Communication

Communication can be explained an exchange of facts, ideas, opinions or emotions by two or more people. It can be defined as a process of passing and understanding from one person to another.

Communication involves three important concepts.

1. Communication includes transmission and reception of message.

2. Communication involves at least two people.

Importance of Communication

Communication helps in performing the following functions.

1. Control: - Communication helps to control the behavior of members in the organization.

E.g. Communication helps workers to put forth their grievance to their boss. It helps the workers to follow the company's policies, to follow their job description etc.

2. Motivate: - Communication helps to motivate workers by clarifying to employees what is to be done, how well they are doing and what can be done to improve performance.

3. Express emotions: - For many employees, the work group is a primary source for social interaction. Through communication, the members show their feeling of satisfaction or feeling of frustration and release their emotional expressions.

4. Provide information: - Communication provides individual and groups with information needed to make decisions.

Communication Process Model

It consists of seven parts as shown in the above figure. They are:

1. Source 2. Encoding 3. Channel 4. Decoding 5. Receiver 6. Message (M) 7. Feedback

Source: It is the giver of the message.

Encoding: First a though occurs. This though is converted into message. This process of conversion of though to message is called encoding.

Message: The product of encoding is called message. When we speak, speech is the message. When we write our writing is the message, when we gesture, our hand movements and face expression is the message.

Channel: It is the medium through which the message travels.

Decoding: Before the message is received, the symbols in it must be translated into a form that is understood by the receiver. This process is called decoding.

Receiver: The object who receives the message is called receiver.

Feedback: It is a check on how successfully the message has been transmitted.

Sources of Distortion

Sometimes, the message might get distorted as it travels from the source to the receiver. The message transmitted by the source will be totally different from the message received by the receiver. Distorted of message is caused due to the several reasons.

1. Wrong encoding of the thought process by the sender of the message.

2. Poor choice of symbols or words in the message.

3. Unfavorable medium like noise.

4. Wrong decoding due to poor attention and perception by the receiver.

5. Due to anxiety.