Introduction to
Communication
Elements of communication
• Message
• Encoder/Transmitter/Sender
• Channel (accessibility, route/path)
• Medium (Method)
• Decoder/Receiver
• Feedback/Response
Communication process
Stages
• Ideation: rough idea stage; brainstorming;
formulation of idea; urge to communicate stage
• Encoding: choosing an appropriate code (words,
non-verbal code; symbols or images);
• Choice of medium: Choosing an appropriate
medium, relevant for message and the receiver
Communication process
• Decoding: breaking down the message into
meaningful parts for interpretation
• Interpretation of the message: to prepare for
feedback
• Feedback: the response sent to the encoder
Please note
• Medium- method
• Channel- route, path, accessibility
• Fields of experience
• Ideation
• Message interpretation
Barriers to communication
Noise/interference (any interruption to the smooth
flow of communication)
• Physical noise (banging on the table; telephone
crackling; loud voices)
• Technical noise (internet disruption; not network
connection)
• Psychological noise (mental state, emotional state)
• Physiological noise (sickness/ailment)
• Temporal noise (time)
Barriers to Communication
• Cultural noise (beliefs)
• Semantic noise (language, words)
• Organisational noise
• Non-verbal noise
Barriers to Communication
• Quite a number of barriers stemming from “noise”
• Attitudes
• Beliefs
• Cultural differences
• Different language
• Gender differences
• Emotional state
• Status differences
• Body language & appearance
Characteristics of effective
messages
• Timely
• Memorable
• Clear purpose to persuade
• Makes use of appropriate channels
• High level of accuracy
• Attention grabbing characteristics
Memorable
• “Our thoughts and prayers are with the victim’s family’”
“We won’t rest until we’ve found the person responsible,”
“We are committed to ensuring this spill is cleaned up and
determined to make sure it never happens again.” These
are clichés – and, while most people can remember or
recognize a cliché (because, well, it’s a cliché), it doesn’t
make them memorable. We’ve all heard the “thoughts and
prayers” message a hundred times. We know it, but we’re
hard pressed to remember any one time where it stood
out as memorable.
Conciseness
• stick to the point and keep it brief
• audience doesn't want to read six sentences when you
could communicate your message in three.
• Are there any adjectives or "filler words" that you can
delete? You can often eliminate words like "for instance,"
"you see," "definitely," "kind of," "literally," "basically," or
"I mean.“
• Are there any unnecessary sentences?
• Have you repeated the point several times, in different
ways?
Clarity
• be clear about your goal or message
• What is your purpose in communicating with this person?
• try to minimize the number of ideas in each sentence.
• Make sure that it's easy for your reader to understand your
meaning.
• People shouldn't have to "read between the lines“
• No assumptions should be made about what you're trying
to say.
Concreteness
• audience should have a clear picture of what you're
telling them. There are details (but not too many!)
and vivid facts, and there's laser-like focus. Your
message is solid.
Correctness
• Do the technical terms you use fit your audience's
level of education or knowledge?
• Have you checked your writing for grammatical
errors? Remember, spell checkers won't catch
everything.
• Are all names and titles spelled correctly?
Coherence
• Logical arrangement of points should be connected
and relevant to the main topic, and the tone and flow
of the text is consistent.
Completeness
• complete message, the audience has everything they
need to be informed and, if applicable, take action.
• Does your message include a "call to action," so that
your audience clearly knows what you want them to
do?
• Have you included all relevant information – contact
names, dates, times, locations, and so on?
Courtesy
• Courteous communication is friendly, open, and
honest. There are no hidden insults or passiveaggressive tones. You keep your reader's viewpoint in
mind, and you're empathetic to their needs.
Empathy
• In crisis your empathy message is critical
• stay away from the cookie cutter condolence message
and develop something more genuine.
• “I spend my waking hours thinking about the
families and friends of those aboard flight 261 and it
is with a heavy but hopeful heart that I and our crews
continue to search.”
Positive
• Being positive means bringing the right attitude,
focus and energy to the message so that it
resonates – positively – with the intended audience.
Relevant
• relevance to the situation or subject matter.
• relevance to the person receiving the message
TASK
• The following two messages both essentially say the same thing
but one is negative and the other, positive.
• We don’t intend to be cavalier about the safety of this community’s
drinking water and we don’t plan to drag our feet in making sure we clean
things up.
or
• The safety of this community’s drinking water is our top
priority and will be the primary focus of all our efforts as we
clean things up
• How many images do you see in each one the images
below
References
• Bell, S. and Marais, T. (1989) 2nd Ed. Communication for
Managers and Secretaries. Southern Book Publishers.
Johannesburg