What is communication?

Communication is a process of sharing ideas, feelings and thoughts. It is a two-way process. The sender
encodes a message and sends it to the receiver. As soon as the message is received by the receiver from
the sender, the receiver decodes the message and gives a response according to his/her understanding
of it.

Classification:-

Verbal Communication: Oral, Written, Visual, Audio-Visual

Non-Verbal Communication: Non-verbal communication is the process of sending and receiving

messages without using words, either spoken or written. Ex Body Language, Gesture, Posture, Signs

Classification of Non Verbal Communication: Kinesics (Body Language, Proxemics (Study of Space),
Haptics (Study of Touch), Chronemics (Study of Time), Paralinguistics (Study of Tone), Chromatics ( Study
of Colour), Oculesics (Study of Eyes)

Proxemics (Study of space): Intimate Zone, Personal Zone, Social Zone, Public Zone

The Mehrabian Model : The Mehrabian model states that..

7% of meaning is in the words that are spoken. 38% of meaning is paralinguistic. 55% of meaning is
conveyed through facial expression.

The Mehrabian Model is not relevant to every situation (Signs eg. NO ENTRY, BLOW HORN)

Business/Professional Communication: The term professional communication refers to the various

forms of speaking, listening, writ ing, and responding carried out both in and beyond the
workplace, whether in person or electronically .

Difference between General and Professional Communication:

However there is no basic difference between the general and business communication, the only
difference lies in their application to situations. The general communication plays diverse roles, business
communication is specifically concerned with well defined business/professional activities.

Personality: Personality is a mask that we wear in order to make ourselves accomplished and
employable. The word “personality” has derived from the Greek word “persona” meaning mask.

Hard Skills: Specific teachable abilities that can be defined and measured. It includes job skills like:
Typing (speed), Mathematical Skill, Proficiency with software applications.

Soft Skills: Soft Skills are personal attributes that enhance an individual’s reactions, job performance and
career aspects. It is associated with personality traits such as: Common Sense, Communication, Team
Work, Flexibility.
Flows of Communication: External and Internal

External: External Communication takes place outside the organization between the manager and the
supplier/ Manager & Vendor/ Manager & Agency. Ex: Purchase Order, Invoice, Quotation,Letter, email.

Internal: Internal Communication takes place within the organization. Ex: Memo, Notice, Agenda,
Circular & Minutes.

Formal and Informal Communication:

Formal: Formal Comm refers to interchange of information officially. It can be ORAL/WRITTEN. Routine
works are done through oral comm but the Policy matters require written comm. Hierarchy is
maintained through it.

Informal: Informal Comm refers to interchange of information unofficially. It is ORAL. It is free from all
the organizational formalities. Body Language is part of it. It is based on informal relations.

Examples of Internal Formal Communication (Comm Network)

Upward/ Downward (Vertical), Lateral/ Horizontal, Diagonal

Downward Communication: Downward Communication flows from higher level to lower level:
Feedback, Instruction and Order.

Upward Communication: Upward Communication flows from lower level to higher level: Grievance
Redress.

Advantages of Upward Comm:

Allows the employees to share their opinions with the boss.

Subordinates send feedback.

Calls for creative and democratic environment.

Promotes good relations.

Advantages of Downward Comm:

Chain of Command is maintained .

Discipline is maintained.

Beneficial to increase functional relation among all the employees.

Lateral communication: It takes place between peers or between managers. Ex: Meeting

Diagonal Communication: When everybody participates in the process of communication (there’s no

power structure).
Advantages of Lateral Communication: Facilitates coordination of the task, Helps in solving
departmental problem, Provides social assistance, Means of sharing information between peers.

Advantages of Diagonal Comm: Direct Method, Fastest Method, Helpful in Critical Situation Promotes
Democracy.

External Communication:

It takes place between Managers and External groups like Suppliers, Vendors, Bank and so on.

Turn-Taking System: According to Ethnomethodologists, “Communication is Situation-Bound”. Every

speaker tries to turn the discussion/conversation according to his/her desired direction to achieve the
goal.

What is Communication Network?

The pattern of contacts among the members of the organization and flow of information among them
is communication network.

What are the different channels of communication?

Communication channels can be categorized into three principal channels: (1) verbal, (2) written, and (3)
non-verbal.

What are the 7Cs of communication?

Credibility, Courtesy, Clarity, Correctness, Consistency, Concreteness and Conciseness.

What are the 4 Ss of communication?

Shortness, Simplicity, Strength and Sincerity.

Advertisement:

Objectives of Advertisements: To market a product, To persuade the viewers / readers, To turn the
viewers as buyers, To increase the sale of a product, To increase the profit of the manufacturer.

