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Definition of Communication

Communication is the exchange of information between two or more people through a common system of symbols, signs, or behavior. It requires that both parties exchange information and understand each other. The communication process involves a source transmitting a message through a channel to a receiver. It can be a one-way process from sender to receiver or a two-way process where both parties serve as communicators. Key factors that can influence communication include context, noise, and feedback between participants.

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7K views5 pages

Definition of Communication

Communication is the exchange of information between two or more people through a common system of symbols, signs, or behavior. It requires that both parties exchange information and understand each other. The communication process involves a source transmitting a message through a channel to a receiver. It can be a one-way process from sender to receiver or a two-way process where both parties serve as communicators. Key factors that can influence communication include context, noise, and feedback between participants.

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Darlene Dacanay David
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DEFINITION OF COMMUNICATION

● The word communication itself provides a clue to what it is—commun implies “something in common”
and ication suggests “understanding”, so communication hints at the meaning “a common
understanding of something”.

● It is define as “the simultaneous sharing and creating of meaning through human symbolic
interaction”. A definition specifies “a systematic process in which individuals interact with through
symbols to create and interpret meanings.”

● The term communication refers to the exchange of information between two or more people. For
communication to succeed, both participants must be able to exchange information and understand
each other. If the flow of information is blocked for some reason or the parties cannot make themselves
understood, then communication fails.

● Communication is used to meet the purpose of a person. The purpose could be to inform, to
persuade, or to entertain.

1. From a linear perspective: Communication is the process or act of transmitting a message from a
sender to a receiver, through a channel and with the interference of noise.
2. From an interactive perspective: Communication is the activity of conveying information
through the exchange of thoughts, messages, or information, as by speech, visuals, signals,
writing, or behavior.
3. From an etymological perspective: The word communication is derived from the Latin word,
communis, which means common. The definition underscores the fact that unless a coomon
understanding results from the exchange of information, there is no communication.
4. From a symbolic perspective: Communication uses symbols to represent things, process, ideas,
or events. These symbols are arbitrary constructions that represent a communicator’s thought.
5. From a pragmatic perspective: Pragmatics defines communication as any sign-mediated
interaction that follows combinatorial, context-specific and content-coherent rules.

THE PROCESS OF COMMUNICATION

According to https://www.cliffsnotes.com, the goal of communication is to convey information—and the


understanding of that information—from one person or group to another person or group.

Communication can be a one-way or two-way process. Communication as a one-way process is best


illustrated in the model of Shannon-Weaver (1949) as shown in Figure 1. In this model, the sender is
active while the receiver is passive during the communication process.
Figure 1

On the other hand, communication as a two-way process is exemplified by a transaction model as


shown in Figure 2. In this model, the messages, information, or ideas are sent and received at the same
time. Hence, the sender and the receiver become active during the process, and both serve as
communicators.

Figure 2

ELEMENTS OF COMMUNICATION
The communication process involves elements such as source, message, encoding, channel, decoding,
receiver, feedback, context, and barrier.

● Source. The speaker or sender of a message. The communication process begins with the source, who
is also called the communicator or sender. The source has some kind of information – a command,
request, or idea – that he or she wants to share with others. In order for that message to be received,
the source must first encode the message in a form that can be understood and then transmit it.

● Message. The message or content is the information or ideas that the sender wants to relay to the
receiver.

● Encoding. The process of transferring the message.

● Channel. The means to deliver a message such as face-to-face conversations, telephone calls, e-mails,
and memos, among others. Also called the medium is the means by which a message is transmitted.

● Decoding. The process of interpreting an encoded message.

● Receiver. The person to whom a message is directed or recipient of the message. In order to
comprehend the information from the sender, the receiver must first be able to receive the sender’s
information and then decode or interpret it.
● Feedback. The communication process reaches its final point when the message has been successfully
transmitted, received, and understood.
The receiver, in turn, responds to the sender, indicating comprehension. Feedback may be direct, such
as a written or verbal response, or it may take the form of an act or deed in response.

The communication process is not always simple or smooth, of course. Two other elements may affect
how the message is transmitted, received, and interpreted:

● Noise. This can be any sort of interference that affects the message being sent, received, or
understood. It can be as literal as static over a phone line or esoteric as misinterpreting a local custom.

● Context. This is the setting and situation in which communication takes place. Like noise, context can
have an impact on the successful exchange of information. It may have a physical, social, or cultural
aspect to it.

