Purcom Module 1: Overview of Communication PDF

**MODULE 1 OVERVIEW OF COMMUNICATION** **Learning Outcomes** Upon completing this module, the students should be able to: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. **LESSON 1: NATURE OF COMMUNICATION** The word **communication** is **derived from a Latin word meaning "to share."** The term is defined as "**purp...

**MODULE 1 OVERVIEW OF COMMUNICATION** **Learning Outcomes** Upon completing this module, the students should be able to: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. **LESSON 1: NATURE OF COMMUNICATION** The word **communication** is **derived from a Latin word meaning "to share."** The term is defined as "**purposefully and actively exchanging information between two or more people to convey or receive the intended meanings through a shared system of signs and** symbols" ("Communication," 2015, para. 1). Ordway Tead defines communication as a composite of 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Communication is giving, receiving or exchanging ideas, data, information, signals or messages through appropriate media, enabling individuals or groups to persuade, to seek information, to give information or to express emotions. Communication lexically means to impart or exchange of information through speaking, writing or some other medium; the act of conveying intended meaning from one entity or group to another through the use of mutually understood signs or semiotic rules. **Purposive Communication** is an undeveloped communication that is formatted so that concepts and ideas in cultural and global fields be communicated efficiently and effectively. Purposive communication uses deliberate vocabulary to communicate **Lesson 2: THE PROCESS OF COMMUNICATION** 1. 2. 3. 4. **Spoken channel** includes face-to-face conversations, speeches, phone conversations and voicemail messages, radio, public address systems, and Skype. **Written channel** includes letters, memorandums, purchase orders, invoices, newspaper and magazine articles, blogs, email, text messages, tweets, and so forth. 4. 5. The receiver or audience asks for clarification, agrees/disagrees, or indicates that the message has been sent. As feedback increases, the accuracy of message also increases. (Leavitt & Mueller, 1951). 6. 7. **Context refers to circumstances forming the setting for an event, statement, or idea, and in terms fully understood and assessed.** The degree of formality or informality of the environment depends on the participants' contextual expectations. Context is all about what people expect from each other out of environmental cues. For example, in a business meeting, who speaks first? This probably relates to the position and the role each person has. **Context plays a very important role in communication, particularly across** **cultures.** **TYPES:** 1. 2. 3. **It refers also to any obstruction caused by the sender, message or receiver during the process** such as poor audio quality or too much sound, poor image quality, too much or too little light, poor telephone connection, faulty encoding and decoding, inattentive receiver, poor understanding of message due to prejudice or inappropriate gestures, etc. **Lesson 3: FOUR TYPES OF COMMUNICATION** 1. Verbal communication encompasses all forms of communication using spoken or unspoken words; relies on words to convey a message; a standard method of communicating used on a day-to-day basis, though rarely used without being augmented with one of the other types. Verbal communication is used with other cues to include, tone, gestures, and body language. Verbal communication helps express thoughts, emotions and sentiments. A phone conversation, chat with a friend, an announcement made, or a speech delivered are all verbal forms of communication. For most, it comes with ease since childhood learning it through the sounds and soon developed our understanding the language to help us to communicate verbally as we grow older. **Two Forms** **1, Oral Communication** Oral Communication is the process of conveying or receiving messages with **the use of spoken words**. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. The message is transmitted via written or printed form; the most reliable mode, highly preferred in the business world because of its formal and sophisticated nature. The various channels of written communication are **letters, e-mails, journals, magazines, newspapers, text messages, reports, articles, and memos, etc.** **Advantages**: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. **Disadvantages** 1. 2. 3. 4. **Sub- categories of Verbal communication** 1. 2. **An interpersonal relationship is a social connection or affiliation between two or more people.** **Different types of interpersonal relationships can include your connections with your partner, loved ones, close friends, acquaintances, co-workers, and many others who make up the social connections in your life.** **Interpersonal skills are life skills used every day to interact and communicate with others, individuals or in groups**. People who have developed strong interpersonal skills are usually more successful both in their professional and personal lives. **Some examples of interpersonal skills include:** 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. In a work environment, strong interpersonal skills are an asset that can help you navigate complexity, change and day-to-day tasks. 3. 4. 1. A process of communication without the use of words or sounds using gestures, body language, facial expressions, eye contact, clothing, tone of voice and other cues to convey a message. A non- verbal cue is used in speaking; one raises his/her eyebrows emphatically to help make a point, or shake his/her finger in anger. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. The word "**media**" applies to many things in the 21st century, **from mass media to news media, and traditional media to the many emerging forms of digital media.**. It comes from the **Latin medius or medium, which means "the middle layer.**" Media is an expression that brings some type of information or entertainment from one body to another. Before the advent of the digital age, the most popular forms of media were what we now call analog or **traditional media: radio, newspapers, magazines, billboards, journals, and the like.