CHAPTER ONE
OVERVIEW OF COMMUNICATION
As we know managers have three basic jobs: to collect and convey information, to make decision and
to promote interpersonal unity. To put it in short, managers are expected to work together to achieve
organizational goals. All of these jobs happen through communication. Effective managers are able to use
a wide variety of media & strategies to communicate.
1.1 Meaning of Communication
Different writers define communication in different ways. Some define communication as “the process
of transferring ideas from one person to another”.
Hamilton and Parker (1987), define communication as” the process of people sharing
thoughts, ideas, and feelings with each other in commonly understandable ways.”
Bovee and Thill (2000) defined communication as the process of sending and receiving
messages. They distinguished communication and effective communication.
According to Bovee and Thill,, effective communication occurs when individuals achieve a
shared understanding, stimulate others to take actions, and encourage people to think in new
ways.
The term communication is derived from the Latin work “Communis”, which means common. Literally,
to communicate means to tell, show, spread and inform.
Communication is the process through which participants create and share information with one another
as they move toward reaching mutual understanding (Rogers, 1999)
For our purposes, however, we can define communication as: The process by which people attempt to
share meaning (ideas, feeling, thought, experience, knowledge, skill, etc) for some purpose through the
transmission of symbolic messages.
Business communication is a specialized field and branch of general communication. It is hardly possible
to make a basic difference between the two. The process and the principles that regulate them are similar.
Their difference lies in their application to situations. General communication is concerned with many
roles at large. On the other hand business communication is concerned with business activities like
internal business activities: maintaining and improving the morale of employees, giving order to workers,
prescribing methods and procedures, announcing policies and organizational changes, and etc… as well
as external business activities: selling and buying goods and services, reporting the government and
shareholders on the financial condition of the business operations and etc…
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Our working definition of communication calls attention to the following five essential points.
1. Communication is a process
Communication refers to a series of activities to be accomplished in a sequence; it does not refer to
incidental events and transactions among people.
2. Communication is purposeful
When senders - receivers communicate the sender originally should have an objective to be checked at
the end of the communication process. Communication is not just the transfer of messages but purposeful
transfer of messages between senders and receivers. Thus it does not refer to incidental transactions
between people.
3. Communication involves people
Communication shows the degree of understanding among senders-receivers and how they relate to each
other. Therefore, it refers to communication among people only and the exchange of interpersonal
behaviors among them.
4. Communication involves shared meaning
This suggests that in order for people to communicate, they must agree on the definitions of the terms and
symbols they are using. The symbols used by the sender should be similarly interpreted by the receiver in
order to ensure equal or similar understanding between them.
5. Communication is symbolic
In communication symbols such as, letters, numbers, words, gestures, sound, etc can only represent or
approximate the ideas they are meant to communicate. In other words, symbols are not perfect
representations of our ideas. Thus we have to take care in selecting symbols that best approximate the
sender’s ideas.
Communication is vital to human existence. It is how we pass on to others our thoughts and feelings, tell
them what we want them to do, ask them to help us, share with them our knowledge and experience.
Without communication we would each live as if alone in the world.
1.2 Nature/Characteristics of Communication
As articulated by Gerald Miller, communication has three basic characteristics: dynamism, uniqueness
and transactional nature.
1) Dynamism: Communication changes continuously. Every communication event stems from a series
of past events and triggers a series of new ones.
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Communication is affected by prior attitudes, planned thoughts and people to whom the message is
addressed. It is thus a dynamic phenomenon without beginning, without end, continually responding, and
continually changing.
2) Uniqueness: Evolving naturally from the notion of dynamism is the concept of uniqueness. No two
communication events are a like because of the change in the sender, the audience, delivery, time
situation etc.
3)Transactional Nature: Communication scholars Weinberg and Wilmot mentioned that in
communication all persons are engaged in sending (encoding) and receiving (decoding) messages
simultaneously. Each person is affecting the other. Each communication transaction involves reciprocal
exchanges of feelings, meanings, ideas and responses.
1.2 SIGNIFICANCE OF COMMUNICATION FOR ORGANIZATION
In order to show the importance of communication to organization it is better to define what
organization is. An organization is a group of people associated for business, political, professional,
religious, athletic, social, or other purposes.
Its activities require human beings to interact, react- communicate. They exchange information, ideas,
plans, make decisions, rules, proposals, contracts and various agreements which all of them cannot
happen without communication. Communication is the life blood of every organization.
Whether an organization is large or small, the sharing of information among the parts of an
organization, as well as between the organization and the outside world, is the glue that binds the
organization together. As a member of an organization, be it formal or informal organization, you are
a link in the communication chain.
Whether you are a top manager or an entry level employee, you have information that others need to
perform their jobs. At the same time, others have information that is crucial to you. Communication
skills are important because it is through communication that you gain the information you need to
make successful decisions at work.
The success of an organization depends on communication skills of its employees. Researches indicate
that communication skills were rated “extremely important” relative to other kinds of abilities by the
surveyed organization. Researchers conducted on business organizations also show that “inability to
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communicate” and “poor communication skills” were the most frequently mentioned reasons for not
hiring a job applicant. From this you can see that communication affects even your personal life.
To be specific communication serves the following three purposes in personal or individual life.
i. Job Success: The two dimensions of management most often cited as the keys to individual and
organizational success are technical ability and understanding of people. Effective communication skills
to listen, speak, and write complement these two dimensions. Therefore, enhance one’s job success, a
person learns the art of human relations to effectively communicate her/his ideas, experiences, thoughts,
skills and feelings.
ii. Personal Satisfaction: Mastery on a certain area goes beyond vocational success or promotion, i.e.
personal satisfaction. Thus, communication skill can be a source of personal satisfaction, particularly in
the areas of art such as writing, painting, etc.
iii. Meeting Social and Ethical obligations
A person may be in conflict with him/herself, with other people, and/or with the community at large.
With the help of communication people continue adjusting profitably to themselves, to other people, to
the environment in which they live and work. It is a means of winning respect and confidence from other
people or from the community at large.
As you attempt to fulfill yourself in business and in the private aspect of your life, your brain enables you
to identify, classify, relate and solve issues. But in responding to your environment, you generate both
emotions and ideas. You feel as well as think. Through such experiences you continue adjusting
profitably to yourself to other people, to the environment in which you and they live, cooperate and
compete. In brief, effective communication is a key to success in personal life and in business career.
1.3 Communication in Management
Planning Organizing Staffing Direction Controlling
Communication
External environment
Customers
Supplies
Government
Community
Others
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As a student or an employee, whatever your academic classification or job title may be, you participate in
the coordination of resources and objectives. In doing, so you participate in management, the continuing
process of achieving order efficiently through intelligent decisions that govern an organization.
Simultaneously, you participate in communication, the reciprocal process of sharing information through
symbols, principally words. Communication is essential to sound management; your success as a
manager- a person who is in charge of coordinating the human and non-human resources of an
organization- greatly depends upon your ability to communicate effectively.
Communication is essential to each of the five basic functions of management. In order to plan,
organize, staff, direct and control, managers must be able to communicate with other persons- and
communicate well.
Information from others helps formulate plans.
Information provided to others defines job assignments and helps organize work.
Information on standards, progress and personal factors fulfills the directing function.
While information in the form of written and oral progress reports is a fundamental element in
controlling. Communication is a linking process that enables each of the basic functions of
management to be carried. Effective communication is therefore the “life blood” of every
organization.
We already have made the claim that communication is vital to the very existence of an organization.
To understand the validity of that claim, one must understand the role communication plays in an
organization’s life. The following figure tries to illustrate specific elements of that role.
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