Page 43 - Effective group discussion theory and practice by Adams, Katherine H. Brilhart, John K. Galanes, Gloria J

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3. Communication is a transactional process.
This principle follows from the previous two. Transactional implies that participants
in communication must cooperate and negotiate shared meaning and
understanding. If we know that the verbal symbol (i.e., word) excellent has different
connotations to different people, and we want to make sure we understand each
other about our project, then we must work together, communicatively, to determine
what we jointly mean by excellent. In addition, transactional implies that the
sender-receiver roles occur simultaneously, not alternately. While I am describing
what an excellent project means to me, I simultaneously see your frown and guess
that you don’t agree with my description. Thus, communication is both a sender and
receiver phenomenon simultaneously for each person involved in the process. Both
sender and receiver then must negotiate to create mutually understood messages.
Thus, both have to share responsibility for misunderstandings and stay away from
blame games such as “I didn’t misunderstand him, he misunderstood me.” Instead,
they must work together to improve future transactions. The difference between the
linear, back-and-forth view of communication and the simultaneous, transactional
view is depicted in Figure 2.1. Finally, the concept of process implies that
communication is an ongoing event with no clear beginning or end. If we argue
about how excellent our project will be, then the next time we meet, we will carry
the memory of that argument with us. Thus, communication is ever changing, not
Transactional Process static. A transactional process is an ongoing interaction where all the participants
All interactants are mutually responsible for the interaction.
mutually and In our opening story, Lam, Tamika, Ryan, and Kelli believe that Tyler has
simultaneously a problem being “on time.” Note Tamika’s exclamation, “Tyler is so late.” But
define both what does it mean to be late? “Being on time” and “late” are interpretations of
themselves and behavioral events (e.g., they agreed to meet at 2 pm; it is 2:20 and Tyler has not
others during shown up). In this case, the group members are sharing with each other their
communication. own experiences of time and communicating, among other things, their
understanding of responsibility.
4. Communication is not always intentional.
This principle is sometimes stated as the communication axiom “You cannot
NOT communicate,” and not all communication scholars agree with this axiom.
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For example, Infante et al. believe that for an event to “count” as communication,
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the sender must have intended to communicate with the receiver. “You
cannot NOT communicate” was never meant to imply that all behavior is
communication, only that all behavior in a social setting has potential
communicative value. For instance, when two or more humans are in each other’s
perceptual awareness, they cannot stop sending nonverbal signals to each other,
which they pick up, interpret, and respond to. Tyler’s absence from his group
communicates various things to his group. Thus, in a social setting, one probably
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cannot avoid communicating. The way symbols are interpreted may not be the
way they were intended; Tyler may not intend to communicate to his colleagues
that he does not care enough for the business to be on time. Moreover, people do
not always know what they intend and may have multiple intentions for their

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