Communication is your ticket to success, if you pay attention and learn to do it effectively
- Theo Gold 1
As you can travel from one destination to one another by negating directions on a map, you can also deliver your messages to one another in a systematic pathway called the communication process.
Communication Process in the Workplace
Good communication skills are critical to the success of business communications. As important as communication messages and tools is the communication process, which defines the route that transmits information from one person to another in the workplace.
A communication process consists of steps between a source and a receiver that determines the transfer and understanding of meaning.
Given that communication is a complex and sophisticated task, having a clear communication process can help to divide the communication cycle into small parts that are simple to execute by senders and easy to understand by recipients.
There are multiple reasons why a communication process is of great importance to effective communication, among which the most prominent ones are:
The communication process can coordinate people on a similar and interactive information exchange cycle.
The communication process makes it easier to make decisions during different stages of communication.
The communication process can enhance the overall organizational hierarchical transparency and cooperation among all actors in a shared communication cycle.
Communication Process Diagram
Just like a map, we can visualize the communication process as a diagram that can effectively guide organizations along their communication journeys. In this section, we will have a closer look at different communication process elements of a typical communication process diagram and how such a diagram can be illustrated in a real-life communication journey.
Communication Process Elements
Building from a brief overview of communication process elements, a communication process diagram visualizes the way that the communication message travels from the sender to the receiver throughout its communication cycle.
There are eight main elements of a communication process diagram, which are:
The sender: the one who sends the communication message.
Encoding: the process of encoding the communication message into words, symbols, and gestures that can convey meaning.
The message is the content of the information encoded into words, signs, or symbols.
The channel: the medium, known as communication channels, is where the communication message can be distributed.
The receiver: the one who receives the communication message.
Decoding: decoding the communication message into its intended meaning by the receiver.
Noise: anything that may interfere with the communication process between the sender and the receiver.
Feedback occurs when the sender and receiver check with each other to ensure the communication message has conveyed its intended meaning.
What is the most important element in a communication process?
In fact, each of the eight elements is as important as one another. If an element is missing, the communication process will be subjected to failure due to a lack of transparency and coordinated touchpoints.
Steps in Communication Process
Accordingly, there are five steps in the communication process that can help navigate communicators along their journey to conquer effective communication.3
Step 1 - Idea formation: When a sender wishes to communicate an idea, they embark on the first step of idea formation. Accordingly, the sender must realize the idea's purpose and content as clearly as possible. Navigating questions such as 'What do you want to achieve?' or 'How do you want the receiver to understand your idea?' can help in developing a precise idea.
Step 2 - Message encoding: in this step, the sender has to encode the idea into words, symbols, or gestures to convey its meaning. Whether it is a verbal, non-verbal, or written type of communication, the sender should carefully consider the receiver's background and culture to minimize the chances of misinterpretation.
Step 3 - Message transmission: this step requires the sender to choose an appropriate communication channel to send the idea. The chosen communication channel should match the context of the idea and lie within reach of the receiver.
What are communication channels?
Read our Communication Channels explanation to learn more about different communication mediums!
Step 4 - Decoding: this step involves the receiver decoding the message into its original meaning. Accordingly, the receiver will try to translate the received word, symbol, and gesture to understand the sender's message. However, during this step, the receiver must be highly aware of the negative influences of communication noises.
Step 5 - Feedback: after sending and receiving the communication message, both the sender and receiver should begin the final feedback step, which makes sure that the message has been communicated with its intended meaning.
Communication Process Noise
The most visible communication barrier is communication process noise.
Communication process noise implies any barrier that can undermine or prevent an effective communication process from the sender to the receiver. 4
Communication process noises on the side of the receiver can prevent them from hearing the sender's message properly or clearly understanding the message. From the sender's perspective, communication process noise can make it difficult for them to communicate their ideas to the receiver effectively.
What are common types of communication process noises?
There are various types of communication process noises: physical noise, psychological noise, physiological noise, semantic noise, cultural noise, technical noise, and organizational noise. For example, physical noise, such as the noise of a class or an airplane taking off nearby, can undermine the quality of a sender's communication message. Likewise, the cultural barriers in individuals' values, beliefs, and attitudes imply the cultural noise that can result in the misinterpretation of communication messages.
Communication Process Example
Let's try to put the communication process elements and steps into a real-life context to better understand how communication takes place at work.
Linda is the marketing manager of a fashion brand. Before officially launching the brand's upcoming marketing campaign, she needs to finalize the campaign's budget.
Thus, Linda has followed the 5-step communication process:
- Step 1 - Idea formation: Linda determines an estimate of her budget idea and how the budget will be allocated. Next, she determines the receiver: related stakeholders that must approve the budget. Accordingly, they are the company's CEO and investors.
- Step 2 - Encoding: Linda encodes her budget-related messages into the most suitable types of communication for her receivers. Linda knows that the management team cares more about big-picture organizational goals, so she should encode her ideas into a brief presentation with valid statistics and data.
- Step 3 - Message transmission: Linda understands that the management team is busy yet challenging to persuade, so she books a 30-minute face-to-face meeting slot well in advance.
- Step 4 - Decoding: Linda presents her idea during the meeting as the management team listens to her. The management team interacts with Linda's presentation and discusses among themselves to decode her messages.
- Step 5 - Feedback: by the end of the meeting, the management team provides overall feedback directly to Linda. Also, they exchange follow-up emails concerning the budget ideas afterward to finalize a decision.
The communication process requires all actors to be active in delivering and receiving communication messages. In fact, this process is often easier said than done, given various communication barriers that may prevent communication messages from being understood correctly based on their intended meanings. Up to now, how do you feel about traveling along the complicated yet rewarding route of effective communication?
Communication Process - Key takeaways
- A communication process consists of steps between a source and a receiver that determines the transfer and understanding of meaning.
- There are eight main elements of a communication process diagram: the sender, encoding, the message, the channel, the receiver, decoding, noise, and feedback.
- A communication process noise implies any barrier that can undermine or prevent an effective communication process from the sender to the receiver.
- There are five steps in a communication process: idea formation, encoding, message transmission, decoding, and feedback.
References
- Bruce Burstein. Communication is your ticket to success, if you pay attention and learn to do it effectively. —Theo Gold. 2020. https://thestructuredconversation.com/communication-is-your-ticket-to-success-if-you-pay-attention-and-learn-to-do-it-effectively-theo-gold/
- Robbins Stephen and Judge Timothy. Organizational Behaviour. 2014.
- Seneca. The Communication Process. 2022. https://pressbooks.senecacollege.ca/buscomm/chapter/1-3-the-communication-process/#:~:text=The%20communication%20process%20has%20five,step%20of%20the%20communication%20process.
- Sound Proof Cow. How Noise Affects Communication. https://www.soundproofcow.com/how-noise-affects-communication/#:~:text=Communication%20noise%20can%20be%20defined,hear%20the%20sender's%20message%20properly.
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