Communication: The The message is sent through a medium or

channel, which is the carrier of the

Process, Barriers, And communication. The medium can be a
Improving Effectiveness face-to-face conversation, telephone call,
e-mail, or written report. The receiver
Defining Communication and
decodes the received message into
Describing the Process
meaningful information. Noise is
Communication can be defined as anything that distorts the message.
the process of transmitting information Different perceptions of the message,
and common understanding from one language barriers, interruptions,
person to another (Keyton, 2011). The emotions, and attitudes are examples of
word communication is derived from the noise. Finally, feedback occurs when the
Latin word, communis, which means receiver responds to the sender's message
common. The definition underscores the and returns the message to the sender.
fact that unless a common understanding Feedback allows the sender to determine
results from the exchange of information, whether the message has been received
there is no communication. Figure 1 and understood.
reflects the definition and identifies the
The elements in the communication
important elements of the communication
process determine the quality of
process (Cheney, 2011)
communication. A problem in any one of
these elements can reduce
The communication processes communication effectiveness (Keyton,
2011). For example, information must be
Two common elements in every encoded into a message that can be
communication exchange are the sender understood as the sender intended.
and the receiver. The sender initiates the Selection of the particular medium for
communication. In a school, the sender is transmitting the message can be critical,
a person who has a need or desire to because there are many choices.
convey an idea or concept to others. The
receiver is the individual to whom the For written media, a school
message is sent. The sender encodes the administrator or other organization
idea by selecting words, symbols, or member may choose from memos, letters,
gestures with which to compose a reports, bulletin boards, handbooks,
message. The message is the outcome of newsletters, and the like. For verbal
the encoding, which takes the form of media, choices include face-to-face
verbal, nonverbal, or written language. conversations, telephone, computer,
public address systems, closed-circuit barriers, and psychosocial barriers
television, tape-recorded messages, (Eisenberg, 2010).
sound/slide shows, e-mail, and so on.
Nonverbal gestures, facial expressions,
body position, and even clothing can Process Barriers
transmit messages. People decode
Every step in the communication process
information selectively. Individuals are
is necessary for effective and good
more likely to perceive information
communication. Blocked steps become
favorably when it conforms to their own
barriers. Consider the following
beliefs, values, and needs (Keyton, 2010).
situations:
When feedback does not occur, the
communication process is referred to as • Sender barrier
one-way communication. Two-way - A new administrator with an
communication occurs with feedback and innovative idea fails to speak up at
is more desirable. a meeting, chaired by the
superintendent, for fear of
criticism.
Barriers to Effective Communication
• Encoding barrier
A school administrator has no
greater responsibility than to develop - A Spanish-speaking staff member
effective communication (Pauley, 2010). cannot get an English- speaking
Why then does communication break administrator to understand a
down? On the surface, the answer is grievance about working
relatively simple. I have identified the conditions.
elements of communication as the sender, • Medium barrier
the encoding, the message, the medium,
the decoding, the receiver, and the - A very upset staff member sends an
feedback. If noise exists in these elements emotionally charged letter to the
in any way, complete clarity of meaning leader instead of transmitting her
and understanding does not occur. The feelings face-to-face.
author, George Bernard Shaw wrote, ‖The • Decoding barrier
greatest problem with communication is
- An older principal is not sure what
the illusion that it has been accomplished‖
a young department head means
(Shaw, 2011). Four types of barriers
when he refers to a teacher as
(called ―noise,‖ see Figure 1) are process
"spaced out."
barriers, physical barriers, semantic
• Receiver barrier can overcome distance barriers between
people.
- A school administrator who is
preoccupied with the preparation of
the annual budget asks a staff
member to repeat a statement, Semantic Barriers
because she was not listening The words we choose, how we use
attentively to the conversation. them, and the meaning we attach to them
• Feedback barrier cause many communication barriers. The
problem is semantic, or the meaning of
- During a meeting, the failure of the words we use. The same word may
school administrators to ask any mean different things to different people.
questions causes the superintendent Words and phrases such as efficiency,
to wonder if any real understanding increased productivity, management
has taken place. prerogatives, and just cause may mean
Because communication is a complex, one thing to a school administrator, and
give-and-take process, breakdowns something entirely different to a staff
anywhere in the cycle can block the member.
transfer of understanding. Technology also plays a part in
semantic barriers to communication.
