COMMUNICATION SKILLS-II (NOTES)
COMMUNICATION SKILLS-II
Communication
Communication is simply the act of transferring information from one place, person or group to another. Every communication involves (at least) one sender, a message and a recipient. This may sound simple, but communication is actually a very complex subject.
The transmission of the message from sender to recipient can
be affected by a huge range of things. These include our emotions, the cultural
situation, the medium used to communicate, and even our location.
7 Major Elements of Communication Process
(1) sender
(2) ideas
(3) encoding
(4) communication channel
(5) receiver
(6) decoding and
(7) feedback.
Communication may be defined as a process concerning
exchange of facts or ideas between persons holding different positions in an
organisation to achieve mutual harmony. The communication process is dynamic in
nature rather than a static phenomenon.
Communication process as such must be considered a
continuous and dynamic inter-action, both affecting and being affected by many
variables.
(1) Sender: The person who intends to convey the message with the intention of passing information and ideas to others is known as sender or communicator.
(2) Ideas: This is the subject matter of the communication. This may be an opinion, attitude, feelings, views, orders, or suggestions.
(3) Encoding: Since the subject matter of communication is theoretical and intangible, its further passing requires use of certain symbols such as words, actions or pictures etc. Conversion of subject matter into these symbols is the process of encoding.
(4) Communication Channel: The person who is interested in communicating has to choose the channel for sending the required information, ideas etc. This information is transmitted to the receiver through certain channels which may be either formal or informal.
(5) Receiver: Receiver is the person who receives the message or for whom the message is meant for. It is the receiver who tries to understand the message in the best possible manner in achieving the desired objectives.
(6) Decoding: The person who receives the message or symbol from the communicator tries to convert the same in such a way so that he may extract its meaning to his complete understanding.
(7) Feedback: Feedback is the process of ensuring that the receiver has received the message and understood in the same sense as sender meant it.
There are four types of communication: verbal, nonverbal,
written and visual. While many situations use one singular type of
communication, you may find that some communications involve a blend of several
different types at once. For example, sending an email involves only using
written communication, but giving a presentation can involve all four types of
communication.
- Verbal communication
- Nonverbal communication
- Written communication
- Visual communication
1. Verbal communication
Verbal communication is the most common type of
communication. It involves the use of spoken words or sign language to share information.
Verbal communication can either happen face to face or through other channels,
such as mobile phone, radio and video conferencing. Thus, if your job involves
conducting business meetings, giving presentations and making phone calls, your
employer would expect you to have good verbal communication skills.
2. Nonverbal communication
Nonverbal communication involves passive communication
through the use of gestures, tone of voice, body language and facial
expressions to share your thoughts and feelings. You can even communicate
non-verbally by the way you dress. Nonverbal communication often supports or
adds to verbal communication. For example, the tone of your voice and your
posture can reveal your mood or emotions to those around you.
Types of Non-Verbal communication
Kinesics : The word kinesics comes from the root word kinesis, which means “movement,” and refers to the study of hand, arm, body, and face movements. Specifically, this section will outline the use of gestures, head movements and posture, eye contact, and facial expressions as nonverbal communication.
- Gestures
- Head Movements and Posture
- Eye Contact
- Facial Expressions
Haptics : Think of how touch has the power to comfort someone in moment of sorrow when words alone cannot. This positive power of touch is countered by the potential for touch to be threatening because of its connection to sex and violence. To learn about the power of touch, we turn to haptics, which refers to the study of communication by touch.
Vocalics : We learned earlier that paralanguage refers to the vocalized but nonverbal parts of a message. Vocalics is the study of paralanguage, which includes the vocal qualities that go along with verbal messages, such as pitch, volume, rate, vocal quality, and verbal fillers (Andersen, 1999).
Proxemics : Proxemics refers to the study of how space and distance influence communication. We only need look at the ways in which space shows up in common metaphors to see that space, communication, and relationships are closely related. For example, when we are content with and attracted to someone, we say we are “close” to him or her. When we lose connection with someone, we may say he or she is “distant.” In general, space influences how people communicate and behave.
