Communicaton is the process which involves the transferring of a message from the sender to the receiver. This simple definition is what we will be discussing about in this lecture. If you people remember the last session, I discussed the organizational structure of business. Well communication is one of the important features of an organisationalstructure. Without communication there will be no cohesion, and without cohesion there will be no structure to the organisation.
The message transferred in the process is itself an instruction, a news, any statement. Your mom calling you for dinner is as much a form of communication as is your father talking to his colleague over the phone. Effective or efficient communication involves four indispensable features.
- A Transmitter or Sender: The person who gives/sends the message
- A Medium: The way/method with which a message is passed e.g Telephone, Television, E-mail etc.
- A Reciever: The person to whom the message is sent to
- Feedback: The reply or response given by the receiver which serves to confirm whether the message has been received as well as answer the sender’s question.
Apart from that we will classify communication into two maiun types, Internal Communication and External communication. Internal Communication, in Business, means that communication carried out in the business and external communication is that communication that is carried out with other businesses or customers.
Communication Media
There are three mediums through which a sender can send messages.
- Verbal medium
- Written medium
- Visual medium
Let us discuss Verbal Medium first, Talking directly with one another, face to face, on phone, through video conference, areall examples of verbal communication. This has various benefits such as the reinforcing effect of body language which helps better convey the message to the receiver, as well as its ablility to be understood by lliterate people, and finally it is more convenient and time efficient than weitten form of communication.
Sadly however it cannot be saved and cannot be used for future reference, there is also no evidence that something was spoken.
Written communication is that which involves writing intelligible and meaningful letters or symbols. This van be in the form of a letter, memo or an email. Of course, this type of communication can be recorded and used for future reference. People can refer back to it if they forget some part of the message is forgotten.
However direct feedback is not possible and sometimes the language used can be so difficult that it becomes confusing and loses the interest of the reader.
Visual communication means communication through diagrams or visual representations. This type of communication is found in boardrooms where presentations are showed for many purposes, either to forecast sales level or to review or propose budget for the fiscal year. Pie charts, bar graphs, pictograms etc. are all used for such communication. This form of communication has the obvious advantage of being more easily and readily perceived by the receiver than if it was written or verbal. They can also be used to make a written message more clear.
Communication Nets
Communication Nets are the ways in which a group of people communicate with one another. The various types of communication nets are:
1 Chain Network: A network that connects people f different levels atarting from the top and fiishing at the bottom, it inviolves passing of message through the different levels before it reaches the destined level.
Wheel Network:This type of network allows a manager to communicate with all the functional departments all at once and all communication has to ass through the manager before reaching the other department. This has the considerable advantage of keeping the manager alert abot all his functional departments however, there is no direct coordination between functional depts. Which could lead to diseconomies of scale.
Man-ager
Connected network:
This is a network in which all members are interconnected with each othe and every member is connected to every other member in the group. This has the benefit of interconnectivity but there is no clear leader of the group.
No one network is best and each network is suited for a particular purpose.
Now finally we can conclude the lecture, but not before we discuss the barriers to effective communication. These are the problems with the sender, the medium, the receiver, the feedback. The problems with the receiver can be the use of difficult language or the sending of a wrong message.
As far as the medium is concerned, the wrong medium might be used, there is a breakdown in the medium e.g telephone interference. Problems with the receiver can range from the inability of the receiver to receive the message to the suspicion of the receiver on believing the message. All these problems act as barriers to effective communication in a business as well as outside it.
FAQs
Q:1 Define COMMUNICATION.
Ans. Communication involves sending of a message by the sender to the receiver through a medium. This simple definition fully defines the concept of communication.
Q:2 Discuss the Advantages and Disadvantages of Verbal Medium.
Ans. Verbal medium involves the use of verbally spoken language in the sending of a message. Such as a one to one talk, telephone conversation etc.
It has the considerable advantage of using accent, tone and body language to fortify and reinforce the meaning of the message, so as to get it into the reciever’s head with clarity. It also has an advantage over contemporary mediums by possessing the ability to be understood by the illiterate people as well as the literate people.
However like all verbal communication it cannot be recorded for future reference.