KEY PRINCIPLES OF COMMUNICATION

1. Interpersonal communication is inescapable. It is not possible for humans not to communicate.


Even the very attempt of not wanting to communicate communicates something. Your poker
face as you listen to somebody also means a lot. You communicate through both words and
behaviour, and as long as you are alive, you can still behave; hence, you can communicate. You
always communicate and receive communication from others not only through words but also
through voice, tone, gesture, posture, bodily movement, facial expression, clothes worn, and so
on. Because of this fact, since people are not mind readers, you are often judged through your
behaviour, not your intention or purpose.
2. Interpersonal communication is irreversible. How often have you said words in anger and
wished you could all take them back? Once you have uttered something, you can never take it
back, and its effect remains. Anyone who says that apologies can heal the hurt caused by
offensive remarks is lying. Words are powerful; they can either heal or harm others. This
principle of communication is best expressed in a Russian proverb which says, “Once a word
goes out of your mouth, you can never swallow it again.”
3. Interpersonal communication is complicated. Whenever you communicate with anyone, you
simultaneously interpret both his verbal and nonverbal language, and that is often both
confounding and demanding. For one thing, words (verbal) alone complicate things: A word
does not have just one meaning, it is usually not used in the same way, and no two people use
the same word exactly alike. Added to this complexity, nonverbal symbols are more vague than
words since they are interpreted in many ways: They are primarily relational besides being both
culture- and gender-bound. To make matters much more difficult, no form of communication is
simple because whenever you communicate, there are actually at least six “people” involved: (a)
the person whom you think you are; (b) the person whom you think the other person is; (c) the
person whom you think the other person thinks you are; (d) the person whom you think the
other person thinks he is; (e) the person whom the other person thinks you think you are; and
(f) the person whom the other person thinks you think he is.
4. Interpersonal communication is contextual. In other words, communication is affected by
several factors; it does not happen in isolation. There are many things that need to be
considered, such as the ones given below (King, 2000).
a. Psychological context, which is who you are, and what you as sender or receiver bring to the
interaction—your needs, desires, values, beliefs, personality, and so on.
b. Relational context, which concerns your reactions to the other person based on
relationships—as boss, colleague, friend, sibling, parent, and the like.
c. Situational context, which deals with the psycho-social “where” you are communicating. An
interaction that takes place in a classroom, which is quite formal, will be very different from
one that takes place in a bar, which is very informal—where communicators do not need to
be guarded in their speech.
d. Environmental context, which has to do with the physical “where” you are communicating—
objects in the room and their arrangement, location, noise level, temperature, season, time
of day.
e. Cultural context, which includes all the learned behaviors and rules that affect the
interaction. For instance, bodily movement, facial expression, gesture, distance, and eye
contact vary in different cultures. If you come from a culture (foreign or within your own
country) where it is considered rude to make long, direct eye contact, you will out of
politeness avoid eye contact. If the other person comes from a culture where long, direct
eye contact signals trustworthiness, then we have in the cultural context a basis for
misunderstanding.

DIFFERENCE BETWEEN MORALS AND ETHICS

Morals and ethics ensure discipline among us; without these codes of conduct—standards or
rules that guide our behaviour, our world will be chaotic. But how do morals and ethics differ? Morals
are personal codes while ethics are societal. Morals are our own set of rules, so others are neither
expected nor required to follow them. Ethics, on the other hand, are rules accepted and approved by
society, so they are imposed upon everyone.

ETHICS IN COMMUNICATION

Deirdre D. Johnson (1994) pointed out ten ethics in communication that you should bear in
mind to avoid being labelled “unethical” (as cited in Chase & Shamo, 2013, pp. 140-141).

1. Mutuality. Pay attention to the needs of others, as well as yours.


2. Individual dignity. Do not cause another person embarrassment or a loss of dignity.
3. Accuracy. Ensure that others have accurate information. Tell them everything they have a right
and need to know, not just what is true.
4. Access to information. Never bolster the impact of your communication by preventing people
from communicating with one another or by hindering access to the supporting information.
5. Accountability. Be responsible and accountable for the consequences of your relationships and
communication.
6. Audience. As audience or receiver of the information, you also have ethical responsibilities. A
good rule of thumb is the “200% rule” where both the sender and the receiver have full or 100%
responsibility to ensure that the message is understood, and that ethics are followed. This is a
100/100 rule, not 50/50 rule.
7. Relative truth. As either sender or receiver of information, remember that your point of view
may not be shared by others and that your conclusions are relative to your perspective, so allow
others to respectfully disagree or see it differently.
8. End vs. means. Be sure that the end goal of your communication and the means of getting to
that end are both ethical although no rule can be applied without reservation to any situation.
9. Use of power. In situations where you have more power than others (e.g., a teacher with a
student, a boss with a subordinate, a parent with a child), you also have more responsibility for
the outcome.
10. Rights vs. responsibilities. Balance your rights against your responsibilities even if you live in a
wonderful society where your rights are protected by law; not everything you have a right to do
is ethical.

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