Unit-I

 Communication Fundamentals: Steps in

Communication Process, Communication
Networks, Informal Communication,
Miscommunication, Effectiveness in Managerial
Communication, Vocabulary in Practice –Word
Based Activities, Figures of Speech.
Meaning of Communication
 Communication is derived from a Latin word
communis which means “to share”.
 Communication means sharing of ideas, concept,
messages and words expressed through a language
which is easily comprehensible to the listener.
 Communication is an ongoing process which
comprises transmission and reception of messages.
 Communication is a meaningful exchange in which
ideas and concepts are transferred.
Objectives of communication

 Information
 Advice
 Order
 Suggestion
 Persuasion
 Education
 Warning
 Raising morale
 Motivation
Elements of Communication

1. Sender
2.Message
3. Medium
4.Reciever
5.Feedback
Communication Process
The communication process
 The communication process includes the
transmission of the sender’s idea to the receiver
and the receiver’s feedback or response to the
sender.
 The sender
 Has an idea
 Encodes the idea, formulates the message
 Selects an appropriate channel, sends the message
 The Receiver
 Gets the message
 Decodes the message
 Sends the feedback
A) Verbal

 Written communication:
Merits:
 It is accurate and precise
 It can be repeatedly referred to
 It is a permanent record
 It is a legal document
 It facilities the assignation of responsibilities
 It has a wide access
 It is suitable to transmit complex information and statistical data
 It is formal and authoritative
Demerits:
 It is time consuming
 It may be costly
 Quick clarification not possible
 It is a literate skill
 It runs the risk of leaking out
Conti..
 Oral communication
 Merits:
 Saves time
 Saves money
 More forceful
 Conveys shades of meaning
 Immediate feedback
 Immediate clarification
 Can be informal, good for interpersonal relationships
 More effective group
 Demerits:
 Not possible for the distant people in the absence of mechanical devices
 Unsuitable for lengthy messages
 Messages cannot be retained for long
 No legal validity
 Greater chances of misunderstanding
 Not easy to fix responsibility in case of misunderstanding

B) Non Verbal
Characteristics of Non verbal communication:
 Often a spontaneous process
 Verbal and non verbal clues coexists
 Body posture, gestures and dress suggestive of
social status and educational level
Types of non verbal communication:

 Sign language
 Kinesis -
 Paralanguage
 Artifactual communication
 Proxemics
 Chronemics
 Listening
 Silence
Types of Organisational Communication

 Formal Communication: Formal

communication is a system of passing messages
and information between positions within an
organization through officially designated
channels.
 Informal communication: This follows no set
lines, no definite rules and spreads in any direction,
anywhere and spreads fast. It is also called as
grapevine.
Formal Communication
 It is classified into:
 Downward communication
 Upward communication
 Horizontal communication
 Diagonal communication
Downward communication
 The communication flows from superiors to
subordinates. Main objectives of downward
communication are:
 To give specific directives about the job being
entrusted to a subordinate
 To give the subordinates information about the
rationale of their job so that they understand the
significance of their job in relation to the
organizational goals.
 To coordinate the functioning of different
departments
 To apprise the subordinates of their performance
 Limitations of Downward communication:
 Under communication or over communication
 Delay
 Loss of information
 Distortion
 Filtering
 Hardly any feedback
 Resentment by subordinate staff
 Upward communication: Moves from subordinate
staff to the superiors.
 Importance of upward communication:
 Providing feedback to the superiors
 Reporting job progress
 Seeking the superiors’ intervention for problem solving
 Releasing the pent-up emotions by the subordinate staff
 Providing the superiors with useful suggestions
 Making the introduction of new schemes easier
 Promoting harmony
 Limitations of upward communication:
 Awe of authority
 Fear of adverse reaction
 Great possibility of distortion and filtering
 Bypassed superiors feel insulted
 Information overload at the higher levels if the
entire information is allowed to move upwards
 Horizontal communication: Communication
between the departments or people on the same
level in the managerial hierarchy of an organization
is termed as horizontal communication.
 It is carried through:
 Face to face discussion
 Telephonic talk
 Periodical meetings
 Letters, memos, e-mails, reports
 Limitations of horizontal communication:
 Lack of authoritativeness
 Interpersonal rivalries
 Interdepartmental rivalries
 Diagonal communication: Refers to
communication between two individuals at
different levels belonging to different
departments.
 Eg: If the sales manager directly talks to the
production supervisor.
 Advantages of diagonal communication:
 Expediting of work
 Quick feedback
 Less distortion and dilution
 Better coordination
 Faster problem solving
Informal communication
 This follows no set lines, no definite rules and spreads
in any direction, anywhere and spreads fast. It is also
called as grapevine.

