The Field of Communication

LESSON 3: The Field of Communication

I. Understanding, Defining and Meaning of Communication:

Many communication experts have attempted to define Communication.

Communication is the process of sending and receiving ideas by means of verbal symbols.

In this sense communication is a process through which human beings interact.


Communication can also be defined as the entire process through which the sender and receiver exchange message in form of information, experience, ideas, facts, beliefs, and attitudes.

In other words, communication is the process of sending, receiving, and interpreting messages through which we relate to each other and to our larger world as well.

ELEMENTS OF COMMUNICATION

From the definition of Communication, we can see clearly that communication occurs when somebody says something to someone for a purpose.

There are several important elements of communication.

1. Sender (Source): this is the person from which the communication starts.

2. Message: This is the information or something the sender intends to send.

3. Receiver: This is the person who receives the information( message)

4. Stimulus: Something which propels communication. It is closely associated to the Source.

5. Medium: this refers to the form by which the source transfer his message to the receiver.
There are three media available to the source are oral, written and non verbal media.
Oral: when the source decides to speak out his mind
Written: when the source decides to put it in black and white
Non Verbal: the source decides to use gestures or body language.

6. The channel is another important element of communication. Channel is different from Medium. The medium is the form that the source used to put the message across while Channel is the actual conveyor of the message. For example, channel can be face to face, radio, television, telephone etc for oral communication, Letter, memorandum, report, newspaper, magazine etc for written communication while drawing, carvings, painting, sculpture etc for non Verbal Communication.

7. Feedback: This is the receiver's response to the sender's message. Without feedback, communication is incomplete. Feedback determines the success or failure of the communication between the sender and receiver.

8. Noise: This is also another element of communication because it can affect the success of communication. Noise refers to all distractions, which may obstruct any stage of the communication process.
There are three types of noise:
Physical noise: any natural of event which can be seen, heard or touched but has nothing to do with thought or mind. E.g radio, television sound or any impairment of hearing, vision or speech.
Psychological noise: this is traceable to the expression of mind and may include emotional outburst, poor mental attitude or fatigue
Linguistic noise: This concerns the inability to use or understand the language of communication effectively.
e.g Semantic noise: wrong choice of words, misinterpretation of words and unfamiliarity of words.
Grammatical noise: This may be as a result of syntax error or wrong use of grammar.
Phonological noise: This may occur as a result of poor pronunciation, poor intonation or poor stress.

9. Signal: This is the last element of communication. this refers to symbols and codes employed by those involved in communication. If the source understands the language of communication well, he will be able to encode the message perfectly. A thorough understanding of the language will also enable the receiver to decode the message accurately

How Do You Deal With Conflict?

How Do You Deal With Conflict?

How Do You Deal With Conflict?

A good communicator knows how to deal with conflict. His goal is not to do away with conflict but to handle it in such a way that it brings about growth and constructive solutions. We all have our own ways of dealing with conflict, our own styles of handling difficult situations. How do you manage conflict to minimize risks and maximize benefits? How can you handle conflict in a way that increases your growth potential? The following lists are different ways we deal with conflict in a small group:

The Avoider: Some people strive for neutrality because they are uncomfortable with anger in any form. Sometimes their avoidance creates conflict or makes a heated situation worse. Avoidance can be of benefit to you if you are not part of the problem or part of the solution. It is not always your responsibility to "fix" every conflict that arises in your home or workplace.

The Accommodator: The Accommodator tries to make everyone happy. This person's objective is superficial harmony, not necessarily an equitable resolution of the conflict. Accommodation is preferred when the issues are minor or when the relationship would be irreparably damaged because tempers are too hot. Here the solution is only temporary.

The Compromiser: The Compromiser offers a solution which, at first glance, appears to resolve conflict. However, both sides are left unsatisfied because both give up something they
wanted. Compromise works best when time is short and both parties benefit. But it's a less than perfect situation because everyone loses something.

