The success of organizational activities largely depends on the communication process instituted in that organization. Departments within the organization often share information concerning organizational activities or processes. In most instances, effective interaction between departments of an institution or interaction between employees depend on the communication process adopted in the institution. In this sense, communication is a principal element that defines the manner in which the organization would conduct its activities in line with its mission and objective. Likewise, in societal level, people interact by communicating to each other. Effective communication occur when an individual can decode the information he or receives from the sender. Elements such as culture, language, and word choice among others tend to influence the communication process. In this sense, effective communication would occur when the sender of information and the receiver of the information share common attributes. The decoding of information often depends on a number of factors that support the communication process. For instance, the body language or the emotions of the speaker would influence the interpretation that one would give to the information he receives from the speaker (Lohmann and Lohmann 123). Receiver causes the most communication challenges.
Receiver as an element of communication is the person whom the sender intends to influence. Influencing the receiver is challenging because the receiver is affected by features such culture, language, and environment. Within this environment, aspects such as activities or event of the day, time, and place, the emotion of the sender and receiver as well as culture of the target audience would determine the decoding of the information (Lohmann and Lohmann 126). When one is speaking to a political crowd, for example, the choice of words employed by the speaker would dictate whether the crowd would reject the information sent or accept the same. In such a situation, the communication process would be successful when the receiver is successful in placing the message in the right context.
The mood of the receiver would interfere with the interpretation of the information consequently affecting the communication process. For example, when the sender of the information is mourning, the receiver of the information should be able to place the comments of the sender within the context of mourning. Nevertheless, when he or she fails, the message intended by the sender might not be the same. Normally, people tend to place the information they receive within a given context especially within the context of the sender (Prentice Hall India Pvt., Limited 13). Arguably, when the receiver can place the information within the context of the sender, he or she would give an interpretation that would rhyme with the sender. For example, a politician may use memorable political quote of a renowned politician to stress his arguments. However, when the audience fail to place the quote in the right context, then communication between the politician and the audience would unsuccessful.
The challenge created by the receiver is evident in the way people of varied cultural background would interpret a given statement. For example, the American’s are comfortable when they seeker finer details about a given topic. On the other hand, the Japanese would accept the instructions from their seniors without necessarily asking for finer details from the speaker. The context in which the speaker is making a given statement is useful in interpreting the right meaning of a given phrase. In most cases, people or readers face the challenge of placing a given phrase in the context of the speaker. When receiver fails to do this, the resultant interpretation would be different from what speaker intended to pass.
The environment of the receiver would affect the interpretation of a given statement in relation to time. When one is a statement concerning a given period, the decoding of such information should reflect the time at which speaker made the statement. Failure to identify the time in which the speaker made the statement would alter the meaning of the statement. For example, when one say he will be going tomorrow. This statement has some relation with time.
Thus, the receiver should recognize the time and its influence when decoding the information. If the receiver does not recognize time, he will make a wrong interpretation of the statement. In this sense, interpretation of a statement within the context of time is essential in giving the right meaning to the statement. Nevertheless, many people fail to identify this aspect an aspect that complicates passing of simple information from the speaker to the receiver. Additionally, when one is reporting such information he has to struggle to place such information in the context of time to give a sensible meaning.
Channel of messages is the easiest element of communication that one can easily control. Normally, the encoder takes the trouble to choose the medium through which he or she wishes to pass the information. The channel of messages can be in the form of a verbal speech, a letter, telephone, or email. Choosing channel of the message is not difficult, but one has to consider factors such as the impact of each message channel. The effect of information that a sender wishes to pass to a given audience depends on the channel of message. The choice of message channel would affect the emotions that information would create in the receiver (Barker, Valos, Valos, and Shimp 27).
When one intends to spark emotions, the best channel of message would be verbal. Evidently, as one speaks, the body language would stress the point the speaker is trying to send home (Shimp 20). When one speaks emotionally, the receiver would interpret such emotion in relation to what the speaker intends from the message. For example, a political message has greater appeal to the audience when the sender uses verbal communication. According to Prentice Hall India Pvt., Limited the distance between the receiver and the sender may influence the choice of medium hence influencing the meaning of the statement (9). When one wishes to communicate with persons in a distant place, the choice of medium might be inform of e-mail, telephone, or letter. The impact of the above listed medium would be different to the audience. However, distance and urgency would be the determining factors in making a choice about the medium to use when one intend to communicate to a person in a distant place.
In most cases, speakers tend to consider the effect of the channel of message before settling on one. Some channel of the message is fast, whereas others are not, some enables the use of body language whereas other do not. In this sense, one has to evaluate the probable effect of the medium proposed (Hellriegel and Slocum 257). For instance, politicians would use verbal communication in order to move the emotions of the audience by influencing them with the body language. On the other hand, lawyers would prefer a written channel of message in order to trace the commitment of the receiver in regard to a given issue.
The channel of message would influence the manner in which the target audience would understand the statement or phrase of the sender. For example, the audience better understands audiovisual channel of message than audio channel of message. In audiovisual communication, the audience would be able to identify the arguments made by the sender through the pictorial illustrations that accompany audio. This would help in cementing the augmentation presented by the sender. Additionally, the audience would be able to place the verbal communication in its immediate context by viewing the images presented. Evidently, the result of these forms of communication would be effective passing of information from the sender to the receiver (Hellriegel and Slocum 255). Medium as an element of communication is the easiest to control. It largely depends on the preferences of the sender.
In conclusion, communication process entails passing of given information from the sender to the receiver through a given medium of communication. Of the communication elements, context is the most challenging one. To realize effective communication, the receiver must be able to interpret given information within the context of the sender. The failure of the receiver to place the statement in the context of the sender would lead to wrong interpretation of the information. Context covers aspects such as time, place, culture, and language among others. Elsewhere, medium is the easiest element to control. This element can be in the form of letter, email, telephone, and verbal. Largely, the choice of medium of expression determines the impact of information to the receiver. When the medium expresses emotions of the sender, the receiver is likely to interpret the information in the same manner.
Work Cited
Barker, Nigel, Valos, Michael, Valos, and Shimp, A. Terance. Integrated Marketing Communications. New York: Cengage Learning, 2012. Pp26-30. Print.
Hellriegel, Don and Slocum, John. Organizational Behavior. New York: Cengage Learning, 2008, pp 255-7. Print.
Lohmann, A. Roger and Lohmann, Nancy. Social Administration. New York: Columbia University Press. 2013. pp123-128, Print.
Prentice Hall India Pvt., Limited. Communications Skills. New Delhi: PHI Learning Pvt. Ltd., 2004, PP9-16. Print.
Shimp, Terence. Advertising Promotion and Other Aspects of Integrated Marketing Communications. New York: Cengage Learning, 2008, pp 20-30 Print.
