Communicating
Describe the perceptual process model of communication and the process, personal, physical, and semantic barriers to effective communication.
Communication is simply the discussion of information between the person who is sending a message (sender) to another person who gets the message (receiver), decodes it, and perceives the meaning of the message based on their own understanding of what that message means. In any communication the structure of the message is the nature of the language itself, and all language has influence on how we view the world, and how we will interact with other people. The perpetual process model of communication “depicts communication as a process in which receivers create meaning in their own minds” (Kinicki & Kreitner, 2009, p. 299, para1). The sender (person who wants to communicate a message); and the receiver is whomever (e.g. the person, group, or organization) the message was intended for. Before someone sends a message they must first think of what information they want to communicate to the receiver of the message, and “once they resolve the issue in their mind (encoding) he or she can select a median (e.g. face to face conversations, telephone calls, e-mail, voice mail, videoconferencing, written memos or letters, photographs or drawings, meetings, bulletin boards, computer output, and charts and graphs) with which to communicate” (Kinicki & Kreitner, 2009, p. 299, para. 3).
When the sender decides how they will communicate their message their decision is based on certain factors (e.g. the messages planned purpose, the nature of their audience and at what distance their audience is located away from them, the time limit for distributing the message or window of opportunity, and their individual preferences). A manager’s personal preference determines whether they will deliver their message face to face or by other written or spoken media, but face to face communication is often used when the message is about an issue that is sensitive or top priority, and requires feedback (receivers response to the message), motivation, and to identify and remedy immediate complications. Regardless of what way the sender communicates their message there will be benefits and there will be potential difficulties. For example, if the sender uses a telephone to communicate with someone they will lack the nonverbal (visual) information like a person’s physical movements (e.g. hand gestures, posture, eye movements and facial expressions), and may have a faulty connection that hinders clear communication. Usually writing memos or letters are a great way to communicate with someone when you cannot have the direct contact of a one on one conversation. Electronic communication is useful if a manager wants to communicate the same message to a group of people, and is considered a fast median because people usually check their emails on a daily basis; some get their email sent directly to their cell phones so communications are fast and constant.
There are many miscommunications regardless of the median used by the sender because there is no set way to predict how the receiver will understand the message. Often noise (e.g. impaired speech, poor telephone connections, poor hearing and eye sight, environmental noises, other people talking in the background, etc.) will “interfere with the transmission and understanding of a message as noise affects all connections of the communication process” (Kinicki & Kreitner, 2009, p. 300, para. 8). During the course of sending and receiving messages accuracy is very important; otherwise barriers such as noise will cause miscommunications. Although, some barriers are part of the communication process, the message will fail to get across to the receiver if any step in the communication process is obstructed. The main factors “that are likely to influence communication effectiveness are: personal barriers (e.g. variable skills in communicating