Types of advertisements: Commercial, Non-Commercial, Primary Demand, Selective Demand, Classified,

Display, Comparative, National Ad/ Regional Ad, Global Ad.

How does it affect us?

Emotional Appeal : Appealing to your audience's emotions can be achieved through strong imagery,

impactful text or powerful music.

Rational Appeal: A rational appeal in advertising means more emphasis is placed on providing factual
information and specific details about product benefits.
Grapevine: Rumor/ Gossip (word of mouth).

What is Grapevine?

It is an informal channel of (Internal) communication and it stretches throughout the organization in all
directions. In spite of the formal (internal)channels of communication in the organization, the informal
channel tends to develop because human beings are social animals and they love to interact and
therefore it develops.

Characteristics of Grapevine:

It is not controlled by the management.

It emerges from social and personal interactions of the employees.

It follows oral communication.

It begins and ends anywhere in the organization.

It is largely used to serve self-interests of those within the organization.

Most of the employees find it believable and reliable.

There’s no definite route of it for sharing information.

Factors responsible for Grapevine:

1. When the organization is facing recession, employees sense uncertainty and at that time employees
do not have self-confidence due to which they form unions or groups.

2. Sometimes, the managers show preferential treatment and favor some employees, which create a
sense of insecurity among other employees. In that case, during breaks, the employees form a group in
the cafeteria or in the corridor and discuss the attitude of the boss. Also, they spread rumors about
promotion and transfer of other employees.

3. Feeling of inadequacy or insecurity on the part of the employees leads to the formation of groups.

Advantages of Grapevine:

It carries information rapidly. When an employee gets a confidential information, he/she passes the
details to his/her close friends and then it starts spreading automatically.

The managers get the reaction of the subordinates on the company policies. The feedback is quick
compared to formal channels of communication.

It creates a sense of unity among the peers. It is a supplementary channel of communication.

It builds up group cohesiveness. It serves as an emotional supportive value.

Disadvantages of Grapevine:

Not at all a reliable/credible source of communication as it does not follow any official channel of
communication.

The productivity of the employees may be hampered as they spend more time in gossip.

Sometimes it creates a hostile environment in the organization.

Types of Grapevine:

Single Strand Chain, Cluster Chain, Gossip Chain.

Classification of Communication:

 Intra-personal Communication- Talking to self. Ex-Monologue, Soliloquy

 Inter-personal Communication-Between two persons. Ex: Personal Interview

 Group Communication-Examples Meeting / Classroom

 Mass Communication- Communication through Mass Media. Ex: Print Media, Electronic Media

 Meta-Communication: Speaking something ironically. When a sentence has multiple meanings, it

becomes an example of meta-communication. Meta (prefix) means going beyond the surface meaning.
Ex: Even if we talk about Smart India, how far we are successful in addressing the issues of remote
villages, where basic things are not available like safe drinking water and proper and waste disposal
facilities.

Feedback: (Receiver’s/Decoder’s Response)

Definition: Feedback is a process in which the effect or output of an action is returned back (fed-back) to
modify the next action. It is a two-way flow and inherent to all interactions: Human-to-Human, Human-
to-Machine, Machine-to-Machine.

Feedback Loop: Action—>Effect—>Feedback -->Action

Verbal Forms: Feedback, Review, Opinion, Comments.

Nonverbal Forms (Neural): Gesture, Expression, (Nod, Eyes, Pat, Frown, Handshake etc…).

Three Tiers of Feedback: Listen to what is being communicated.

Repeat the main points of the message to ensure yourself that you have understood it properly.

Give a response to it.

Types of Feedback:

Confirmatory Feedback: Whatever is being stated is accepted and the receiver agrees to the statement.

Corrective Feedback: When the receiver does not agree with the speaker’s opinion, he gives a corrective
feedback. It is given by the superiors in the organization.

How to give Corrective/Positive feedback: Should not be strongly worded, Should not be negative,
Should not be harsh, Should be positive, Should be polite, Should be cordial.

How to give Corrective Feedback:

Negative words should be framed in the positive manner, for instance:

a).You have submitted a bad report.(x)

b). You have prepared the report, but there are a few issues, which you need to discuss again, like… .
kindly see my comments and rewrite.

Process of giving Feedback: Positive frame, Descriptive and Respectful, Normalization.

Impacts of Positive Feedback: Improves Organizational Relationships, Increases Confidence, Motivating

Factor, Creates Cordial Environment.

Impacts of Negative Feedback: Breaks the confidence of the recipient, Motivation will be lost, Leads to
insecurity, Proper work culture will be shaken, This might put the organization into trouble.