**Since then, the technological revolution has brought with it many new types of media that now play a major role in disseminating information and entertainment to populations around the world. **Mass media refers to media technologies that disseminate information to a wide audience**. The key function of mass media is to communicate various messages through television, movies, advertising, radio, the internet, magazines, and newspapers **Functions of Mass Media** 1. 2. 3. The majority of companies now use social media platforms, create blog posts on their sites, and launch commercials on YouTube to describe their products' best features, the problems their products solve, and provide step-by-step guides. **Characteristics of mass media** 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. **Four Main Types** 1. 2. Folgers, a brand of coffee for instance, used manhole covers to promote coffee in a unique and eye-catching way. Places like bus stops, public transport, and buildings serve as creative places for product promotion. 3. 4. **Digital Media is a blend of technology and content, and building digital media products requires teams of professionals with diverse skills, including technical skills, artistic skills, analytical and production coordination skills**. All of these skills need to be balanced on a team, with all team members focused on creating the best user experience. A weather app on a smartphone, a racing game on a video game console and an ultrasound imaging device in a hospital are all digital media products. They are successful because they are engaging, easy to use (even fun in the case of games), and deliver results The world we live in today is populated by digital media products, and these products enable and deliver experiences in many industries, including industries that aren't typically associated with digital media---such as health, government and education. **Digital Media Types** As a reason for its variety of offerings, digital media is proving to be the pioneer in marketing platforms as it is highly cost effective and the turnover ratio of customers is relatively high compared to other platforms. It is also highly effective because in today's times the buying behavior of customers is highly dependent on internet and multimedia sources over various platforms. A decent digital media marketing approach starts from a very smaller yet largely impactful perspective of a user's life. The different digital media channels are: 1. Generally the primary advertisements are either aired over TV or radio, shown through search engine advertisement, in-video campaigns, in-application campaigns etc., where the content delivered by the marketer is rather small and contains a link for the detailed description of the offering. 2. The second most important part of digital media marketing which is the website. Websites can be interactive, loaded with content and user friendly. This helps in making the visitor or the user comfortable with the content, easily understandable and the value addition the offering can give. A decent pricing content is also made available with the differentiating points, if any, to the visitor. 3. Digital media marketing includes the email and the SMS services. Often to either attract or to remind people about the website they visited for a purchase or actually made a purchase from, marketers use the platform of email and SMS services. Emails and SMS can be highly customizable, cost effective and informative. Emails tend to contain multimedia messages as well which the SMS cannot deliver but the rate of content delivery is higher in case of an SMS than an email. 4. The fourth type of digital media marketing is the interactive blogs or review panels. Generally before making a buying decision any customer wishes to get a review from the current user of the product or service. Also there are certain doubts which can be cleared by the company or the current users through blogging websites where question and answer conveyance is very high. 5. With the growing presence of smartphones, mobile apps have become an important digital media option for businesses to work. Interactive apps help build a strong connect with its customers offering ease of use and instant updates. 6. There are newer types of digital media coming up in the ecosystem like Augmented Reality, 3D (three dimensional), Podcasts, Stories which can help customers connect even better with a company and at the same time experience the product or service at much detailed and interactive levels. Digital media has been proven to provide a very effective means of communication for the businesses and the customers. With the coming future the dependency of human on machines is definitely going to increase and the usage of digital media will rise by many folds. Marketers can harness this opportunity and can reap benefits if the strategies are used properly. **Advantages of Digital Media** There are several advantages of digital media in marketing: 1. 2. 3. 4. **Exploring Types of Digital Media** 1. Those forms of media persist, joined in the 19th century by the telegraph and in the 20th century by radio and television, **the first examples of mass media.** The **digital era, however, meant a whole new set of media transmission methods and devices, with more developed every year. These days, most types of digital media fit into one of these main subgroups**: 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. The top digital media companies are among the largest corporations on Earth. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. **MODULE 2: BARRIERS TO EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION** The process of communication has multiple barriers. The intended messages are often disturbed and distorted leading to misunderstanding and failure of communication. 