“Communication” is a process — an activity that serves to connect senders and receivers of messages through space and time. Although human beings tend to be interested primarily in the study of human communication, the process is present in all living things and, it can be argued, in all things. From this we may conclude that communication is a fundamental, universal process.
How often have you heard statements such as these?
- If you want to be promoted, you’ll have to improve your communication skills.
- One of the strengths of our relationship over the years has been that we communicate so well - in fact, usually I know what she’s thinking before she tells me!
- The lightening storm knocked out our communication systems, and since then we haven’t handled a single customer call.
- He’s really smart, and he knows his stuff, but as a teacher he just doesn’t communicate it very well.
- They say they built the product to meet our specifications, but it’s not what we asked for - I think we have a communication problem here.
The word “communicate” derives from the word “common” - to share, exchange, send along, transmit, talk, gesture, write, put in use, relate. So an investigation of this subject might begin with the question: What do all studies of communication have in common? What are the shared concepts that make the study of “communication” different from the study of subjects such as “thought” or “literature” or “life?” When someone says, “this is a communication problem,” what does that mean?
When a baby sees his mother’s face for the first time, communication happens. When someone steps out onto a beach in Goa and water touches his feet communication happens. When the Indian parliament passes a new bill to curb monopolies in the market and the President signs, communication happens.
When a computer in Delhi calls up a computer in Tokyo and transmits a message, communication happens.
Communication is a general phenomenon. It occurs in nature, wherever life exists. Whether we recognize it or not, we have no choice but to communicate. If we try to avoid communicating by not replying to messages, we are nevertheless sending a message, but it may not be the one we want or intend. When we don’t say yes, we may be saying no by default – and vice versa. The only choice we can make about communication is whether we are going to attempt to communicate effectively.
What do we mean by communicating effectively?
The object of communication is to convey thoughts/ intentions/emotions/ facts/ideas of one person or group to the others. When the message sent is received and understood by the receiver in the same sense , as the sender wants to convey ,effective communication takes place. When the receiver misunderstands a message we consider it a distortion in communication. Throughout our study, we would try to improve our communication skills so that we can make ourselves better understood in our communications.
The fact is that we spend so much of our time communicating; we tend to assume that we are experts. Surveys indicate that when business professionals are asked to rate their communication skills, virtually everyone overestimates his or her abilities as a communicator. There is a natural tendency to blame the other person for the problems in understanding or making ourselves understood. The better option is to improve one’s own communication. One has to be always on a look to identify his weak points as a communicator and strive to overcome them. This needs a thorough understanding of meaning and process of communication.
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