Unit 5
Dimensions of Oral Communication and Voice Dynamics
Leadership can be defined as the art of motivating a group of people to act toward achieving a common goal. In a professional setting, this can mean directing workers and colleagues with a strategy to meet the company's needs.
Leadership encapsulates the essential elements of being able and prepared to inspire others. Effective leadership is based upon ideas—both original and borrowed—that are effectively communicated to others in a way that engages them enough to act as the leader wants them to act.
A leader inspires others to act while simultaneously directing the way that they act. They must be personable enough for others to follow their orders, and they must have the critical thinking skills to know the best way to use the resources at an organization's disposal.
In a business organisation or a professional setting, leadership refers to performance, and any leadership definition has to take that into account. Therefore, while leadership isn't intrinsically linked to profit, those who are viewed as effective leaders in corporate contexts are the ones who increase their company's bottom line.
While there are individuals who seem to be naturally blessed with more leadership abilities than others, anyone can learn to become a leader by improving particular skills. History is full of people who, while having no previous leadership experience, have stepped to the fore in crises and persuaded others to follow their suggested course of action. They were equipped with traits and qualities that helped them to step into roles of leadership.
Characteristics of Leadership
Below are the fundamental leadership characteristics:
2. What do you mean by competence? What are its types?
Competency could be described as a concept that provides an indication to the employee about the areas and levels of performance that he would be expected to do. It is sort of a map that shows the employee the type of behaviour that will be valued, recognized, and in some organizations, rewarded as well.
Competency is a cluster of related knowledge, skill, and attitude that affects a significant section of one’s job (a role or responsibility), and correlates with performance on the work. It may be measured against accepted standards, and can be improved through training and development.
Competency is the behaviour that employees must have or acquire as input for a situation in order to achieve high levels of performance, whereas competence relates to a system of minimum standards of a company or is demonstrated by its performance and outputs.
Below are some common types of competencies:
3. Describe the five elements of empathy.
Empathy is may be described as the awareness of the emotions and feelings of people. It is a key element of Emotional Intelligence, the link between self and others, because it's how we as individuals understand what others are experiencing as if we were feeling it ourselves.
Empathy goes far beyond sympathy, which could be considered ‘feeling for’ someone. Empathy, instead, is ‘feeling with’ that person, through the utilization of imagination.
Elements of Empathy
Daniel Goleman identified five key elements of empathy. They include:
2. Developing Others: Developing others means functioning on their needs and concerns, and helping them to develop to their full potential.
3. Having a Service Orientation: Primarily aimed toward work situations, having a service orientation means putting the requirements of consumers first and searching for methods to improve their satisfaction and loyalty.
4. Leveraging Diversity: Leveraging diversity means having the ability to create and develop opportunities through different types of people, recognising and celebrating that we all bring something different to the table.
5. Political Awareness: many of us view ‘political’ skills as manipulative, but in its best sense, ‘political’ means sensing and responding to a group’s emotional undercurrents and power relationships.
4. Define Considerateness.
Consideration is another important feature essential for business communication. Considerate communication consists of being positive, caring, understanding, and firm.
In business, cordial relationships have to be maintained overcoming obstacles that are incidentally or deliberately caused. Understanding the other person, his views and mental attitude is important to make your communication have the quality of consideration. In an oral communication Situation, at a face-to-face meeting, one is expected to cultivate an empathizing response. Enquiring, advising responses are not good to promote cordiality. This factor of empathy needs to be incorporated in written communication also.
5. How are speech and personality interrelated? Give some tips for personality and speech development.
Speech and personality development are one of the foremost important aspects of a person especially during his/her early life. Developing and enhancing communication and speaking skills help one in better expressing their ideas. At the same time, personality development may be a means and a technique that helps us to develop our persona in a way that helps us become better, smarter and brighter individuals. In today's cut throat world, personalities that are attractive, intelligent, smart and witty are often given priority. This cannot be achieved overnight. One must work towards one’s personality so that one can become more acceptable in society so that one can fulfil our need of being wanted by our near and dear ones.
