Page 391 - Effective Communication Soft Skills Strategies For Success by Nitin Bhatnagar, Mamta Bhatnagar

Model Question Papers | 379

identify three problems in the study of communication. These are: level A- technical
problems- how accurately can symbols of communication be transmitted? Level
B-semantic problems- how precisely do the transmitted symbols convey the desired
meaning? Level C- effectiveness problems- how effectively does the received meaning
affect conduct in the desired way? A-level problems are the simplest to understand and
these are the ones the model was originally developed to explain. Level B problems are
easy to identify but hard to solve. Level C problems may at first sight seem to imply that
Shannon and Weaver see communication as manipulation.

Section – c
8. Communication is the lifeblood of any institute/organization. It includes the structure
through which messages pass and the way information is presented, as well as the actual
content of the messages themselves. Whether you are speaking or writing, listening or
reading, communication is more than a single act. It is a dynamic, transactional (two-way)
process that can be broken into six phases:
The sender has an idea: You conceive an idea and want to share it.
The sender transforms the idea into a message: When you put your idea into a message
that your receiver will understand, you are encoding, deciding on the message’s from (word,
facial expression, gesture), length, organization, tone and style, all of which depend on your
idea, your audience, and your personal style or mood.
The sender transmits the message: To physically transmit your message to your
receiver, you select a communication channel (verbal or nonverbal, spoken or written)
and medium (telephone, computer, letter, memo, report, face-to-face exchange, and so
on). The channel and medium you choose depend on your message, the location of your
audience, your need for speed, and the formality of the situation.
The receiver gets the message: For communication to occur, your receiver must first
get the message. If you send a letter, your receiver has to read it before understanding it. If
you are giving a speech, the people in your audience have to be able to hear you, and they
have to be paying attention.
The receiver interprets the message: Your receiver must cooperate by decoding your
message, absorbing and understanding it. Then the decoded message has to be stored
in the receiver’s mind. If all goes well, the message is interpreted correctly; that is, the
receiver assigns the same basic meaning to the words as you intended and responds in the
desired way.
The receiver reacts and sends feedback to the sender: Feedback is your receiver’s
response, the final link in the communication chain. After getting the message, your
receiver responds in some way and signals that response to you. Feedback is the key ele-
ment in the communication process because it enables you to evaluate the effectiveness
of your message. If your audience doesn’t understand what you mean, you can tell by the
response and refine your message.

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