Business Communications – Week 1 Lecture

Foundations of Business Communication

‘Communication’ is not simply a word used to indicate people talking and hearing. It is much more complex than that: it is transactional, with “each person serving as both speaker and listener, as simultaneously communicating and receiving messages (Watzlawick, Beavin, & Jackson, 1967; Waltzlawick, 1977, 1978: Barlund, 1970). This means, that in any communication setting, there are several components that influence participants’ ability to arrive at shared meaning, which is the desirable goal of the communication process. After all, a person delivering a message would like the person receiving it, to understand his or her words the same way she or she intended them to be understood. And to receive a message, one must actively listen to it. Hearing is a physiological process. Most of us can’t help but to hear sound. Listening, on the other hand is a choice.

For us to consider the communication process and how it works in our everyday lives, we must think about listener feedback, noise that interferes in accurate message receipt, the channels through which messages are sent and received, and the context surrounding both the actual words of messages and the circumstances in which they are communicated.

Examples of Communication Process Components

Feedback might include nods of approval, confused looks, and utterances of agreement or disapproval.

Noise – There are three primary types of noise: internal, external and semantic. Each can impact all participants in attempts to communicate.

Internal – thinking about something other than the message, like trying to listen to an in-class lecture while thinking about all the tasks you need to get done when you get home from class. This type of noise might also include personal biases, prejudices, emotional states, and day-dreaming – anything going on in the heads of the participants that is not a part of understanding or seeking understanding.

External – Loud heating vents, people talking, someone tapping a pencil or even a poorly written report interfere with message understanding or message delivery.

Semantic – a speaker chooses a word that you understand to be derogatory, such as using the word ‘broad’ when referring to a woman. Or, a medical doctor uses complex terms to explain your illness, and you do not understand his or her message because you cannot understand the terms. In this kind of noise, a speaker’s word choice impacts message receipt.

Each of these types of noise distract from the efficiency of the communication process.

Channel – This refers to exactly how the message was received. Was it delivered face-to-face, email, text or some other method? The method is the channel.

Context - Contexts can be historical, psychological, environmental and social.

Historical - a supervisor discusses an employee’s concerns with him, and tells him he will think about how to best address them. The next day, the supervisor passes the employee in the hallway and tells him, “I know how we will handle it. Stop in and see me this afternoon.” The employee knows exactly what the supervisor is referring to. Those who overhear the exchange do not have enough information to understand the supervisor’s message because they were not present at the original message exchange.

Psychological – The moods and emotions of those involved in the communication event.

Environmental – The physical place in which a message is communicated. Communication environments in include classrooms, office space, sales floors, and factory break rooms, among a wide variety of setting, each with its unique challenges and benefits.

Social – The social group a message is distributed. For example, if we were to explain a decision to return to college as an older adult, we might choose to describe the decision differently when talking to our grandmother who never completed 6th grade, than to our friends or supervisors.

As you can see in the Communication Process Model above, communication of the message is an ongoing, circular event. Because words are merely symbols, we can think about the formation of our message, and the subsequent receipt of our message as message encoding and decoding. We choose those words that have the best chance of being understood by our listeners as we intend them to be meant. Noise and context can cause message interference.