Each and every individual in our society incorporates a distinct personality. This personality must be enhanced and groomed with the assistance of speech and personality development. There are many workshops, courses and classes that are available for developing one’s personality and improving one’s speech. While one can join the same, it's important to know that the results might not be immediate. One can keep the subsequent tips in mind which may help one to develop his/her speech or his/her communication skills and/or personality:
2. In case there are certain words that one doesn't know how to pronounce, take help of the internet and learn the pronunciation of these words.
3. One also can learn a new language to develop your speech and successively give powerful speeches.
4. If you're in a college, participate in debates and elocution competitions. Take help from your seniors.
5. To develop your personality, you must to first develop your inner self and then focus on your outer self. This means that one must first develop one’s mind and soul and then work on your physical appearance. To do this, one can try yoga and meditation in order to achieve inner peace is achieved. Think positive and be cheerful and this may automatically reflect on your outer self.
6. Bring about some change in your outer appearance like getting a brand-new haircut, changing one’s wardrobe, eating right to induce that glow on your skin and keep smiling during conversations. No one wants to engage with a dull and a negative person. A joyful and a positive person will always be welcomed everywhere.
These things may not be a section of your educational curriculum but they're equally important because in today’s competitive scenario, your first impression is usually your last impression and to make that first impression you must to dress right and talk right and hence the necessity for speech and personality development. So, the next time you opt for an interview or perhaps casually meet your friends, remember to keep the above-mentioned tips in mind.
6. What are the different purposes of giving speeches/ public speaking/ oral communication?
The purposes of oral communication can differ depending upon the situation and context. However, they can be classified into three broad categories that include:
The primary general purpose for giving speeches is to inform the audience regarding an idea, product, service or a new concept. In other words, informative communication may be about helping audience members acquire information that they do not already possess. Listeners can then use this acquired data to comprehend something (e.g., speech on a new technology, speech on a new virus) or to perform a new task or learn a new skill (e.g., how to swing a golf club, how to assemble a layer cake). The most important characteristic of an informative speech is to provide knowledge to the audience. Here, it is important to note that the goal isn't to encourage people to use that knowledge in any specific way. When a speaker starts encouraging people to use knowledge in a specific way, the format of speech turns from informative to persuasive. Informative speeches typically deal with objects, people, events, concepts, processes, or issues.
2. To Persuade
The secondary purpose of oral communication to persuade. When a speaker speaks to persuade, they encourage the listeners to embrace a point of view or to adopt a behaviour that they would not have done otherwise. A persuasive speech is different from an informative speech in the way that it includes a call for action for the audience to make some change in their behaviour or thinking.
3. To Entertain
The final purpose people can have for oral presentation is to entertain. Whereas informative and persuasive speech making is targeted on the end product of the speech process, entertainment speaking is concentrated on the theme and occasion of the speech. An entertaining speech may be either informative or persuasive at its root, but the context or theme of the speech requires speakers to consider the speech primarily in terms of audience enjoyment. Entertainment speeches can be after-dinner, ceremonial, or inspirational.
7. Give a few techniques for speaking purposefully and passionately.
The way you deliver a message is vital when speaking publicly. While the content of your speech may be perfect, the audience needs to be able to both hear and understand the purpose of your speech. Below are some techniques to speak with a purpose and get your message across efficiently:
2. Speak more slowly than you'd in normal conversation to make sure your words are heard clearly. Be careful to articulate your words.
3. Include occasional pauses to provide the audience a moment to consider what you’ve just said. A pause may be especially useful right after you’ve made a point, explained something or asked a question. (Example: Pause for a moment after asking, “What kind of leader do you think you are?”)
4. Work on your tone of voice. Speak loudly enough for the group to hear. Use varying pitch to draw the audience in instead of a monotone voice. Listen to public speakers you admire or popular TED talks to listen to samples of engaging voice modulation.
8. What are the main advantages of fluent speech?
The most effective way to communicate is through the medium of speech. Thus, spoken language is a vitally important method of communication.
