Communication

Communication is neither transmission of message nor the message itself. It is the mutual exchange of understanding, or shared meaning among a group of people. Originating with the sender they will select an appropriate channel for their message. The sender must encode the message or information being conveyed into a form that is appropriate to the communication channel, and the receiver or receivers. Once the encoded message is received the receiver then decodes the message to understand its meaning and significance. The receiver then sends feedback regarding their understanding and based on this feedback, the original sender will know if they have successfully communicated the shared meaning with the receiver. Because of the nature of communication we see that the sender can become the receiver and that communication operates in a cyclical way instead of a straight line.

This makes it clear that whatever kind of communication that is being used, a sender must take into consideration the receiver or audience to their massage. Example if a speaker is asked to speak at a function were they become aware that 80% of the audience cannot read and have limited education, the speaker must consider using simple terms and words to speak with the audience if they are to understand the message. It would make no sense for the speaker to use words that only individuals with a university level education will understand as this would become a barrier to communication.

One must also consider that there are many types of communication. Oral communication can be a face to face conversation or a conversation over a telephone. Written communication for example can be a printed memo from the administration of an organization to its employees. Nonverbal communication which entails body poster, eye movements or hand gestures any kind of communication that does not use word.  It is evident that communications can take many forms however the purpose is the same among all forms. This is to share information understandings and shared meaning among people