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Purposive Communication

Communication is a complex process with many parts. It involves a source encoding a message, which is sent through a channel and decoded by the receiver. There may be feedback and the context impacts communication. Barriers can hinder successful communication. Communication occurs on intrapersonal, interpersonal, public, and mass levels. Key principles are that communication is inescapable, irreversible, and complicated due to multiple meanings and interpretations. Communication is influenced by psychological, relational, situational, environmental, and cultural contexts. Ethics in communication include ensuring mutual dignity, accuracy, access to information, and accountability while balancing rights and responsibilities.

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Denver Garoy
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6K views

Purposive Communication

Communication is a complex process with many parts. It involves a source encoding a message, which is sent through a channel and decoded by the receiver. There may be feedback and the context impacts communication. Barriers can hinder successful communication. Communication occurs on intrapersonal, interpersonal, public, and mass levels. Key principles are that communication is inescapable, irreversible, and complicated due to multiple meanings and interpretations. Communication is influenced by psychological, relational, situational, environmental, and cultural contexts. Ethics in communication include ensuring mutual dignity, accuracy, access to information, and accountability while balancing rights and responsibilities.

Uploaded by

Denver Garoy
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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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TOPIC 1: COMMUNICATION PROCESSES, PRINCIPLES, AND ETHICS

COMMUNICATION

 A transaction in which the participants are mutually engaged in the process of creating the same meaning
(Comeaux, 1996; Opina et al., 2016).
 A basic and dynamic social process which includes the sending and receiving messages at a conscious or
unconscious level.
 It came from the word ‘communis’ meaning ‘to share’.

THE PROCESS OF COMMUNICATION

The communication process involves eight parts and steps, which is illustrated below:

1. Source. This is you: the sender of the message.


2. Message. The information you want to convey. This is the reason for communicating. This may be an idea, an
opinion, a belief, an attitude, a feeling, an emotion, a viewpoint, an instruction, a command, or request.
3. Encoding. The process of converting your ideas or thoughts into verbal and/or nonverbal symbols that can be
understood by the receiver of the message.
4. Channel. The Manner which your message or information is conveyed. (eg. Face-to-face communication, telephone
call, video conference, drawings, images, symbols, etc.)
5. Decoding. The receiver’s mental processing of your message; the reverse of encoding.
6. Receiver. The person or group of people who will get your message. The receiver gets the message by using the
sensory skills (listening, feeling, smelling, hearing, seeing, viewing)
7. Feedback. Receiver’s response to your message. If you get the desired result, your communication is successful,
otherwise, miscommunication happens.
8. Context. Refers to the situation in which the communication takes place. It includes (a) the environment, (b)
relationship between the communicators, (c) respective cultural backgrounds, (d) topic/subject of communication
Barriers. Elements that hinder successful communication.

LEVELS OF COMMUNICATION

1. Intrapersonal. Communication with oneself. (eg. Self-meditation, diary-writing, etc.)


2. Interpersonal. Communication with one or more persons but one-way limited. This level may be dyadic or group.
3. Public. One-way communication with a large number of people. (eg. Conference, seminars, classroom lectures, etc.)
4. Mass. Multi-channel communication with a large number of people which requires the use of media and may even
be recorded for further dissemination to areas unable to listen live. (eg. News reports, celebrity interviews, events
coverage, eg.)

KEY PRINCIPLES OF COMMUNICATION

1. Interpersonal communication is inescapable. Humans always communicate. Even the very attempt of not wanting
to communicate communicates something. You always communicate and receive communication from others not
GECC 102: Purposive Communication
Mylene C. Milan
College of Arts and Sciences
TOPIC 1: COMMUNICATION PROCESSES, PRINCIPLES, AND ETHICS

only through words but also through voice tone, gesture, posture, bodily movement, facial expression, clothes worn,
and so on. Because of this fact, you are often judged through your behavior and not your intention or purpose.
2. Interpersonal communication is irreversible. Once you have uttered something, you can never take it back. This
principle is best expressed in a Russian proverb which says, “Once a word goes out of your mouth, you can never
swallow it again.
3. Interpersonal communication is complicated. Whenever you communicate with anyone, you simultaneously
interpret both his verbal and nonverbal language. Some factors that complicate communication are:
 A word does not have just one meaning.
 Nonverbal symbols are more vague than words since they are interpreted in many ways.
 Communication is culture-bound
 There are at least 6 persons involved in communication:
a. The person you think you are.
b. The person you think the other person is.
c. The person you think the other person thinks you are.
d. The person you think the other person thinks he is.
e. The person the other person thinks you are.
f. The person the other person thinks you think he is.
4. Interpersonal communication is contextual. Communication is affected by several factors.
a. Psychological context—who you are and what you bring to the interaction: needs, values, desires, beliefs,
personality, and so on.
b. Relational context—which concerns your reactions to the other person based on relationships—as boss,
colleague, friend, sibling, parent, etc.
c. Situational context—involves the psycho-social ‘where’ you are communicating.
d. Environmental context—includes the physical ‘where’ you are communicating: objects in the room and their
arrangement, location, noise level, temperature, season, and time of day.
e. Cultural context—all learned behaviors and rules that affect the interaction. For instance, bodily movement,
facial expression, gesture, distance and eye contact vary in different cultures.

ETHICS IN COMMUNICATION

Morals are our own set of rules, so others are neither expected nor required to follow them. Ethics are rules set and
accepted by the society, so they are imposed upon everyone.

Deirdre D. Johnston, cited by Chase & Shamo (2013), pointed out 10 ethics in communication:
1. Mutuality. Pay attention to the needs of others, as well as yours.
2. Individual dignity. Do not cause another person embarrassment or a loss of dignity.
3. Accuracy. Ensure that others have accurate information. Tell them everything they have a right and need to
know, not just what is true.
4. Access to information. Never bolster the impact of your communication by preventing people from
communicating with one another or by hindering access to the supporting information.
5. Accountability. Be responsible and accountable for the consequences of your relationships and communication.
6. Audience. As audience or receiver of the information, you also have ethical responsibilities. A good rule of
thumb is the “200% rule” where both the message is understood, and that ethics are followed. This is a 100/100
rule, not a 50/50 rule.
7. Relative truth. As either sender or receiver of information, remember that your own point of view may not be
shared by others and that your conclusions are relative to your perspective, so allow others to respectfully
disagree or see it differently.
8. Ends vs means. Be sure that the end goal of your communication and the means of getting to that end are both
ethical although no rule can be applied without reservation to any situation.
9. Use of power. In situations where you have more power than others (eg. A teacher with a student, boss with a
subordinate, parent with a child), you also have more responsibility for the outcome.
10. Rights vs responsibilities. Balance your rights against your responsibilities even if you live in a wonderful
society where your rights are protected by law; not everything you have a right to do is ethical.

GECC 102: Purposive Communication


Mylene C. Milan
College of Arts and Sciences

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