Feedback plays a critical in communication at a larger extent as it is crucial in each and every

context, be it anything. It shows the effectiveness of the sender, it is effective listening, it can
motivate and many others. When communication is talked of, then feedback deciphers that
“Not only the receiver has received the message but also has responded with something, to
the sender.” It is like the backbone of the entire process of communication.

Bartol and martin advocated that, “Feedback is the receivers’ basic response to interpreted
message.” Feedback is also defined as information presented that allows comparison between
an actual outcome and a desired outcome (Ramaprasad 1983, Mary 2004). It is inevitably
essential to make two way communication effective, in fact without feedback communication
is incomplete. It is the final component of communication. Feedback can either be positive or
negative. Positive feedback indicates that the sender can continue his communication in the
same manner as before whereas, negative feedback indicates a need in a change in the
communication manner. Actually there are different types of feedback which are positive,
negative, deliberate, delayed and no feedback. It can also be verbal or non-verbal therefore no
feedback is feedback in itself.

Feedback is important in communication because it is effective listening. When one human

being speaks to another, he or she needs to experience two very fundamental things which
are, they need to know that they have been understood and they need to feel that what they
said had some of value. If the sender does not feel any of the two then they can therefore
conclude that what they had been talking about has not been understood and the receiver has
not been listening to what the sender was talking about. This also compliments that the
receiver has been paying attention to the sender through the feedback that goes back to the
sender from the receiver. Giving feedback effectively means in one sense simply providing
both aspects, (for example) showing understanding “l see.” Or “ ok, l have the same issue,”
this shows active listening as the receiver gives feedback that shows he or she has understood
what was being about showing that there was active listening.

Motivation is influenced by feedback there showing that feedback is important in

communication. Positive feedback is another word of praise, and is all about opportunity to
express appreciation of a job well done in the hope of inspiring an individual to do many
more jobs even better. (for example) in a school setup a student does an assignment and sends
it to the teacher, he or she will be eagerly waiting for the response which is feedback from the
teacher, upon getting the feedback which might positive or average the student is motivated

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to even put much more effort in his or her studies so as to maintain the passes or to improve
the grades. Lin, Atkinson, Joseph et al (2013) acknowledges that “Feedback has effects in
terms of motivating behaviours, and results testing the feedback has been inclusive.” After all
feedback can have disparate effects on motivation based on how it is delivered, how the
recipient interprets the feedback, and how the behaviour is related to the feedback.

It is also critically important in communication because it is essential in the development of

performance. Feedback is something which is akin to criticism, or attacks, yet feedback is not
criticism, it is a supportive act intended to deal with under-performance in a constructive way
and to develop performance to a higher level. Effective and timely feedback is acritical
component of a successful performance and should be used in conjunction with setting
performance goals. Cusella (1982), Acknowledges that positive feedback may be more
persuasive than negative feedback as it provides an affirmation of competence to the
respondents. (For example) if feedback is given to employees on their progress towards their
goals, employee performance will improve. It should be given in a manner that will best help
improve performance by motivating the employees at a firm or working place.

Feedback is critically necessary in communication as it helps in information collection. One

way communication only sends information without the coming of feedback. If a
communicator wants to gather information he should use a two way communication that has
feedback that gives out the certain information that the communicator was looking for. (For
example) If a firm wants to gather information on the delivery of its services it should partake
an interview that gives back feedback which is the information that the firm is looking for,
this therefore shows that feedback is essential on information gathering.

Feedback is greatly important as it completes communication. A two way communication

requires feedback from the receiver which acts as the completer of the communication.
Through the feedback, the sender can understand the attitude of the receiver. Burton and
Thakur believes that, “The receiver’s feedback to the sender completes the communication
process loop.” This implies that without feedback communication is complete as the
terminator of communication which is feedback is not present.

Being always available is the other importance of feedback in communication skills. It

prevails everywhere and any time, any conversation, or any form of communication whether
verbal or non-verbal. As feedback is always available, it unlocks the success of
communication. It is said to be an inseparable part of successful communication as it prevails

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in all conversations. (For example) the recipient might have understood the meaning and
intention of the message but, due to a barrier of some kind, say language barrier, he or she
could not convey his or her reactions properly. In this case feedback can be seen on his or her
face conveying that the recipient has understood the message send by the sender.

Measurement of the effectiveness of communication is done through feedback. Feedback

ensures the sender regarding the effectiveness of his communication. By means of feedback,
sender can be sure that the receiver received the message and understood it in the proper way.
Sender needs feedback in order to determine the success or failure of communication. De
Franzo (2015) argues that whether feedback is done verbally or via a feedback survey, the
person providing feedback needs to know they have been understood and that their message
has some kind of value.

There is some truth to the argument that the sender is critically important in the
communication process as he or she is the initiator of communication, however feedback
remains critically the most important element in communication as it is the response that the
sender aspires to get after initialising the communication process and it is through feedback
that he or she is assured the message had meaning and was understood by the receiver in their
discourse. This is mainly focused in a two way communication.

Some research claims that decoding is the most important element in communication as it is
the one that brings the meaning to the receiver, what this argument fails to consider is that
feedback shows that the message was understood by the receiver. It comes back to the point
that feedback is the most important element in the communication process as it assures the
sender that his message has been understood. For the messenger to know if the message is
decoded correctly, he or she needs feedback and lack of feedback leaves confusion and
misunderstanding therefore communication is left incomplete.

Even though some scholars differ on the assertion that, “feedback is the most important
element of communication,” it is abstractly seen from the presentation that feedback is the
most important feature of communication. A clear picture supporting the argument that,
“feedback is the most important element of communication,” has been painted by the
presentation above that has stated the reasons to why feedback is the most important element
of communication.

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References
Cusella, L.P. "the effects of source expertise and feedback valence on ontrinsic motivation."
09 june (1983).

Franzo, De. effective communication through two way communication, 2016.

Franzo, Susan De. "the importance of feedback." 5 reasons why feedback is important to
communication, 2016.

Linn, Atkinson and joseph. "Does they offer matter." animated agents of learning, 2013.

Martin, K.M Bartol and D.C. "perfomance appraisal." 27 (june 1998).

mary, Ramaprasad and. "Essentiality of feedback in communication." 1998,2004, n.d.

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