 Importance of Grapevine:
 Emotional relief
 Harmony and cohesiveness in the organization
 Supplement to other channels
 A fast channel
 Provides feedback

 Demerits:
 Distortion of information
 May transmit incomplete information
Types of Grapevine
Types of Grapevine

 It is of four types:
 Single strand: Flows in a chain
 Gossip: One person tells everybody else
 Probability: Information may move from
anybody to anybody
 Cluster: moves through selected groups
Barriers to communication

1. Wrong choice of medium

2. Physical barrier
 Noise
 Time and distance
 Poor timings

3. Semantic barriers
 Interpretation of words
 Bypassed instructions
 Denotations and connotations

4. Different comprehensions of reality

 Abstracting
 Slanting
 Inferring
5. Socio-psychological barriers including cultural
barriers
 Attitudes and opinions
 Emotions
 Cultural diversity
 Closed mind
 Frame of reference
 Status-consciousness
 The source of communication
 Inattentiveness
 Conflicting goals
 Faulty transmission
 Poor retention
 Unsolicited communication
Miscommunication
Causes for miscommunication
 Organizational structure
 Difference in status
 Lack of trust
 Closed communication climate
 Incorrect choice of medium
 Information overload
 Message complexity
 Message competition
 Unethical communication
 Physical distractions
Effectiveness in managerial
communication
 Appropriate communication style
 Audience centered approach
 Understanding of Intercultural
communication
 Commitment to ethical communication
 Proficiency in communication technology
 Control over the flow of communication
 Reducing the number of messages
Figure of speech

 A figure of speech or rhetorical figure

is figurative language in the form of a
single word or phrase. It can be a special
repetition, arrangement or omission of words
with literal meaning, or a phrase with a
specialized meaning not based on the literal
meaning of the words.

 Figures of speech often provide emphasis,

freshness of expression, or clarity.
Alliteration

 This is a very common figure of speech that

involves using words that begin with the same
sound.
 Example:
 “Sally sells sea shells by the seashore”
 It is often used in advertising slogans to create
something catchy that more people will remember.
Anaphora

 This figure of speech uses a specific clause at the

beginning of each sentence or point to make a
statement.
 Example:
 “Good night and good luck”
 "Mad world! Mad kings! Mad composition!"
from King John, II, I by William Shakespeare.
 The more it is used, the more of an emotional
effect is can evoke among those who are
listening.
Assonance

 This is a figure of speech that focuses on the vowel

sounds in a phrase, repeating them over and over to
great effect. Identity or similarity in sound between
internal vowels in neighboring words.
 Examples:
 “Men sell the wedding bells.”
Hyperbole

 This figure of speech makes things seem much

bigger than they really were by using grandiose
depictions of everyday things. Hyperbole is often
seen as an exaggeration that adds a bit of humor to
a story.
 Example:
 It was as big as a mountain!
 It was faster than a cheetah!
 It was dumber than a rock!”
Irony