The four language skills include listening, speaking, reading, and writing which are all equally important and interconnected. Proficiency in each skill is an essential requirement to become a well-rounded communicator, but the capability to speak in a language skilfully, provides the speaker with several distinct advantages. The capacity articulate words together in an exceedingly meaningful way to reflect thoughts, opinions, and feelings provides the speaker with these important advantages:
Ability to inform, persuade, and direct. Business managers, educators, military leaders, lawyers, and politicians, among others, look for master communicators who have a certain command over the spoken language. Speaking clearly and confidently can gain the eye of an audience, providing the golden opportunity for the speaker to make the message known. An effective speaker gains and holds the attention of an audience, with well-chosen words during a well-delivered presentation, forming a message that's effective, informative, and understood.
Ability to stand out from the rest. When one thinks of speaking skills, one tends to consider it as a standard skill. The ability to stand before others and speak effectively isn't a commonly possessed ability. Many people are deathly terrified of public speaking; others have little ability to formulate thoughts into sentences and then deliver those words in a believable way. At any given moment the globe has precious few with the speaking talents of, say, Churchill or John F. Kennedy. A speaker whose skills are honed and developed with constant application and diligence can stand out.
Ability to benefit derivatively. Well-developed verbal skills can increase one’s negotiation skills. Self-confidence is improved. A growing sense of comfort comes from speaking in front of larger and bigger audiences. A reputation for excellence in speaking can accrue over time, thereby imparting a definite credibility to the speaker.
Career enhancement. Employers have always valued the power to talk well. It is, and always will be, a vital skill, and well worth the effort in fully developing.
Personal satisfaction. Speakers who have experienced a connection with an appreciative audience through a well-composed and well-delivered presentation often find a deep level of fulfilment that's seldom achieved in other forms of communication. The normal sense of nervous tension can give way to feelings of accomplishment and exuberance when an audience expresses its outward appreciation to a speaker. It’s a reward, of sorts, for all the toil and preparation that goes into honing your skills.
Spoken language is important for career success, but under no circumstances limited to one’s professional aspirations. Spoken language can enhance one’s personal life and thereby bring forth the well-rounded growth that one must always all seek.
9. Provide some techniques for improving fluency in speech.
Below are some guidelines for improving flow of speech:
Watching other efficient speakers is a good way to learn and practice but everybody is different. That means that there aren't any rules for what makes an efficient orator. Part of being an authentic orator is knowing the way to be yourself when underneath the spotlight. Acting like yourself instead of trying to imitate somebody else allows you to behave more organically, which may be a boon when attempting to connect with an audience.
2. Knowing the Purpose of Speaking:
One should always know whether they want to influence, educate or inspire the audience and depending upon that one should decide how to formulate their speech.
3. Expanding Knowledge Base and Vocabulary:
Reading about various topics is a great way to expand one’s horizons. ‘Always keep learning’ should be the motto of every speaker. The speaker should be updated with current affairs and should have a vast vocabulary to incorporate within his speeches.
4. Playing to One’s Strengths:
Some people are good at storytelling others are good at using information to influence people. One should find out his strengths and practice them time and time again. The most efficient speakers are ready to effectively identify their strengths and use those strengths as tools to make a presence that's authentic and relatable.
5. Improvisation:
While speaking it is rare that things go exactly as planned. Therefore, one should practice how to improvise when he fumbles or goes blank. Sometimes a listener may ask a question that the speaker is not prepared to answer or the speaker may simply forget one of their points, in situations like these, improvisation helps to get back on track and prevents the audience from losing interest.
6. Audience is the Center
The speaker is not the focus of the event, the audience is. All good orates cares more about the audience than themselves. This can be difficult if one has speech anxiety, which tends to fill them with bursts of anxiety and self-consciousness. However, focusing fully on the audience lifts a tremendous burden from your shoulders in terms of worrying about your performance.
One should practice taking the audience’s reactions into notice.
7. Using Body Language and Gestures:
Body language and gestures say as much as the words themselves. One should practice employing gestures as much as possible while speaking. Smiling and being active in general is useful for keeping the attention of the audience on the speaker.
