Lesson 1

Communication is simply the act of transferring information from one place, person or group to
another.

Every communication involves (at least) one sender, a message and a recipient.

Communication is a basic requirement in the success of any individual. Every profession requires
communication as a basic key to a professional’s success.

Communication is also essential for a good and productive society. There would be no society without
communication. The success and failure of society rely greatly on its people’s communication.

Communication involves the encoding, sending, and decoding of a message to the desired audience.

• Communication is a process by which we assign and convey meaning with the desire to have a
common and shared understanding of the message.

• Communication helps you build connections with other people from different places with
different beliefs, customs, and cultures.

• Communication allows you to have a better understanding of the people and world around you.

• Communication enables you to inform, persuade, and motivate the people around you.

THE CHARACTERISTICS OF COMMUNICATION

Communication is a process of exchanging ideas, information, emotions, and other forms of messages
from one person to another. It is deemed necessary in one’s success in life. Here are a few, among
many, characteristics of communication.

Communication is the blood-line of society

In the absence of communication, there will be no society. All forms of society have communication.
Even the kingdom of animals has its forms of communication, which are very necessary for their
survival. In all of our undertakings, communication is a vital requirement (Tendero, Antonio, Mora,
Tanuecoz, Babia, & Cruz, 2009).

Communication is basic to success

Proper communication makes a business a success. Your ability to say what you feel, express your ideas,
persuade others to believe in you, and convince them to react or respond to you are all factors to a
successful career (Tendero, Antonio, Mora, Tanuecoz, Babia, & Cruz, 2009).

Communication allows you to create networks and build stronger relationships.

Your ability to communicate allows you to make friends, extend your network or circle of people around
you, and build relationships with people from different places.

Communication is everywhere

Communication is constant, which means it is everywhere. Wherever you go, whatever you, whoever
you are with, communication will always be present. The moment you wake up and think of what
breakfast to eat, or a simple thought of planning your day is a form of communication within the self. At
the very least, smiling at someone is already a form of sending a message; thus, a form of
communication.
Communication is a two-way process

One of the very nature of communication is its requirement of a sender and a receiver. Since one can
communicate within the self (intrapersonal communication), communication may not necessarily
require two individuals. It only needs a sender and a receiver, along with its other elements, for the
communication to process.

Communication is complex

Communication is not easy, with its many components and considerations. In communicating, you have
to consider your target audience’s interests, culture, beliefs, practices, etc. There are also other things
that you have to consider things such as grammar, medium, and other means of communicating your
message which make the entire communication process not as easy as it sounds

Communication is irreversible

There is a need for you to be extra careful with your communication skills since this is only done once. It
cannot be repeated and cannot be taken back. Once the communication process has occurred, it has to
be noted that your words and their meaning may have varied interpretations from your target audience.

This is a guide toward realizing effective communication. It is through the communication process that
the sharing of a common meaning between the sender and the receiver takes place. Individuals that
follow the communication process will have the opportunity to become more productive in every aspect
of their profession because effective communication leads to understanding.

The first step in the communication process starts with the sender, who does the encoding process. This
process involves the formulation and translation of the sender’s ideas or information in the form of
symbols that represent meaning. These symbols may be in different forms, such as words (oral or
written), facial expressions, gestures, and others. The sender has to make sure that these symbols are
properly encoded in such a manner that the receiver fully understands the meaning of the message.

To begin the second step, which is the transmitting of the message from the sender to the receiver, the
sender has to consider the kind of medium or means to use. The sender has to appropriately choose the
channel that is accessible and understandable by the receiver. Although we have the traditional face-to-
face means of communication, with the expansion of technology, channels are also extended to the use
of email, social media platforms, and other communication means involving digital devices.

Once the message was sent to the desired audience, the received will now perform the third step which
is the decoding stage. This is done by the receiver who receives, examines, analyzes, and understands
the message. The communication process is a success once the receiver correctly understands and
interprets the message of the sender.

