Akter Ul Azim

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WHAT IS COMMUNICATION
The single biggest problem in communication is the illusion that it has taken place. George
Bernard Shaw
Communication is about more than just exchanging information. It's about understanding the
emotion and intentions behind the information. There are various components of the
communication process. They include the message, source, encoding, channel, decoding,
receiver, feedback, noise, context and shared meaning.

The communication activities involved in these process may often have many potential
dimensions that need to be considered, including, but not limited to:
Internal (within the project) and external (customer, vendors, other projects,
organizations, the public);
Formal (reports, minutes, briefings) and informal (emails, memos, ad-hoc discussions);
Vertical (up and down the organization) and horizontal (with peers)
Official (newsletters, annual report) and unofficial (off the record communications); and
Written and oral, and verbal (voice inflections) and nonverbal (body language)2
PMIs Pulse communications research finds that effective communications leads to more
successful projects, allowing organizations to become high performers (completing an average of
80 percent of projects on time, on budget and meeting original goals)3. Effective communication
is how we convey a message so that it is received and understood by someone in exactly the way
we intended.

Akter Ul Azim
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Akter Ul Azim
100991734

Following are the 7 characteristics of effective communication, originally outlined by University

of Wisconsin professor Scott M. Cutlip in his book Effective Public Relations (1953).
1. Credibility: Communication begins in a climate of belief. This climate is built by the
performance of the sender who should reflect an earnest desire to serve the receiver. The
receiver will then have high regard for the competency of the sender.
2. Context: A communications program must square with the realities of its environment.
The daily business activities must confirm, not contradict, the message.
3. Content: The message must have meaning and relevance for the receiver. Content
determines the audience and vice versa.
4. Clarity: The message must be put in simple terms. Words used must have exactly the
same meaning to the sender as they do to the receiver. Complex messages must be
distilled into simpler terms, and the farther a message must travel, the simpler it should
be.
5. Continuity and Consistency: Communication is an unending process. It requires
repetition to achieve understanding. Repetition, with variation, contributes to learning
both facts and attitudes.
6. Channels: Using established channels of communicationchannels the receiver uses and
respects. Creating new channels is difficult.
7. Capability of audience: Communication must take into account the capability of the

audience. Communications are most effective when they require the least effort on the
part of the recipient.4
References:
1.
2.
3.
4.

Page 294; A Guide to Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK Guide) - Fifth Edition.
Page 287; A Guide to Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK Guide) - Fifth Edition.
The high cost of low performance: the essential role of communications; page 2; PMIs Pulse of the
Profession in-depth report; May 2013
http://www.legendinc.com/Pages/LegendAdvertising/LGNDPages/Newsletter/SevenAdTenets.html. The
Original 7 c's as documented by Legend Inc in their Project Log - The Seven Tenets Of Communication
which is referenced to Scott M. Cutlip, Allen H. Center, Effective Public Relations, 4th Edition, copyright
1971, pp. 260-261. Prentice-Hall, Inc. Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey.

Akter Ul Azim
100991734