PURPOSIVE COMMUNICATION

Understanding 21st century Communication

Communication Process, Principles and
Ethics

Levels of Communication

Intra personal communication

The part of communication in
which self of a human being is involved only
and the communication is confined to one
human entity. This means that all the
elements which come into action in a given
piece of communication are located within
the self of individual. A message originating
from source part of the brain travels through
the channel of nerves to reach another
location, however close it may be to the
point of origin of message, where it is
interpreted and understood as receiver.
All the process of meditation, thinking, monologue and even dreaming while
asleep are all but examples of intra communication.

Inter personal communication

This part of communication

belongs to involving two or more
individuals for exchange of information.
Since this part is experienced more due to
its vastness, it is further classified in many
categories. The simplest form in which
more than one individual communicate to
each other.

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Group Communication
More often people are seen exchanging views with almost all the
participants enjoying an equal status on one
count or the other. Like all the players of a
hockey team, class-fellows, doctors, teachers,
bureaucrats, politicians, economists etc.

Organizational communication
In this part, communication
usually takes place on vertical lines. For
instance, a company director is passing
on instructions to managers who would
be guiding accordingly to field officers and
the relevant other field staff. An army
general may not be talking to lowest rank
men in khaki but would follow the chain of
organizational command to deliver his
message to the last rank people. Be it a
corporate sector, NGO, a political party,
an educational institution, the
communication process would strictly
follow the essentials of the organizational
communication.

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Mass Communication

In this category we refer to the

communication originating from one source
and meant for all possible audience
irrespective of distance, cast, creed, religion,
nationality and beyond. The mass
communication involves use of technology for
it is not possible to carry message to a very
high number of receivers with out the use of
certain devices or techniques. All other types
of communication may take place when the source is coming across receivers without
involving technology. That is why more
research and investment has gone into
handling the mass communication.

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The Nine Principles of Effective Communication

Michael Osborn (2009) claims that communication must meet certain standards
for effective communication to take place.

1. Clarity. Clarity makes speeches understandable. Fuzzy language is

absolutely forbidden, as are jargons, cliché expressions, euphemisms and doublespeak
language.
2. Concreteness. Concreteness reduces misunderstandings. Messages must
be supported by facts such as research, data, statistics or figures. To achieve
concreteness, abstract words must be avoided.
3. Courtesy. Courtesy builds goodwill. It involves being polite in terms of
approach and manner of addressing an individual.
4. Correctness. Glaring mistakes in grammar obscures the meaning of a
sentence. Also, the misuse of language can damage your credibility.
5. Consideration. Messages must be geared towards the audience. The
sender of a message must consider the receipt’s profession, level of education, race
,ethnicity, hobbies, interest, passions, advocacies and age when drafting or delivering a
message.
6. Creativity. Creativity in communication means having the ability to craft
interesting messages in terms of sentence structure and word choice.
7. Conciseness. Simplicity and directness help you to be concise. Avoid using
lengthy expressions and words that may confuse the receipt.
8. Cultural Sensitivity. Today, with the increasing emphasis on empowering
diverse cultures, lifestyles and races and the pursuit for gender equality, cultural
sensitivity becomes an important standard for effective communication.
9. Captivating. You must strive to make messages interesting to command
more attention and better responses.

Ethical Consideration in Communication

Ethics is a branch of philosophy that focuses on issues of right and wrong in human
affairs.

Ethical Communicators:

❖ Respect audience.
❖ Consider the result of
communication.
❖ Value truth.
❖ Use information correctly.
❖ Do not falsify information.

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See: https://www.healthknowledge.org.uk/public-health-textbook/organisation-
management/5a-understanding-itd

References:
Wakat, G.S. et al. (2018). Purposive Communication. Lorimar Publishing Inc.
https://www.healthknowledge.org.uk/public-health-textbook/organisation-management/5a-
understanding-itd