Notes on Week 2 Communication Notes PDF

**Chapter 1: Unit 1. Communication: An Introduction** **Lesson: The Communication Process, Elements, Principles and Ethical Standards** This chapter deals with the basic concepts of communication including its process, component, principles and ethical standards of communication. Communication pl...

**Chapter 1: Unit 1. Communication: An Introduction** **Lesson: The Communication Process, Elements, Principles and Ethical Standards** This chapter deals with the basic concepts of communication including its process, component, principles and ethical standards of communication. Communication plays a crucial, constant part on our lives, especially with the advent of technology. Do you agree? Even before technology was invented, in the lives of the ancient humans, in the form of cave drawings, it shows man's independence and use of symbols to convey ideas and information. **What then is Purposive Communication?** An **intentional communication** that happens within the bounds of specific contexts. What are **contexts**? - Includes settings or environment (family, school, workplace, religious communities) - Social relations (friends, husband and wife, parent and child, colleagues/boss-subordinate in the office) - Scenes which include place, time and occasion (business meeting, job interview, social gathering- parties, weddings, etc.) - Culture (history, tradition, beliefs, norms, values) Contexts are vital considerations in our communication acts since they affect the process of sending and receiving of messages; semantics or meanings; choice of channels, words and methods of delivery. Communication therefore, **must be suitable to the specific context.** **Hence, should be intentional or purposive.** With all these things in mind, it is rightful now to define purposive communication **as a communication applied in a specific setting, environment, scene, social relations and culture.** **The Communication Process** Let's define process. A process is **anything that involves steps and components**, with integral events happenings in every part (Baird, 2016) In the case of communication, it is the **process of transmitting a symbolic good, often in the form of codes and symbols via a medium.** It has three main components, mainly sender, message, and receiver (Sanchez, 2020) Since communication is also a process it is **something continuous**, not just a simple throwing of Hi! And Hello!. However, though its continuous, **we can still terminate it if we feel like the communication doesn't serve its purpose or goal anymore,** or if one does not anymore consciously make an effort to converse or interact with the other person which is still an act of communication since it also sends a message such as "I don't want to associate with you anymore..." or simply "There is no more reason for us to be talking". Hence communication **may not have a definite end.** Going back to the first definition, here are the main elements/components of the communication process: - **Sender** - Source of message - Sends the message via **medium** - Responsible for **encoding** the message before it is conveyed to the receiver - Considered the writer, speaker, composer of a piece of information - **Message** - Anything that is being conveyed from the sender to the other end of the communication - Could be in the form of feelings, concepts, ideas, information, news (Think of it as like the status on your Facebook, or what you are reading now are examples of a message) - **Receiver** - As the name suggests, the one who receives the message - Processes and **decodes** the message and tries to interpret its meaning - Could be anyone who reads, hears, or sees the meaning (Sanchez, 2020) As you can probably observe, I highlighted some of the words there because those words have an integral part and function to the other concepts that I will be listing below: - **Encoding** - Generation of the message itself - Could also be the moment you compose your thoughts and ideas before you blurt it out. - **Decoding** - Part of the process where the receiver decrypts the message and tries to make sense on what the message is about. - **Medium** - Contains the message - Vessel or instrument that helps convey the message. (Voice, Radio Set, TV, or a letter) - **Feedback** - In the process it is the confirmation by the receiver if he/she has received the message and has therefore understood it. - Through this, the receiver completes the process - Take note that some communication doesn't necessarily have feedback, but for the communication to be successful this is a key component in the process because it allows the sender to evaluate the effectiveness of the message, and it provides an opportunity for the sender to take corrective action to clarify a misunderstood message - Sometimes feedbacks can be non-verbal like smiles, sigh, etc., it can also be oral feedback thru questions or comments, and it can also be in written form, like replying to emails - **Noise** - Anything that gets in the way of effective communication. - It has two kinds; external and internal noise - Internal Noise is anything that emanates from the recipient like psychological mindset, emotion, current state of being (angry, bothered, upset or hungry) - External Noise are mainly distractions placed by the environment (weather; too hot or too cold, seatmate trying to get your attention in the middle of a class lecture) **Feedbacking can help minimize if not entirely eliminate noise.