UNIT-1 THEORY OF COMMUNICATION

1.1 Concept of Effective Communication and communication skill

Definition: Effective communication is a process of exchanging ideas, thoughts, knowledge and
information such that the purpose or intention is fulfilled in the best possible manner. In simple
words, it is nothing but the presentation of views by the sender in a way best understood by the
receiver.
We can say that it generally involves;
Sender: The person who initiates the process of communication by sending a message;
Receiver: The one to whom the message is to be delivered.
Characteristics of Effective Communication
Just delivering a message is not enough; it must meet the purpose of the sender. Keeping this in
mind, let us discuss the elements which make communication effective:

Effective Communication Skills

Conveying a message effectively is an art as well as a skill developed after continuous practice
and experience. The predetermined set of skills required for an influential communication
process are as follows:
1.2 Communication model
1.3 Types of Communication

1.4 Barriers to Effective Communication

There are certain obstacles which sometimes hinder the process of communication, making it
less useful for the sender as well as the receiver. These barriers are categorised under three
groups. Let us understand these in detail below:

Barriers Involving Words

Words play an essential role in the process of communication. Any disturbance or distraction in
the way a message is presented may lead to miscommunication. Following are the different types
of communication barriers related to words:

 Language: It is a medium of communication. If the sender is making excessive use of

technical terms, it will become difficult for the receiver to understand the message clearly.
 Ambiguity and Overuse of Abstractions: Even if the message is presented in a non-
realistic or vague context involving a lot of notions, the receiver won’t be able to connect
with the idea properly.
 Disorganised Message: When the words are not organised systematically to form a
powerful message, it loses its efficiency and meaning.
 Information Overload: The effectiveness of communication reduces when a person keeps
on speaking for an extended period. Thus, leading to the receiver’s exhaustion, who won’t
be able to keep track of everything that is conveyed.

Barriers Involving People’s Background

People belong to different backgrounds, i.e., culture, education level, gender, etc. These
attributes majorly affect the efficiency of the communication process. It involves the following
related obstacles:

 Attitudinal Differences: At times, people are resistant to understand or change their mind
when they have set their views about a particular topic. Their attitude obstructs meeting the
purpose of the communication.
 Demographic Differences: The difference in age, generation, gender, status, tradition, etc.,
creates a lack of understanding among people and thus, hinders the process of
communication.
 Lack of Common Experience or Perspective: The experiences of a person develops their
perspective of seeing things in a particular way. This perspective varies from person to
person. Therefore, it becomes difficult for a receiver to relate with the sender’s experience
or views as he might have never gone through it himself.
  Jumping to Conclusions: Some people lack the patience of listening to others and often
jump to conclusions between the communication, thus neglecting the motive of the
message.

Physical Barriers
These barriers can be experienced directly but challenging to overcome. These include:

 Physical Distance: When people communicate over long distances, they miss out the non-
verbal aspect of communication, since the gestures and expressions of the receiver cannot
be interpreted.
 Noise: The environment or the communication system sometimes involve unwanted noise
which interrupts the process of communication making it inefficient.
 Physiological Barriers: One of the most common barriers to effective communication is
the physical disability of the people involved. Some of these are hearing impairment, poor
eyesight, stammering, etc.

Thus, we can say that the significant purpose of communication is to pass on the information to
the receiver in such a manner that it does not lose its significance. At the same time, the message
must be received in its purest form.

Levels of Communication
1. Extrapersonal Communication
Extrapersonal communication is that way of communication in which a
human being interacts with other species. Communication between human
beings and non-humans is extra personal communication. For example,
communication with animals; communication with plants; communication
with robots etc. In everyday life, we communicate with animals, we train
them and they react according to our instructions and commands. For
example, house dogs, horses, cats and monkeys etc. sometime we find
some persons, who have the habit of talking at with plants. Certain plants
react to our touch, for example, touch-me-not plant
2. Intrapersonal Communication
Intrapersonal communication is the process by which an individual
communicates within themselves, acting as both sender and receiver of
messages. Self-motivation is an example of intrapersonal communication.
Intrapersonal communication also includes reading aloud, repeating what
we hear etc.
3. Interpersonal Communication
Interpersonal communication is the process of exchange of information,
ideas and feelings between two or more people. This is done through
verbal or non-verbal methods. It often includes face-to-face exchange of
information, in the form of voice, facial expressions, body language and
gestures. The examples of interpersonal communication include daily
communication between employee and employer, client meetings,
employee performance reviews and project discussions. Moreover,
onlineconversations, meetings and chatting are also a part of interpersonal
communication. This type of communication is very important because it
allows people to discuss problems and also help to avoid
miscommunication. People with good interpersonal communication skills
can, therefore, build healthy relationships with their colleagues and work
much better as a team.
4. Organizational Communication
Organizational communication includes communication within an
organization as well as among various other organizations. For example,
an educational institute communicates with the teachers, staff and
students. Besides, it also communicates with other institutes, government
and private organizations and society. Team meetings, work related
trainings, social events etc. are the common examples of organizational
communication.
5. Mass Communication
Mass communication is the process of exchanging information through
mass media to a very large section of the population. TV, print media like
newspapers, magazines and journals, social networking sites,
advertisements, films, books etc. are the methods of Mass Communication.
The purpose of this communication is to change the behavior, attitude,
opinion, or emotion of the people who are watching, reading or listening to
it. In today’s modern world, this is a very effective, fast and cheap method
of sending information to large number of people.
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