Art of Communication & Its Essence with SGVU’s School of Education

The word communication comes from the Latin word communicare which means to ‘share’, so it means to express our thoughts, feelings, ideas for persuasion or, seeking information through the means of effective channels of communication. We hear the word communication quite frequently, yet not everybody is great at this essential worldly skill. In this article, we will be covering the scientific study around communication, various channels of communications, noise sources in communication, and finally how we can enhance our communication skills.

Human Communication Models

Well, the first human communication began in the Palaeolithic age some 2.6 million years ago (25, 00,000 years ago approx) with the origin of speech. Symbols were developed about 30,000 years ago in the form of cave paintings, rock art in the upper Palaeolithic age. Fast forward 20th century, the major model for communication was introduced by Claude Shannon & Warren Weaver from Bell Laboratories in 1949. This model consists of three parts: sender, channel, and receiver replicating something similar to the telephone/radio technologies.

This was further expanded by David Berlo in 1960 as the first linear model of communication called the SMCR Model of Communication. The sender- message- channel-receiver makes the process simpler and clear however it still doesn’t include feedback. Then was discovered the Interactive Osgood-Schramm model of communication which was the two-way method of communication yet it didn’t include direct and simultaneous feedback.

Finally, the transactional model of communication was discovered in 2008 by Barnlund which included the basic premise where the feedback is to and fro between sender and receiver, and both change their position from being a receiver to ‘sender’ and from being sender to ‘receiver’. This is the most latest model of communication which we see in meetings, presentations, online webinars, classrooms, and among friends/family where the sender (source/encoder) is sending information through a channel (medium) to the receiver (decoder) where constant feedback is taking place between them or the group.

Noise Sources in Communication

It is imperative to understand and remove all kinds of noise sources that interfere and create hindrance in the effective communication between sender and receiver. There are various kinds of noises like semantic noise, cultural noise, environmental noise, physiological noise, psychological noise, organisational noise, and any other noise in a transmission that reduces the quality of the message.

Let’s quickly take you through all of them simultaneously so that you can easily grasp the difference among them. Semantic noise means interpreting different meaning of words like for example in the US the word ‘solicitor’ is often used for salespersons whereas in the UK it is used for lawyers. That is why it is often said that we need to be mindful of the place and people we are speaking with and their language usage. Cultural noise relates to say wishing a Happy Christmas to a non-Christian person resulting in a frown than a smile. Environmental noise can be related to external noise in the room, chatter in the environment, loud honking, construction work noise or any other such noises. This needs to be minimized and effort needs to be made to either move to a better location or minimize the noise effect.

Syntactical noise gets created with mistakes in grammar like a change of past/present tenses and gender-specific pronouns etc. Physiological noise refers to the noise created due to body such as pain in the abdomen, headache, blindness, and also hunger perhaps. Organisational noise is related to poorly managed and unstructured content where it is not clear what the subject is and what is being talked about or as simply unclear directions can’t help in proper decoding of the given location. Lastly, we are left with psychological noise which refers to certain attitudes that make communication difficult like feeling superior, anger, and lack of concentration, sadness or disorders like autism which may significantly effective communication.

How to Enhance Your Communication Skills

Now that you know the importance of communication, different models of communications, sources of noise in reference to communication, we are sure that you are able to understand that it requires becoming an effective communicator. Effective communicators are those who truly wish to communicate with the receiver, and are there to share the information freely without any major subjective judgments, lack of interest or compulsion.

What we are saying here is that you have to become really interested in communicating what you wish to speak/share and help make a difference in your receiver’s life and understanding. The speaker needs to be free from any personal agendas, biases, lack of subject knowledge, overtly proud of the self-knowledge/lack of the self-knowledge, low confidence, and should be genuinely interested in a proper dialogue with the group/individual.

Due importance needs to be given to the medium of communication and whether we are selecting face to face communication, online, chat, email, SMS, letter/mail, video call, webinar, presentation, and whatever the medium, we need to be aware of how to adjust our communication according to the channel. For example, it is important to be a bit more patient within chats, we have to be careful of not asking too many questions before someone even answers the initially asked questions and the right use of smiley at the given scenario and occasion.

We must focus our kind attention to the receiver and how your message will be decoded by them. Attention must be given to their experience, age, keenness, and the message needs to be delivered with compassion, love, and understanding. It is necessary to keep the message appropriate depending upon the situation (a presentation is different from a weekly meeting) and feedback needs to be taken.

The answers need to be delivered so that receiver can find it easy to contemplate the viewpoint better and both should appreciate the whole process without any discomfort. Overcall the key to good communication believes in the power of great communication, use it for good causes, better understanding, knowledge sharing, creating great impact, and helping in one’s own development and organizational growth. As professors, it is not just necessary to deliver the subject, ask questions yet also to inspire, motivate, remove unnecessary doubts, and help scholars became crystal clear with their understandings. Suresh Gyan Vihar University upholds the motto of Enlightenment without Shackles as the ultimate goal of communication/development through education.