** **Post-Lesson Activity \# 1** **Directions: Create diagram of your own interpretation of how the process of communication works. Label each form with elements that can be found above.** ***THE NINE PRINCIPLES FOR EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION*** Michael Osborn (2009) believes communicationmust follow certain requirements for successful communication. What are these requirements? Below are the nine principles which you can use or take into consideration to be able to effectively communicate with other people. **Clarity** Clarity makes the speeches comprehensible. Fuzzy terminology, like jargons, cliché words, euphemisms and double-speak terminology, is totally prohibited since they make speeches very difficult to understand. Sometimes, the use of these terminologies often leads to vague understanding and worst, a possibility of being misunderstood. **Concreteness** Concreteness eliminates myths. Do you agree? Facts such as research data, statistics or figures must back up messages.  This will help your message to be reliable and factual. Abstract terms must also be avoided in order to achieve concreteness. Take note that in as much as how you want to be understood by the receiver, you also to sound credible for them. **Courtesy** Goodwill builds courtesy. It includes being respectful in terms of approach and the way a person is handled. It also entails putting in mind and in heart your manner of speaking, the appropriate terms to use, the way you handle a person. By doing this, you are showing to your receiver that you respect and care for them. **Correctness** Glaring grammatical errors obscure the meaning of a sentence. Misuse of language, too, can hurt your reputation. This also refutes your credibility and also the correctness of your message. Thus, attaining correctness is very important to make communication meaningful and fruitful. **Consideration** In communication, messages should target the audience. This means that the sender must take into account the occupation of the recipients, level of education, race, ethnicity, hobbies, interests, beliefs, activism, and age when composing or sending a message. **Creativity** Creativity in communication means being able to create interesting messages in terms of the structure of the sentences and the choice of words. This creativity helps create a connection between the sender and the recipient. **Conciseness** Simplicity and straightforwardness help you get succinct. Stop using lengthy terms and phrases that could confuse the receiver. **Cultural Sensitivity** Today, with growing focus on promoting diverse cultures, lifestyles, and races and the promotion of gender equality, cultural awareness is becoming an important norm for successful communication. **Captivating** To command more attention and better responses, aim to make messages interesting. **Pre-lesson Activity:** A. Directions: Discuss in 5 sentences on a one half sheet of paper what you are going to do in the following situations below. 1. Your best friend confided to you that he/she is already in a relationship but wanted you to keep this as a secret since his/parents do not allow him /her yet to get involved in a romantic relationship. One day your best friend's mother called you up to confirm a rumor about your best friend having a boyfriend/girlfriend. What answer will you give your best friend's mom? What do you think is the best thing to do? 2. Some of your classmates have spread bad rumors about one of your close friends. You are not sure whether the gossip is true or not. What would you tell your classmates? How about your close friend? 3. One of your friends is ranting on FB and is trying to harshly hot on someone he/she happens to dislike a lot. You wanted to support your friend's statement by simply liking the post knowing that this can only be seen by your group of friends and that you are not saying anything in addition to your friend's offensive post. Is it acceptable to "like" the post? Is this a form of cyber bullying? Explain your answer. **What is Ethics?** What is **right or bad** is decided upon or judged in the field of ethics. It refers to communication within particular ethical dimensions that pose the questions: Is the message constructive or destructive? Could it possibly cause harm or even just distress? Is it truthful and equitable? Is it accurate? Tom Rosentiel and Bill Kovach established standards and norms for their profession, praising the ideals and qualities of accuracy, independence, fairness, and candor. Ethical communication supports decision-making by assisting us in structuring our communications and selecting language that are appropriate for any given context (How do you communicate unpleasant news to someone going through a personal crisis?) Whatever a person\'s moral principles may be, ethics in communication can adopt a universal perspective. This can be demonstrated in a number of ways, including but not limited to the following: **Ethical Considerations in Communication** - **Ethical communicators are respectful of their audiences.