Written communication includes communicating through
writing, typing or printing. It is done through channels such as letters, text
messages, emails, social media and books. Businesses may prefer written
communication because it has fewer chances of distortion. For example,
communicating a business plan in writing ensures that everyone gets the same
message and can refer to it any time in the future.
Visual communication uses graphs, charts, photographs, maps
and logos to share information. It is mostly used in combination with verbal or
written communication in order to simplify the information. For example, using
slides and flow charts during a presentation makes it easier for the audience
to grasp complex data.
Importance of Body Language
- The importance of body language lies in the manner in which it impacts your personal brand. Whether it’s a job interview, first date or even an average day in one’s life as an employee, how one presents them is important. Positive body language suggests that one is approachable, attentive and open to new ideas and suggestions.
- The use of body language in communication is often unconscious. If a person is yawning in the meeting room or tapping their fingers on the table while the boss is talking about the monthly sales goals, chances are that they will be perceived as disinterested and stressed. Improving your posture will give the impression that a person is interested and focused.
- The importance of body language is not only limited to formal communication. Changing any negative nonverbal cues will increase your self-confidence and self-esteem. Once you see people responding positively to you as a friend, employee, co-worker or leader, your internal motivation will increase as well.
- The importance of body language in communication is evident in public speaking. With all eyes on one person, the speaker is under pressure to be mindful of what they are saying and how they are saying it.
- Another important nonverbal business transaction is the handshake. Political and business leaders seal deals with a handshake. A strong handshake suggests confidence and a limp handshake implies the person is disinterested.
- Smiling and maintaining eye contact is also important while shaking hands. This shows that you have courage and confidence.
- Be mindful but don’t stress about body language in communication. If you have a habit of cracking your knuckles or rubbing the eyes, being aware and consciously replacing it with a positive body movement will do the trick.
FEEDBACK
The observation of the receiver’s response is called
feedback. In other words, the part of the receiver’s response communicated back
to the sender is called feedback. Actually it is the amount of response of the
receiver that reaches to the sender. It enables the sender to evaluate the
effectiveness of the message.
According to Bartol & Martin, “Feedback is the
receiver’s basic response to the interpreted message”.
Feedback is a system where the reaction or response of the
receiver reaches to the sender after he has interpreted the message. Feedback
is inevitably essential to make two
way communication effective. In fact, without feedback in
communication remains incomplete.
Why Feedback is Essential for effective Communication
Feedback is the response or reaction of the receiver after
perceiving or understanding the message. It enables the sender to evaluate the
effectiveness of the message. It is inevitably essential in case of two-way
communication. Without feedback, two
way communication is either ineffective or incomplete. Feedback is the
only way to gain receiver’s response and depending on the feedback, sender can
tack further steps. In organizational or business communication the feedback
process is extremely important.
- Collection of Information
- Completion of Entire Communication Process
- Measuring the Effectiveness of Communication
- Improving Labor-Management Relationship:
- Measuring the Effectiveness of Media
- Taking proper Decision
- Problem Solving
- Getting the Reactions of Receiver
1. Good Feedback Is Timely
One of the most critical characteristics of good feedback is
timeliness. You want your input to be relevant to your team member’s current
performance. So, don’t wait too long to provide feedback. In six weeks, you and
the team member may have already forgotten what happened. Moreover, the longer
you wait to address an issue or offer recommendations, the harder it will be
for your team member to make the necessary changes.
2. Good Feedback Is Insightful
The purpose of feedback isn’t to criticize the employee.
It’s to provide insight and remind them of their strengths. Let them know how
to complement those strengths with new skills. Always conclude by noting
something about their conduct or performance that they excelled at.
That doesn’t mean you should sugarcoat it hoping to make them feel better. It will only confuse them.
On the one hand, they may think you don’t take it seriously.
On the other, they may be distrustful of your intentions.
That’s why it’s crucial to be clear and specific about
exactly what you expect them to improve without being judgmental. Good feedback
means providing insight.
3. Good Feedback Is Constructive (Not Critical)
Begin by asking the employee how they feel they’re doing, especially
surrounding the particular event or project. Use that answer to get a sense of
whether they are open to further discussion. It’s possible the team member
already knows what needs improvement and will welcome suggestions.
