FACULTY OF APPLIED SOCIAL SCIENCE

MAY 2011

CBFC1103

INRODUCTION TO COMMUNICATION

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TABLE OF CONTENTS
PAGES

1.0 INRODUCTION 2

2.0 WHY COMMUNICATION IS IMPORTANT? 3

3.0 POSITIVE & NEGATIVE COMMUNICATION 4-7

4.0 FACTORS THAT COMPLICATE THE

COMMUNICATION PROCESS 7-10

5.0 CONCLUSION 11-13

6.0 REFERENCE 14

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1.0 INTRODUCTION

Communication is a process of transferring information from one entity to another.

-Wikipedia-

Communications is the process by which information is exchanged between individuals.

It requires a shared understanding of symbol systems, such as language and mathematics.
Communications is much more than words going from one persons mouth to anothers
ear. In addition to the words messages are transferred by the tone and quality of voice,
eye contact, physical closeness, visual cues and overall body language.

For Carl Rogers (1952) says that, Real communications occurs when we listen with
understanding, to see the expressed idea and attitude from the other persons point of
view, to sense how it feels to him, to achieve his frame of reference in regard to the
things he is talking about.

According to Camp & Satterwhite (2002), there are three types of communications:

Oral communications.
Basically, this takes in the following way:- Face to face conversations, Meetings,
Teleconferencing, Oral presentations and Public speaking

Written communications
Example- Letters, Faxes, E-mail and Reports

Non-Verbal Communications
In this situation, no words are used. Feelings are expressed and conveyed through facial
expressions, gestures and body movements like posture, eye contact, dressing and
grooming.

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2.0 WHY COMMUNICATION IS IMPORTANT?

For me, communication is an important aspect of our lives. It is hard to imagine a life
where there is absolutely no communication. In fact, maybe it is not even possible to lead
a life without communication and that is the reason we see that even the hearing
impaired, dumb and visually challenged people learn some way to communicate with the
others.

In other words, communication is merely an expression of oneself and the exchange of

ideas between people. In a day about 70 percent of our time is spent in communicating
with the others. It is a well known fact that good communication is the back bone of any
organization. Business and professional people depend a lot on oral communication skills
when they engage in different activities. They use oral communication skills a great deal
when they interact with customers and suppliers, make reports or give explanations,
participate in meetings, and hold informal discussion with employers and employees.

For individuals, good oral communications skills enable you to effectively share
information, thought, feelings, needs and intentions. You can create close relationships
and bond with family friends and people at work. If you are a good listener, you also tend
to win friends as most people regard someone who listens to their problem.

Effective communication is the cornerstone of any healthy relationship, regardless if the

relationship is business or romance based. Without effective communication skills, it is
impossible to relate to another person or have another person relate to you. Effective
communication skills include the ability to compromise, resolve conflicts and transmit
information clearly while keeping your verbal and nonverbal signals in agreement.
Though some people seem to be born with a natural gift for communication, anyone can
learn how to communicate effectively. However, to develop these skills, you must first
understand how to listen and respond in a healthy manner.

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3.0 POSITIVE & NEGATIVE COMMUNICATIONS

Let see the importance communication skills in Business situation. Refer

communicationtalk.com the positive impact for business when communication is
encouraged. However, if your communication skills in business are lacking then you will
likely have problems communicating with your employees and problems will result.

The importance of communication skills in business needs to be recognized by

management and leaders within the organization in order to open up lines of
communication from the top of the organization to the bottom. When communication
skills in business are high many positive things will occur including more loyal
employees, fewer mistakes, and more business.

1. Loyal Employees
Good communication skills in business ensures company employees will feel their
opinions and thoughts count. When employees feel they have a stake in the company they
will be more loyal and also work harder. This can have a huge impact on production,
employee morale, and reduce employee turnover.

These all save the company money and make the business a better place to work with
happier employees. This effect alone is enough to encourage better communication skills
in business among employees and leaders in the company, however there are more
benefits as well.

2. Fewer Mistakes
when management and employees are armed with good communication skills in business
there will be fewer misunderstandings and mistakes because both parities know how to
communicate efficiently. Reducing misunderstandings and mistakes saves a significant
amount of time, stress, and money.

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Once the channels of communication are opened and everyone is skilled at

communicating you will see the number of mistakes and misunderstanding drop
significantly. This saves time, does not negatively impact employees self esteem, and
keeps production moving at a regular pace.

3. More Business
Communication skills in business also mean creating more business for your company.
The reason for this is when management and employees know how to effectively
communicate, that is talking and listening, they will know when they have an opportunity
to make a sale and when they do not. When they recognize the opportunity to make a sale
they will be able to structure their communication style to complement that of the
company they are selling to.

On the other hand, when employees recognize they will not be able to make a sale they
move on quickly to the next prospect without wasting precious time because they were
not listening properly. Their understanding of communication skills in business saves
time.

As you can see there are multiple positive benefits that result when communication lines
are open and leadership as well as employees knows how to communicate effectively
within the office as well as with potential clients. The importance of communication
skills in business is obvious and as such should be made a high priority in companies
with current low levels of communication.

