INTRODUCTION TO COMMUNICATION
People spend more time communicating than doing anything else. Probably one spends a large part of each day talking and listening. When one is not talking or listening, he is likely communicating in other waysreading, writing, gesturing, drawing. Or perhaps he is just taking in information by seeing, feeling, or smelling. All these activities are forms of communication and certainly one does it throughout most of his conscious moments.
Just as communication is vital to our existence in civilized society, it is essential to the functioning of the organizations our society has produced. In fact, we could go so far as to say that organizations exist through communication; without communication, there would be no organizations. As Herbert Simon expresses it, "Without communication there can be no organization, for there is no possibility then of the group influencing the behavior of the individual."
Human beings are poor communicators. The irony is we hardly ever realise that when we fail to achieve our objective in relationships, negotiations, or decision-making, it is, to quite an extent, owing to a failure in communicating our purpose and ideas accurately to the others involved.
It may be a failure in terms of the content of the message or the form of the message/ communication, or both. Instances of such failures in communication are common in personal and organisational communications.
People in organizations typically spend over 75% of their time in an interpersonal situation; thus it is no surprise to find that at the root of a large number of organizational problems is poor communications. Effective communication is an essential component of organizational success whether it is at the interpersonal, intergroup, intragroup, organizational, or external levels.
MEANING & DEFINITION OF COMMUNICATION
The word "communication" is derived from "communis" (Latin), meaning" common". It stands for a
natural activity of all human beings to convey opinions, feelings, information, and ideas to others through
words (written or spoken), body language, or signs.
George Vardman in his book Effective Communication of Ideas defines effective communication as
“purposive interchange, resulting in workable understanding and agreement between the sender and
receiver of a message."
Robert Anderson, in his concept of communication, adds the element of medium also. In Professional
Selling, he observes, "Communication is interchange of thoughts, opinions, or information, by speech,
writing, or signs".
Emphasising the various processes of communication, Allen Louis says, "Communication is the sum of all
the things one person does when he wants to create understanding in the mind of another; it involves a
systematic and continuous process of telling, listening, and understanding."
In Human Behaviour at Work, Keith Davis defines communication as “The transformation of information
and understanding from one person to another person. It is a way of reaching others with facts, ideas,
thoughts, and values. It is a bridge of meanings among people so that they can share what they feel and
know. By using this bridge, a person can cross safely the river of misunderstanding that sometimes
separates people".
CLASSIFICATION OF COMMUNICATION
We classify communication according to the number of persons (receivers) to whom the message is
addressed.
Intrapersonal Communication It is talking to oneself in one's own mind. Examples are soliloquies or
asides in dramatic works.
Interpersonal Communication It is the exchange of messages between two persons. For example, a
conversation, dialogue, or an interview in which two persons interact (others may also be present as
audience). An author communicates interpersonally with his reader, who is always present as a silent
audience in the author's mind while he writes. A letter too is an example of interpersonal communication
between the writer and the person to whom it is written.
Group Communication It can be among small or large groups, like an organisation, club or classroom, in
which all individuals retain their individual identity.
Mass Communication It occurs when the message is sent to large groups of people, for example, by
newspaper, radio, or television. In this process, each person becomes a faceless individual with almost no
opportunity for personal response or feedback.
Communication can also be classified on the basis of the medium employed.
Verbal communication It means communicating with words, written or spoken. Verbal communication
consists of speaking, listening, writing, reading, and thinking.
Non-verbal communication It includes using of pictures, signs, gestures, and facial expressions for
exchanging information between persons. It is done through sign language, action language, or object
language.
Non-verbal communication flows through all acts of speaking or writing. It is a wordless message
conveyed through gestures (sign), movements (action language), and object language (pictures/ clothes)
and so on. Further non-verbal communication can be identified by personal space (proxemics, body
language, and kinesics), touch (haptics), eyes (oculesics), sense of smell (olfactics), and time
(chronemics).
Metacommunication Here the speaker's choice of words unintentionally communicates something more
than what the actual words state. For example, a flattering remark like "I've never seen you so smartly
dressed" could also mean that the regular attire of the listener needed improvement.