Relevance of Feedback: It makes communication meaningful, It sustains communication process, It can

be verbal and non-verbal, It generates new idea, It is a basis for measuring the effectiveness of
communication, Communication will be useless without it.

Noise:

Definition: Noise can be either physical sound or mental disturbance that disrupts the flow of the
transmission of the message and the sender or receiver gets distracted by it…

Types of Noise:

Physical Noise: Physical noise is the sound, which emanates from surroundings and hampers the
listening process.

Psychological Noise: Psychological noise is the result of our trauma or mental turbulence. It does not
allow us to work with concentration.

Semantic Noise: Semantic Noise occurs when the sender uses a word or phrase, which is not known to
the receiver and therefore, he/she creates a gap in the conversation process.
Factors responsible for Noise in Communication:

Wrong Assumption, Varied Perception, Differing Cultural Background, Poor Listening, Badly Expressed
message, Noise in the channel/surrounding, Ego/ I-Attitude, Negative Approach, Poor Retention, Lack of
Concentration, Lack of Interest, Biased Attitude, Use of Inappropriate Media.

Information Overload (Noise): When the receiver fails to handle the huge amount of data, we call it
Information Overload. The reasons of information overload are fatigue, disinterest and boredom. Very
often important information gets mingled with irrelevant information. Therefore, the quality of
information is important than the quantity of information.

Semiotics: Study of signs or symbols and their use and interpretation…

Semantics: Study or Science of Language (concerned with the analysis of word meanings…)

Syntax: The arrangement of words to form a sentence…

Proxemics: (Study of Space)

Intimate space-1.5ft or 45cm, Personal space-4ft or 1.2m, Social space-12ft or 3.7m, Public space-25ft or
7.6m.

Intimate: 0 to 18 inches, Personal: 1.5 to 5 feet, Social: 5 to 7 feet.

Listening:

Definition: It can be defined as the accurate perception of what is being communicated. But the
accuracy level of Listening is never 100% because of the differing perceptions of individuals.

Listening is a process of receiving, interpreting and reacting to a message received from the speaker.
Communication process is incomplete without listening.

**Process of Extraction/ Filtering

Listening has two stages: Decoding, Giving an internal response to the perceived message.

Three-Tier of Process: Levelling/ Leveling (to Collect/to Survey). Sharpening (Sift/ Segregate/ to
Validate). Assimilation (to Absorb).

Types of Listening:

Appreciative Listening: This is for deriving (aesthetic) pleasure as we do when we listen to Musicians or
Comedians or Entertainers.

Comprehensive Listening: This type is required in the classroom, when the students are expected to
understand the lectures.
Critical Listening: When the purpose is to accept or to reject the message or to evaluate it critically and
then to form an opinion about something. One requires such type of listening, while listening to a Sales
Person. (Discriminative Listening/ Evaluative Listening)

Empathetic Listening: When we listen to a distressed friend, we require to provide emotional support
and that time empathetic listening plays a key role. It goes beyond sympathy because one tries to
understand how the opponent is feeling. It requires close attention to the nuances of emotional signals.

Biased Listening/ Prejudiced Listening: It takes place when the person listens, what he wishes to listen.

Therapeutic Listening: It is an evidence-based auditory intervention intended to support individuals,

who experience challenges in life.

Essentials for Good Listening: Positive Attitude, Power of Concentration, Initiate Question Answer
Session, Eye Contact, Conducive Body Posture, Be unbiased, Send appropriate non-verbal signals,
Paraphrase the content from time to time.

Listening and Hearing:

Listening: Active Process, Whatever we listen we remember, Concentration is required, Feedback is

possible.

Hearing: Passive Activity, Whatever we hear we forget, Casual, Feedback is impossible.

Agenda: Agenda is a written official document of programme of business to be transacted at a meeting.

It is drafted by the secretary in consultation with the chairperson. A copy of agenda is normally enclosed
with the notice of a meeting. It is sent to all the members concerned prior to the meeting.

It provides the participants with the information needed to prepare effectively for the forthcoming
meeting. An agenda should contain the following points: The name of the organization and the address.
Day, Date, Year, Time and Venue of Meeting to be held. Minutes of the Previous Meeting. The issues to
be discussed in the forthcoming meeting. The signature of the concerned authority or secretary.

Minutes: The official record of proceedings at a meeting is called “Minutes”. It is basically a summerised
record of discussions held and decisions reached at a meeting. Minutes include only the facts presented
and actions taken. Personal opinions are not recorded. Minutes are written by the secretary of the
organization.

Memorandum and Memoranda: