Communication

Communication is a process in which people share information, ideas and feelings. It involves not only the verbal, written words but also personal gesture, body language and style- whatever thing that adds meaning to a message.

Types 

            There are almost 6 types of communication. They are as follows

1 Intra Personal :  In this type of communication the person is communicating with his own thought, feelings, ideas, reasoning, analysis, self awareness, problem solving , self control etc. Carl Rodgers had said that it is very important for one’s self.

2 Inter Personal :  It is called one to one person communication. Usually it is informal and unstructured. It helps a person to share his ideas and feelings with the other.

3 Small Group:  When there is a small group that is when a few people get together to communicate with each other than this is called small group communication.

4 Public: This type of communication is used when the changing of attitudes, opinion, value and purposefully sharing of others and to raise the morale of the people is a type of this communication.

5 Mass communication: It is of large scale. Here the audience is of millions. Many devices and ways are used for this type of communication.

6 Others: The ethical and inter cultural talks are the type of others communication. (Leena, 2004)

Ways of communication

            There are now many ways for communication. It can be written, oral, face to face and online. The historical usage is seemed to be very difficult but as it was necessary it was adopted on a large scale. In the history, horses were used to send the messages to different areas. They transfer the messages several miles away. They are used to put cables in military service. (Christopher, 2008)Then the Pigeons were started using to transfer the message. Special persons were arranged that are used to train the pigeons and then those pigeons transfers the message.

            Then telegraphy was used to communicate with each other. Then after a lot of research, when the radioactive rays were discovered the wireless set was introduced. These wireless sets composed of three components: sender, receiver and the radioactive rays. These rays proved to be very beneficial for the world. On the theory of these rays, radio was invented. Popoof and Marconi are considered to be their inventors. This radio was converted into its better form that is called FM.

            In radio only the voice signals were transferred and in the same way the video signals were transferred that is now called television. It is the best way to communicate. In television the voice and video signals are transferred simultaneously.

            When the television was discovered it was considered that this will be the best ever invention but now more inventions has been made. The use of the internet and other ways are the latest inventions in the field of communications.

Components of communication

            There are many components that make up a communication. First of all the context must be included. Context includes perspective and internal and external stimuli. In the context background, country, field, culture and releigon is considered. Another major component is the sender and the receiver. The sender sends a message and a receiver receives it. There are many mediums that are used to communicate with each other. If we discuss it in detail then with the passage of time these mediums also get changed. Moving towards the advancement, all these gadgets are also using different mediums.

            The sender uses to send the data using different techniques. Then the communication medium encodes the data into the form through which it can take data and then the receiver decodes the data to the form in which the receiver can take that data. There is a process of communication in which many things are involved.

In the beginning the data was transferred with the help of radioactive rays . This was a great discovery because the speed of these rays was 3 lac kilometers per second. The total diameter is less than this speed so the data is transferred in less than a second. This medium was great discovery but when the fiber optic cable was introduced the whole world move towards a new era of communication. This cable is as thin as hair and but its quality is great. Many people can communicate together at the same time. Another important factor is the feedback. It is the behavior of a receiver, it tells us that whether the communication was effective or not. (Mellor, 1990)

Advantages 

            There are many benefits of communication. If we see the history than it was seen that people faced much difficulty to communicate with each other and the speed of communication was so slow that the message that was to be delivered looses all its value till it is reached by the receiver. Many scientists researched in this field as the country's defense needs it most. If any country wants to improve his defense then he has to built great ways of communication.

            If the forces of their army will communicate with each other than they can produce best strategy to become victorious and to defeat their enemies with mutual cooperation. Nowadays there are many ways of communication which are not only beneficial to the army but now they are giving benefits even to the common man. (Singla, 2009)

            A man in a street now has his own cell phone. Through his cell phone he used to communicate with his relatives, friends or anyone he wants to talk. Due to the advancement in communication, there are now many ways that are used by the public to be benefitted.

            The main advantage is for the security of the country. The army, the public and everyone are getting advantage from different ways of communication. Religious meetings can be held to spread the knowledge of their religion all around the world. Trade is possible only if the communication is applied between people.

