Importance of Communication

Communication

The basic building block to all human interaction and relationships is communication. The basic purpose of communication is to inform, educate and entertain people. Communication is easily overlooked, but the ability to communicate effectively is necessary to carry out the thoughts and visions of an organization to the people. Without communication, there is no way to express thoughts, ideas and feelings.
The word communication has originated from a Latin word “Communes” which means ‘something common’ or ‘to share’ or ‘to participate’. Therefore, when we communicate, we are indeed trying to establish commonness of thoughts or feelings with other individuals. In other words, communication is a process of sharing, ideas, words, attitudes and information through the exchange of thoughts, messages, or information, as by speech, visuals, signals, writing, or behaviour with someone. The dictionaries say that communication is the transmission of a message or information by speaking or writing. Another dictionary declares that communication is giving or exchanging information, signals, messages by talk or gestures or writing. Yet another definition says that communication is social intercourse. Communication is all this and much more.
Definitions
Different scholars have defined communication differently. However, some of the acceptable definitions are: * Communication is the process in which the message moves from source to destination. * The process of transmitting means between two individuals. * Communication occurs whenever information is passed from one place to another. * Communication is the tool that makes society possible and distinguishes it from other societies. * Webster’s dictionary defines “Communication as a process by which information is exchanged between individuals through a common system of symbols, signs; or behaviour, also techniques for expressing ideas effectively in a speech or writing.
Communication is generally defined as: 1. ” Communication is transfer of information from one person to another, whether or not it elicits confidence. But the information transferred must be understandable to the receiver – G.G. Brown. 2. “Communication is the intercourse by words, letters or messages”- Fred G. Meyer.
We can now proceed to define communication from what we have seen above. A good definition should not only give the precise meaning but also throw light on the scope of the word / expression. 3. Two-way process of reaching mutual understanding, in which participants not only exchange (encode-decode) information but also create and share meaning. 4. “Any act by which one person gives to or receives from another person information about that person’s needs desires, perceptions, knowledge, or affective states. Communication may be intentional or unintentional, may involve conventional or unconventional signals, may take linguistic or non-linguistic forms, and may occur through spoken or other modes.”
What is communication?
Communication takes place when we are supposedly at the same level of understanding and comprehension as other interlocutors. Communication is therefore not what is said whether verbally or non-verbally, but what is understood. Understanding is influenced by perceptions and perceptions evolved over a period of time and colour our understanding. We all have personal perceptions, and therefore understanding would need a conscious and deliberate effort by us and cannot be left to chance, expecting it to happen by itself. Communication is the ex-change of a message between two or more people. Every one communicates in many different ways and for many different reasons. Communication can be expressive or receptive. Children who are deaf-blind may never learn to talk. How ever, they can express them selves to you. They can receive the messages you send them. Through communication, children can make changes in their world. They can ex press their wants and needs. They can make choices. Through communication, you can teach your child to play, to learn about the world, to inter act with you, to do daily tasks, and to work.
The Communication Process The communication process involves a sender or communication source, the subject matter of communication, expressions used for communicating (encoding), the medium of communication, receiver(s) of the communication and the interpretation thereof (decoding) and feedback. This can be diagrammatically represented as follows:- SENDER >> MESSAGE >> ENCODING >> | DECODING