Introduction to Group Communication

Group communication is an extension of interpersonal communication where more than two individuals are involved in exchange of ideas, skills and interests. A group is a number of people with a common goal who interact with one another to accomplish their goals, recognize one another’s existence and see themselves as part of the group. Groups provide an opportunity for people to come together to discuss and exchange views of common interest. There could be many different groups for as many different reasons. For instance, casually formed groups with friends over a drink, coffee break, games, dances or religious gatherings have a different purpose than that of groups attending a meeting or seminar to help fight AIDS or interacting with committee members to draft a proposal. Communication in a group, small or big, serves many goals including collective decision-making, self-expression, increasing one’s effect, elevating one’s status and relaxation. Group communication is Continue reading

Process of Communication – Communication Process

The most basic form of communication is a process in which two or more persons attempt to consciously or unconsciously influence each other through the use of symbols or words to satisfy their respective needs.  The communication process is dynamic, continuous, irreversible, and contextual. It is not possible to participate in any element of the communication process without acknowledging the existence and functioning of the other elements. The communication process goes through several phases. Here is a description of those phases. 1. The Sender has an Idea Difficult to think of someone “trying to make common,” to communicate, if that person has nothing to share. Yet, thinking of the sender as needing to have an idea in order to start the communication process is misleading since everything people do and everything people are communicates something to others. The intent of this phase is to start the process at a time Continue reading

Priestley’s Paradox – Impact of Technology on Communication

Communication is an essential part of everyday life. There are many things which have effect on communication, technology having a very large effect. Through the increase of communication technology, there has been a decrease in the quality of effective communication. While considering the theory of Priestley’s Paradox, the lack of interpersonal communication in new forms of technology have significantly affected the quality of communication. Modern technologies decrease the quality of communications through the lack of verbal and non-verbal feedback, the distortion of messages and also the unequal access to forms of these technologies. Verbal and non-verbal elements of interpersonal communication have effectively declined due to technology. The most impacted area of communication in society today is interpersonal communication. Interpersonal communication is referenced as communication between two or more people which try to create and understand meaning. Throughout interpersonal communication there can be noise. Noise is anything which can distort or Continue reading

The process of Intrapersonal communication

Intrapersonal communication starts with a stimulus. Our intrapersonal communication is the reaction to certain actions or stimuli. These stimuli could be internal, originating from within us, or external, coming from an outside source. These stimuli are picked up by the sensory organs (PNS) and then sent to the brain. This process is called reception. The sense organs pick-up a stimulus and send it to the central nervous system through the peripheral nervous system. While we receive all stimuli directed to us, we pay attention to only a few. This is because we practice selective perception. Only high ‘intensity’ stimuli like loud sounds, bright colors, sharp smells, etc. are perceived and the low intensity stimuli are over looked. The next step is processing of the stimuli. It occurs at three levels. These levels are cognitive, emotional and physiological. Cognitive processing (thinking) is associated with the intellectual self and includes the storage, Continue reading

Intrapersonal Communication – The Johari Window Model

Intrapersonal Communication is the most basic of the communication contexts or levels. It occurs when an individual sends and receives messages internally. We spend most of our time thinking. And our thought process is nothing but intrapersonal communication where one person is sending messages and the same person receives them. Here we use the central nervous system (CNS) and peripheral nervous system (PNS) for generation, transmission and receiving of messages. We react to both external and internal stimuli this way. In addition to our thought process, many times we also talk aloud with ourselves. Intrapersonal communication involves our intellect as well as our physical and emotional sensations. The way we communicate with ourselves reflects the various aspects the self-physical, emotional, intellectual and social. It also reflects our habits, roles, attitudes, beliefs and values. Intrapersonal communication is not just a level of communication; it is in fact the very basis of Continue reading

Seven C’s of Effective Communication

Seven C’s of Effective Communication(with respect to written communication) Written communication occupies an important position in the communication sphere, so written communication has to pay adequate attention on certain principles of necessity. The essentials of every written communication are principles of unity, coherence and emphasis. These principles along with other essentials of effective communication, like language, planning and organization make the written communication effective. Clarity: The writing should be correctly planned and expressed in a logical way,and the writer should make sure that the ideas flow smoothly from beginning to end. The message must be so clear that even the dullest man in the world should readily understand it. The communicator must be very clear about all the aspects of the idea in his mind and about the purpose for which it is to be communicated. Next to it, he must be clear about the selection, suitability and usage of Continue reading