The Competitor: For the Competitor, conflict is a game. Power gets this person's attention. The competitive approach is best when all parties recognize the power relationship between themselves and know that action is imperative. Like the others, this is merely a temporary answer. This conflict returns, perhaps in a more powerful form.

The Negotiator: This person seeks consensus and works tirelessly to get it. Negotiation works best when all parties have problem-solving skills. Negotiators work to find methods satisfactory to both parties while keeping goals and values intact. This is the best remedy for communication breakdown.

The first goal in resolving conflict is to deal constructively with the emotions involved. Keep in mind that you should treat the other person with respect, listen until you "experience the other side," and to state your views, needs and feelings. Though talking may trigger conflict, it is also the only means of resolving it.

Talking must focus on defining the problem by saying, "I hear..." looking for agreement by saying, "I agree ..."; understanding feelings "I understand ..."; and stating views calmly. "I think..." Some people plunge head first into conflict without determining if their timing is right to resolve the situation. Some forget to set the terms for the confrontations. Others jump into a conflict without knowing if the other person consents to the terms.

Using the method described above encourages the genuine and direct expression of feelings by one person at a time. When feelings are expressed, heard and acknowledged, they are transient. When they are not expressed, heard or acknowledged, they fester. This approach can rapidly defuse emotions so differences can be discussed more productively.

Learn How To Talk To Your Kids About Failure

Learn How To Talk To Your Kids About Failure

Learn How To Talk To Your Kids About Failure

When your teens talk about their failures and mistakes in everyday activities, listen for a tendency to blame others or to give up too quickly. If your children aren't doing well in school, do they blame the teacher or say, "What's the use"? If their school project turns out awful, do they blame the materials or give up in anger?

If they lose the game, do they blame their teammates or decide they're just no good? If your kids are reacting like this, they may believe that failing at one or two things makes them a total failure.

Perfectionists, especially, feel that their self-worth depends on external factors, such as being successful at everything do. These teens need to learn about the positive side of failure.
Find Opportunities To Talk

Mistakes are a positive part of everyone's daily life, so it's not difficult to find opportunities to talk about this subject with your child. When your teen brings home a school paper with a mistake, for example, don't focus on the grade alone; talk about the error. "Making mistakes is one of the ways we learn things.

So let's see what you can learn from this mistake." Then help your child find me correct answer. If your child tries to put together a project and it falls apart it's finished, encourage him or her to use this event constructively. Ask, "Why do you think it fell apart?" "What can you do differently the next time?" "Let's see you give it another try."
Talk About Your Own Failures

You can encourage your kids to risk failure by talking about your own experience with risk taking and by admitting your mistakes and failures. You might talk to kids about the time you ran for class president and lost, or tried out for a team and didn't make it, or tried to build a model airplane by yourself but found that you needed help. These admissions give teen permission to fail also.
Help Your Children Practice Failure

Everyone needs accept that no one can be the best at everything, that no one can win all the time, and that it's possible to enjoy a game even when you don't win. In short, it's human to fail and make mistakes, this imperfection does not diminish our self-worth or reduce our chances of succeeding in the future.

One way to teach this lesson is to arrange situations in which you occasionally let your teens fail. If you play card or board games, for example, don't always let your kids win. If you play tennis or basketball, don't consistently give them the advantage. Let them experience the disappointment of losing in a protected environment.

Then encourage them to try again. It's these little lessons that give our children the confidence and perseverance they'll need to master difficult tasks and pursue challenging goals in their lives.

2 Steps To Becoming A Better Listener

2 Steps To Becoming A Better Listener

2 Steps To Becoming A Better Listener

Step 1: You can become a better listener by first deciding to take listening seriously! The first step to improvement is always self-awareness. Analyze your shortcomings as a listener and commit yourself to overcoming them.

Good listeners are not born that way. They have worked at learning how to listen effectively.

Good listening does not go hand in hand with intelligence, education, or social standing. Like any other skill, it comes from practice and self-discipline.

