WEEK 2 - COMMUNICATION PROCESS, TYPES, METHODS AND ETHICS

Group 1
COMMUNICATION PROCESSES, PRINCIPLES AND ETHICS
The term communication process refers to the two-way process of exchanging
information between parties involved. 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 reasons or the parties cannot make themselves understood, then
communication fails.

COMPONENTS OF COMMUNICATION
 Sender. The communication process begins with the sender, who is also called as
communicator or source.
 Receiver. The person to whom a message is directed is called receiver or the
interpreter.
 Message. The message or content is the information that the sender wants to relay
to the receiver.
 Medium. Also called as the channel, this is the means by which the message is
transmitted.
 Feedback. The communication process reaches its final point when the message has
been successfully transmitted, received and understood.
 Noise. This can be any sort of interference that affects the message being sent,
received or understood.
 Context. This is the setting and situation in which communication takes place.

MODELS OF COMMUNICATION
The best way to understand communication is to see it graphically. Many authors
and researchers have come up with their own models based on what they want to
emphasize as being an important component of communication. The following four models
of communication will introduce the elements of communication.

Aristotle’s Model of Communication (5BC)

This is considered as the first and earliest model of communication. Aristotle
focused on the Speaker and the Message for his model, wherein the most important part in
his model is the Setting where the Listener is situated. It is the Setting that dictates the
Message. The three settings in Aristotle’s time were legal, deliberative and ceremonial. The
Legal Setting meant the courts where ordinary people defended themselves. The
Deliberative Setting meant the political assemblies, the highest of which was the Roman
Senate. The Ceremonial Setting meant the celebrations held when they won a war, when
they lost a leader or had a new one, and when they welcomed a visiting leader from
another kingdom or country. Such occasions called for speeches of welcome, poems of
tribute or eulogies, and poems of lament.
 Group 2
Claude Shannon and Warren Weaver’s Model of Communication (1948)
This model gave us the concept of “noise”. This is often called the Telephone Model
because it is based on the experience of having the message interfered with by “noise” from
the telephone switchboard back in the 1940s.
In this model, Shannon and Weaver assert that the Message sent by the Source
(Speaker) is not necessarily the Message received by the Destination (Listener). This is due
to the intervention of “noise” or anything that hampers the communication. Even today,
with our advanced cell phone technology, there are still barriers to clear transmission and
reception of calls. Dropped calls, calls that echo, faint signals – all interfere with the
communication of the message.

Wilbur Schramm’s Model of Communication

Wilbur Schramm is considered as the Father of Mass Communication. Schramm
asserts that communication can take place if and only if there is an overlap between the
Field of Experience of the speaker and the Field of Experience of the listener.
What is Field of Experience? It is everything that makes a person unique –
everything s/he has ever learned, watched, seen, heard, read and studied. In other words, it
is everything a person has ever experienced or not experienced, done or not done. In fact,
this is practically everything that has happened in his/her life. It is this Field of Experience
that is used to interpret the Message and create a Response. It is also this Field of
Experience of the Listener that needs to overlap with the Speaker’s Field of Experience,
which can only happen when the two fields have commonalities.
Eugene White’s Model of Communication (1960)
This model tells us that communication is circular and continuous, without a
beginning or end. This is why he made a cyclical model. He also points out that although we
can assume that communication begins with thinking, communication can actually be
observed from any point in the circle.
Eugene White contributed the concept of Feedback to the field of communication.
Feedback is the perception by the Speaker about the Response of the Listener. The Speaker
can only receive Feedback if the Speaker is monitoring the Listener. The Speaker will know
what the Listener’s Response is only if s/he is paying attention.

PRINCIPLES OF COMMUNICATION
1. Communication is an interaction situation wherein the participants are affected by
each one’s behavior.
2. One does communicate.
3. The message received is not necessarily the message sent, in times.
4. Communication occurs simultaneously at more than one level. (based on context,
verbal and non-verbal cues, interpretation)

Group 3
ETHICS OF COMMUNICATION
 Communication ethics is the notion that an individual’s or group’s behavior are
governed by their morals which in turn affects communication. Johnson (2015) developed
the Ten Basics of Ethical Communication using principles learned in Straight Talk and
Nonviolent Communication as well as best practices for small group work in general, with a
little common sense added in:
1. Seek to elicit the best in communications and interactions with one group members.
2. Listen when others speak.
3. Speak non-judgmentally.
4. Speak from your own experience and perspective, expressing your own thoughts,
needs and feelings.
5. Seek to understand others (rather than to be right or more ethical than thou).
6. Avoid speaking for others.
7. Manage your own personal boundaries. Share what only you are comfortable
sharing.
8. Respect the personal boundaries of others.
9. Avoid interrupting and side conversations.
10. Make sure that everyone has time to speak, that all members have relatively equal
air time if they want it.

