By
Poongothai Selvarajan
The
world communication is derived from the Latin word communism meaning
"Common". When we communicate with others, we try to establish
commonness with others. We try to share information, an idea or a concept in
our interaction or interface with the other person. Communication is thus a
process of achieving, understanding between people.
In
general all person to person communication has three basic goals.
- To ensure that the receiver understands the communication exactly as the sender intends it to be.
- To generate a response some action or change in the knowledge and behavior of the receiver.
- To help build relationship between people.
All
communication involves flow of information, One way communication informs the
receiver, Two way communication is exchange of information. There is no such
thing as one way communication today it is always a two way process involving
transmission and reaction. A two way communication which goes to create an
understanding is what is important in today's context of communication - one
that establishes and builds lasting relationships between people.
The
personal exchange through words, telephone, fax, e-mail, television, books,
advertising etc. are all examples and means of communication in business. Some
of these are preferred by some people - and some business over others.
However
which of these to be used for is depending on the following three
considerations.
- What is that has to be communicated?
- How many people have to be communicated with?
- What is the cost of the communication?
In
addition to the above three, there is another important consideration -
personal preference of the communicator. Therefore, the communicator's
preference will also be a salient feature in communication channel.
Next
we will see the process of communication. First there must be a sender or
communicator of the message, (This may be a person or an organization). Second
there must be a receiver of the communication, next there must be a media or
vehicle to communicate ( any transmitting media) which carried the information
or message to the receiver, Fourth, there must be the message or information in
an understandable form, If the receiver does not understand the message there
can be no communication.
There
may various problems be occurred in the communication process, First the sender
must use a language (words, symbols, pictures etc), which is easily understood
by the receiver, this may be English or a language like COBOL which only a
computer can read. Problems with language can often make communication
ambiguity.
When
the objective of a communication is clear an up front, the communicator's
credibility is enhanced, Credibility refers to the amount of trustworthiness,
expertness and general likeability and attractiveness that receiver perceives
in a communicator. In communication process the following questions should be
answered:
- Who
- Says what
- One which channel
- To whom
- With what effect.
Irrespective
of whether the communication is from one person to another directly through
word of mouth (speech) or through a medium such as television. The sequence
like communication source - Encoder - Message - Channel - Decoder - feedback.
Should be followed clarity the encoding and decoding process is much more
technical process is much more technical and complex for television messages
than it is for on-to-one personal communication.
There
are various problems involved in communication.
- The technical problem of achieving accuracy in communicating the message.
- The problem of ensuring that the message conveys the desired meaning.
- The problem of ensuring that the received meaning affects behavior in the desired way.
The
above three problems are most important and the following common problems are
usual for every personal communication.
- Noise
- Variation in listening skills
- Variation in language skills
- Cultural differences
- Complexity of subject matters/message
- Time restraints
- Personal biases, hostility or both
- Responding to difficult questions.
If
communication between people in organizations should be used properly, it can
play an important part in ensuring the efficiency and success of any
organization. A variety of methods can be employed, both written and spoken ,
direct and indirect. These need not be very sophisticated or expensive. The mix
of methods will depend mainly on the size and structure of the organization,
with some of the more sophisticated methods likely to be of value in larger
organization.
In
order to be effective, the communication must be :
- Clear, concise and easily understood.
- Presented with objectivity
- In a manageable form to avoid being rejected.
- Regular and systematic
- As relevant, local and timely as possible.
- Open to questions being asked and answered.
Most of the
multi-national companies these for their internal and
external communication. Further higher educational institutions like
Universities and other institutes do their communication through the benefit of
information technology, i.e. e-mail, voice mail etc.
Most of the IT oriented firms using the multimedia services which
offer interactive computer based applications and combine text, graphics audio
and animation features into a media experience for users.
Following
three technical advancements are proving vital part for interactive
communication.
1.
The ability to cheaply translate all audio and
video communications in to compatible digital format.
2.
The ability to transmit large volumes of digital
signals.
3.
Finally new compression and mass data storage
methods.
In
general the development of interactive computer technology will offer users
greater control over what they see,, when they see it and what they do with it.
Since most computer allow two way textual interaction television broadcasts
one-way-images with sound, when they are combined we get the best of both
worlds a two way computer like interactivity with text, graphics and sound.
In
most countries, television and newspapers have always been regarded as way good
avenues for fast distribution of information and news, however each of these
has its own drawbacks and Newspapers are seen to lack the dynamism of video and
film. Television on the other hand is seen as being inherently passive. Users
are unable to change the fixed ordering of the information more are they able
to easily maneuver through the information presented,. In the emerging
environment of multimedia services, the existing media can participate as
content providers, The mass media's worth has always been that it offered its
users the service of packaging its product in a manner that is acceptable and
easily understood.
With
technology changing so fast the fact that work becomes like a playground seems
to be coming true. Manual typewriters are out and have been replaced with PCs.
The ordinary telephone instrument is connected to computer networks, fax,
e-mail and voice mail. Now it is connected with internet.
Most
of the organizations using one or more of the following three computing ways in
communication:
1.
Shared computing
Which
is mostly used in 1970s for timesharing, minicomputer systems allowed hundreds
of dumb terminals to share information and computing services. But the
terminals wee expensive, communications were slow and software anything but
user friendly.
2.
Personal Computing
The
cheap microprocessor based PC brings computing power to people. Open source
software stimulates, a flood of imaginative applications, But the computing was
done only with limited data. Local area networks helped users reach beyond
their desktops, but still only to other users and resources within the
organizations.
3.
Networked Computing
The
internet connecting thousands of computers offers a powerful new computing
platform on which to build brand new computing applications because its
software including a scheme for electronic publishing called world wide web, is
open to all types of computers, The internet is now the center of the computing
universe in many parts of the world.
In
addition to the above, the following communication ways are used in
organizations for different purposes.
- Through the acoustic couple with a lap top computer. Sales representative can easily contact with his superior and inform his sales information then are there.
- Most of the banks are using wide area networks to transact data from one to another in different cities.
- Hotel room reservation systems, air ticketing systems and share market operations are done through electronics communications. For example an investor can watch the prices scrip change on the stock exchange and even set an alarm to warn if the prices have fallen or risen too sharply. And most important of, instant buy and sell order can be placed with selected brokers on the network.
- A busy executive, can on the way to a dinner party, can talk on his cellular phone with international customers and take crucial decisions concerning his export business.
The
applications are endless and there is much excitement over the coming of interactive
on line media in the near future. All these are possibly today because of
electronic writing on land and below the oceans on the one hand and
communication satellites on the other.
Therefore,
whatever type of communication network evolves office staff will need to
communicate with each other as well as with the central computer. Equally there
will continue to be clients and customers in other organizations with whom
communication will take place either via terminal, facsimile, transmitter, telex,
telephone or the like, It is therefore of central importance for such networks
to communicate without delay or complexity Both with other offices within a
single building or site and with other more distant locations, both locally and
globally.
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