Republic of the Philippines
MARIKINA POLYTECHNIC COLLEGE
#2 Mayor Chanyungco St., Sta. Elena, Marikina City
GE 4 – PURPOSIVE COMMUNICATION
FIRST SEMESTER, S.Y. 2019 – 2020
Prepared by: Ms. Lois Ruth Monica R. Respito
CHAPTER 1
COMMUNICATION PROCESS, PRINCIPLES AND ETHICS
OVERVIEW:
The first chapter presents the different definitions of communication, the communication
process and its elements, the key principles of communication and ethics in communication
LEARNING OBJECTIVES:
At the end of the lesson, the learners must be able to:
1. Give the meaning of communication and explain why it is a complicated process;
2. Recall the elements of communication and identify them in different texts;
3. Name and interpret the principles of communication; and
4. Discuss the ethical issues in communication
LECTURE
A. Definition of Communication
1. Chase & Shamo (2013): commun – “something in common”+ ication – “understanding =
communication – “a common understanding of something”
2. Seiler & Beall (1999): the simultaneous sharing and creating of meaning through human
symbolic interaction
3. Wood (2004): a systemic process in which individuals interact with and through symbols
to create and interpret meanings
Therefore, communication is the process of creating and sharing meaning by using
verbal and nonverbal symbols in varied contexts; and effective communication results
when both verbal and nonverbal symbols are understood in much the same way by
both communicators.
B. The Communication Process
Source
Message
Feedback
Encoding
Receiver
Message
CONTEXT
Message
Channel
Decoding
Message
Figure 1. The Commuication Process
(Adapated from Effective Communication Process, 2010)
1. Source. The sender of the message.
2. Message. The information you want to convey.
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3. Encoding. The process of converting your idea or thoughts of the information into
verbal and/or nonverbal symbols that can be understood by the receiver of the
message.
4. Channel. The manner in which your message or information is conveyed.
5. Decoding. The receiver’s mental processing of your message into the meaning
suggested by the verbal and/or nonverbal symbols you use as sender.
6. Receiver. The person or group of people who will get your message.
7. Feedback. The receiver’s response to your message.
8. Context. The situation in which the communication takes place. It includes a) the
environment – the location, time of the day, temperature; b) the relationship between
the communicators; c) their respective cultural backgrounds and past experiences; and
d) the topic/subject of their communication.
C. The Elements of Communication
1. Sender (who the source is)
2. Message (what the idea being communicated says)
3. Channel (through what medium the message is relayed)
4. Receiver (to whom it is directed)
5. Effect (what the desired result of the communication is)
D. The Key Principles of Communication
1. Interpersonal communication is inescapable. It is not possible for humans not to
communicate. You communicate through both words and behavior. 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.
2. Interpersonal communication is irreversible. Once you have uttered something, you
can never take it back, and its effect remains. Words are powerful; they can either heal
or harm others.
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. 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 person is
c. The person whom you think the other person thinks you are
d. The person whom you think the other person think he is
e. The person whom the other person thinks you think you are
f. The person whom the other person thinks you think he is
4. Interpersonal communication is contextual. 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: who you are and what you bring to the interaction –
needs, desires, values, beliefs, personality, and son on
b. Relational context: your reactions to the other person based on relationships
c. Situational context: deals with the psycho-social “where” you are
communicating
d. Environmental context: deals with the physical “where” you are communicating
e. Cultural context: includes all the learned behaviors and rules that affect the
interaction. If you come from a culture where it is considered rude to make long,
direct eye contact, you will out of politeness avoid eye contact.
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E. Ethics in Communication
Difference Between Morals and Ethics
Morals
Personal codes
These are our own set of rules –
so others are neither expected nor required
to follow them
Ethics
Societal codes
These are rules accepted and approved by
society,
so they are imposed upon everyone.
Ten Ethics is Communication (Johnston, D.D., 1994)
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 for 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
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 a 50/50 rule.
7. Relative truth. As either sender or receiver of information, remember that your own
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. Ends 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.
REFERENCE:
Padilla, M., Dagdag, L. and Roxas, F. (2018). Communicate & connect! Purposive
communication. Malabon City: Mutya Publishing House, Inc.
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ILLUSTRATIONS
ILLUSTRATION 1: DO NOT DISTURB (2017)
I teach at a university. During a test I was administering, I noticed that one of my adult
students, who was pregnant, kept rubbing her side. After class I asked if she was OK.
“Oh, I’m fine,” she answered. “The baby was pushing his foot against my ribs, and it
hurts a little.”
I was happy to hear her reply until she continued, “It’s strange. He normally sleeps
during your class.”
