COMMUNICATION

PROCESS

PREPARED BY: MR. MWENYA PETER

BSc OSH, PGD HP, BA PHILO, MSc BA Generic, MSc
PH in progress
Contact details: 0970869683. [email protected]
 COMMUNICATION PROCESS

Communication as a process is moving,

continually changing, with no beginning or end.
In our definition, communication is a process—
something that is continually changing. Individual
words, sentences, and gestures have no meaning
in isolation.
They make sense only when viewed as parts of an
on-going, dynamic process.
 COMPONENTS OF THE PROCESS OF COMMUNICATION

There are seven elements or factors which make up the process of

communication:
• 1. Source /Sender, is the one who initiates the action of communicating
• 2. Audience /Receiver is the person(s) for whom the communication is intended
• 3. Goal/Purpose is the sender's reason for communicating, the desired result of
the communication
• 4. Message/ Content is the information conveyed.
• 5. Medium /Channel is the means or method used for conveying the message
• 6. Feedback is the receiver's response to the communication as observed by the
sender
• 7. Environment /Context is the background in which the communication takes
place
1. SOURCE
The source is the originator of the message. It is the
person or persons who want to communicate a message to
another person or a group of people.
The source of a message can be an individual speaker
addressing a group, a child asking for candy, a couple
sending out invitations to a family reunion, or a person
writing a letter.
2.ENCODING
Once the source has decided on a message to
communicate, he must encode or convert that idea,
thought, or feeling into verbal and nonverbal symbols
that will be most effectively understood by the receiver.
This encoding process can be extremely creative
because there are unlimited ways for the source to
convert the idea or feeling into words and behaviours.
3. MESSAGE
The message is the idea, thought, or feeling that
the source wants to communicate.
This message is encoded or converted into verbal
and nonverbal symbols that will most likely be
understood by the receiver
4. RECEIVER
The receiver is the recipient of the message.
The receiver can be an individual or a group of people.
Once the receiver hears the words and receives the
nonverbal cues from the sender, she must interpret or
decode them if communication is to occur
DECODING
Decoding is the process of making sense out of the
message received.
The receiver must decipher the language and behaviours
sent by the source so they will have meaning.
After the receiver decodes the message, the receiver (now
the source) can encode a return message and send it back
to the other person.
CHANNEL
A channel is the medium by which the message is
communicated. The source can utilize the channels of sight,
sound, touch, smell, and taste. For instance, if you want to
communicate affection for another person, you can utilize a
variety of channels or combination of channels. You can say,
“I like you” (sound). You can give a hug (touch).
You can creatively select the channels of communication to
productively communicate your message.
7. CONTEXT/ENVIRONMENT
All communication occurs within a certain
context. The context is made up of the physical
surroundings, the occasion in which the
communication occurs, the time, the number of
people present, noise level, and many other
variables that can influence and affect the
encoding and decoding of messages.
8. FEEDBACK
The receiver also feels a reaction to the message; this
reaction may be conscious or unconscious; it may cause some
change in the receiver's facial expression.
It definitely leads the receiver to think. The receiver may take
some action, if required. He may also reply to the message.
The response and/or reply is feedback. Receiver's functions
complete one cycle of the process of communication.
BARRIERS TO EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATI0N

