Communication Theory

1. Importance of Communication in Personal life

Communication is a process of sending and receiving information among people. Humans
communicate with others not only by face-to-face communication, but also by giving information
via the Internet and printed products such as books and newspapers. Many people believe that the
significance of communication is like the importance of breathing. Indeed, communication
facilitates the spread of knowledge and forms relationships between people.

First of all, communication helps to spread knowledge and information among people. For
example, authors write books to impart knowledge to the World, and teachers share their
experience with their students. Also, friends or co-workers discuss their ideas with each other, and
companies exchange information with their subsidiaries and customers. Besides, the advent of the
Internet not only allows people to have better access to knowledge and information in all fields,
but also makes it easier and faster to contact with people around the World. Undoubtedly, the
sharing knowledge and information process cannot function without communication. As a result,
companies cannot operate, and humanity will be drowned in the abyss of ignorance.

Communication helps to spread knowledge and information among people. Moreover,

communication is the foundation of all human relationship. At first, strangers start talking and
getting to know each other, and then the relationships are formed when they have more interaction
and communication. Communicating helps people to express their ideas and feelings, and it, at the
same time, helps us to understand emotion and thoughts of the others. As a result, we will develop
affection or hatred toward other people, and positive or negative relationships will be created.

It is no doubt that communication plays a vital role in human life. It not only helps to facilitate the
process of sharing information and knowledge, but also helps people to develop relationships with
others. Therefore, the importance of communication cannot be underestimated. Every day, we
communicate with a lot of people including our families, our friends, our colleagues, or even
strangers. We should learn how to communicate effectively to make our lives better.

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 2. Importance of Communication in an Organization

Effective Communication is significant for managers in the organizations so as to perform the

basic functions of management, i.e., Planning, Organizing, Leading and Controlling.

Communication helps managers to perform their jobs and responsibilities. Communication serves
as a foundation for planning. All the essential information must be communicated to the managers
who in-turn must communicate the plans so as to implement them. Organizing also requires
effective communication with others about their job task. Similarly leaders as managers must
communicate effectively with their subordinates so as to achieve the team goals. Controlling is not
possible without written and oral communication.

Managers devote a great part of their time in communication. They generally devote approximately
6 hours per day in communicating. They spend great time on face to face or telephonic
communication with their superiors, subordinates, colleagues, customers or suppliers. Managers
also use Written Communication in form of letters, reports or memos wherever oral
communication is not feasible.

Thus, we can say that “effective communication is a building block of successful

organizations”. In other words, communication acts as organizational blood.

The importance of communication in an organization can be summarized as follows:

1. Communication promotes motivation by informing and clarifying the employees about

the task to be done, the manner they are performing the task, and how to improve their
performance if it is not up to the mark.
2. Communication is a source of information to the organizational members for decision-
making process as it helps identifying and assessing alternative course of actions.
3. Communication also plays a crucial role in altering individual’s attitudes, i.e., a well
informed individual will have better attitude than a less-informed individual.
Organizational magazines, journals, meetings and various other forms of oral and written
communication help in moulding employee’s attitudes.

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 4. Communication also helps in socializing. In todays life the only presence of another
individual fosters communication. It is also said that one cannot survive without
communication.
5. As discussed earlier, communication also assists in controlling process. It helps
controlling organizational member’s behaviour in various ways. There are various levels
of hierarchy and certain principles and guidelines that employees must follow in an
organization. They must comply with organizational policies, perform their job role
efficiently and communicate any work problem and grievance to their superiors. Thus,
communication helps in controlling function of management.

An effective and efficient communication system requires managerial proficiency in delivering

and receiving messages. A manager must discover various barriers to communication, analyze the
reasons for their occurrence and take preventive steps to avoid those barriers. Thus, the primary
responsibility of a manager is to develop and maintain an effective communication system in the
organization.

Message

Encoding Decoding

Sender Medium Reciever

Decoding Encoding

Feedback

Figure 1 Communication Cycle

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 3. Components of Communication Process

Communication is a process of exchanging verbal and non-verbal messages. It is a continuous

process. Pre-requisite of communication is a message. This message must be conveyed through
some medium to the recipient. It is essential that this message must be understood by the recipient
in same terms as intended by the sender. He must respond within a time frame. Thus,
communication is a two way process and is incomplete without a feedback from the recipient to
the sender on how well the message is understood by him.

Figure 2 Communication Process

The main components of communication process are as follows:

1. Context - Communication is affected by the context in which it takes place. This context
may be physical, social, chronological or cultural. Every communication proceeds with
context. The sender chooses the message to communicate within a context.
2. Sender / Encoder - Sender / Encoder is a person who sends the message. A sender makes
use of symbols (words or graphic or visual aids) to convey the message and produce the
required response. For instance - a training manager conducting training for new batch of
employees. Sender may be an individual or a group or an organization. The views,
background, approach, skills, competencies, and knowledge of the sender have a great
impact on the message. The verbal and non verbal symbols chosen are essential in
ascertaining interpretation of the message by the recipient in the same terms as intended by
the sender.