** When we communicate, we should keep in mind that the person on the other end of the line is a living, breathing human being with feelings and emotions. In other words, the person on the other end of the communication process is a living, breathing human being with intrinsic dignity and worth, a person with a field of experience. They are actual living things with the ability to feel pain; they are not merely cogs in the communication wheel. To put it another way, ethical communication carefully considers the WHO. We examine audience demographics, experience, and even current mental and psychological state. For example, a person who just lost a loved one could require more time to process tragic news than someone going about their daily business. Here, we adhere to the Golden Rule: we treat others with the same respect as we would like to be treated. - **Ethical communicators weigh the consequences of their actions.** The phrase \"Think before you click\" and the necessity to carefully consider our words before sharing them have both been reiterated to us. This is due to the fact that every message we put out and every missile we launch has some sort of effect on or influence on the lives of our audience. Since we do not and should not communicate on vacuums, it is crucial to understand context before we speak. Any form of communication is not a singular event unrelated to others. Our responses at home and in public are directly influenced by how we behave at school. - **Ethical communicators are all about the truth.** Honor the truth. The terms \"fake news\" and \"revisionism\" are well known. The former discusses news or information that is blatantly erroneous but is sold as fact. The latter involves changing a truth, typically one from history, in order to sanitize fewer desirable aspects of the past. Since truth, or at least some semblance of it, is the essence of communication itself, or \"an inherent end of speech is the communication of belief,\" ethical communication respects the truth. Lack of credibility can result from a lack of truth, and losing credibility might cause us to lose the trust of our audience. We cannot expect people to believe the accuracy of our data if we repeatedly get caught lying or disseminating false information. Truth is consequently a fundamental value and key currency in communication. It is what \"sells\" us as good communicators. For this reason, honesty has always been regarded as a necessary component of human civilization, regardless of how laxly other moral precepts are observed. - **Ethical communicators know how to properly use information.** When used appropriately, information can be of two types: adequate and accurate. Those who are adequately informed and properly equipped to communicate are ethical communicators. Nothing is more aggravating than, say, a social justice activist who doesn\'t know enough about the subject at hand. A journalist who is worth their salt should know better than to offer comments or an opinion on a subject they have not thoroughly investigated. If a salesperson is knowledgeable with all the subtleties of the product, they can persuade a customer to buy a particular brand. If a server is sufficiently knowledgeable about the menu, he can propose the house specialty and describe how it was prepared (if it was made with peanuts or not, and with what sort of oil?). One of the worst communication sins is spreading false information, which violates all communication norms. Accurate communicators also uphold ethics. Is it precise and true? If the answer to both questions is yes, accuracy has been attained. The location of the decimal point can make a difference between life and death in some communication situations. Constant checking and cross-checking can lead to accurate data. People often overestimate how much they contributed to a project. Yellow journalism, or news that has been heavily sensationalized, is another issue. Additionally, we have observed that certain vendors of herbal dietary supplements tend to exaggerate the benefits of their goods (e.g., cure cancer, reverse death, clear skin). This brings us to the next guideline or principle. - **Ethical communicators do not falsify information.** "Truth is what we are all about. Not hype. Not spin. But truth" - Thomas Harris Making things up is different from distorting the truth. Joseph Goebbels, Hitler\'s minister of propaganda, is internationally recognized for his Big Lie theory, which holds that a lie repeated often enough becomes the reality. Misrepresenting your educational background or professional experience to sound like you are qualified for a position is one way to falsify information. Another method of information falsification is plagiarism. Plagiarism is a type of intellectual dishonesty in which the creator of a work of art, a piece of writing, or a photograph takes credit for it without giving credit to the source. Plagiarism, often known as intellectual theft, is the act of not citing your sources. In addition to hearing about musicians getting sued for stealing the songs of another artist, we have seen governmental officials called out for neglecting to credit the source of their material. The foundation of ethical communications is honesty and trust. In light of this, it would be reasonable to argue that moral communication is a key indicator of how a group regards interpersonal relationships. In business, whether it\'s a big or small corporation, communication ethics offers information that is consistent and easy to understand.