WHAT IS COMMUNICATION?
Webster defines communication as a process by
which information is exchanged between individuals
through a common system of symbols, signs or
behavior. Communication is a process of sharing and
conveying messages or information from one person
to another using different means, medium, context,
media, and cultures.
NATURE OF COMMUNICATION
• 1. Communication is a process.
Communication as a process means it is a step by step
activity and it is essentially a two-way process that involves
the active participation of both the sender and receiver. It is
the act or process of using words, sounds, signs, or
behaviors to express or exchange information or to express
your ideas, thoughts, feelings, etc., to someone else.
Communication is a dynamic process which is influenced by the
communicator’s mood and thinking.
It is a complex process too. By complex process, it means, one message
may be interpreted in many ways by different people. In the sample image, a
teacher explains a lesson in a class of 20 students. There may also be 20
different understanding of the lesson. That is why there is a need to seek for
clarification called feedback.
• 2. Communication
is much more of an ART than a
science.
•
There is no right or wrong way to communicate –
no set of absolute rules to be followed but there
are underlying principles to guide us into effective
communication.
• 3. Communication has a sender and receiver.
Communication occurs between two or more people
acting as the speaker or the receiver of the message. In
other words, it is a two-way process of reaching mutual
understanding, in which participants do not only exchange
(encode-decode) information, news, ideas and feelings
but also create and share meaning. In general,
communication is a means of connecting people or
places.
• 4. Communication is verbal or non-verbal.
Communication can be expressed through written or spoken words
(verbal) or actions (non-verbal) of both spoken words and nonverbal
actions at the same time. Communication is not all about sending or
receiving facts in words. It does involve ideas and emotions that are
expressed through signs, symbols and gestures
• 5. Communication is inevitable
• Inevitability means communication is taking place even
when someone does not want or intend to communicate.
This “does not want to communicate” feeling of someone
actually does communicate something.
• 6. Communication is irreversible.
This means that what you have said can never be
unsaid. Irreversibility happens the very minute you click
the “OK” button for a comment or post on your social
media and that it would be too late to take it back when
a lot of people have already reacted, and commented to
it. The same thing when you perhaps throw a hurting or
offensive word to your enemy because of your anger.
• 7. Communication is Unrepeatable.
• Unrepeatability means that an act of communication
can never be duplicated. We may say the same thing
over and over again but the effect of what you said the
second or third or fourth time will not be the same as
the first time you said it.