8. Recording and Reviewing:
One of the most effective speaking practice techniques is to record oneself while speaking, preferably video recording. Although few people like their own voice, the audience’s viewpoint is more important. Are you gesturing with your hands too much? Is the intro too long? Should you include a story in the middle, so you hold the audience’s attention? All of these questions are important to answer, and it can be easiest to do so by seeing yourself.
9. Practicing in front of Friends and Family:
Asking family or friends to be practice audience members is a good way to know where one is going right or going wrong. In most cases, these two groups of people know you better than anyone else in your life. That means that, although you may not want to hear it, they know your bad habits better than anyone.
In addition to your bad habits, your family and friends will also be able to tell you if you don’t quite sound like yourself.
10. What is intonation? Describe what is meant by the falling and rising tones.
Falling intonation
A falling intonation is a type of tone where the voice falls on the last syllable of the last word. This intonation is typically employed in –wh questions- what, where, when, why, and how.
Examples:
In addition, falling intonation is also used if one wants to emphasize things or they want to be definite or clear with their words or intentions.
Examples:
Rising Intonation
The rising intonations can be placed at the end or at the last syllable of the word in a sentence. Yes- no questions use rising intonation.
Examples:
Fall-rise Intonation
Fall-rise intonation is the combination of the two prior intonations- falling and rising intonations. The fall-rise intonation how the speaker’s voice falls and then rises at the same time in the same sentence. Fall-rise intonation is used if one is indefinite or not sure with their words or ideas presented.
Examples:
We also utilize fall-rise intonation if we are doing questions that intend to ask permission, request, or an invitation to someone. Fall-rise intonation sounds politer than using falling intonation or rising intonation.
Examples:
11. What are the main functions of tone/intonation?
Here are some of the most important uses of intonation:
2. Accentual Function: Intonation carries an accentual function which means it can be used to emphasize or draw attention to certain words. This occurs when we introduce new information, contrast two ideas, or clarify our meaning.
3. Attitudinal or Emotional Function: Intonation is useful for expressing attitudes and emotions, which means it conveys additional information about the speaker’s mood, feelings, emotions, or attitude. This type of information which is acquired from intonation could be about the speaker’s general attitude, their emotions about what they’re saying, or their feelings towards the listener. To interpret this type of intonation, it’s important to pay attention to other contextual clues.
4. Discourse Function: Discourse function of intonation means it signals how ideas go together in speech. For instance, we use stress and intonation to signal thoughts, or how we break our speech into smaller, more digestible parts.
5. Psychological Function: The psychological function of intonation makes ideas easier to understand, memorize, and say. You can hear this use of intonation in how we say lists and series, open- and closed-choice questions, large numbers, and phone numbers.
6. Conversation Management: Intonation is used for conversation management, which means it helps facilitate the flow of conversation by signalling whose turn it is to speak. Some examples are how we use a steep drop to signal that a thought is complete, or how we maintain a slight or a steep rise in order to signal that we’re not done speaking yet.
7. Indexical Function: Indexical function of intonation means it signals our personal or social identity. People from certain regions may use uptalk or more or less pitch variation to signal where they’re from. This use can also be heard among people of certain specific professions:
12. What is phonetics? Describe its types.
No two persons speak exactly alike and the pronunciations differ greatly depending upon the locality and geography of the speaker. So how should one decide on a model? The English spoken by the native speakers of in south-east England, also known as Received Pronunciation (R.P) is often considered acceptable. Language starts with the ear. Therefore, one must first “hear” English and pay close attention to how different words sound.
Phonetics is a branch of linguistics that deals with the study and classification of how humans make and perceive sounds. In other words, It is the study of the physiological production of speech sounds and how different sounds are used to form syllables, words and sentences.
Phonetics can be classified into three main branches:
Articulatory Phonetics describes how the movement of different vocal organs are used to produce different speech sounds. It deals with the physical aspects of speech production. The organs of speech comprise of the Tongue, Nasal cavity, Lips, Epiglottis, Teeth, Uvula, Soft palate, Vocal chords, Windpipe, and the Pharyngeal Cavity.