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I also attached the negative impact communication for our life. Here I give example the
negative impact of Mass electronic communication.

Electronic interaction displaces the social interaction, keeping people apart it is so

convenient that people lack the drive to actually interact face to face. People are social
animals, in the main, and removing that pillar can actually affect their social
development, especially if started at a young age.

It also changes the way people interact, possibly producing changes that will eventually
affect the evolution of social interaction. The lack of face to face communication
undermines skills such as reading body language and other indirect communication
facilities.

Mass electronic communication may lead to a lower quality of social interaction due to
the sheer number of participants; the background level of gossip is likely to be higher
than in face to face interactions. There's also the inference that online information has
less value somehow than real world information, although the same could be said of
water cooler office gossip.

How to sure we use the mass communication wisely? As with other enabling
technologies, such as email, web search engines, and online publishing outlets like
Wikipedia, the overall message is that, in moderation, Facebook and other networking
sites are a good thing.

They let people connect, whether they knew each other in the first place or not staying
in touch or making new friends. Yes, there are potential drawbacks in the form of very
public cases where such friendships have degenerated into something more sinister, but
the positives far outweigh them.

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Success stories include various marriages, business deals, partnerships, and other very
encouraging endorsements of virtual communication as a form of social interaction.
However, relying exclusively on electronic communication for social interaction is likely
to damage rather than enrich lives. Everyone, at some point, with very few exceptions,
needs the face to face contact in order to maintain their social skills.

4.0 FACTORS THAT COMPLICATE THE COMMUNICATION PROCESS

Therefore, communication is a complex activity. This explains why people always get
into trouble when they interact with others. According to Bove and Thill (2000: 17-19),
communication barriers are usually due to a number of factors: (1) differences in
perception and language, (2) conflict (3) Poor listening, (4) Cultural differences (5)
Physical distraction. For me, here I attached a few problems about communication.

The first factor is Language. Refer from Conflict Research Consortium; University of
Colorado, USA (1998) language differences greatly increase communication problems,
even if the speakers have some knowledge of the others' language. Language is so much
more than words; it is also a way of thinking and seeing and defining the world. As a
result, accurate translation, especially of abstract ideas, is very difficult. When this
problem is added to all the other problems with communication during conflicts,
situations can get very difficult to manage, and the chance for misunderstanding is
extremely high.

The examples when you watching Korean or Japanese drama without subtitle, can you
understand what the actor or actress say. You only are guessing the story by body
language, gesture actor and actress.

The second complicate the communication about conflict. When people or groups are in
conflict, communication between them tends to get worse and worse. As a conflict

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escalates, people limit their direct contact with people on the other side, because such
conflict is uncomfortable or threatening. Eventually all direct communication between
parties may be cut off. Sometimes, communication is cut off in protest, as when an
ambassador is recalled from a country in response to an act or statement which the host
country made or did. Although this clearly exhibits displeasure, it does nothing to resolve
the situation; rather it makes the chances of resolution more remote.

For example, when you work together with someone who has bad relationship with you,
for sure both of you cannot get along. Communication wont go smoothly and good result
cannot be achieved. The worst that could happen, third parties will be involved between
you and him. How can the work be done if both of you do not have good
communications. I am sure the entire job will be delayed and it will give bad impression
to the client and of course bad reputation to the company.

Many people are poor listeners, even in everyday life. They tend to listen and think about
something else at the same time. This happens even more frequently when people are in
conflict. Rather than carefully attending to what the other person has said, many people
think about their response while the other person is talking.

For me, having ears of our own does not necessarily mean we are good listeners.
Listening is a skill that needs harnessing. Sometimes, it is a matter of attitude; we are not
just interested in what people say because we may be more concerned with the way
everyone looks. Focus on the message and the sincerity to understand what another
person is saying are crucial elements in good listening. Poor listening usually occur due
to lack of control over the speed at which speakers speak, not being able to get things
repeated, the listener's limited vocabulary, failure to recognize the "signals", problems of
interpretation, inability to concentrate, and even may be due to some established learning
habits.

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Such poor listening makes good communication almost impossible. No matter how much
care one person or group takes to communicate their concerns, values, interests, or needs
in a fair, clear, unthreatening way, if the listener is not willing to receive that information
in that way, the communication will fail.

Another problem is Cultural difference. Refer from Blurt.it.com Cultural differences are
the variations in the way of life, beliefs, traditions and laws between different countries,
religions, societies and people. Many people see culture as an all encompassing overview
of large groups of people. However, the word culture can be used to describe the way of
life of much smaller groups.

The most common meaning of culture, as suggested, is that of large groups of people and
how their lifestyles and beliefs differ; this is where cultural differences come in. Where
we live and what we believe has a great impact on all aspects of our life whether we
realize it or not. Some of the differences between cultures are enforced by internal rules
(such as legal age of marriage) whereas others just happen through many years of
development towards a certain way over another (e.g. eating with knives and forks).