Significance of communication

            Significance of communication is discussed in points as below:

• Help in education
• Help with human resources
• Better social aspect
• Develop leadership qualities
• Transfer of ideologies
• Enhance reading habits
• Helpful in job opportunities
• Guarantee of success in career.
• It makes easy to understand different cultures
• It improves family relations
• Communication, a visible structure of ideas (Charles, 1909)

Effectiveness of communication

            There are 7 ‘Cs to have a better and effective communication. If these points are taken into notice than a very effective communication can be done. These points enable a person to share his perspective with others. These points are:

1-      Completeness

It means that all the facts must be conveyed which are required by the audience. The receiver mind set must be considered. It helps in decision making and sometimes also give additional imformation.

2-      Conciseness

It means wordiness i.e. conveying the message in the least possible words. It is both time saving as well as cost saving. It highlights the main message.

3-      Consideration

It is like stepping into the shoes of others. Efficient communication must take the listeners into consideration. The audience viewpoint is the most important of all. This emphasizes on the ‘you’ approach.

4-       Clarity

It implies on emphasizing on a specific goal or message at a time rather than trying too much at once. Clear message makes use of appropriate, exact and concrete words.

5-       Concreteness

It implies on the fact to be particular and clear rather than being fuzzy and general. It strengthens the confidence level of the sender.

6-       Courtesy

The message should express the sender’s expression but it should also contain respect for the receiver. The sender must be polite and judicious. It is usually positive and not at all biased.

7-      Correctness

There should be no grammatical mistakes in the message. It has greater impact on the audience. It makes the use of correct and appropriate language. (Leena, 2007)

Barriers of communication

            There are many obstacles that are on the way to communicate. Although it has been reduced in a great number but still they are there. Researchers have tried their best to remove these barriers and they haven’t reached to a medium that does not create any hurdle.

            When we talk about the wireless mediums then the security of the data becomes less and it can be hacked by any other person. Microwave signals are only transferred in straight directions and if any huge building or mountain came in their way then the data or message that was sent can’t be reached for the receiver. The satellite signals are best in the wireless modems. The satellite is placed almost 22500 kilometers above from the earth. This satellite receives the signals from the sender and then it boost the signals to the receiver. Some other barriers are noise, lack of time, emotions, beliefs, ambiguous message, difference of context and culture, confusion, illiteracy and many others.(Skills You Need)

Examples 

            Today from an infant to the older person, everyone is using the communication materials. Some are using the most updated versions and some are using the same old methods but every one of the society is enabled to do communication. The most used method is the cell phones. Almost everyone now has their cell phones. In business formal letters are used known as business letters. Report writing is also an example.

            The youth are using even the more updated and more techiqued ways to communicate. The smart phones are now very popular. Other examples of communication are E mail, Fax and through the social media networks.(Carol, 1998)

Conclusion

            At the end it is concluded that now it has become the necessity of everyone to at least have one way to communicate. There are many benefits of communication. Only communication is a way by which people all around the world can get to know each other and understand the different cultures and their ideologies. We also conclude this that the communication was not an easy task some centuries ago but now it is very easy and everyone is able to access  it.

References

Leena Sen (2004), Communication Skills, PHI Learning Pvt. Ltd.

Cristopher H. Sterling (2008), Military Communications: From Ancient Times to the 21st Century, ABC-CLIO

D. H. Mellor (1990), Ways of Communicating, Cambridge University Press                       

Dr. R. K. Singla (2009), Business Management, FK Publications

Charles Horton Cooley (1909), The Significance of Communication, Chapter 6 in Social Organization, Scribner’s Sons, retrieved from, http://www.brocku.ca/MeadProject/Cooley/Cooley_1909/Cooley_1909_06.html

Leena Sen (2007), Communication Skills, PHI Learning Pvt. Ltd.

Barriers to Effective Communication, Skills You Need, retrieved from, http://www.skillsyouneed.co.uk/IPS/Barriers_Communication.html

Carol Carysforth (1998), Communication For Work, Heinemann.