Unit 1: Communication, Process, Principles and Ethics

Chapter 1: Communication: An Introduction

This chapter deals with the basic concepts of communication including its process, component, and use.

Communication plays a crucial, constant part on our lives, especially with the advent of technology.

Do you agree?

Even before technology was invented, in the lives of the ancient humans, in the form of cave drawings, it shows
man’s independence and use of symbols to convey ideas and information.

What then is Purposive Communication?

An intentional communication that happens within the bounds of specific contexts.

What are contexts?

 Includes settings or environment (family, school, workplace, religious communities)

 Social relations (friends, husband and wife, parent and child, colleagues/boss-subordinate in the office)
 Scenes which include place, time and occasion (business meeting, job interview, social gathering- parties,
weddings, etc.)
 Culture (history, tradition, beliefs, norms, values)

Contexts are vital considerations in our communication acts since they affect the process of sending and receiving
of messages; semantics or meanings; choice of channels, words and methods of delivery.

Communication therefore, must be suitable to the specific context.

Hence, should be intentional or purposive.

With all these things in mind, it is rightful now to define purposive communication as a communication applied
in a specific setting, environment, scene, social relations and culture

The Communication Process

Let’s define process.

A process is anything that involves steps and components, with integral events happenings in every part
(Baird, 2016)

In the case of communication, it is the process of transmitting a symbolic good, often in the form of codes
and symbols via a medium. It has three main components, mainly sender, message, and receiver (Sanchez,
2020)

Since communication is also a process it is something continuous, not just a simple throwing of Hi! And Hello!.

However, though its continuous, we can still terminate it if we feel like the communication doesn’t serve its
purpose or goal anymore, or if one does not anymore consciously make an effort to converse or interact with
the other person which is still an act of communication since it also sends a message such as “I don’t want to
associate with you anymore…” or simply “There is no more reason for us to be talking”.

Hence communication may not have a definite end.

Going back to the first definition, here are the main elements/components of the communication process:

 Sender
o Source of message
o Sends the message via medium
o Responsible for encoding the message before it is conveyed to the receiver
o Considered the writer, speaker, composer of a piece of information
 Message
o Anything that is being conveyed from the sender to the other end of the communication
o Could be in the form of feelings, concepts, ideas, information, news
(Think of it as like the status on your Facebook, or what you are reading now are examples of a
message)
 Receiver
o As the name suggests, the one who receives the message
o Processes and decodes the message and tries to interpret its meaning
o Could be anyone who reads, hears, or sees the meaning (Sanchez, 2020)

As you can probably observe, I highlighted some of the words there because those words have an integral part
and function to the other concepts that I will be listing below:

 Encoding
o Generation of the message itself
o Could also be the moment you compose your thoughts and ideas before you blurt it out.
 Decoding
o Part of the process where the receiver decrypts the message and tries to make sense on what the
message is about.
 Medium
o Contains the message
o Vessel or instrument that helps convey the message. (Voice, Radio Set, TV, or a letter)
 Feedback
o In the process it is the confirmation by the receiver if he/she has received the message and has
therefore understood it.
o Through this, the receiver completes the process
o Take note that some communication doesn’t necessarily have a feedback, but for the
communication to be successful this is a key component in the process because it allows the
sender to evaluate the effectiveness of the message, and it provides an opportunity for the sender
to take corrective action to clarify a misunderstood message
o Sometimes feedbacks can be non-verbal like smiles, sigh, etc., it can also be an oral feedback thru
questions or comments, and it can also be in written form, like replying to emails
 Noise
o Anything that gets in the way of effective communication.
 o It has two kinds; external and internal noise
o Internal Noise is anything that emanates from the recipient like psychological mindset, emotion,
current state of being (angry, bothered, upset or hungry)
o External Noise are mainly distractions placed by the environment (weather; too hot or too cold,
seatmate trying to get your attention in the middle of a class lecture)

Feedbacking can help minimize if not entirely eliminate noise.