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Introduction:
Imagine a day in your life if you were not able to share your thoughts about the day’s
events with your best friend, make a phone call to a family member who lives far away,
SMS a friend on her birthday, put up your feet and watch your favorite television show,
relax to soothing music on your ipod, or worse, to not be able to surf the net for your
assignment.
Yet there existed an era that did not have television or newspapers. And computers and
cell phones belonged in science fiction stories. Infact, there was a time when
communication through speech was not possible because our prehistoric ancestors lacked
our well developed language systems.
The stages in human communication are associated with the development of speaking,
writing, printing and the mass media. The most recent stage is the information age, the
outcome of the development of computer technology. Each successive communication
development did not replace the one that preceded it. Rather, it gradually built on what
was already there. Our ancestors first learned to communicate by means of signals, and
we still use them today. For example, waving of hand to greet someone.
The human communication problems we have today are not basically different from
those that people experienced hundreds of years ago. However, the communication
problems cannot be solved by teaching people to master technology, but rather by helping
them to gain insight into the phenomenon of communication.
Definition of communication:
Communication is not easy to define. Scholars have made many attempts to define the
term, but establishing a single definition has proved impossible and may not be very
fruitful. Some of the definitions are discussed below:

Communication is discerning who, says what, in which channel, to whom,
with what effect.-- Lasswell : (1948)

Communication means that information is passed from one place to
another – Miller (1951)

Communication is the verbal interchange of thought or idea --Hoben,
(1954).

Communication is the sum of all things one person does when he wants to
create understanding in the mind of another. It is a bridge of meaning. It
involves a systematic and continuous process of telling, listening and
understanding – Louis Allen (1958)

It is the intentional transmission of information by means of some
established signaling- system – Lyons (1977)

Communication is an exchange of facts, ideas, opinions and emotions by
two or more persons –Newman And Summer (1977)

Communication is the process by which information is transmitted
between individuals and/or organizations so that an understanding response
results— Peter Little (1977)

Communication is the process of meaningful interactions among persons
in an organization resulting in meanings being perceived and understanding
effected among such persons. – Rustom Davar (1980)