Most, but not all, communication processes do not end with the decoding stage. Feedback constitutes
the fourth step of the communication process. This is the best way to evaluate whether the message
was fully and correctly understood by the receiver. Feedback may take different signal forms such as a
written reply, a smile, a long sigh, a nod, or other actions. Even the lack of feedback is, in a sense, a form
of feedback. The sender would not be able to confirm if the receiver has fully grasped the message in
the absence of feedback.
THE ELEMENTS OF COMMUNICATION

Communication is composed of five elements: 1) the sender, 2) the message, 3) the channel, 4) the
receiver, 5) feedback

1. THE SENDER

The sender is the first element of communication, the origin of the communication. The contribution of
the sender to the success of communication is vital, in that he/she is the source of the message. A good
“sender” should be effective in formulation his message, whether this be in verbal form (spoken) or non
verbal form (written, signals, body movements). Likewise, a good “sender” should be able to know and
understand the channel in which he/she could send the message through. Also, he/ she should be able
to understand the receiver of the message.

2. THE MESSAGE

A good message should be clear for it to be easily understood. It should be specific, meaning it should be
definite and distinctive. A definite message is one that is free from any doubt.

3. The channel

A good channel is one which could transmit the message clearly faithfully and efficiently. The channel
should be able to clearly transmit the message exactly/ accurately – neither less and more.

4. The receiver

A good receiver is someone who is a good listener, who could comprehend the message accurately and
one who is free from emotional or psychological baggage that could affect the accuracy of the message.

5. THE FEEDBACK

Feedback is the response to the message given by the receiver. A good feedback is given on time, i.e.,
as quickly as possible after the message has been received . Feedback should not be timely, it should
also be responsible, meaning, the person giving the feedback should be accountable/ answerable to give
his/her response accurately and on time.

Lesson 2
I. Types of communication according to the number of persons

Intrapersonal communication - also known as communication within the self. Ex: Deciding
things

Interpersonal communication - people exchanging ideas to each other. it is done by pair

Group communication - composed of three persons or more

Public communication - comes down to giving a speech before a live audience in a credible and
exciting manner.

Mass communication - process that sent message through mass channels or broadcast radio to
social media. It is the expensive process of communication.

Verbal communication - use of words to share information with other people.

Written communication - sent message through writing a message to a letter.

Oral communication - message is verbally or orally transmitted to your target listener or
audience.

Nonverbal Communication - includes body languages.

Kinesics - the interpretation of body motion communication such as facial expressions and
gestures.

Haptics - transmitting through touch.

Vocalics - paralanguage communication through the use of voice.

Proxemics - which messages are conveyed from one person to another by the changing space
that separates them during a conversation.

Types of Proxemics

Intimate space - This distance is commonly used between lovers and other people who are
close, such as family members and close friends.

Personal space - It shows relationship status. People who have closer relationships will have a
smaller personal distance. More dissatisfied husbands have been shown to choose greater
conversational distance when speaking to their wives.

Social space - Most strangers start off in this distance, and it’s often used during formal
business and social events. Many people who you first meet might be in this distance.

Public space - Most likely, 2 people keeping public distance indicates complete strangers.
There’s usually very little to no eye contact and physical touch in this distance.

The Ethics of Communication

Successful communication requires certain ethical rules for a communicator to follow. Andrew
Button

1.honesty;

2. openness to other views;

3. commitment, and

4.consensus building.

1.Honesty - This quality is very important for communication to succeed. Webster defines
honesty as the act, quality, or condition of being truthful. Perhaps there may be instances
when a person may be forced to lie, as in misleading an enemy in a war, who is asking
important information about the whereabouts of friendly forces. Button opines that honesty is
more than just not lying, it is being open and offering whatever information you have, even if it
puts your own short-term interests at stake.
2. Openness to other views - Your willingness to be open to views, which differ or even run
against your ideas, is one crucial factor for communication to succeed.

An environment where people are not free to express their ideas, especially if these may be
unpopular, is not an ethical environment. The free flow of communication is vital to the welfare
and development of an organization, and of the country for that matter.