1. A physical barrier to communication is an element or a physical factor that acts as a distraction to hinder the flow of communication. A physical barrier is either natural or human-made and is easy to spot. **Noise, bad architecture and closed doors** are all physical barriers to listening. Even a **network disturbance due to a thunderstorm** is considered as one of the examples of physical barrier. **Factors creating a physical barrier** **Surroundings, distance between people, time differences and faulty modes of communication** are all factors creating physical barrier. Executives must be quick to identify these factors to deal with their negative effects on productivity. 1. Communication in such places relies on emails and calls **creating noise and distortions.** **Accessibility** becomes a concern and communication suffers. Uncomfortable chairs, glaring screens and dim lighting all characterize a poor workplace and they serve as physical barriers. 1. 2. Executives ensure their messages carry the relevant information to prevent delays. People or organizations located in different time zones coordinate to have conversations. A video conference between teams from England and India has to take place at a time available for both parties since they're separated by over five hours. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. A loud, unpleasant sound or a disturbance in an audio signal is termed as noise. Noise does not only interrupt communication but acts as an environmental disturbance and restricts the flow of messages, makes them inaccurate or unclear and causes misinterpretations. **Types:** 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. **Excessive Information** Communication **suffers if the volume of information is too high for a person to store or process.** The sender may have lots of material to share but not the means to process them. The receiver faces the same problem if he is not equipped to handle excess information. Not being able to send or receive huge volumes of printed data is as much a physical barrier as low storage capacity and backdated systems are. **Distortion of Message** A distorted message is **misrepresented or misinterpreted**when the meaning of a message is lost in translation, in transition or during decoding. Human perception also plays a part in distorting messages. With massive volumes of data being exchanged daily, managers make sure they have the means to process the data and eliminate noises and distortions. 1. Personal barriers in life are impediments to desired growth, personally professionally, spiritually or socially. Overcoming barriers help individuals achieve desired outcomes such as personal development, career success or improvement in interpersonal relationships. Barriers to personal growth and development are also considered learned habits, as a reflection of personal values or beliefs, or as a result of a psychological issue or traumatic experience. Common personal barriers in life are: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. The above-barriers are self-imposed and are based on pre-established notions and concepts. 1. Language barriers are those features or aspects of language use that result in miscomprehension or complete loss in communication. This could be due to a **variety of factors like differences in educational background, level of literacy in the country or area of the language user.** **Language barriers are semantic problems that arise during the process of** encoding and/or decoding the message into words and ideas, respectively. Normally, such barriers occur due to choice and use of wrong words, faulty translations, different interpretations, etc. 1. For example, USA citizens do not just speak English as half of the population is Hispanic and are Spanish speakers. Therefore, it is necessary to become a **bilingual or a polyglot** for one to be able to communicate effectively. 2. **Pidgin i**s a version of a second language created when users of two different languages produce an **in-between language** to ease communication. Pidgin is formed when words and grammatical forms of either language are adopted into use. For example -- people from the country of Papua New Guinea adopted a pidgin from English as seen in sentences like 1. 2. Pidgin becomes distinct from the two parent languages even though its base comes from both. English spoken in the UK has 37 dialects! The use of dialects in workplaces or areas away from where it is practiced result in miscommunication. 3. Accents occur when speakers of different regions or countries speak a language not their own. Their mother tongue influences how they pronounce words in the foreign language resulting to difficulty in comprehending what is said. For example -- although English is a universally spoken language, the accents adopted by each country easily reveal which part of the world they come from. So, we recognize accents like **British, American, African, Indian, Australian, Irish**, **far Eastern, etc.** 4. **Slang** refers to words or expressions peculiar to a group of persons familiar with it; an informal language that persons of a close-knit group coin to indicate shared experience or emotion but considered offensive by people who are not familiar with it. For example, a lot of slang words not familiar with Millennials or the baby boomers; such as 'dope' or 'lit' (used to emphasize something personally liked) are some of the slang words commonly used by Gen Z teens today, which the millennials or the baby boomers are relatively unaware of. 5. However, while he frames sentences or use particular words, he must be aware of the multiple meanings of the words (connotative, denotative) and their uses in idioms and phrases. 6. For example -- when someone says "Stop pulling my leg all the time", the sentence is ambiguous as the listener isn't sure if the speaker means their leg or if it's used as idiom. **Verbosity or wordiness** and the **use of unfamiliar words** also make the message obscure. For example -- a simple sentence like **"She likes to enjoy sunsets**" is preferred than when framing a sentence like "**She has the preference for relishing eventide."** 7. The far eastern countries such as Japan, China and Korea etc. prefer their native languages over English and pursue their formal education in Nihongo, Mandarin or Hangeul. Hence, they get less access or exposure to English language resulting to having **limited vocabulary and very little exposure to reading of the literature** of the English language. Therefore, communicating in English at a cosmopolitan workplace makes these speakers become conscious of their limitations in the use of English and how this becomes a barrier to communication 8. 