Process of

Communication
Miscommunication
Session # 2
Components of Communication

• Context
• Sender – Encoder
• Message
• Medium
• Receiver Decoder
• Feedback
Components of Communication
 Context
Every message whether oral or written begins with context. It is a
broader term which includes country culture, organization, internal
and external stimuli.
Context prompts you for sending / receiving messages and helps
you in designing a successful message. Your education, past
experience, liking, disliking, job status, age and confidence influence
the way you communicate with others.
For effective communication, your ability to translate the context of
your receiver is as important as is yours.
Receiver context includes his culture, expectations, values, opinions,
mental ability, needs, skills, etc.
Components of Communication
 Sender – Encoder
As a sender – encoder, you use symbols that
express you message and create the desired
response.
 Message
You must first decide what the main point of
your message is and what other information to
be included. It consists of both verbal (spoken
and written) and non-verbal symbols
Components of Communication
 Medium
Your medium depends upon all the contextual factors
(already discussed), and the nature of the message. The
choice of the medium depends upon the relationship
between the sender and receiver
1- Inside your organization (Memo, Reports, Meetings
etc.)
2- Outside your organization (Letters, Proposals, faxes,
ads, discussions, interviews etc.)
Components of Communication
Oral Written
Immediate feedback Delayed feedback
Shorter sentences; words Longer sentences
Conversational More formal
Focus on inter personal Focus on content
relations Where evidence of record is
Prompt action required
More imperative, interrogative Detailed documentations
and exclamatory sentences Possibility of review
Components of Communication
 Receiver – Decoder
The message receiver is your reader or listener
also known as decoder, as s/he decodes your
encoded message. Receiver is influenced by his
context and by his mental filter.
 Feedback
Feedback can be a desire action, an oral or
written message, or simply a silence. It is the
most important part of communication process.
Process of Communication
Context
Stimuli

Sender-Encoder Message Receiver-Decoder

(Experiences, (Experiences, attitude,
attitude, skills) skills)
Perception Receptor mechanisms,
Idea Encoding Medium
Verbal/Non Verbal Perception, Decoding,
Symbols, decisions,
Idea Interpretation
Sending mechanism

Feedback
Verbal
Non Verbal

A Communication Model
Components of Communication
1. Context
a) Have you considered the cultural and organization
convention concerning the environment of your
message?
b) Have you thought about the specific reasons for and
objectives of your message?
2. Sender – encoder
a) Recognize the internal attitudes can influence your
message
b) Realize that the words you are using reveal
something about you
Components of Communication
3. Message
a) Is the central purpose clear ?
b) Verbal and nonverbal elements are considered ?
4. Medium
a) Which medium should be used? Oral for urgent; written
for less urgent;
b) Ask yourself: Are the symbols used are clear in the
medium I have chosen?
5. Receiver - decoder
a) Are you, as the sender, aware of the attitudes and
perceptions of your receiver?
b) Are there any physical, emotional, mental or cultural
factors in the receiver mind that could affect your
message?
Components of Communication
5. Feedback
a) Have you allowed for feedback to your
receiver / message?
b) Have you been precise about when you desire
the feedback?
 OPPORTUNITIES

am – presenting … pm – discussion …

… prepared material … spontaneous ideas

Concepts & Problems of
Communication
 No two people are EXACTLY alike
 No two countries are EXACTLY alike
 No two cultures are EXACTLY alike

Result
Problems with communication occur when the
communicator filters are sharply different.
Concepts & Problems of
Communication
Factors affecting communication process

1. Physical Barriers
2. Psychological Barriers
3. Conventions of Meaning
4. Perception of Reality
5. Values, Attitudes, Opinions
Concepts & Problems of
Communication
Factors affecting communication process
1. Conventions of Meaning
a) Miscommunicated instructions
b) Reactions towards Denotations,
Connotations and Euphemisms
Denotation “Dictionary meaning of a word”
while Connotation “The emotional implications
and associations that a word may carry.” For
example home and Villa
Concepts & Problems of
Communication
Factors affecting communication process
1. Conventions of Meaning
b) Reactions towards Denotations,
Connotations and Euphemisms
Euphemism is the substitution of an inoffensive
term (such as "passed away") for one
considered offensively explicit ("died").
Concepts & Problems of
Communication
Factors affecting communication process
2. Perception of Reality
Being possessing unique filter (brain) every one
of us makes various abstractions,
inferences, and evaluations of the world
around us.
Abstracting when certain facts are selected
from provided group of information and
omitting the remaining information.
Concepts & Problems of
Communication
Factors affecting communication process
2. Perception of Reality
1. Abstraction
a) Necessary Desirable Abstracts: People other than you may
not abstract as you abstract the things because of their limited
time, space, interest, etc. Abstraction occurs when a person
describe events, people, equipment, projects, animals, objects
etc.
b) Slanted Statements: (Biased Statements) For example
news reporter is taught to include quoted statements in context
and to avoid expression of personal approval or disapproval of
the persons, objects, or occurrences being described.
Concepts & Problems of
Communication
Factors affecting communication process
2. Perception of Reality
1. Abstraction
b) Slanted Statements: (Biased Statements)
A reputable news reporter would not write, “ a small crowd of
suckers came to hear the Governor’s plan for 2009 yesterday noon.
In that rundown hotel that disfigures Hong Kong central .”
Instead
he may state that “between 200 and 350 people heard an address
yesterday noon by Governor Patton in the auditorium at the
Conrad Hotel at Pacific Place.
Concepts & Problems of
Communication
Factors affecting communication process
2. Perception of Reality
1. Abstraction
b) Slanted Statements: (Biased Statements)
A reputable news reporter would not write, “ a small crowd of
suckers came to hear the Governor’s plan for 2009 yesterday noon.
In that rundown hotel that disfigures Hong Kong central .”
Instead
he may state that “between 200 and 350 people heard an address
yesterday noon by Governor Patton in the auditorium at the
Conrad Hotel at Pacific Place.
Concepts & Problems of
Communication

