The Communication Process

Communication is a process where we share our feelings, thoughts, experience, ideas, suggestions, feedback etc. So before communicating with other person we usually think of how to speak, what to speak, when to speak, which channel I should adopt to communicate, how can I make it effective, how to respond to the feedbacks etc.

So process of communication is need not be same i.e. it’s not necessary to follow any persons definitions or explanation. It can be explained on the basis of our knowledge and belief. In process of communication receiver, message, sender, feedback etc are some of the important elements which has their own role and meaning.

In a process of communication there are some elements which make the communication easier and systematic. For example: according to Herald D. Lasswell there are five elements or components of communication such as source, message, channel, receiver and effect.

This whole process can be depicted through the following diagram.

The Communication Process

A simple communication process model can be described as consisting of the following steps:

1. Sender’s thoughts/ idea: The very first step in the process of communication is generation of thought in the sender’s mind. These thoughts may be about a request, order, inquiry production or any other such activity.
2. Encoding: In this step the ideas to be conveyed are encoded into series of symbols or gestures, or some other format of expression.
3. The message: The message is a physical form of die thought which can be experienced and understood by one or more senses of the receiver. It would be in the form of hearing, or other physical gestures.
4. Media/ Channel of communication: The media/ channel bridges the gap between the sender and the receiver. Once a thought is converted into message, it should be transmitted to the receiver through a suitable medium. This media might be electronic media as T.V., E-mail, radio etc. or it may be print media like newspaper, magazines, letters or merely sound that is transmitted through the medium of air.
5. Perception of the message: The message is received by the person for whom it was meant and he becomes the receiver of the message.
6. Noise and Barriers: While transmitting the information to the receiver, the sender faces lots of barriers. These noise and barriers are explained as under:
   i. On sender’s side: Noise and barriers may take place during the process of encoding. Some of them may be caused by distraction, lack of concentration, typing mistake, poor language etc.
   ii. In the medium: Some barriers are caused by medium such as poor transmission on T.V. and radio misprinting in newspapers etc.
   iii. On receiver’s side: The receiver can also create certain barriers to the receiving of message such as poor reading ability, emotions, lack of concentration etc.
7. Decoding process: Having received the message from the sender, the receiver attempts to understand and interpret the message. This process of converting the language of message into thoughts is known as decoding. For instance, the receiver, having received job application, reads the application and understands the message conveyed by the applicant.
8. Idea Received: As soon as the process of decoding is finished, the idea given by the sender is received by the receiver. It means the thought that was generated in the mind of sender has been transmitted to the mind of receiver. In our example, the sender wanted to inform the receiver about his thought of having a job. Now the sender has got this idea.
9. Feedback: Process of communication is incomplete until the receiver responds to the sender. This response may be negative, positive, or for further enquiry. A feedback determines whether the message was clearly understood and the required action taken. The feedback to the sender completes the process of communication.

Conclusion: In order to conclude on my topic process of communication, it includes certain steps to convey the message from sender to receiver. The message should convey to the receiver to complete the communication process and it should be understand by the receiver. The process of communication becomes effective when it gives some positive effect. In today’s world the process of communication reached every corner of the world. Technology plays an important role in the success of process of communication. It makes the process of communication very simple and faster. It also helps to avoid barrier to communication by giving several option of channels and media to convey the message.