TYPES OF COMMUNICATION
Verbal Communication – includes the use of symbols that have universal meanings
and can be classified as spoken or written.
 Intrapersonal communication – is communication expresses through self-talk.
This involves personal thoughts and emotions.
 Interpersonal communication – is communication between two people (dyadic) or
a small group of individuals (also known as small group discussion). This type of
communication allows speakers to discuss topics that interest them or they may
share a common bond with each other.
 Public communication – is one person speaking in front of an audience. The
magnitude or size may be limited or numerous. The speaker delivers the message in
a formal setting, giving a topic that is thematic. Feedback from the audience may be
available or not.
 Mass communication – is communication that takes place through a technology
such as the social network/internet, television, radio and newspaper. Through these
channels of communication, the message is replicated many times, resulting to a
multiplier effects to the receivers.

Non-verbal Communication – it is an oversimplification to say that non-verbal

communication is communication without words because written words are perceived as
verbal but there is a lack of sound element attached to it. Hence, words in non-verbal
communication are still involved however speaking is not included. Therefore, non-verbal
symbols consist of gestures, eye movements, tone of voice, the use of space and touch.
Because these non-verbal cues are not shared universally, they may give a different
meaning to another culture and thus, considered ambiguous. Non-verbal communication
includes the following:
 Silence - conveys meanings to the spectators that can be seen in a person who is
quiet yet busy, a person who is contemplating, grieving, not to be disturbed or being
in a difficult situation.
 Body language (gesture) – is employed in two ways; unconscious movement to tell
the state of emotion the person is undergoing and conscious movement entails
individuals to render the designated action.
 Facial expression – is manifested to evoke certain emotions such as happy, joyful,
sad and many other facial movements.
 Paralanguage or use of voice – is detected in loud or faint sounds to provide
authority or emphasis to the volume of the words.
 Touch (hug, kiss and handshake) – is a symbol or affection but may not be allowed
in certain communities.
 Space and distance – indicates the importance of a person. Distance signifies the
intimacy and personal acceptance in some cultures and in others not.
 Clothes and personal appearance – provide a quick personal surveillance of the
person’s age, interest, personality, sex, attitude, social standing or religious
affiliation.
 Symbols – general graphical presentation so that people will be guided accordingly
such as traffic signs, mathematical problems and other fields of specialty.

Formal Communication – involves the use of public speaking or mass

communication, a combination of verbal and non-verbal messages. In here, language is
more precise and the speaker is careful with grammar. A dress code, proper posture and
eye contact are being taken into consideration.
Informal Communication – involves interpersonal and small group communication
where people can be at ease and be comfortable. During the interaction, less attention is
given to nonverbal cues like clothing, posture and eye contact.

Group 4
Week 3

COMMUNICATION AND GLOBALIZATION

What is Globalization?
It is a process of interaction and integration among the people, companies and
governments of different nations, a process driven by international trade and investment
and aided by information technology. This process has effects on the environment, on
culture, on political systems, on economic development and prosperity, and on human
physical well-being in societies around the world.
Globalization is not really new, though. The globe has been globalized even before
men coined the term globalization. But policy and technological developments of the past
few decades have spurred increases in cross-border, trade, investment, and migration so
large that many observers believe the world has entered a qualitatively new phase in its
economic development.
A defining feature of globalization is an international industrial and financial
business structure. Technology has been the other principal driver of globalization.
Advances in information technology, in particular, have dramatically transformed
economic life.

Impacts of Globalization on Communication

Communication skills development has always been an important factor of success
in business, but the influence of globalization and cross-cultural interaction in recent
decades has impacted the types of communication skills needed in dramatic ways. No
longer can entrepreneurs afford to simply communicate well within their own homogenous
cultures.
Thus, today, people need to understand the dynamics of long-distance collaboration,
the impact of culture on manners of speaking and body language, and how to use
technology to communicate to people on the other side of the globe:
 Virtual Interaction. Globalization has introduced virtual communication and
collaboration as a major part of academic and workplace dynamics.
 Culture Awareness in Speech. The need for cultural awareness is a major impact of
globalization on the required skillset of effective communicators, resulting in the
evolution of communication skills development programs.
 Cultural Awareness in Body Language. Awareness of cultural differences in body
language can be just as important as the nuances of speech. This is why in schools,
students are taught to understand acceptable speaking distances, conflict styles, eye
contact and posture in different cultures, accepting that the physical expressions of
their own culture are not universally accepted.
 Time Differences. The advent of global collaboration introduces another new
dynamic to communication skills – the need to communicate and share information
with people across several time zones.