You should begin to think of listening as an active process. So many aspects of modern life encourage us to listen passively. We "listen" to the radio while studying or "listen" to the television while moving about from room to room.

This type of passive listening is a habit - but so is active listening. We can learn to identify those situations in which active listening is important. If you work seriously at becoming a more efficient listener, you will reap the rewards in your schoolwork, in your personal and family relations, and in your career.

Step 2: Learn to resist distractions. In an ideal world, we could eliminate all physical and mental distractions. In the real world, however, this is not possible. Because we think so much faster than a speaker can talk, it's easy to let our attention wander while we listen.

Sometimes it's very easy - when the room is too hot, when construction machinery is operating right outside the window, when the speaker is tedious. But our attention can stray even in the best of circumstances - if for no other reason than a failure to stay alert and make ourselves concentrate.

Whenever you find this happening, make a conscious effort to pull your mind back to what the speaker is saying. Then force it to stay there. One way to do this is to think a little ahead of the speaker - try to anticipate what will come next. This is not the same as jumping to conclusions.

When you jump to conclusions, you put words into the speaker's mouth and don't actually listen to what is said. In this case you will listen - and measure what the speaker says against what you had anticipated.

Another way to keep your mind on a speech is to review mentally what the speaker has already said and make sure you understand it. Yet another is to listen between the lines and assess what a speaker implies verbally or says nonverbally with body language.

Communication Styles: Which One Are You?

Communication Styles: Which One Are You?

Communication Styles: Which One Are You?

One element underlying everyone's personality is which of the senses they favor. Does someone revel most in what they see, hear or touch? (The senses of smell and taste are usually peripheral, important only in situations such as eating or love-making.)

Most humans do have a slight preference for one of these, but some people have an extremely distinct liking for one sense or the other, which informs their personality and can frequently show through visibly in their body language.

1. Lookers: Lookers tend to have good posture but tense shoulders. They're often thin, with tight lips. Obviously they'll choose clothes and furniture for visual impact - they feel good inside when they see attractive things. Not only this, but they also think mainly in pictures, which causes horizontal brow-furrowing, so they may have forehead wrinkles on an otherwise unlined face.

2. Listeners: Listeners think sound is important - words as well as noises. Their usual posture is with head slightly down and to one side, as if listening, or with one hand up to their face or ear - the 'telephone posture.' When thinking something through, you'll often see their lips move, as if talking to themselves.

They love rhythm, and may beat out mental riffs on tables, on chair arms or in the air. They'll have the car stereo set to turn on when they start the ignition.

3. Touchers: Touchers - who are typically very emotional people - are often rounded in shape. They may not actually be plump, but they tend to lean in, and have slightly rounded shoulders and full lips. They breathe deeply, move in a rather loose, relaxed manner and often have deep voices. Their style is based on how things feel rather than look, so they will choose for comfort and softness rather than fashion.

There are pros and cons to each sensory preference. Having a tendency toward one rather than another does not put a person at a disadvantage in life, though it may mean that they are more suited to some tasks than others.

Never, for example, ask a listener to tell you what to wear to a party, while fashion advice from a looker will ensure that you look superb - but won't guarantee that you will feel comfortable. Equally, if you spot that your interior decorator is a toucher, you may want to hire someone else!

Check to see if you yourself have a strong preference for one sense. If you have, prepare for potential problems when you meet someone with a strong preference for another.

If you're a looker and a friend is a listener, drawing him a picture of your new apartment will be useless; tell him about it instead. If he, in return, tries to describe his new girlfriend, you may need him to show you a picture before you can really be enthusiastic about the relationship.

Even more subtly, lookers, listeners and touchers differ in their basic communication styles. A looker will, literally, need to look a lot while talking - which may make a listener feel invaded; meanwhile, a listener, who tends to look away while speaking, may make a looker feel unappreciated.

And if, during a squabble, your toucher friend moves closer to get reassurance, he isn't invading your space, just following his sensory preference; if you hug him, he'll find it easier to feel good again.