Basic Communication Process

What is communication?
According to Hybel & Weaver (2004, p7) the terms ‘Communication’ which is interact with others to share information and beliefs, exchange ideas and feelings, make plans and solve problems. Sometimes this interaction is done interpersonally, in a team or small group, in a conference and sometimes through the media or via computer. We may say that communication consists of transmitting information from one people to another.

Communication theory is explains the process of transmitting information, the form and structure of the information, the function and effects of the information. The best ways to understand the communication is to look at models of the process which can help us to understand. Within this paper, we will emphasis “A Models of the Basic Communication Process” (Verderber & Verderber, 2008) features whilst compare with other communication theory.

A Model of the Basic Communication Process
A Model of the Basic Communication Process which is expanded from the Liner Model of communication by adding feedback to this model, the essential components of communication includes: Sender, Receivers, Messages, Noise, Channels, Feedback and Context. These components are interactive. When two people are communicating, it describes each component’s movement and interdependence with other components which are constantly in transmission to each other. These components also show that communication is a process, it works together as a system, that interaction and transaction are both possible modes of communication. Now that we can see how these components relate during communication, we will discuss each one separately as follow.

Sender & Receivers
Hybels & Weaver (2004, p.9) stated that in the most communication situations, each people are both a sender and receiver. They have information, ideas and feeling to share with others, this sharing is not a one-way process, when one people send ideas to the other people which is receives the message and the process is reversed. Sender translates the ideas or feelings into words or sounds and sent the message to the receiver that process called encoding. In the other hand, receiver to interpret the messages from the sender, that process called decoding.

Messages
Pearson, Nelson, Titsworth & Harter (2006, p.11) point out that communication messages take many forms which can communicate verbally and nonverbally. The message is a content of the interaction; it includes the symbols for us to use to communicate our ideas, as well as facial expressions, bodily movements etc. Some experts believe that communication stem only from messages that have a purpose. Each message is unique, even if the same message were to be created over and over again, it would be different with each others, although the words might be the same, the messages expressed would be quite different.

Noise
In the communication process, noise interferes with people receiving a message someone is sending or receiving message. The perceptive communicator realizes:
Noise can have both internal and external causes. Internal noise is attributed to the psychological makeup, intellectual ability, or physical condition of communicators. External noise is attributed to the environment. Thus, noise includes distractions such as a loud siren, a disturbing odor, and a hot room; personal factors such as prejudices, daydreaming and feelings of inadequacy; and semantic factors such as uncertainty about what another person’s words are supposed to mean (Gamble 2008, p. 8)

Channels
Refer to Eunson (2005, p.11), Channel is the route by which messages flow between sender and receivers. The communication channels allow us to see people’s facial expression and hear voices via radio or television. Communication rarely take place over one channel, it may be use two, three or four different channels simultaneously. Familiar channels include the different type which is include television, smoke signal, telephones, email, movies, voices, reports and so on.

Feedback
Another component in the communication process is feedback, Devito (2006, p.7) described that the response to a message that a receiver sends back to a sender. Feedback enables a sender to determine whether the communication has been received and understood as intended. Feedback is a natural extension of effective receiving. Receivers have the responsibility of attending to, decoding and determining a message’s intended meaning. Effective of the communication, sender has the ability to understand the feedback and to adjust messages on the basis of that feedback.

Context
The context refers to surrounding in which communication occurs. Verderber & Verderber (2008, p.6) point out that the context includes: Physical Context, Social Context, Historical Context and Psychological Context. Each context have different characteristic:
 Physical context is the location, e.g. the environmental, the distance between communicators, seating arrangements, etc.
 Social Context refers to the status of relationship between the participants.
 Historical context is the background provided by previous communication event between the participants.
 Psychological context includes the moods and ideas of each people bring to the interpersonal experience.
Each context will affect the degree of formality in the communication.

What different with the transmission model of communication?
Summarized Wood (2003, p.17) said, transmission model was an early model of communication, which described it as a linear or one-way process. It also best known model of communication is one devised by Shannon and Weaver (1949). This model is in a simple, easily understood form and a general model that can be applied to most types of communication.

The transmission model of communication consists of the following components: Sender, Receiver, Message, Code, Channel and Noise. In this model, it ignores the important component of the responding Feedback from the receiver. At this point, Wood (2003, p.18) defined that:
Feedback may be verbal, nonverbal, or both and it may be intentional or unintentional. Wilbur Schramm (1955) depicted feedback as a second kind of message in the communication process. Research has confirmed Schramm’s insight that feedback is important. Supervisors report that communication accuracy and on-the-job productivity rise when they encourage their subordinates to give feedback – ask questions, comment on supervisors’ messages, and respond to supervisory communication (Deal & Kennedy, 1999)
Communication relied on the feedback to make the necessary adjustments. Communication is an interactive process which relies on the active participation of both sender and receiver; therefore, the transmission model is not an accurate to reflect the complex nature of communication. It fails to allow explains of meaning which is so important to our success in communicating with each others.

Overview
Hybels & Waeaver (2004 p.28) concluded that everyone needs good communication skills. Communication is ongoing process in which people share ideas and feelings. The communication also is the interdependent process, the essential component of communication include: sender-receivers, messages, noise, channels, feedback and context. Communication plays a important role in all aspects of our lives. So that, effective communication help us to enhances our relationships and allows us to make connections with people from different cultures. Each of the communication process can improve our effectiveness as communicators by applying the guidelines and principles.

~ End ~ Reference List

Devito, J 2006, Human Communication The Basic Course, 10th Edition, Pearson Education Inc., USA
Eunson, B 2005, Communicating in the 21st Century, Wiley, Milton, Queensland
Gamble, M & Gamble, T 2005, Communication Works, 9th Edition, McGraw-Hill, New York.
Hybels, S & Weaver, R 2004, Communicating Effectively, 7th Edition, McGraw-Hill, New York
Pearson, J, Nelson, P, Titsworth, S & Harter, L 2006, Human Communication, 2nd Edition, McGraw-Hill, New York
Wood, J 2003, Communication in Our Live, 3rd Edition, Wadsworth, a division of Thomson Learning, Inc, USA

Verderber, R & Verderber K 2008, Communicate, 12th Edition, Thomson Higher Education, USA