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 3. Message - Message is a key idea that the sender wants to communicate. It is a sign that
elicits the response of recipient. Communication process begins with deciding about the
message to be conveyed. It must be ensured that the main objective of the message is clear.
4. Medium - Medium is a means used to exchange / transmit the message. The sender must
choose an appropriate medium for transmitting the message else the message might not be
conveyed to the desired recipients. The choice of appropriate medium of communication
is essential for making the message effective and correctly interpreted by the recipient. This
choice of communication medium varies depending upon the features of communication.
For instance - Written medium is chosen when a message has to be conveyed to a small
group of people, while an oral medium is chosen when spontaneous feedback is required
from the recipient as misunderstandings are cleared then and there.
5. Recipient / Decoder - Recipient / Decoder is a person for whom the message is intended /
aimed / targeted. The degree to which the decoder understands the message is dependent
upon various factors such as knowledge of recipient, their responsiveness to the message,
and the reliance of encoder on decoder.
6. Feedback - Feedback is the main component of communication process as it permits the
sender to analyze the efficacy of the message. It helps the sender in confirming the correct
interpretation of message by the decoder. Feedback may be verbal (through words) or non-
verbal (in form of smiles, sighs, etc.). It may take written form also in form of memos,
reports, etc.

4. Forms of Communication:

There are various forms of communication depending individual involved, rules, business, and
methods. They can be discussed in the following diagram.

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 One to one
Individual
involved
Group
Upward
Formal Vertical
Rules Downward
Informal Formal Horizontal

Internal Diagonal
Forms/ Types
Business
of
Comunicatio External Informal Grapevine
n
Oral
Verbal
Written
Sounds of
Audio Bell, Buzzer,
Alarm, etc.

Method Pictures,
Charts, Maps,
Visual Sign,
Symbols,
Colours, etc.

Facial
Non-verbal Expersson

Eye Contact

Gestures

Postures

Personal
Body Appearence
Langauge
Artifacts

Paralanguag
e

Olfactics

Proxemics

Chronemics

Figure 3 Forms of Communication

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Seven C’s of Effective Communication
There are 7 C’s of effective communication which are applicable to both written as well as oral
communication. These are as follows:

1. Completeness - The communication must be complete. It should convey all facts required by the
audience. The sender of the message must take into consideration the receiver’s mind set and
convey the message accordingly. A complete communication has following features:
▪ Complete communication develops and enhances reputation of an organization.
▪ Moreover, they are cost saving as no crucial information is missing and no additional cost
is incurred in conveying extra message if the communication is complete.
▪ A complete communication always gives additional information wherever required. It
leaves no questions in the mind of receiver.
▪ Complete communication helps in better decision-making by the
audience/readers/receivers of message as they get all desired and crucial information.
▪ It persuades the audience.
2. Conciseness - Conciseness means wordiness, i.e, communicating what you want to convey in
least possible words without forgoing the other C’s of communication. Conciseness is a necessity
for effective communication. Concise communication has following features:
▪ It is both time-saving as well as cost-saving.
▪ It underlines and highlights the main message as it avoids using excessive and needless
words.
▪ Concise communication provides short and essential message in limited words to the
audience.
▪ Concise message is more appealing and comprehensible to the audience.
▪ Concise message is non-repetitive in nature.
3. Consideration - Consideration implies “stepping into the shoes of others”. Effective
communication must take the audience into consideration, i.e, the audience’s view points,
background, mind-set, education level, etc. Make an attempt to envisage your audience, their
requirements, emotions as well as problems. Ensure that the self-respect of the audience is
maintained and their emotions are not at harm. Modify your words in message to suit the
audience’s needs while making your message complete. Features of considerate communication
are as follows:
▪ Emphasize on “you” approach.
▪ Empathize with the audience and exhibit interest in the audience. This will stimulate a
positive reaction from the audience.
▪ Show optimism towards your audience. Emphasize on “what is possible” rather than
“what is impossible”. Lay stress on positive words such as jovial, committed, thanks,
warm, healthy, help, etc.
4. Clarity - Clarity implies emphasizing on a specific message or goal at a time, rather than trying to
achieve too much at once. Clarity in communication has following features:
▪ It makes understanding easier.
▪ Complete clarity of thoughts and ideas enhances the meaning of message.
▪ Clear message makes use of exact, appropriate and concrete words.
5. Concreteness - Concrete communication implies being particular and clear rather than fuzzy and
general. Concreteness strengthens the confidence. Concrete message has following features:
▪ It is supported with specific facts and figures.
▪ It makes use of words that are clear and that build the reputation.
▪ Concrete messages are not misinterpreted.
6. Courtesy - Courtesy in message implies the message should show the sender’s expression as
well as should respect the receiver. The sender of the message should be sincerely polite,
judicious, reflective and enthusiastic. Courteous message has following features:
▪ Courtesy implies taking into consideration both viewpoints as well as feelings of the
receiver of the message.
▪ Courteous message is positive and focused at the audience.
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 ▪ It makes use of terms showing respect for the receiver of message.
▪ It is not at all biased.
7. Correctness - Correctness in communication implies that there are no grammatical errors in
communication. Correct communication has following features:
▪ The message is exact, correct and well-timed.
▪ If the communication is correct, it boosts up the confidence level.
▪ Correct message has greater impact on the audience/readers.
▪ It checks for the precision and accurateness of facts and figures used in the message.
▪ It makes use of appropriate and correct language in the message.

Awareness of these 7 C’s of communication makes you an effective communicator.

Completeness, Conciseness, Consideration, Clarity, Concreteness, Courtesy and Correctness

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