CHAPTER 2

EFFECTIVE COMMMUNICATION

Definition : “Effective Communication is a purposive symbolic interchange of ideas,

resulting in a workable understanding between a Sender & a Receiver.”

Communication has to be planned, evaluated against defined & clear objectives. It has to
be systematic & consistent & also appropriate to create message to have desired impact.

RECIPROCAL MODEL
(Communication Is a Two-Way Process)

As speakers, we sometimes focus exclusively on the information that we want to relay.

But your listener or reader may understand your message, understand only a portion of
your message, or miss your point entirely—even though you transmitted the information
accurately by your standard. It is not enough merely to deliver a message. The message
must be received for communication to be successful.

Emphasis is on ‘SHARING INFORMATION’

1� The sender sends a message.

2�The receiver gets the message and personalizes it.

�The receiver, in turn, sends feedback and thus becomes a sender

The steps involved in the send–receive model of communication are shown

below.
� The original sender now becomes a receiver and reacts to the feedback.
�Generally, a new communication sequence is then initiated.

In the send–receive model, receiving or listening is as critical as sending the message

because, without listening, it is impossible to personalize and respond to the message.

Information

SENDER medium RECEIVER

Encodes msg msg travels thru channel recvr decodes msg

RECIPROCAL MODEL
 A. TRANSMISSION MODEL

The emphasis is on : transmitting the data. Here the comm. Travels from the
speaker to the receiver . The sender sends info, it travels through channel & the
receiver decodes the message . Info is coded into words & symbols.

c. ASSUMPTION MODEL

Assumption becomes common ground of understanding amongst people to communicate. George

D. Vardaman; Associate Dean, Denvar College of business Administration gave an approach to
Effective Communication in the form of a formula : TRIMOTE

T Target or Objective of your Communication

R Target Receiver, Audience
I Impact, one wants to leave on Audience
M Method to be employed to get desired Results.
O Outlining your ideas
T Testing & Revising Communication
E Evaluating the final Communication

a. T : Target Objectives :

In order to make communication successful, one must first focus on the ‘objectives’ & choose the
medium accordingly. Objective may be to spread info about any Organizational policy. This kind
of communication is descriptive & sent through reports, Presentations Seminars, Workshops,
On-line, Live Courses.etc. For presenting Reports to superiors, one must link up the Policies &
quote procedures to make points.

Examples: New Product Launch, Group Insurance Scheme Launch, Appraisal methods &
Techniques etc.

1. Extending Information :

a. Environmental info (economy, geographical, climatic, socio-economic conditions of

organization or country)

b. External Info (credit availability, availability of raw material, Power, Govt rules etc)

c. Internal Info (Info about strength, weakness with respect to capital, production & sales
capacity.)

d. Competitive info (strengths & weaknesses of competitors, performance appraisals:

past & present)

e. New Development info. (Latest Research, New R & D in the field, upgradation of
product.

2. Develop Conviction: It is for rationale of acceptance.for ideas. The Receiver is initially

neutral or opposed. One has to have convincing power to communicate to listeners,
otherwise communication fails.
 With this type of objective, convincing & critical reasoning & analytical power is needed.
The logical reasoning can only make successful communication.

Examples: Negotiating Salary, Negotiating terms with Union Leader, Promotion

approval, Seeking benefits etc.

3. Reinforcement : Changing beliefs from neutrality or opposition to conviction

development.

Examples: Believing in company’s goals, objective, values, strict follow ups of company
procedures, follow ups of policies

4. Action-based Objectives: This targets at meeting the objectives of communication.

Examples: Making Customers buy Products, Agreeing to follow certain rules & policies,
Shareholders to vote; the way Management wants.

b. Target Receivers: Decide Audience

In order to comm. effectively, the Speaker should gauge target audience, what role they play.
Based on their responses to communication, the Receivers have been categorized into :

1. Apathetic Listeners
2. Hostile
3. Crirtical
4. Sophisticated
5. Credent

1. Apathetic Listeners : Such Target audience is non-receiving towards ideas proposed.

The reasons: Situations; Audience isn’t able to catch the communication. Previous poor
comm. Response, Receiver’s disinterest as he knows content.

Such listeners should be made the part of whole process, they should be involved in the
process by such rhetorics:

“ Am I right?
“ Don’t you think so?”
“What’s your opinion about this issue?”

2. Hostile Listeners; Such Audience receive your views with hostility. The reason could
be : difference in attitude, psychological make-up of mind, bearing different personality
traits. belonging to diff culture & possessing own convictions.

Such audience should be convinced & hostility removal should be the objective.
Participation of such audience is mandatory.

3. Critical Listeners: Such Audience constitute very important part of the crowd as they are
intelligent, possess analytical bent of mind, have scientific view points. Receiver receives
ideas based on facts & figures.

4. Sophisticated: Receiver is unteachable, unwilling to learn from you. Following procedure

shall be followed to get them involved.

1. Old-hat method: Sending reports & announcements.

2. Non-expert to expert situation.
3. Subordinate to Superior Communication
4. Peer to Peer Communication
 5. Staff to Line Communication

5. Credent Receiver : Receiver always accepts Communication, is open to discussion,

constructive . so one should intensify comm. With such receivers, discuss issues in open
to get rid of ambiguity. Communicate new goals & tasks. Commend people for doing their
job well, show constructive initiatives.

C Desired Impact The right impact on receiver can be achieved through :

1. Drawing attention & sustaining interest

Desired impact is to be identified next. This may be achieved through some of the techniques &
devices mentioned below:

 Shock : Relating something which startles, shocks or surprises audience.