Commination is not always successful. Several things can

prevent the message from reaching ' the intended
recipient or from "having the desired effect on the
recipient
The following are the Barriers to Effective Communication
 BARRIERS TO EFFECTIVE
COMMUNICATI0N
1. PHYSICAL BARRIERS
Obstacles that prevent a message from reaching
the intended recipient may be outside and beyond
the control of the persons concerned.
Some can be controlled by the management;
some cannot be controlled because they are in the
environment.
 Under Physical Barrier the following
are involved
(a) Defects in the Medium
o Defects in the devices used for transmitting messages are
external, and usually not within the control of the parties
engaged in communication. The telephone, the postal
system, the courier service, or electronic media may fail.
o Messages can get delayed, distorted and even lost while
being transmitted. A partial failure of the mechanical
equipment is more harmful than a total failure because a
partial failure may carry an incomplete or distorted
message. A fax message can be wrongly delivered as a
(b) Noise
o Noise is any disturbance which occurs in the transmission
process. In face-to face communication which is carried
by air vibration, the air may be disturbed by noise such as
traffic, factory work, or people talking.
o In a factory, oral communication is very difficult because
of the noise of the machines. Organisations that can
afford sound-proof rooms can overcome this barrier to
some extent
(c) Information Overload
o When there is too much information, some of it is
blocked in transit and may not reach the intended
audience.
o Advertising and sales information is an example of
overload; so much communication about products
floats through so many media that a good deal of
it-does not reach the potential buyer.
2. SEMANTIC AND LANGUAGE BARRIERS
Semantic means pertaining to or arising from the
different meanings of words or other symbols.
First of all, many words have multiple meanings. Just look
into a good dictionary and see how many meanings you
can find for some commonly used words like "charge",
"spring", "check", "suit", "ring".
The meaning that comes to your mind first depends on
your occupation ("charge" may mean electrical charge to a
engineering student, but fee/rent to a commerce student).
Words like "minute" and "wind" are pronounced in two
different ways to mean two entirely different things. Some
words like "present", "transfer", "record" are used as verb
and as noun with a difference in stress in speaking, but no
difference in spelling.
3. Organizational Barriers
Editing and filtering:
A great deal of loss of information occurs as a message moves from
senior management to lower levels. Each person through whom it passes
edits it, filters it, and simplifies it for the understanding and needs of the
next person who is to receive it.
Loss or distortion of information as it moves downward may be caused
by misinterpretation, lack of understanding, and neglect of messages by
some of the members of the organization. Loss of information also occurs
as messages move from subordinates to higher levels of authority.
4. Gender Barriers
There are distinct differences between the speech patterns in
a man and those in a woman which may create
misunderstanding between genders.
Global studies suggest that a woman speaks between 22,000
and 25,000 words a day whereas a man speaks between 7,000
and 10,000. In childhood, girls speak earlier than boys and at
the age of three, have a vocabulary twice that of boys.
5. Socio-Psychological Barriers
People have personal feelings, desires, fears and hopes, likes and
dislikes, attitudes, views and opinions. They form a sort of emotional
filter around the mind, and influence the way we respond to
messages that we receive and to new experiences.
Factors like the time, the place and the circumstances of a particular
communication also influence our understanding and response.
Problems of understanding, interpretation and response to
communication arise partly from our socially-learnt attributes and
partly from our personal attributes.
 Socio-psychological Barriers
• (a) Self-centred Attitudes: We tend to see and hear everything in the
light of our own interests and needs and desires. We pay attention to
messages which are useful to us, and often do not pay enough attention to
those messages which do not interest us.
• (b) Group Identification: Our values and opinions are influenced, in
some matters, by the group to which we belong, like family, the larger
family of relatives, people of our locality or city, our religion or language
group, gender, age group, nationality, economic group and so on. We tend
to reject an idea which goes against the interests of the group.
• (c) Self-Image: our idea about what we are, what we look like and what
impression we make. It is quite difficult to accept any idea which goes
against it
• d) Selective Perception: we see, read or hear selectively according to our
own needs, interests and experience may not perceive some of the aspects and
information content of the message.
• (e) Filtering: Filtering is the process of reducing the details or aspects of a
message. Each person who passes on a message reduces or colours a message
according to his/her understanding of the situation.
• (f) Status Block: A "boss" who is conscious of status finds it difficult to receive
any suggestions from subordinates as they feel that they know everything
about how to run the business. They do not agree that a junior may have some
good ideas and many good ideas are wasted only because they come· from
junior employees who are considered to be too young and inexperienced:
6. Perceptual barriers
• The problem with communicating with others is that we all see
the world differently. The selectivity/exposure filters that are
developed on the basis of experience or lack of it play their part.
• A bad experience would perceptually block out unpleasant
things. This could be in the shape of avoiding it and if that is not
possible by altering the behaviours i.e., response types in
different ways. Similarly, retention filters out things that feel
good, and gives the tendency to forget those things that are
painful.
7. Emotional barriers
It is comprised mainly of fear, mistrust, and suspicion. The
roots of our emotional mistrust of others lie in our
childhood and infancy when we were taught to be careful
what we said to others. "Don't speak until you're spoken
to"; "Children should be seen and not heard". As a result,
many people hold back from communicating their thoughts
and feelings to others because they feel vulnerable.