Dr Saad Rehman

Communication is a process whereby information is enclosed in a package and is channeled and imparted by a sender to a receiver via some medium. The receiver then decodes the message and gives the sender a feedback. All forms of communication require a sender, a message, and an intended recipient, however the receiver need not be present or aware of the sender's intent to communicate at the time of communication in order for the act of communication to occur. Communication requires that all parties have an area of communicative commonality. There are auditory means, such as speech, song, and tone of voice, and there are nonverbal means, such as body language, sign language, paralanguage, touch, eye contact, through media, i.e., pictures, graphics and sound, and writing.

Context Sender Channel Message Receiver Feedback

Every message, whether oral or written, begins with context. Context is a broad field that includes country, culture, organization and external and internal stimuli. Every country, every culture and every company or organization has its own conventions for processing and communicating information.

Sender is the person who communicates the idea, information, material, etc. He acts in the capacity of speaker, writer, or encoder.

The message may be in the form of order, opinion, advice, suggestion, instruction, question answer or material. It is necessary and important that idea or message received be identical to the idea or message sent. It is possible only when both communicators sender and receiver are skillful in communication and its language.

Medium of communication includes letters report telegrams fax mailgrams cables telefax postals telephones charts pictures or any other mechanical device. Medium may be a person as a postman. It may be a device as a telephone. It may also be an organization as a post office or news agency.

The receiver is the decoder. He when receives decodes or interprets the message. Since perfect communication is not possible, there is deviation between the idea sent and the idea received or interpreted. If the receiver is skillful in communication then the deviation will be small.

Feedback can be an oral or a written message, an action or simply silence.

Business is a legal activity that is undertaken by profit and has risk of loss

Legal Profit Risk of loss

communication used to promote a product, service, or organization; relay information within the business; or deal with legal and similar issues. It is also a means of relaying between a supply chain, for example the consumer and manufacturer.

Business Communication is known simply as "Communications." It encompasses a variety of topics, including Marketing, Branding, Customer relations, Consumer behaviour, Advertising, Public relations, Corporate communication, Community engagement, Research & Measurement, Reputation management, Interpersonal communication, Employee engagement, Online communication, andEvent management. It is closely related to the fields of professional communication and technical communication.

In business, the term communications encompasses various channels of communication, including the Internet, Print (Publications), Radio, Television, Ambient media, Outdoor, and Word of mouth.

The basis of communication is the interaction between people.  Verbal communication is one way for people to communicate face-to-face.  Some of the key components of verbal communication are sound, words, speaking, and language. 

At birth, most people have vocal cords, which produce sounds.  As a child grows it learns how to form these sounds into words.  Some words may be imitative of natural sounds, but others may come from expressions of emotion, such as laughter or crying.  Words alone have no meaning.  Only people can put meaning into words.  As meaning is assigned to words, language develops, which leads to the development of speaking.

The actual origin of language is subject to considerable speculation.  Some theorists believe it is an outgrowth of group activities such as working together or dancing.  Others believe that language developed from basic sounds and gestures.

Over 3,000 languages and major dialects are spoken in the world today.  The development of languages reflects class, gender, profession, age group, and other social factors.  The huge variety of languages usually creates difficulties between different languages, but even within a single language there can be many problems in understanding.

Through speaking we try to eliminate this misunderstanding, but sometimes this is a very hard thing to do.  Just as we assume that our messages are clearly received, so we assume that because something is important to us, it is important to others.  As time has proven this is not at all true.  Many problems can arise is speaking and the only way to solve these problems is through experience.

Speaking can be looked at in two major areas: interpersonal and public speaking.  Since the majority of speaking is an interpersonal process, to communicate effectively we must not simply clean up our language, but learn to relate to people.

In interpersonal speaking, etiquette is very important.  To be an effective communicator one must speak in a manner that is not offending to the receiver.  Etiquette also plays an important role in an area that has developed in most all business settings: hierarchical communication.   In business today, hierarchical communication is of utmost importance to all members involved.

The other major area of speaking is public speaking.  From the origin of time, it has been obvious that some people are just better public speakers than others.  Because of this, today a good speaker can earn a living by speaking to people in a public setting.  Some of the major areas of public speaking are speaking to persuade, speaking to inform, and speaking to inspire or motivate.