 Humour:
 Novelty:
 Suspense: Keep receivers guessing & leave them in doubt.
 The Familiar: Telling audience, what they already know.
 The Inside Story: What’s going on behind the scene.
 Directness with animation: establishing rapport with audience

2. Get new receiver’s perspective

Besides removing receiver’s ampathy & gaining attention, his motivations should be channelised.
This can be done through:

 Building audience’s respect for you; so give best possible communication.

 Satisfy value & beliefs of your receivers, not just the requirements of the impacceable
logics, but draw the conclusions you want your target audience to accept.
 Giving an audience an Idea, which he knows, so that you could move to the idea he
doesn’t know.. This device helps you to get more receptive audience.
 Using snob appeal in communication, specially among learned receiver groups.

3. Eliminate or abate receiver’s perspectives

Some audience are very hostile to your ideas, abating their hostility is a big challenge. Such kind
of situations occur among ‘CRITICAL’ listeners, who appreciate authenticity, originality of ideas &
intellectual content of your communication. For such audience, the Speaker must NOT appear
hostile, otherwise this shall further accentuate (increase) the opposition. DO not excessively
dramatise. The speaker can focus on ‘CREDENT AUDIENCE’, who are open to constructive
discussions.

4.Gaining acceptance through validation & scrutiny

Persuation of reader or listener can only be done through open, rational, logical comm, not
through concealment. Hence speaker’s ideas should be clear, sound, logical & authentic. To gain
effectivity in comm, following principles need to be taken care of:

Meet the critical standards within your field or subject area, i.e : Principles, concepts, terminology,
technology & methodology.
Be open to ideas, criticism & modifications.
Make your comm. truly co-operative & interactive, getting along with people is very important.
 HOW TO GET ALONG WITH PEOPLE

1. Tell the truth & don’t be vague when you have to say something
unpopular.
2. If you have nothing to say, keep quiet.
3. Try hard to understand the other person’s poin-of-view.
4. Not everybody can speak clearly, try to get the clear message.
5. Begin building your relations with your speakers by liking & listening
them.
6. Treat others as you would like to be treated by them.

5. Monitoring Communication

The Communicator must make sure that communication is monitored regularly. Regular
monitoring & reviewing enables the company to access the cost effectiveness of it’s
communication policy.

Communication audit is a suitable way to review the practicabilty & economy of

communication. Monitoring is dependent on the feedback from employees & external target
audience, through FORMAL & INFORMAL channels.

 Appropriate information is made available.

 The information is accepted & understood.
 It is not unnecessarily restricted.
 Communication brings desired benefits in the form of better industrial relations

D. Method/Technique
After the Objectives have been decided, target audience is outlined, one needs to leave desired
impact on an audience by using specific techniques. An interesting way or technique of
communication is to follow “SRIF PRINCIPLE”.

Frame
Frame Behaviour
of
of Action
Reference
Experience

(about present situation & msg) (about the past situation & experience)

Target Audience Target Audience

 STRONGEST RELEVANT INFLUENCING FACTOR

Each person; target audience or individual’s behaviour is influenced by the ‘STRONGEST

RELEVANT INFLUENCING FACTOR’., which is the result of of “frame of reference”, which the
receiver has about the situation & about the message (communication) & about the ‘Frame of
Experience’ regarding the same situation & message in the present or past.
A combination of both : present situation & past situation or similar experience in past rules
individual’s behaviour.

Greater the overlap of the circles or positive factors in two fields, the stronger would be SIRF.The
communicator, for effective comm, needs to ensure that the field of experience & field of
reference of the ‘target group’ is positive. This will lead to greater impact & result in desired action
on the part of receiver.

Example: A company which is about to launch a new Mutual Fund. The ‘Frame of reference’; that
is the present image of the company & ‘The Frame of Expereince’, i.e the experience which the
potential investor have had with the company in other past financial dealings with it, will greatly
determine the response to mutual fund. The better the image & past experience of the target
Group, the better will be the chances of the mutual fund being successful.

E . Outling Your Ideas

On the basis of defined objectives & target audience, our comm. needs to outline our ideas
concisely, clearly & completely. It must be organized, keeping in mind; the type of audience, their
perception, their roles

F. Testing & Revising Communication

It is often necessary to do pre-launch assessment on Business Communication. Important comm.
Requires careful, formal processing of comm. To ensure that vital objective & mission is
accomplished. Different testing methods are available :

a. In-House Self Critique:

The Communicator herself/himself critically judges the comm., but you may not be completely
objective & fail to recognize the inherent weaknesses in your method.

B. Formal testing:

Here selected people evaluate the comm. through formal research methods & provide feedback.

C.Formal Company Critique:

Company wide research systems & procedures are used to screen the most imp types of
communication & presentations.

G. Evaluating the Final Communication

1, Getting Oral Response : Can be got by talking to receivers & getting their responses.. It helps in
pointing out information gaps, misunderstandings, ill feelings etc resulting from communication.

2. Getting Written Responses: can be got by getting responses written down on paper.

3. Getting Formal Response: Can be got through standardized questionnaires, procedures &
evaluation perspectives.
 Listening Behaviors

When you focus only on yourself, you often forget to listen, and as a
result, the chances for successful communication are poor. Listening is the
basis of effective communication and entails much more than just hearing
sound.s

Think about the last time you noticed someone obviously not paying attention when
you were trying to communicate. What specific behaviors did the person exhibit that
led you to believe that he or she was not attending to you? What impact did the
person’s behavior have on you?

Perhaps you felt alarm that your important message was not getting through
properly, or frustrated that your audience was not “getting it.” You may have been
offended by your listener’s inattention or felt an urge to repeat your message. You
can learn more about listening behavior by examining the type of listener you tend
to be. Use the following activity to learn more about your listening style.