2. Acoustic Phonetics
Acoustic Phonetics deal with the acoustic properties of speech sounds. The variations in air pressure while speaking form an essential component of how sounds are made. Speech sounds can be divided into two major classes, the first, sounds that consist of periodic wave form i.e the fluctuations in air pressure are in regular intervals, and the second, sounds that consist of a non-regular wave from,
3. Auditory Phonetics
Auditory Phonetics deal with the study of the variation between what is said by the speaker and what is heard by the receiver. In other words, it is the study of how humans perceive sounds.
Like the English language, Phonetics also consists of consonants and vowels. A consonant is a sound in which there is either a complete or partial obstruction which prevents the air from issuing freely from the mouth. On the other hand, a vowel is a voiced sound in the pronunciation of which the air passes through the mouth in a continuous stream, there being no obstruction such as would produce friction.
13. What are phonemes or speech sounds? Give examples of consonant sounds in English.
Speech sounds, also known as Phonemes, is the smallest recurring sound in a sentence. Merriam Webster defines speech sound as “any one of the smallest recurrent recognizably same constituents of spoken language produced by movement or movement and configuration of a varying number of the organs of speech in an act of ear-directed communication.”
According to the International Phonetic Association, the English language consists of 26 alphabets but there are 44 speech sounds (Phonemes) in the English language consisting of 20 vowel sounds and 24 consonant sounds.
Phonemes (speech sounds) are represented in writing by placing the letters used to represent the sound between two slashes, for example, the sound that you say at the beginning of the word pot is represented by /p/.
Speech Sounds can be classified into three types, viz. Consonants, Vowels and diphthongs.
Consonants:
A consonant is a sound accompanied by voice, in which there is either a complete or partial obstruction which prevents the air from freely issuing from the mouth.
In words such as base, maze, bathe, rouge, bake, path, long the sounds at the end of the words are distinctive. These twenty-four sounds may occur initially, medially and finally.
Consonants are perhaps more important than vowels because even if we pronounce the consonants only, most English words would be easy to understand. Consonant form the bones, the skeleton of English words and give them their basic shape. Moreover, differences of accent are mainly the result of differences in the sound of vowels; if the consonants are imperfect there will be a great risk of misunderstanding.
There are many types of consonants such as Fricatives (s,z,f,v), Plosives (stop) consonants (p and b; t and d; k and g). Nasal (m,n), Lateral and Gliding consonants.
Below are all the consonants comprised in the English phonetic script by the International Phonetics Alphabet (IPA)
Unvoiced consonants
p f θ t s ʃ ʧ k
pea free thing tree see sheep cheese coin
Voiced consonants
b v ð d z ʒ ʤ g
boat video this dog zoo television joke go
m n ŋ h w l r j
mouse now thing hope we love run you
14. Define vowel sounds in English. Give their IPA symbols.
In ordinary speech, a vowel is a voiced sound in the pronunciation of which the air passes through the mouth in a continuous stream, there being no obstruction and no narrowing such as would produce audible friction. All English vowels are voiced. Vowels like consonants can also occur initially or finally.
The following list consists of some words with vowel speech sounds:
Feel, fill, tall, bull, fool, mile, bat, toil, cart, pear, poor, butter, pier.
The qualities of vowels depend upon the position of the tongue and lips. It is convenient to classify them according to the position of the main part of the tongue. The position of the tip has no great effect on vowel quality. The tip of the tongue is supposed to be touching or near the lower teeth.
Below are the vowels comprised in the English Phonetic script by the International Phonetics Alphabet (IPA)
ɪ i: ʊ u:
ship sheep book shoot
e ɜ: ə ɔ:
left her teacher door
æ ʌ ɒ ɑ:
hat up on far
15. What are syllables? Give a few techniques for syllable identification in words.
A syllable can be defined as a single or unbroken sound of a written or spoken word. It is a unit of uninterrupted speech which must contain a vowel sound a diphthong or a syllabic consonant. They are also known as beats of a spoken language.
Syllables often contain a vowel with a singular or multiple consonant but that does not mean that there are no syllables without vowels. Some syllables contain only consonants but they do have a verbal sound in them.