For me, culture can be said as to refer to the lifestyle of the entire society. The term
culture is used in anthropology to refer to a complex system of values, beliefs and codes
of conduct that are socially acquired. In Malaysia, we live within different culture like
India, Chinese, Malay and other community so we have to respect is tolerant with
community. They have own their culture like food, fashion, lifestyle and believe. Apart
from common examples like fashion where Indian women wear sari, Chinese women
wear cheongsam and Malay women we well known by Baju kurung. We also need to be
aware of issue that might be sensitive to other culture in order to avoid any conflict that
may arise

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Last but not least is Physical distraction. Refer from managementstudyguide.com the
Physical distraction; communication is a process beginning with a sender who encodes
the message and passes it through some channel to the receiver who decodes the
message. Communication is fruitful if and only if the message sent by the sender is
interpreted with same meaning by the receiver. If any kind of disturbance blocks any step
of communication, the message will be destroyed. Due to such disturbances, managers in
an organization face severe problems. Thus the managers must locate such barriers and
take steps to get rid of them.

There are several barriers that affect the flow of communication in an organization. These
barriers interrupt the flow of communication from the sender to the receiver, thus making
communication ineffective. It is essential for managers to overcome these barriers. The
main barriers of communication are summarized below.
Normally we can feel the physical distraction when we have a lot work and not enough
time to finish. Often in organization the targets have to be achieved within a specified
time period, the failure of which has adverse consequences. In a haste to meet deadlines,
the formal channels of communication are shortened, or messages are partially given, i.e.,
not completely transferred. Thus sufficient time should be given for effective
communication.

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5.0 CONCLUSION

Every day in many ways, we communicate with other people. Sometimes it is verbally,
other times it is through the written word and we even do it non-verbally through what
we call body language. For that matter, we can use images to communicate and even a
scent can carry a message. If we expect to get our point, our message, our meaning
across, it is important that we have good communication skills. Both non-verbal and
verbal communications are both used on a daily basis. In that regard, it's important to use
communication carefully and with love. Communication can either hurt or heal.

Dont be afraid if we want to communication with new people or friend. Even though the
new friend is foreigner. Different language it not limits your conversation. Maybe at the
first place we can have problem to understand what he want to say because maybe he
speak to fast, the accent different with our but dont give up and afraid to communicate
with them. This will be an advantage for us and a challenge to learn new language and
new words from them.

Avoid making conflict with people around you. When the conflict happens the
communication will be stop. For example conflict with your family. Maybe your mother
do not allow you to hang out with friends at the night. She might think that it is
dangerous for you to be out side at very late night, as a daughter or son, you have to
accept her decision. If you think that her decision is not right or unfair, you need to ask
your mother face to face for the reason of her decision. Give her enough time to explain
and you need to listen to what she wants to say. To avoid more conflict, you need to
agree on her decision.

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In order to achieve good communication, you need to be a good listener too. You need to
listen carefully to the instruction given by your boss so that you will not miss any
important point that he wants to convey. This will avoid any task to done incompletely
or in worst case, failure. The key factor is taking note, paying full attention understanding
his gesture and listening to every point that is said. By doing that, you will be able to
achieve affection communication, thus every party will be satisfied and communication
process is complete and successful.

As we interact with others of different cultures, there is no good substitute for

receptiveness to interpersonal feedback, good observation skills, effective questions, and
some horse sense. There is much to be gained by observing how people of the same
culture interact with each other. Don't be afraid to ask questions as most people respond
very positively to inquiries about their culture. Ask a variety of people so you can get a
balanced view.

Making a genuine effort to find the positive historical, literary, and cultural contributions
of a society; learning a few polite expressions in another person's language; and showing
appreciation for the food and music of another culture can have especially positive
impacts.

My contention, then, is not that there are no cultural differences. These differences
between cultures and peoples are real and can add richness (and humor) to the fabric of
life. My assertion is that people everywhere have much in common, such as a need for
affiliation and love, participation, and contribution. When the exterior is peeled off, there
are not so many differences after all.

Communication is an important part of our lives. Communication, just like love, makes
the world go round. Communication enables us to improve our skills at interacting with
people. People who are good communicators tend to do better in their careers. We

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communicate everyday with different people, at different times, in different ways. We

communicate with ourselves in our thoughts. We also communicate with our family,
friends, people at work, and people we meet, socially or professionally. At times we may
even need to communicate with a larger audience such as members of the public.
English has become an important language in Malaysia as the society starts realizing the
importance of the use of English in this new millennium. It is not only the English
language that has been a major concern nowadays, but also oral communication skills in
order to become competent in communicating with the rest of the world.

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REFERENCE

1. S.Sivagnanachelvi. et al (2008). OUMH1303 English For Oral Communication

(2nd ed)

2. Bove, Courtland L. & Thill, John V. (2005). Business Communication Today

(8th ed.). USA: Prentice Hall International, Inc.

3. Stanton, Nicki (1982). What Do You Mean, Communication? An introduction

to communication in business. London and Sydney: Pan Books
4. University Of Colorado USA (1998). International Online Training Program On
Intractable Conflict. www.coloroda.edu/conflict/peace/problem
5. Dharmagadda Sireedhar (1998). www/enziArticles.com
6. McFarlan Bill (2004). Drop The Pink Elephant (2nd ed). United Kingdom :
Capstone Pub.

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