ILLUSTRATION 2: SEASON’S TREATINGS (Newton, 2017)
A customer at the pet-food store where I work went to the bulk flavor-treat bin and
picked out all the green and red bone-shaped biscuits. There weren’t enough, so I opened
another box and asked if her dog liked only those flavors.
“Oh, no,’ she replied. “I’m making him a Christmas wreath.”
ILLUSTRATION 3: IN THE LINE OF FIRE (Buzek, 2017)
The line at our local post office was out the door, and, seeing that only one postal
worker was on duty, the customers were getting testy. To help hurry things along, a customer
called out, “How can I help you go faster?”
The postal worker yelled back, “Go home!”
ILLUSTRATION 4: MORALS: GOOD (ETHICAL) OR BAD (UNETHICAL)?
1. Since many classmates of John don’t see anything wrong with cheating on tests, he cheats,
too.
2. A boy who did not know how to swim died because he saved his friend from drowning.
3. Mary reported to the librarian that Luz tore some pages of a library book even if Luz was her
friend.
4. To feed his hungry baby sister, Larry stole a can of milk from a store.
5. Upon knowing that the cashier gave her too much change, Julie left the store in a hurry.
ILLUSTRATION 5: UNETHICAL BEHAVIORS IN BUSINESS MEETINGS (Morley, 2017)
1. A manager and an employee become friendly, and the employee asks the manager to
report her part of the project as finished even though she still has several days left to go.
2. An employee on probation offers to take on extra work if the manager adjusts his number
of sales.
3. Business people make jokes or remarks that may be offensive to some, and they don’t give
each person the right to voice his opinion.
4. A concern about employee safety is raised at a business meeting, but the issue is not
immediately assessed. When the concern is validated, employees are not immediately
informed, and they are not removed from the dangerous area to address the situation.
ILLUSTRATION 6: UNETHICAL BEHAVIORS IN THE WORKPLACE (Duff, 2017)
1. Your sales manager calls you into his office and threatens to fire you unless you sell 50 large
toasters. You know the large toasters are inferior products, so you have been selling the
small toasters to your customers. To keep your job, you must violate your conscience and
recommend that your customers buy the large toasters.
2. Your boss promises you can extra day off if you rush out an important project by a certain
date. You work late hours and finish the project before the deadline. Ready for your day off,
you mention it to your boss who responds, “No, we have too much work to do.”
3. An employee pads an expense account with nonbusiness expenses, raids the supply cabinet
to take home pens and notebooks, and passes around unregistered or counterfeit software.
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Republic of the Philippines
MARIKINA POLYTECHNIC COLLEGE
#2 Mayor Chanyungco St., Sta. Elena, Marikina City
GE 4 – PURPOSIVE COMMUNICATION
FIRST SEMESTER, S.Y. 2019 – 2020
QUIZ #1
NAME ________________________
SECTION ____________
DATE ________
A. Directions: Write C if the statement is correct and IC if it is incorrect. Write your answer on
the space before each number.
_____ 1. Since ours is a democratic society and our rights are guaranteed, it is ethical for us to
do anything we want as long as we have the right to do so.
_____ 2. It is all right for us to prevent people from communicating with one another.
_____ 3. Anyone is allowed to do whatever it takes to achieve his goal even if someone or
something is affected in the process.
_____ 4. Both speaker and listener are highly accountable for ascertaining that the message is
mutually understood and ethics is observed.
_____ 5. It is ethical to give priority to your own needs rather than your listener’s.
B. Directions: Specify the five elements of communication in each text. Next, identify the
effect of the communication and the probable reason for that kind of effect. Write your
answers on the blanks provided.
1. Milking It (Kowalchuk, 2017)
My daughter was enjoying a bedtime snuggle with her three-year-old son, Luka. Making
conversation, she asked him, “What makes you happy?” He eagerly responded, “Chocolate
milk!” “And what makes you sad?” my daughter continued. Luka replied, somberly and
quietly, “The other kind.”
Element:
____________________________________________________________
Effect:
____________________________________________________________
Reason:
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
2. First-Class Joke (Slayden, 2017)
I was buying plane tickets when my eight-year-old son asked, “Can a baby be considered
carry-on?” Before I could respond, my husband mumbled, “Well, it can definitely be
considered baggage.”
Element:
____________________________________________________________
Effect:
____________________________________________________________
Reason:
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
3. Advanced Dietary Maths (Barrett, 2017)
My brother was having a tough time losing weight. Our sister thought he should cut back
gradually, so one day she asked, “Mike, would you like to split a doughnut with me?” Mike
answered, “Want to split two?”
Element:
____________________________________________________________
Effect:
____________________________________________________________
Reason:
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
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