A word can be monosyllabic as well as polysyllabic. Monosyllabic meaning it will consist only one syllable for example the words dog, bat, try, shy, kill, heel etc. While polysyllabic words might contain two or more than two syllables, for example, computer (comp-u-ter), relax (re-lax), independent (in-de-pen-dent), extra (ex-tra), document (do-cu-ment).
Syllabus are not to be confused with phonemes as phonemes represent the smallest unit of sound whereas syllables represent and unbroken sound within the word. For example, the word chat is made up of three phonemes /ch/ /a/ and /t/, however it contains only one syllable – chat.
There are a few basic rules to determine the number of syllables in a word, they are as follows –
Examples: Pre-view, End-less, Il-literate
2. If there are two or more consonants next to each other there is always a division between the first and second consonant.
Examples: Buf-fet, Des-sert, Ob-ject.
However, if the two consonants produce a single sound they are not to be divided.
Examples: th, sh, ph, ch, sc.
3. If a consonant is surrounded on either side buy a vowel –
Examples: Ba-by. Re-sult, Fro-zen
b. If the Vowel has a short sound, it has to be divided after the consonant.
Examples: Mo-del, Ra-vage, Me-tal
4. Words that end with ‘ckle’ have to be divided right before the ‘le’
Examples: Freck-le, Tick-le, Buck-le
5. Word that end with ‘le’ without the ‘ck’ –
Examples: Ap-ple, Fa-ble, Ta-ble
b. If the letter before ‘le’ is a vowel, it should be considered as a single syllable.
Understanding the use of syllables is very essential to improve one’s skill while speaking. Syllabic structure in spoken English is quite flexible, for example a single vowel can be considered a whole syllabus like in the word Unequal (Un-e-qual).
16. What are some significant challenges associated with English pronunciation?
What is meant by perfect English pronunciation? There can be no perfect pronunciation of the English language considering the universal reach it possesses. No two persons speak exactly alike and the pronunciations differ greatly depending upon the locality and geography of the speaker. So how should one decide on a model? The English spoken by the native speakers of in south-east England, also known as Received Pronunciation (R.P) is often considered acceptable. Language starts with the ear. Therefore, one must first “hear” English and pay close attention to how different words sound.
There is a great difference in how the words are spelled and the way they are pronounced in the English language. Therefore, it is difficult to ascertain the correct pronunciation of a word by just looking at it the way it is spelled. This often results in mispronunciation. Only by hearing the correct pronunciation from a native speaker one can truly understand how words are supposed to be articulated.
For example, consider the following words – through, cough, though, rough, bough. In these words, the pronunciation of the letters –ough varies with each word.
Similarly read, need, believe, machine, receive, we, people, key, quay contain nine different spellings for the same vowel sound in the word “need”.
Thus, it can be said that there is no one-to-one correspondence between the sounds as they are uttered and the letter or symbol which appears in the written word. Therefore, it is necessary to have some consistent representation of the language so that one can have a clearer understanding of the distinctive sounds which exist in the language. Discrepancies between the pronunciation and ordinary spelling confuse the learner and the result is mispronunciation.
Sometimes one may find that even though a letter appears in a word, it may not be pronounced. These are known as silent letters. For example, in the word Christmas, the letter “t” is never pronounced thus rendering the title of a silent letter. Another example would be the word “muscle” where the letter “c” is silent.
Sometimes there are words in the English language where there is pronunciation of a letter which is nowhere to be found in the word. These letters are called as Non-Silent or invisible letters. This is the opposite of silent letters where a letter is pronounced even though it is not written. For example, the word “one” is pronounced as ‘Wone’, where the sound of the letter ‘w’ can be clearly and distinctly heard.
17. Provide some methods for developing pronunciation ettiquettes.
To develop proficiency in speaking skills, proper attention should tend to pronunciation etiquette.
18. Describe the process of communication with the help of a diagram.
The process of communication can be easily understood from the following flowchart:
The communication process comprises of the following components:
2. Encoding: Since the subject matter of communication is theoretical and intangible, its further passing requires use of certain symbols such as words, actions or pictures etc. Conversion of subject matter into these symbols is the process of encoding.