Impacts of Globalization on Global Communication

The process of globalization has widely increased the availability of information for
people across the world. By the use of internet and advanced mobiles services, people are
able to discuss business plans and proposals of an international level as well as exchange
private data securely. Global communication services have also contributed to the
enlightenment and development of the political process in a number of states.

Group 5
Four Major Impacts of Globalization on Global Communication
 Availability of Information. The availability of information is a major effect of the
process of globalization.
  Business Conduct. Globalization has influenced global communication by
implementing new techniques for business conduct among workers at international
corporations.
 Social Awareness. The availability of information, which is direct effect of the
development of global communication systems, has led to increased social
awareness of people across the world.
 The Problem. Despite its quick spread and continuous development, global
communication has not reached the majority of people on all continents.

Because of the advent of technology, our world has transformed into a global village.
Communication becomes faster and in a split of a second an event is shared to the entire
world through the use of social media. Today, individuals have to understand the dynamics
of long-distance collaboration, the outcome of non-verbal cues in different cultures, as well
as the use of technology in connecting people.
These developments require communication etiquette such as holding virtual
meetings where individuals from different places share their ideas – coming up with
solutions and innovations for the company.
Since communication includes spontaneous encoding and decoding of verbal and
non-verbal symbols with an individual within the same frame of reference. Culture then is
perceived as the summation of values, beliefs and behaviors from a group of individuals
having a shared history of verbal and nonverbal cues. This explain why intercultural
communication is contextual.
Globalization may be seen as an interconnectedness of economic relationships,
political units as well as digital networks. As such, technology and other social networks
have transformed the economic and social relationships breaking cultural barriers.
Henceforth, cultural and civic discourse will mold information and communication
technologies.
Marginalized communities can be empowered by the use of information technology
where partnership of global knowledge, information technologies, computer resources and
telecommunications, low-tech media comprise the local and national development in the
economy.

WEEK 4
Group 5
INTRODUCTION TO CONTACT CENTER SERVICES NC II

The CONTACT CENTER SERVICES NC II Qualification consists of competencies that a

person must achieve to interact with customers to provide information about products and
services. It also covers handling of customer’s complaints, inbound customer service, order
taking and inquiry response handling, and outbound telemarketing.

What are contact center services?

A contact center is an organization’s business division that handles customer
queries and interactions. It manages inbound and outbound services over multiple
communication channels. This includes telephone, live chat, email, messaging apps, social
media, etc.
Like call centers, contact centers can be an internal department with an in-house
team or be contracted to a third-party service provider through contact center outsourcing.

Contact center Vs. Call center: How are they different?

Here’s a breakdown of the key differences between contact centers and call centers:
Call Center Contact Center

Call centers take a single-

Contact centers take an omnichannel or unified
channel approach
communications approach to customer services.
to customer service. This
This includes services on communications channels
includes managing inbound
other than telephone calls, such as email, social
and outbound customer
media, live chat, etc.
phone calls.

Call centers
have limited customer self-
Contact centers have advanced CSS capabilities that
service (CSS) capabilities.
go beyond IVR. This includes chatbots, an FAQ web
They use call center software
page, an online knowledge center, etc. These self-
like interactive voice
service channels help customers find answers
response (IVR) systems. This
independently. 
helps with routing calls to
relevant agents.

Call center agents

have limited customer data a Contact centers offer personalized data and better
s they use speech analysis customer profiling as they have better Artificial
software to analyze customer Intelligence solutions and analyze multiple
calls and gain customer communication channels.
journey insights.

5 Essential Contact Center Services

The main aim of a contact center is to meet customer expectations with efficient and
interactive customer support, sales assistance, and technical support through their
preferred channel.
Let’s look at five contact center services in detail:
1. Telephone service
Contact centers are like modernized call centers. They’re equipped to handle a large
call volume of inbound and outbound calls as a part of many contact center services.
A. Inbound calling
 Incoming calls that contact centers receive are known as inbound calls. Your contact
center’s customer service representatives handle any such incoming call from a customer.
For example, a customer may have a query regarding connecting a printer they
recently purchased from your company. You can get an incoming call from that customer
looking to get help in setting it up.