Communication is a continuing and thinking process dealing with the
transmission and interchange with the understanding of ideas, facts and
course of action. – Terry And Franklin (1984)
From the above it can be noted that some definitions are broad and inclusive while the
others are restrictive. Definitions differ according to the theorist’s views about
communication. In the scientific study of communication, there are 2 general and basic
views about communication: a technical view and a meaning centered view. Theorists
who adopt a technical view deal with how accurately and efficiently messages can be
transferred from one person to another along a channel such as a telephone wire or the
airways that carry sound and pictures to radios and television sets. Hence from this point
of view communication can be very simply defined as “sending and receiving messages”
The second and more complex view of communication involves their interpretation and
meaning. Meaning-centered theorists concentrate on issues such as what motivates
people to communicate in the first place, how they give meaning to each other’s
messages what happens between them during communication and how they use language
to create and exchange meaningful messages. From this point of view, communication
can be defined as ‘a dynamic process of exchanging meaningful messages’
From the various insights given by the different scholars, communication could be
defined as a process of swapping information between the communicator and the receiver
though channels in which it is effectively understood in order to bring about a degree of
change in the mindset between them.
Nature of communication:
Communication is one of those human activities that everyone recognizes but few can
define satisfactorily. Communication is talking to one another, it is mobile phone, it is
spreading information, it is your new dress, it is literary criticism. Following are some of
the points that help express the nature of communication:
Daily activity:
Communication is experienced at every moment, every second of our experience. An act
done or not done still conveys a message. The act of sleeping on your bed conveys that
the body is taking rest while the act of sleeping in class conveys that the individual is
disinterested in the subject. The smile on the face of the individual conveys that he is at
peace and the blank look conveys that his mind is elsewhere or is deep in his thoughts.
Even the act of breathing conveys a message—dead or alive.
Signs and codes:
Communication can also be expressed in the forms of signs and codes. Signs are nonverbal units of expression. A natural sign is a physical indicator, such as smoke is an
indication of the presence of fire. Signs are also called as signals or cues. A sign could
also represent an object that produces a mental image of the object represented. For
example, the word tree, amber and ki evoke a mental image only if you understand
English, French, and Japanese respectively. For this reason, icons often are used by
computers and by the transportation and travel industry where customers with many
different language backgrounds can yet understand what needs to be expressed. Signs are
combined systematically forms codes. For example, same language is a code for people who
are able to comprehend it.
Meaning:
The act of communication produces a meaning. Messages contain 2 types of information
to which we attach meaning, namely, content information and relational information. The
content level refers to factual information about the topic of the massage—what it is
about. The relational level determines how the participants understand their relationship.
It provides information about the feelings of the communicator and how the content
should be interpreted. Often it is the relational level of message rather than the content
that tell you whether a person is expressing affection or dislike, humour or sarcasm.
Integral to human society and life:
When we communicate, we make things common. We thus increase our shared
knowledge, our ‘common sense’—the basic precondition for all community. Shared
knowledge, of course, may sometimes lead to conflicting views and interests. However,
conflicting parties also need to communicate with each other. Democracy is the most
productive outcome of communication.
Ever expanding field:
Communication is a field that is widespread and highly extensive. It is of utmost
importance in the field of humanities and social sciences such as psychology, political
science, economics etc. The study of management is mainly on how effectively an
individual is able to convert his thoughts into words. Of recent times communication has
also been taught as a subject in Media Economy, Political Science etc.
Intentional and unintentional:
Intentional communication occurs when we communicate with a specific goal in mind.
For example, you reinforce your message non-verbally with a smile and a hug.
Unintentional communication refers to the occasions when communication takes place
without awareness of the communicator. A friend might tell you that he is not upset,
while his facial expression could indicate something else. While verbal communication is
mostly intentional, unintentional messages are usually non-verbal.
Contextual:
People always communicate within a situation or a setting. Context refers to the
environment, the place or the conditions in which the communication encounter takes
place. A doctor’s office is a context, as is the manager’s office in an organization.
Communication is always contextual and is influenced by factors such as time, place and
physical properties of the meeting place, as well as the roles, status and relationships of
the participants. People express themselves differently in each context.
Functions of communication:
People communicate for a reason. When they do so, they may be doing so for more than
one reason at the same time. For example, someone may tell you something that you
want to know; their purpose may be to inform you, but at the same time, perhaps, to make
an impression you with their knowledge.
There are several functions of communication, most of which are discussed below:
Survival needs:
We communicate with others for the reason that we need to fulfill our basic physical
needs of survival(food, water, air and shelter). Apart from this we also communicate to
satisfy psychological needs. Psychologists have established that people need contact with
other people just as they need food, water, air, shelter. It has been shown that socially
isolated people die at a younger age, that the likelihood of death increases when a
marriage partner dies and that poor communication skill contribute to coronary heart
diseases.
Relationships:
One of the major purposes for communication is to form and maintain relationships with
others. We communicate to be involved with other people. Relationship in this context
means any connection, interest or association between 2 or more people. We need to have
friends, because friends support each other. We need to get along with our work mates,
because working with people is about more than just about job tasks..
Information:
We cannot function in our society without information. Information can be obtained
through observation, conversation, and some through the mass media. For example we
may be keen viewers and readers of the news because we want to know about other
people, events and places in the world. Should you need to find out the time a train
leaves, you would ask the station master or consult the timetable.
Decision making:
Some of our decisions are made unconsciously—we do not have to scratch out brains to
decide whether to brush our teeth in the morning or not. Other decisions are made
together with others. For example, picking a career, or choosing a life partner, or deciding
over a holiday destination with friends. Communication helps us come to a mutual and
wise decision.
Sense of self:
We also communicate to gather insight into ourselves. Through communication with
others and the way they respond to us, we develop a sense of who we are and how other
people react to how we behave etc.
Co-operation:
We communicate in order to work with others. It is obvious that our need to form social
groups actually comes from our need to co-operate with each other in order to survive.
Co-operation helps us attain our basic needs or perform any other function of our day to
day lives at a great ease. Communication helps us to get along with other people and to
work with other people.
Persuasion:
We communicate to persuade other to believe or feel that what we do and the way we do
it is correct. Mass media acts as a vital tool for this purpose. Political leaders use mass
media, particularly television, to influence our voting behavior. Also advertisements on a
daily basis persuade us to change our buying habits through constant exposure of their
goods and services. Convincing people to loan us some money, or to join our drama
group, or to help us repair our car are also acts of persuasion. Persuasion has also a touch
of manipulation to it —to get what we want.
Power/control:
Power or control over other people can also be exerted or gained through communication
to a certain extent this may seem like persuation—our intention is to get someone else to
do something we want. But the word ‘power’ brings an altogether different meaning new
into the situation. It suggests that the communicator intends to put the other person in a
submissive or helpless position. It suggests that the communicator has special privileges
in terms of what they know or the means of communication they can use.
Social needs:
Man is a social animal. We live not in vacuum but among bodies such as ours. We
communicate to hold our society and our organizations together. We communicate so that
the society works as a whole for us. Effective means of communication is required to
function hospitals, schools, manufacturing organizations and government organizations
Need for self expression:
We communicate to express our imagination and ourselves to others. We like to be
creative with our communication in words, pictures, sounds and other forms. These may
be regulated through social conventions. For example, for example when we attend
funeral we wear dark clothes. Also we love stories and dramatic creations—fictions
which give us amusement and pleasure and explore possibilities and create situations that
will never happen.
Conclusion:
Communication is an integral part of our existence. Perhaps it could be the other name of
life itself. Every act, every move made by an individual on this planet communicates
something. The way one talks, walks, eats, studies or even sleeps conveys an intentional
or unintentional message by the individual to his surroundings. You may be able to get
through your entire life without having to make a speech but you cannot get through one
single day without communicating something to somebody.
Bibliography:
Papa Michael, Daniel Tom, Spiker Barry(2008).Organizational Communication (4th
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