As language is a code, the encoding process is of vital importance. What the sender wants to covey must be encoded correctly. He must have a good vocabulary and good knowledge of grammar and syntax. Any flaw might distort the meaning of the message he wants to convey.
3. Message: The message comprises of the information that is to be exchanged between the sender and the receiver. The central idea of the message must be clear and should be easily understood by the receiver.
4. Channel: The medium of communication should be chosen with respect to the purpose of the message and the ability of the receiver to comprehend it. Hence, the sender must choose an appropriate medium for transmitting the message. The channel can be oral or written, the use of oral medium is preferred when the message is urgent and requires an immediate response, the written medium is preferred when the message is technical and there is a need for it to be documented.
5. Decoding: The person who receives the message or symbol from the communicator tries to convert the same in such a way so that he may extract its meaning to his complete understanding.
Just as successful encoding is a skill, so is successful decoding. Here the person decoding the message through a particular channel such as a letter, e mail, telephone, etc., must be capable of deciphering or understanding that message. He must have enough knowledge to understand that message.
6. Receiver: The receiver is the individual to whom the message is addressed. The ability of the receiver to decode the message depends on the knowledge of the receiver, the reliance of the encoder, responsiveness of the receiver to the message.
7. Feedback: After the receiver receives the message he tries to decode it, understand it and tried to provide a proper feedback to the sender, who then tries to interpret the feedback.
8. Noise: It is the hindrance in the process of communication. It can take place at any step in the entire process. It reduces the accuracy of communication e.g. 1) Disturbance in the telephone lines, 2) An inattentive receiver 3) Improper Decoding of Message etc.
19. What do you understand by the term ‘encoding’ and ‘decoding’?
Encoding: Since the subject matter of communication is theoretical and intangible, its further passing requires use of certain symbols such as words, actions or pictures etc. Conversion of subject matter into these symbols is the process of encoding.
As language is a code, the encoding process is of vital importance. What the sender wants to covey must be encoded correctly. He must have a good vocabulary and good knowledge of grammar and syntax. Any flaw might distort the meaning of the message he wants to convey.
Decoding: The person who receives the message or symbol from the communicator tries to convert the same in such a way so that he may extract its meaning to his complete understanding.
Just as successful encoding is a skill, so is successful decoding. Here the person decoding the message through a particular channel such as a letter, e mail, telephone, etc., must be capable of deciphering or understanding that message. He must have enough knowledge to understand that message.
20. What is stimulus? How does it fit into the process of communication?
Stimulus and response are the two terms that are frequently utilized in any discussion on the communication process. A ‘stimulus’ is anything that an individual can receive through one of his senses. In fact, it's anything which will produce a sensation. And a ‘response’ or feedback is anything that an individual does as a reaction to the stimulus.
These two terms, stimulus and response, are ultimately connected with the entire learning process. The communication objective of the source is to bring forth a change within the behaviour of the receiver.
Stimulus
All Communications are related to some context. Communication exists in the form of a loop for successful message transfer. At one end of the loop is the sender of a message or information who receives a stimulus to send a message across. This stimulus may be external or internal. There may be an urging from an outside source which is external stimulus. The internal stimulus may be a desire from within the person to send across a message or information. He converts the message into a code. This process is called encoding. The sender is also called the encoder. He chooses the suitable verbal or nonverbal code and puts the message into that code. Then the encoder selects an appropriate medium and transmits the coded message. The sender or encoder chooses the suitable medium depending on several factors like the receiver, the message, its urgency or otherwise. He may choose a non-verbal signal, visual communication, speech, writing or any other available medium to transmit the encoded message. The message gets transmitted to the receiver. The receiver decodes the message and perceives it. Unless the receiver is conscious of the code and is adept in using the medium, he cannot decode it. Misinterpretation may arise even though there's interference within the medium. Feedback refers to the receiver’s response or reaction to the message which the receiver gives the sender. The feedback may again be an indication or an action.