3. Commitment - Webster presents an interesting definition of commitment, i.e. ,being bound

emotionally/intellectually to a course of action or to another person. Commitment is a promise
or agreement to do something. It is also a state of being pledged or engaged. In communication
one is bound by a number of commitments or promises: to be honest or truthful, to be sincere
in what you say or write. Thus, "fake" news is a big NO in communication.

4. Build consensus - Consensus is a general agreement among the members of a given group or
community, each of which exercises some discretion in decision-making.

Principles of Communication
To be effective, a communicator should be able to use some fundamental, assumptions or
rules. These assumptions or rules are called principles. At least five basic principles could be
utilized to make communication successful:

1. Relevance .An important consideration in sending your message is the value or relevance of
your message to your receiver .Thus, foremost, a speaker or a writer should ask him/herself the
following questions: what is the value of my message to my receiver? Will my message appeal
to' the interest of my receiver? Will my message add value to my receiver or to the company of
my receiver?

2. Be positive. Formulate your message with an open and positive attitude. It is an accepted
rule in physics that an action requires an equal amount of reaction. It is believed that if a
speaker or a writer has a positive attitude then his message would be received positively by the
audience/reader.

3.Choose the best medium. An equally important principle in communication is the medium,
the means that a speaker or a writer use,as channel of communication. It is advisable that the
speaker or the writer utilize effective communication systems to drive through the message.
Nowadays, it is said that the attention span of people is shorter, thus the need to maximize
their attention as longer as you can to drive through the message.
4. Study your audience. It is a must that a speaker or writer knows the audience or reader.
Thus, the speaker or writer should study the socio-economic profile, the interests, and the
aspirations of his/her audience/reader; more importantly, what appeals to them. If your
audience/reader is politically inclined, then talk of something related to current political issues.

5. Be enthusiastic. Enthusiasm is a very important quality of a speaker or writer. It is defined as

divine inspiration or frenzy. Simply said enthusiasm is the intensity of feeling, excitement
interest or eagerness.

6. Maintain an intense focus. To be effective, a speaker or writer should be fired with intense
feeling or be passionate. Webster believes that the sender of the communication should be
given to a strong feeling, sometimes even romantic and/or sexual.

Implications of Globalization to Communication

Communication competence is one factor in the success of an individual, including success in

business. However, globalization has created a big impact in dramatic ways on the way people
communicate. Part of this global development is the advent of the fourth industrial revolution,
which brought about massive developments in information technology, including artificial
intelligence.

Virtual Interactions

Because of globalization, virtual communication has become in vogue ,thus has accelerated the
flow of communication in exponential terms. Around ten or so years ago, one has to make an
overseas call to communicate with a friend or relative in a foreign country. Nowadays ,through
the use of the internet and modern gadgets, communicating to any part of the world has
become as easy as the click of a finger.

Information Highway

The channel of communication has become doubly efficient brought about by the availability of
numerous service providers offering internet, cable TV and mobile telephone facilities.

Business Transactions

The speed and efficiency of communication entails new approaches to transact business around
the globe. Travelling to another country to transact business could be forgone in lieu of internet
facilities and mobile services, a number of them for free. One can do teleconferencing with a
business partner abroad, without spending much for travel. Thus, promotions, marketing and
selling products across the globe has become easy and very quick because of virtual
communication. Moreover, because of the availability of quick Communication
facilities ,information flow has been significantly facilitated and decision-making has become
faster.
Social Media Power

One effect of globalization is the prevalence of social media networks, resulting in social
awareness of people in a global sense. The advent of advanced communication technology
promoted the "massification" of information, views, research studies, opinions, and prototypes.
Where before society is fragmented because of geographic separation, now a global society has
become a reality courtesy of social media.

Consequently, the political, economic and social impact of this communication revolution could
only be unimaginable because the world has virtually shrunk like an apple due to the speed by
which communication could be transmitted.