Factors affecting communication process

2. Perception of Reality
2. Inferring Inferences are conclusion drawn
from evidence. We make assumptions and
draw conclusions even though we are not able
to immediately verify the evidence. Some
inferences are both necessary and desirable;
others are risky , even dangerous.
Concepts & Problems of
Communication
Factors affecting communication process
2. Perception of Reality
1. Inferring
Necessary, Desirable Inferences
 Inferences necessary to solve problems
 Some of the examples of fairly reliable inferences
1. When we land at a foreign airport, we assume we will be treated
hospitably.
2. When we send a fax, we assume that it will reach to intended
receiver.
Concepts & Problems of
Communication
Factors affecting communication process
2. Perception of Reality
2. Risks of Inferences.
When the assumptions made are wrong and can lead
towards a failure of business, or towards wrong
directions or simply results in undesired actions.
Concepts & Problems of
Communication
Factors affecting communication process
3- Values Attitudes and Opinions
A receiver’s attitude towards a message can determine
whether it is accepted, rejected, distorted, or avoided.
People react favorable when the message they receive
agrees with their views toward the information, the fact
and the sender.
Concepts & Problems of
Communication
Communication Problems Involving
Values, Attitudes and Opinions
1. Reactions towards Favorable / Unfavorable
information
2. Inadequate or Incorrect Information
3. Closed Minds (Rigid views on certain subject)
4. Sender’s Credibility
5. Environmental / Business / Personal Stress
Concepts & Problems of
Communication
Non Verbal Communication
Sometimes nonverbal messages contradict the verbal;
often they express feelings more accurately than the
spoken or written language.
1. Appearance
2. Body Language
3. Silence, time and space
Concepts & Problems of
Communication
Non Verbal Communication
How Appearance Communicates?
a) Effect on Written Messages
b) Effect on Oral Messages
i) Personal Appearance
ii) Surrounding’s Appearance
Concepts & Problems of
Communication
How Body Language Communicates?
1- Facial Expression: conventions of eye contact are
specific to each culture. Eye contact and facial
expression can help or hinder your verbal message.
2- Gestures, Posture, and Movements Posture, gestures
and body movement convey a message and add to or
subtract from your oral message.
3- Smell and Touch
4- Voice and Sounds
Concepts & Problems of
Communication
 How Silence, Time, and Space
Communicates
 1- Time
 2- Space
Process of Communication
Miscommunication
 Revision of Concepts
 Questions and Answers
 BARRIERS TO
UNDERSTANDING
 Volume
 Unfamiliarity
 Emphasis
 word stress
 sentence stress

 Pace (pauses)
 Intonation
 WORD STRESS

 A commercial development occurs

irregularly in this sector, perhaps once
every fourteen years.

 A commercial development occurs

irregularly in this sector, perhaps
once every fourteen years.
 SENTENCE STRESS

 Got distinction.
 Buy fresh juices.

I got a distinction in my exams.

Buy lots of bottles of fresh juices as
quickly as possible
 WORD STRESS

 Occur  Occur
 Purpose  Purpose
 Technique
 Technique
 Academic
 Academic
 Development
 Development  Event
 Event  Concentrate
 Concentrate  Process
 Process
CHUNKING

 Anyone can become a manager. But, of course,

the unprepared, the untrained, and those given
too much responsibility before they’re ready will
fail.

ANYONE can become a successful manager.

But, of course, the unprepared,
The untrained,
And those given too much responsibility
Before they’re ready
Will FAIL.
 SPEAKING IN GROUPS

 DISCUSSION
 From the latin , “discutere” = ‘to agitate’

DIALOGUE
From the Latin, “dia” = ‘through’,
and, “logos” = ‘words’

CONVERSATION
A fluid exchange to facilitate emergence of a
new shared meaning
Bohm, D. (Physicist and philosopher)
 GROUP SKILLS
Practice exercise
1: Preparation 2: Practice

3: Presentation 4: Review
Thank you