9. **The recommendations suggested is carried out.** (The subject 'recommendations' and the verb 'is' do not agree as one is plural and the other is singular) The correct form of the sentence would be **-- The recommendations suggested are carried out.** 1. Mr. Jeff has been assigned the task. It is expected that she complete it within the time limit allocated. 1. The amount is to be divided equally among all of you. The two brothers may decide between them how much they choose to share with the rest. (Among implies a number more than two while between indicates only two) 1. For example -- sentences involving the use of **their, there and** **they're** The employees received **their** share of the profits. (Possessive pronoun) There are sixty women working **here.** (Demonstrative adjective) The management ensures that **they're** informed of all issues concerning the company (contracted form of 'they are') 1. Principal -- Principle Weather -- Whether Stationary -- Stationery Story -- Storey **SEMANTIC NOISE** 1. 2. 3. **Language barrier-** cause misunderstandings that lead to conflict, frustration, offense, violence, hurt feelings, and wasted time, effort, money, and sometimes lives of the people. 1. Psychological states of communicators (senders and receivers) influence their attitude towards communication; thus limiting their ability to communicate effectively. When people suffer from mental disturbances, their communication is highly affected by the mental state they are in. Therefore, people who engage in communication need to be emotionally stable in order to communicate effectively. If your boss does not trust you, he will only supply information, **Causes of psychological barriers** 1. During a tragedy for example, a person may not want to hear advice from others. He may be preoccupied with problems in his professional or personal concerns that may affect all aspects of his life. 2. Unlike other organs, the brain does not store all of the information it receives, only those it deems useful for future reference. It also loses information that is outdated or not taken seriously. In other words, half of the information is lost. In the process of forming a message, the brain has to extract the information recalling the required information from the fragments it has already forgotten. The truth can be distorted or changed due to poor retention which is a barrier to communication. 3. 4. 1. 2. 3. **Emotional barriers, and why do they matter** An emotional barrier is a mental block that influences how one perceives others' actions and prevents him from clearly communicating his feelings. Emotional barriers trigger an emotional response that's inappropriate or unproductive. Who you are and what you've experienced play a big role in how you perceive information. Two people viewing the same painting, for example, may have very different emotional responses. The same goes for interactions in the workplace. An encounter that seems aggressive to one person may come across as sarcastic to someone else and judgmental to yet another person. The differences in perception stem from the fact that one never starts from square one when communicating. His past experiences, personal beliefs, and conditioned behavior shape his expectations of every interaction. So, whether he realizes it or not, his mind is primed to process new information in a way that he feels familiar. The problem is his expectations aren't always right. And as a result, he often makes judgments based on what he already knows or believes without considering the other person's perspective. **Examples of emotional barriers** Some of the most common examples of emotional barriers in the workplace include: 1. 2. 3. 4. Listening involves not just hearing someone else's words but also taking other people's opinions seriously, following an advice from an expert and allowing other people to have a say in the final product to demonstrates trust and respect. 3. Anxiety also impacts ability to think clearly and creatively. Many people who suffer from anxiety cite concentration problems as a major consequence of their worrying. Anxious people also tend to engage in dichotomous thinking or "black and white" thinking. Rather than seeing creative solutions in the middle, they imagine the most extreme outcomes. 4. Apathy comes across as pessimism or low motivation provoking strong responses from others and making them unwilling to communicate with you. Imagine if one's co-workers are excited about a team project. Yet, he seems disinterested, puts in little effort, and shoots down every idea. One's poor mood can easily kill morale and discourage others from putting forth their best effort. In many cases, apathetic people do not purposely cause miscommunications though stressed out from personal issues or feel unappreciated, overworked, or unchallenged in the workplace. **PSYCHOLOGICAL NOISE** 1. 2. 3. 4. All behavior is a form of communication. Everybody communicates through behavior. An infant may cry when she is hungry or wet, just like an adult may yawn when he is bored at work. Adults and children are communicating something through their behavior during every moment in every day, even if they are not aware of it. 5. 6. 1. The definition of cultural communication barriers are obstacles that harm morale and decrease productivity in an organization through misunderstanding of a cultural concept. Culture is the shared set of beliefs, values, behaviors, laws, and ceremonies by a group of people. Culture gives a person a sense of belonging and identity and makes up who an individual is. It is their relationship with society and what they have in common with the other people within their societies. **Sources of Cultural Barriers** 1. Different cultures developed their own language as a part of their heritage. People are comfortable communicating in their own language while others have to learn new languages. For example, separation of East and West Germany for 40 years caused the language to differ a lot. The dialect of people of East Germany had Russian language influence, whereas West Germany had English influence causing a barrier in communication for decades. Other than differences in language, also is the forms of a variety of dialects. The examples are of Chinese and Russian language where people use different dialects in several parts of the country. Unawareness of the exact meaning of words creates misunderstanding leading to a conflict of ideas. 