 This figure of speech tries to use a word in a literal

sense that debunks what has just been said. It is
often used to poke fun at a situation that everyone
else sees as a very serious matter.
 Example:
 “Gentlemen, you can’t fight in here! This is the
War Room!”
 Simple phrases, usually in the form of similes,
with obvious incongruities ie: clear as mud,
smooth as sandpaper, friendly as a coiled
rattlesnake
Metaphor

 The use of metaphor compares two things that are

not alike and finds something about them to make
them alike. An implied comparison between two
unlike things that actually have something
important in common.
 Example:
 “My heart is a lonely hunter that hunts on a
lonely hill”
Simile

 In this figure of speech, two things are compared

that are not really the same, but are used to make a
point about each other. This is often used to make
an emotional point about something.
 Example:
 “Life is like a box of chocolates; you never know
what you’re going to get”
 The difference between simile and metaphor is
that you can obviously see words "like" in the
sentence.
Metonymy

 In this figure of speech, one word that has a very

similar meaning can be used for another.
 Examples:
 “crown” for “royalty” or “lab coats” for
“scientists”
 In some ways it can be seen as a nickname for
something else.
 “The White House said” doesn’t actually mean
the White House said it (a house can’t speak!) but
that the President said it.
Onomatopoeia

 This is the use of a word that actually sounds like

what it means.
 Examples:
 “hiss” or “ding-dong” or “fizz.”
 These words are meant to describe something that
actually sounds very much like the word itself.
This is a trick often used in advertising to help
convey what something is really like.
Paradox

 This figure of speech completely contradicts itself

in the same sentence.
 Examples:
 War is peace.
 Ignorance is strength.
 Freedom is slavery.
 Though we know these things aren’t true, they
present an interesting paradox that makes a person
think seriously about what they have just read or
heard.
Personification

 This is a way of giving an inanimate object the

qualities of a living thing.
 Examples:
 “The tree quaked with fear as the wind
approached”
 “The sun smiled down on her” is another.
 This can sometimes be used to invoke an emotional
response to something by making it more
personable, friendly and relatable.
Pun

 This play on words uses different senses of the

word, or different sounds that make up the word, to
create something fun and interesting.
 Examples:
 A bicycle can't stand on its own because it is two-
tired
 "You can tune a guitar, but you can't tuna fish
 Sometimes puns are so subtle that they can be
tough to pick up unless you are really listening
for them.
Synecdoche

 This is a figure of speech in which one thing is

meant to represent the whole.
 Examples :
 “ABCs” for alphabet,
 “new set of wheels” for car,
 “9/11” to demonstrate the whole of the tragedy
that happened in the United States on September
11, 2001.
 This is often used in journalism as a type of
shorthand.
Understatement

 This is a situation in which the thing discussed is

made to seem much less important than it really is.
 Example:
 “I have to have this operation. It isn’t very
serious. I have this tiny tumor on the brain.”
 “It rained a bit more than usual” while describing
an area being flooded after heavy rainfall.
 “It was O.K.” is an understatement if someone
who got the highest score in a test said this when
asked about his result.
 “It is a bit cold today,” when the temperature is 5
degrees below freezing.
 Understatement can often be used to comedic
Antithesis

 This is a contradiction that pits two ideas against

each other in a balanced way.
 Example:
 "Man proposes, God disposes."
 "Love is an ideal thing, marriage a real thing."
 "That's one small step for man, one giant leap for
mankind."
 "To err is human; to forgive divine."
 "Give every man thy ear, but few thy voice."
 "Many are called, but few are chosen."

 This is often used to indicate just how something
can be more than one thing at the same time.
Euphemism

 Words that are used to soften the message are often

considered euphemisms.
 Example:
 “Passed away” is often used in place of “died” or
“killed.”
 A “misunderstanding” might be used in place of
“fight” or “argument.”
 “wardrobe malfunction,” which is a fancy way of
saying “your clothes fell off.”
Oxymoron

 This puts two words together that seem to

contradict each other.
 Example:
 open secret
 larger half
 clearly confused
 act naturally
 found missing
 seriously funny
 living dead