary elements: Speaker, Speech, Occasion,
Audience and Effect.
• The Aristotle’s communication model is a speaker centered model as
the speaker has the most important role in it and is the only one
active. It is the speaker’s role to deliver a speech to the audience. The
role of the audience is passive, influenced by the speech. This makes
the communication process one way, from speaker to receiver.
• The speaker must organize the speech beforehand, according to
the target audience and situation (occasion). The speech must be
prepared so that the audience be persuaded or influenced from the
speech.
Shannon and Weaver Model
• In 1948, Shannon was an American mathematician, Electronic
engineer and Weaver was an American scientist both of them join
together to write an article in “Bell System Technical Journal” called
“A Mathematical Theory of Communication” and also called as
“Shannon-Weaver model of communication”.
• This model is specially designed to develop the effective
communication between sender and receiver. Also they find factors
which affecting the communication process called “Noise”. At first the
model was developed to improve the Technical communication. Later
it’s widely applied in the field of Communication.
• The sender encodes the message and sends it to the receiver through a
technological channel like telephone and telegraph. The sender converts
the message into codes understandable to the machine. The message is
sent in codes through a medium.
• The receiver has to decode the message before understanding it and
interpreting it. The receptor machine can also act as a decoder in some
cases. The channel can have noise and the receiver might not have the
capacity to decode which might cause problems in communication
process.
• As Shannon was an engineer, this model was first made to improve
technical communication, mainly for telephonic communication. It was
made to maximize telephone capacity with minimum noise.
• Later, Weaver applied it for all kind of communications to
develop effective communication and the model became famous as
Shannon Weaver model.
2. Interactive model of communication

• Unlike the one-way, straight-line

type of communication in the
linear model, the interactive model
of communication, also known as
the convergence model, is all
about give and take. It relies on an
exchange of communication from
the sender to the receiver and from
the receiver to the sender and back
again. The interactive model allows
for feedback, something that's
absent in the linear model.
• In Interactive model, whenever a source sends a message to a receiver
(source), he/she encodes the message first. The encoded message is then
received by the receiver where it is decoded to get the original information.
Again, the receiver acts as a source, encodes another message (also knows
as a feedback) and sends it back to the sender.
• Interactive Model Examples:-
• Internet can be taken as the best way of interactive communication as
receiver can give feedback even in newspapers and books. Internet has
increased the opportunity of interactive communication and it is still
evolving.
• Human-computer interaction is also now considered as interactive
communication as the model is circular where the senders interchange
every time. Social media, interactive marketing and user generated
contents, ATM machines, online shopping, chat rooms, etc are other
examples of interactive communication model.
3. Transactional Model of Communication
• As the study of communication progressed, models expanded to
account for more of the communication process. Many scholars view
communication as more than a process that is used to carry on
conversations and convey meaning. We don’t send messages like
computers, and we don’t neatly alternate between the roles of sender
and receiver as an interaction unfolds. We also can’t consciously decide
to stop communicating because communication is more than sending
and receiving messages. The transaction model differs from the
transmission and interaction models in significant ways, including the
conceptualization of communication, the role of sender and receiver,
and the role of context (Barnlund, 1970).
• The transaction model of communication describes communication as a
process in which communicators generate social realities within social,
relational, and cultural contexts.
• The roles of sender and receiver in the transaction model of
communication differ significantly from the other models. Instead of
labeling participants as senders and receivers, the people in a
communication encounter are referred to as communicators. Unlike
the interactive model, which suggests that participants alternate
positions as sender and receiver, the transaction model suggests that
we are simultaneously senders and receivers. This is an important
addition to the model because it allows us to understand how we are
able to adapt our communication—for example, a verbal message—in
the middle of sending it based on the communication we are
simultaneously receiving from our communication partner.