Written Communication Electronic Communication Spoken Communication Debate Discussion Dialogue

Notes are brief communications of important information in business and personal relationships. They may contain reminders, requests or suggestions. Sometimes they are left on small squares of paper for another member of the office or household to see.

Letters are longer than notes and may cover several topics. The topic of a letter could be a solicitation, complaint, offer or request. A letter can be informative or inspirational, business or personal. Personal letters usually are written from one person to another person or group. Letters of famous or influential people often become important historical, political or religious documents.

An email is a kind of note or letter that is sent electronically through the Internet. It is a speedy form of verbal communication that contains its own special set of rules. Using all capital letters can be interpreted as screaming at the person receiving the email, which can lead to misunderstandings and problems in the workplace.

Text messaging, or texting, is another modern technological form of verbal communication. Spelling rules are often set aside, allowing forms like "u" instead of "you" and "2" instead of "too" or "to." Text messages are very short and are communicated through cell phones and other mobile electronic devices.

Speeches are made by political candidates and other public figures to persuade an audience to adopt their points of view or take particular courses of action. Speeches may be delivered with the use of notes, teleprompters or cue cards--thus mixing written and oral verbal communication. 

Sermons are a type of speech that occurs in religious services. Religious leaders use sermons to instruct their congregations regarding their lives and social issues. 

Spoken communication occurs most basically in any interpersonal conversation, whether face-to-face or over the telephone.

Debate is what we see most of in conventional conversation: ‘I put up my point of view, you put up yours - and we try to knock each other out’. This is an inappropriate style if what you want is meaningful interaction. Constructive communication is productive dialogue and skillful discussions where new insights can emerge through healthy give and take.

Discussion focuses on decisions and actions. I may still want to see my view prevail, but there’s some concession to listen to other’s viewpoints, exchange facts and opinions and perhaps even alter my position as a result. In terms of our conversational continuum, polite discussion is different to skillful discussion. Polite discussion is really a veiled version of debate. It’s ‘polite’ only insofar as conflict, controversy and ‘hard-to-handle’ issues are kept concealed under the surface. Polite discussion is actually anything but. It’s riddled with hidden agendas, ‘corridor talk’, secret lobbying, dissembling, manipulation, factionalism and thinly veiled competition.

Dialogue is designed to promote a free-flowing interchange of ideas and create an open, equal and collaborative conversational climate. In dialogue: ◦ The ‘point’ of the conversation is to share

perspectives and understandings;◦ People talk together to find meanings and

develop new ideas and concepts - feeding off each other’s contributions;

◦ The purpose is to go past the understanding of individual team members - to explore issues creatively from many points of view.

Verbal communication is at the core of what most of us do - whether you’re building a business, leading change, dealing with difficult situations, revitalising a team, coping constructively with complaints or creating an exceptional customer service climate.

The essential actions taken by managers and staff happen almost entirely through verbal communication. It sets the emotional tone and builds relationships that ultimately determine the performance culture of the workplace.

If verbal communication is not effective, coordination breaks down, relationships suffer, mistakes multiply and productivity plummets.

Building verbal communication skills is a basic business necessity considering the essence of a manager’s work is mostly verbal. There are capabilities that can assist a manager to diagnose:

◦ What happens in my communication with others?◦ What kinds of conversations do I have?◦ How can I have more frank, open interchanges?◦ What new verbal communication skills do I need?

Observation Connecting Self-Awareness Mental Modeling Balancing

Accurately observing what’s going on in your verbal communication with others, to enhance your ability to use different tools and strategies to improve outcomes.

Relationship-building to help you understand and connect with others, maintain constructive, open and creative relationships and resolve conflict, complaints and differences of opinion.

Knowing your perceptions, beliefs, triggers and behaviours, and being aware of how you apply this self-knowledge in terms of the impact your thoughts, feelings and behaviours have on others, and whether they achieve good outcomes?

How alert you are to your own beliefs and world views and how they affect your conversations. It also means being able to find out about other’s mental models and ‘reframing’ or reinventing when you find they no longer serve you very well.

Involves both saying what you have to say (ie. stating your position clearly) and being equally able to really listen openly to what others are saying – and inviting them to say it. Balancing can help create more constructive conversational climates, reduce defensiveness and increase openness and creativity.