Communication: Its meaning

Some definitions of communication

• 1. Communication is any behavior that results in an exchange
of meaning.( American Management Association)

• 2. Communication is the process involving the transmission

and reception of symbols eliciting meaning in the minds of the
participants by making common their life experiences.(Baird
Jr. E. John)

• 3. Effective communication is purposive symbolic interchange

resulting in workable understanding and agreement between
the sender and receiver.(George T. Vardaman)
 Meaning of Communication in general
• Communication is a dynamic interactive process involving the
following five steps:
• (i) Ideation
• (ii) Encoding
• (iii) Transmission
• (iv) Decoding
• (v) Response/ feedback
 Ideation
• -- is the first step of communicative process.
• -- is the creation of the idea or selection of a message to
be communicated.
• -- its scope depends on the sender’s knowledge,
experience and abilities as well as the purpose of the
communicative situation.
• -- Message may be of two types: (i) logical (ii) emotional.
• -- logical message consists of factual information; while
the emotional one consists of emotions and feelings.
 Encoding
• -- is a process of transforming the information into some form
of logical and coded message.
• -- is dependent on two factors: (i) purpose of communication
• (ii) relation between the sender and the receiver.

• -- in a formal situation, encoding involves the following:

• (i) selecting a language
• (ii) selecting a medium of communication
• (iii) selecting an appropriate communication form.
 Transmission
• -- refers to the flow of message/ information
over a chosen channel.
• --confirms the medium selected during the
process of encoding and keeps the
communication channel free from any
interference so that the message reaches the
receiver.
• --involves choosing the proper time, proper
place and a proper way.
 Decoding
• -- is the process of converting the coded message into
thoughts by translating the received stimuli into an
interpreted meaning in order to understand the message
communicated.
• -- here the receiver has to assign meaning to a message in
order to understand it.
• -- involves interpretation and analysis of a message.
• --- effective decoding is essential to successful communication
as any misinterpretation of message leads to the collapse of
the communication process.
 Response/Feedback
-- is the last stage of communication.
-- is the action and reaction of the receiver to
the message.
--- helps the sender know that the message was
received and understood.
-- is the critical determinant of effective/
successful communication.