B. Outbound calling
An outbound call refers to a call made by a contact center representative. Outbound
services or phone calls may be part of surveys, lead generation campaigns, a direct sales
phone call, etc.
For example, if you have a health insurance company, your sales team may contact
potential leads to explain your insurance plans and convert these leads into paying
customers.
In some cases, contact centers may use an Interactive Voice Response (IVR) system
to handle incoming and outgoing calls. This computer-based phone system uses keypad
entries or voice commands to provide information to customers without requiring human
intervention.

2. Text Messaging Service (SMS)

Long hold times, transferred calls, language barriers, etc., are some customer
complaints about call-based customer service.
In such scenarios, text messaging can go a long way in improving customer
satisfaction.
Text messaging is fast, personal, and safe. Additionally, it can boost agent
productivity since they can handle multiple customer conversations simultaneously.
You can use text messages to
 Start two-way conversations.
 Send proactive updates about the customer’s issues.
 Conduct various surveys.
 Take feedback regarding the customer service, etc.
From telephone calls to SMS, these omnichannel services enable you to handle
inbound and outbound customer communications effectively.

3. Chat service
Chat is becoming a popular communication tool due to its efficiency and ease of use.
It has a First Contact Resolution (FCR) rate of almost 74%, significant for a contact
center. FCR is a metric to measure a contact center’s ability to resolve the customer’s issue
in the first contact.
A customer can initiate a chat conversation from specialized chat windows on the
client website. The chat window connects them to an agent or chatbot to help resolve their
queries.
There are two types of chat services offered by a contact center:
A. Chatbots
 Contact center technology includes chatbots that use Artificial Intelligence (AI) to
engage customers, gather relevant information about an issue, and even answer simple
questions without any human assistance.
And if the issue requires an agent intervention, the chatbot escalates it to an
appropriate contact center agent.
B. Live chat
Another advanced technology used by modern contact centers includes live chat.
This platform is different from chatbots because it has a human contact center agent
at the other end offering the answering service.
A chat with a live agent can help:
 Reduce the need for IVR,
 Reduce customer waiting time
 Increase first contact resolution
 Work on the customer’s shared screen in real time, etc.
 Customers who prefer self-service find chatbots and live chat extremely effective
tools to get their support.

4. Social media service

Contact centers also offer social media services for digital channels like Facebook,
Twitter, WhatsApp, etc.
You can use your social media channels to listen to, analyze, and engage with your
customers daily. This way, you can monitor and publish relevant content to boost your
customer interaction and satisfaction.

5. Email service
Email is another popular digital customer support channel.
Contact centers usually have an email management software solution to help
organize emails, enabling your customer service representatives to handle a large volume
of emails efficiently.
Additionally, this software solution may offer email templates that enable your
contact center agents to respond to emails promptly, provide standardized customer care,
and increase customer satisfaction.

Group 6
WEEK 5
What Is Business Process Outsourcing (BPO)?
Business process outsourcing (BPO) is a method of subcontracting various business-
related operations to third-party vendors. Although BPO originally applied solely to
manufacturing entities, such as soft drink manufacturers that outsourced large segments of
their supply chains, BPO now applies to the outsourcing of various products and services.

Understanding Business Process Outsourcing (BPO)

Many businesses, from small startups to large companies, opt to outsource
processes, as new and innovative services are increasingly available in today's ever-
changing, highly competitive business climate.
 Broadly speaking, companies adopt BPO practices in the two main areas of back-
office and front-office operations. Back office BPO refers to a company contracting its core
business support operations such as accounting, payment processing, IT services, human
resources, regulatory compliance, and quality assurance to outside professionals who
ensure the business runs smoothly.

What Is a BPO Call Center?

A BPO call center handles outsourced incoming and outgoing customer calls on
behalf of other businesses. Many BPO call centers will have agents that can individually
handle customer complaints or inquiries standing in for a number of different companies,
often within a particular specialty. For instance, one call center agent may be able to field
tech support phone calls for a variety of vendors or manufacturers.

Inbound Sales
Inbound sales is the technique where companies “pull” interested prospects and
qualify them to see if they’re a fit for their product. In other words, inbound sales focuses
on the customer’s needs and the salesperson adapts to the buyer’s journey, acting as a
trusted advisor.

Outbound Sales
Outbound sales is the technique where companies push their message or pitch to
their prospects, through cold calling, social selling, email marketing and the like. In
outbound sales, the sales reps are contacting leads, instead of waiting for the leads to come
to them as in inbound sales.

The Difference Between Inbound and Outbound Sales

At the most basic level, the difference between inbound and outbound sales is in
who initiates the sales relationship. Inbound sales processes get started by the prospect
while outbound sales are started by sales representatives contacting the prospect first.