PURPOSE OF COMMUNICATION
Broadly speaking, in business we communicate to:
· Inform
· Persuade
Often, these two goals are present in the mind of the communicator. However, he may sometimes seek
only to inform, just as all scientific writings do. He would still want the reader to be convinced about the
validity of his findings. Likewise, the communicator may basically seek to persuade the reader as all
journalistic writings do. Or the communicator may both inform and persuade, as all sales letters/
advertisements/ announcements do.
Communication to Inform Communication to inform (expository communication) is directed by the desire
to expose, develop, and explain the subject. It focuses on the subject of the communication.
Communication to Persuade The communicator may seek primarily to persuade the reader. In such a form
of communication the focus is on the receiver and not the message.
Essentially, all communication is a deliberate and intentional act of persuasion. A persuasive
communicator wants the reader to understand the message and to be influenced, as intended by him.

IMPORTANCE OF COMMUNICATION
Communication skills constitute an important aspect of effective management. Managing is a complex
process. In simple terms, it can be described as the organisation of capital, labour, and material to achieve
production and distribution of particular goods or service.
First, the management fixes its objectives - what to do, and forms its policy on how to do it. Then, there
has to be a system through which the production and distribution processes can be guided, coordinated,
and controlled to ensure that the management objectives are achieved. Communication is the system by
which operations are led and coordinated and the results fed back.
GUIDELINES FOR EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION
The responsibility for establishing effective communication rests with all. To create a learning
environment characterized by trust, respect, sharing, and open discussion of concerns, everyone is
expected to act in the manner in which they desire to be treated.
· Take sufficient time to effectively communicate.
· Care. Learn to be empathic.
· Be honest and sincere.
· Develop a sense of belonging when interacting with others. Be welcoming and inclusive.
· Regularly, in your daily life, interact with persons whose culture, race, ethnicity and other
identifiers and important characteristics are different than your own.
· Spend quality time with persons whose backgrounds are different than yours.
· Learn to pronounce names correctly. Make a concerted effort to do so and to remember names.
· Do not make assumptions.
· Ask questions and achieve dialogue to attain successful communication.
· Be a good listener.
· Be willing to help persons change, one step at a time, regarding biases they may have and/or
communicate.
· Learn to understand important practices of different religions.
· Learn to understand why someone believes what he/she believes, including why something is very
important.
· Be respectful of what others value.
· Learn important information about the cultures of others (i.e., eye contact, interaction with
professors or elders, differences in educational systems and other distinguishing cultural traits.)
· Understand the body language of others. Effective communication relates to nonverbal behavior
and tone of voice, as well as words spoken.
· Maintain positive dialogue even when there are differences in opinions and beliefs; do not attack
the person. Agreeing to disagree may be an option. Learn from differences.
· Share information (verbal, written, electronic) which can help others.
· Be specific and concise.
· Do not make discriminatory remarks or display discriminatory actions, as others learn from what
you say and do. Be a positive role model.
MAJOR DIFFICULTIES IN COMMUNICATION
The following are the main difficulties usually experienced by communicators:
· Ensuring that the received meaning affects receiver's behaviour in the desired way.
· Achieving accuracy in communicating the message.
· Ensuring that the message conveys the desired meaning.
COMMON PROBLEMS IN TWO-WAY COMMUNICATION
To be effective, communication process needs to be two-way; but, the more detailed the process is, the
more are the likely difficulties. Given below are some of the common problems related to two-way
communication:
· No perceived benefit to the audience.
· Noise, outside disturbance - hard to hold attention.
· Variations in listening skills.
· Cultural differences.
· Complexity of subject matter/message.
· Time restraints - real or perceived.
· Personal biases, hostility, or both.
· Responding to difficult questions.
· Sidestepping sensitive issues.
BARRIERS TO COMMUNCATION
In communication, as a psycho-semantic process, the word barrier implies, mainly, something nonphysical
that keeps people apart or prevents activity, movement, and so on. For example social/
ethnic/language barriers or lack of confidence. These negative forces may affect the effectiveness of
communication by acting upon any or all of the basic elements of communication act/process and the
sender / receiver / channel.
The commonly experienced barriers to communication are
· Noise
· Lack of planning
· Wrong/unclarified
assumptions
· Semantic problems
· Cultural barriers
· Socio-psychological
barriers
· Emotions
· Selective perception
· Filtering
· Information overload
· Loss by transmission
· Poor retention
· Poor listening
· Goal conflicts
· Offensive style
· Time and distance
· Abstracting
· Slanting
· Inferring