2. For example, in eastern countries like India, Pakistan, Sri lanka the meaning of physical proximity is different from that in western countries. In western culture, people share physical proximity or closeness only with the persons they know. This is the reason why one finds a calm and quiet environment in public transportation in western countries. Contradictory to this, one finds a huge, crowded environment in Indian suburban and metro rail transports. 3. Stereotyping is the process of creating a picture of a whole culture, overgeneralizing all people belonging to the same culture as having similar characteristics and categorizing people accordingly. It is a belief about a certain group and is mostly negative. Stereotyping is on the basis of nationality, gender, race, religion, ethnicity, age, etc. For example, Asian students are stereotyped to be good at Math, a positive stereotype. But, there is also cultural stereotype of all people following a particular religion as being violent like Islam and is negative stereotyping. Negative stereotyping creates prejudices as it provokes judgmental attitudes. People look at these cultural practice as evil and treat these followers wickedly. In social psychological viewpoint, **positive stereotypes are also considered as the cultural barrier, a** representation of a particular group of people or culture in a positive way. Though this may be different from reality. The positive stereotypes **create frames of reference in the mind of people in cultural context.** For example, people in Italy are considered to have a great interest in art. This might be true in some sense since Italy has gone through various art movements. But if a foreigner visits Italy and interact with the Italians with that mindset, he finds it difficult to encounter the reality. 4. Cultural differences cause behavior and personality differences like body language, thinking, communication, manners, norms, etc. which leads to miscommunication. For example, in some cultures eye contact is important whereas in some it is rude and disrespectful. Culture also sets a specific norms that dictate how one must behave based on the guidelines for accepted behavior requiring what is right or wrong. Every action is influenced by culture like ambitions, careers, interests, values, etc. Beliefs are also another cause for cultural barrier. For instance, most people who believe in god cope with their ups and downs of life easily than atheists though when related to their behavior and communication, atheists are more hardworking at all times. Appropriate amount of emotion displayed differ in various cultures. Since roles are defined by culture, good communication only occurs between people from different cultures both accept their differences with open mind. The **differences in values and beliefs in cultures** also create a barrier in communication. The difference in the level of acceptability in cultures is an example. The reasons behind these are the due to the influence of religion, political environment or epistemology. Rokeach in his book "The Nature of Human Values "(1979) defines **value** as 'a type of belief centrally located within one's total belief system'. Values tell us about people's behavior. Values may be explicit (stated overtly in a value judgement) or implicitly (inferred from nonverbal behavior), and they may be individually held or seen as a part of a cultural pattern or system. Every country has numerous religions practiced by its people so the differences in their values and beliefs are also an example of cultural barriers. 5. Ethnocentrism causes barriers in communication; **the process of dividing cultures as "us" and "them".** The **people of someone's own culture** are categorized as **in-group** and the **other culture is out-group**. **Always a greater preference is given to in-group and** an illusion of out-group as evil and inferior. If the culture is similar, then it is good and if dissimilar, it is bad. Other's culture is evaluated and assessed with the standard of their own culture. Ethnocentrism affects the understanding of message, and encourages hostility. For example, the books in schools use reference of their own culture to describe other cultures by either showing common things or differences. Similar to ethnocentrism and stereotyping, religion also disrupts communication as it creates a specific image of people who follow other religions. People find it difficult to talk to others who follow different religions. Religious views influence how people think about others creating differences in opinions. For example, in Pakistan, the Christians have to speak up for their rights as the majority is of Islam and the Christians are discriminated. There is also a lack of communication between these religious groups. 6. In conservative societies like Arab and African countries, greeting opposite gender by shaking hands or hugging is considered as ill-manner or even moral crime. But in the western world it is common practice to shake hands when meeting people. **CULTURAL NOISE** 1. 2. 3. **Overcoming cultural barriers** There are other cultural barriers like frames of reference, political opinions, priorities of life, age, etc. Cross cultural communication is not only a barrier but also an opportunity for creativity, new perspectives, and openness to new ideas and unity in the world. To make communication effective, the causes of cultural communication barriers must be eliminated as much as possible. Cross cultural understanding must be increased as it decreases communication barrier caused by culture difference. A skilled communicator can overcome most of these barriers. Below are some tools used to bridge barriers in everyday communications. 1. 2. 3.