21. Write a short note on response or feedback as an integral part of the communication process.
The communication process incorporates a cycle which continues even after sending message to the respondents. The audience or the respondents may or may not get identical intended message which the speaker intends to send. This cycle ends only if they share their understanding and comments to the speaker about what they need understood. This process is called response or feedback.
Response is crucial in communication as it allows the sender of the message to know whether his message is received by the receiver and if the message is understood by the receiver in the same manner as it was intended by the sender. Receivers are not just passive absorbers of messages, they receive the message and express their opinion on the subject matter about what they have understood. This response of a receiver to sender’s message is termed Feedback. A feedback could also be non-verbal such as in the form of smiles, sighs and body language and other times, it is oral. It may also be in written form such as a replay to an e-mail, etc.
Response also enables us to evaluate the effectiveness of our message. It makes communication meaningful. It is the end-result of a concept and makes communication a continual process. If our audience doesn’t understand what we mean, we are able to tell by the response and so refine the message accordingly. Giving our audience an opportunity to produce feedback is crucial for maintaining an open communication climate. A suitable environment must be created by the speaker to encourage appropriate feedback. For example, after explaining the task to the subordinated he must ask them whether or not they have understood it or not. He should ask questions like “Do you understand?”, “Do you have any doubts?” etc. At the same time, he must allow his subordinated to provide their views also.
From the organizational point of view, response holds a crucial value. There are a number of ways through which company asks for feedback from their employees, such as: Employee surveys, memos, emails, open-door policies, company newsletter etc. Employees are not always willing to provide feedback. The organization needs to work plenty to urge the accurate feedback. The managers must encourage feedback by asking specific questions and allowing their employees to express general views, etc. All business must be receptive to their employee’s response.
Static communication creates a vacuum. The speaker assumes the message is received but has no feedback from the listener. This lack of response means the speaker fails to formulate the message in a way which assists the listener better to understand the speaker’s attitude and position. When businesses fail to form open feedback channels, they operate in a communication vacuum. Management and owners can’t improve their messages to employees, and workers aren’t ready to ask questions regarding operations or make suggestions for business improvement.
22. Define code and conduct in the context of communication.
Communication is the process of transferring information by means of speaking, reading, listening and writing. Although the act of communication is heavily dependent on these four skills, it goes beyond these and also incorporate non-verbal elements such as body language, expressions, sign language, electronically transmitted codes (Morse code etc.) etc. It is both an art and a science.
Although every individual communicates simply by being in the world, learning effective communication skills requires hard work and determination. Developing good verbal and body language skills involves learning and consciously using your skills to improve.
One must be thoroughly familiar with all styles of correspondence in order to facilitate effective communication. The form of communication intrinsically depends upon the purpose and the central idea of the message to be conveyed. For example, it is feasible to acquire information or provide information using a formal phone call or an email whereas while conveying bad news to a particular individual a face-to-face conversation is considered rather apt.
Any human communication system involves the assembly of a message by someone, and also the receipt of that message by some other person. To encode a message, one must possess the required encoding skills.
Languages are codes. A code may be defined as any group of symbols that can be structured in a way that is meaningful to another person. The English language, like every other language, consists of a code—it contains element that are arranged in a meaningful order. A code includes a group of elements (vocabulary) and a collection of procedures for combining these elements meaningfully (syntax).
Next is the message content, i.e., the message that is selected by the source to express its purpose. Content, like codes, has both element and structure. When more than one piece of information is to be presented, they should have some order or structure.
An individual may sometimes be identified by his characteristic way of structuring messages. This is because the individual communicates in a way that is distinctive to him. He uses a particular way or method, which has become his habit by constant use.
Essentially communication involves the sender or the communicator and the receiver. Both should necessarily share a mutually accepted code e.g. a common language. The context in which the communication takes place is called the “communication environment”. The content of the code is sent in a certain medium (oral, written or non-verbal) using channels (air, mikes, body, pictures, text, etc.) in the form of encoded messages. The “code” is not restricted to only language; it may also involve the use of costumes, gestures, colours among other things.