Bear in mind that you may not always be the right person to
talk to. An immediate supervisor, or someone the employee has a good working
relationship with, might be a better choice.
4. Good Feedback Is Collaborative
Being part of a valued team requires collaboration and
cooperation at all times. Employees have different perspectives, ideas, and
experiences. After all, that’s why you hired them in the first place.
Failing to acknowledge the employee’s ideas may lead you to
miss valuable information that could improve their performance.
So, before launching into your list of expectations, make
sure you fully understand the situation as they see it.
5. Good Feedback Is Actionable
Finally, it’s time to leave with a positive tone and define
how the future should look. After discussing what happened, provide an example
of how the ideal situation looks. Walk through how it might go in the
future.
If the feedback warrants follow-up, create specific goals to
work toward. One of the characteristics of good feedback is that it’s actionable.
So, you need to develop a simple, actionable plan that clearly identifies the
following:
- Performance issues that need improvement
- What the expectations are
- How to achieve the mutually agreed goals
- A timeline to reach the targets
Types of feedback
Feedback can serve a number of purposes and take a number of
forms. Feedback can be provided as a single entity – ie: informal feedback on a
student’s grasp of a concept in class – or a combination of multiple entities –
ie: formal, formative, peer feedback on stage one of an assessment task. Each
has its place in enhancing and maximising student learning, thus where
possible, courses should provide opportunities for a range of feedback types.
Informal feedback
Informal feedback can occur at any times as it is something
that emerges spontaneously in the moment or during action. Therefore informal
feedback requires the building of rapport with students to effectively
encourage, coach or guide them in daily management and decision-making for
learning. This might occur in the classroom, over the phone, in an online forum
or virtual classroom.
Formal feedback
Formal feedback is planned and systematically scheduled into
the process. Usually associated with assessment tasks, formal feedback includes
the likes of marking criteria, competencies or achievement of standards, and is
recorded for both the student and organisation as evidence.
Formative feedback
The goal of formative assessment is to monitor student
learning to provide ongoing feedback that can be used by instructors to
improve their teaching and by students to improve their learning. Therefore
formative feedback is best given early in the course, and prior to summative
assessments. Formative feedback helps students to improve and prevent them from
making the same mistakes again. In some cases, feedback is required before
students can progress, or feel capable of progressing, to the next stage of the
assessment.
Summative feedback
The goal of summative assessment is to evaluate student
learning at the end of an instructional unit by comparing it against some
standard or benchmark. Therefore summative feedback consists of detailed
comments that are related to specific aspects of their work, clearly explains
how the mark was derived from the criteria provided and additional constructive
comments on how the work could be improved.
Student peer feedback
There is no longer need for teachers to be the only experts
within a course. With basic instruction and ongoing support, students can learn
to give quality feedback, which is highly valued by peers. Providing students
with regular opportunities to give and receive peer feedback enriches their
learning experiences and develops their professional skill set.
Student self feedback
This is the ultimate goal of feedback for learning. During
the provision of feedback, teachers have the opportunity not only to provide
direction for the students, but to teach them, through explicit modelling and
instruction, the skills of self-assessment and goal setting, leading them to
become more independent (Sackstein, 2017). To help students reach autonomy
teachers can explicitly identify, share, and clarify learning goals and success
criteria; model the application of criteria using samples; provide guided
opportunities for self-feedback; teach students how to use feedback to
determine next steps and set goals; and allow time for
self-feedback/reflection.
Constructive feedback
This type of feedback is specific, issue-focused and based
on observations. There are four types of constructive feedback:
- Negative feedback – corrective comments about past behaviour. Focuses on behaviour that wasn’t successful and shouldn’t be repeated.
- Positive feedback – affirming comments about past behaviour. Focuses on behaviour that was successful and should be continued.
- Negative feed-forward – corrective comments about future performance. Focuses on behaviour that should be avoided in the future.
- Positive feed-forward – affirming comments about future behaviour. Focused on behaviour that will improve performance in the future.
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