Today's complex school systems are
Physical Barriers highly specialized. Schools have staff and
Any number of physical technical experts developing and using
distractions can interfere with the specialized terminology—jargon that
effectiveness of communication, only other similar staff and technical
including a telephone call, drop-in experts can understand. And if people
visitors, distances between people, walls, don't understand the words, they cannot
and static on the radio. People often take understand the message.
physical barriers for granted, but
sometimes they can be removed. For
example, an inconveniently positioned Psychosocial Barriers
wall can be removed. Interruptions such Three important concepts are
as telephone calls and drop-in visitors can associated with psychological and social
be removed by issuing instructions to a barriers: fields of experience, filtering,
secretary. An appropriate choice of media and psychological distance (Antos,
2011)). Fields of experience include that the staff member needs time, but the
people's backgrounds, perceptions, feeling component may indicate
values, biases, needs, and expectations. resentment for being pressured to meet a
Senders can encode and receivers decode deadline with such short notice. The
messages only in the context of their supervisor, therefore, must recognize this
fields of experience. When the sender's feeling to understand the staff member's
field of experience overlaps very little message. There are five guidelines that
with can help school administrators to become
more active listeners (Rogers & Farson,
the receiver's, communication becomes
n.d.).
difficult. Filtering means that more often
than not we see and hear what we are Communication is the process of
emotionally tuned in to see and hear. transmitting information and common
Filtering is caused by our own needs and understanding from one person to
interests, which guide our listening. another. The elements of the
Psychosocial barriers often involve a communication process are the sender,
psychological distance between people encoding the message, transmitting the
that is similar to actual physical distance. message through a medium, receiving the
message, decoding the message,
feedback, and noise.
Active Listening A number of barriers retard
Active listening is a term effective communication. These can be
popularized by the work of Carl Rogers divided into four categories: process
and Richard Farson (n.d.) and advocated barriers, physical barriers, semantic
by counselors and therapists (Brownell, barriers, and psychosocial barriers. To
2009; Burstein, 2010). The concept improve the effectiveness of
recognizes that a sender's message communications, schools must develop
contains both verbal and nonverbal an awareness of the importance of
content as well as a feeling component. sender's and receiver's responsibilities
The receiver should be aware of both and adhere to active listening skills.
components in order to comprehend the
total meaning of the message. For
instance, when a staff member says to her
supervisor, "Next time you ask me to
prepare a report, please give me some
advance notice." The content conveys
 The most simple definition is that their studies have formed the basis of the
communication is each act of transmitting relatively new science of communication.
information. Information, in the broadest
Even today, many scholars in other
sense of the word: including thoughts,
disciplines study the exact same
ideas and emotions. Giving someone a
communication phenomena as we do. We
bouquet of flowers is communicating a
share theories and models and often use
certain message. Adding to that gift a
the same methods to analyze and describe
verbal compliment (you’re pretty) is
our field. It is therefore useful to be
another separate act of communication.
aware of how these other disciplines are
Blushing because you have just received
connected with ours.
flowers and a compliment is again
another form of communication. As To get an idea of the different
social animals we communicate day in levels of communication and how they
day out with spoken words, nonverbal are connected to other scientific
gestures, signs and symbols. Sometimes disciplines, we can look at the so-called
we use media to communicate a message. pyramid of communication. On the
Media are the channels that we use to highest level of this pyramid we find
communicate. Scholars don’t really agree societal communication, which is by its
on the definition of the word media. very nature aimed at a large mass
Television, Internet, Radio, Mobile audience. Therefore, mainly historians,
Phones, the soapbox we stand on to give political scientists and sociologists
a speech. They are all technical media in studied this perspective.
a way. Things we constructed to amplify Under that is the level of
our communication. In the more broader institutional communication that is
definitions, we can include our hands, performed by political parties, organized
voice and eyes, that we all use to religions, large corporations and such.
communicate somehow, in the list of
Then comes the level of group
communication channels, of media. In
communication. Groups are audiences
general however, whenever we discuss
that feel a high level of group
mediated communication, or THE mass
identification, for instance a family or a
media, we only mean the first category.
fan club. Both institutional and group
Over the years scientists from communication are in the field
different scientific disciplines have sociologists and cultural anthropologists.
studied these channels for
We have now arrived to the level of
communication and all these different
interpersonal communication, basically
forms of communication. The results of
the communication between two or more Others
people. Both sociologists and
psychologists 7. Communication Influences How
You Learn
Finally, there is the level of
intrapersonal communication. This would
be the communication you have with
yourself. With this we mean all Communication and its
information processing, thinking, Origin: Ancient to
internalizing information and the process
Contemporary
of giving meaning to the world around
us. of course this approach leans heavily From Aristotle To Obama
on the discipline of psychology. Human beings we have a special
capacity to use symbols to communicate
about things outside our immediate
Introduction to temporal and spatial reality. (Dance &
Communication – History, Larson).
Meaning, Forms and Models
Language then is…
Key Concepts in Communication Some scholars speculate that
1. Communication Meets Needs: human’s first words were onomatopoetic.
Physical, Instrumental, Relational,
and Identity
Talking Culture (180,00
2. Communication Is a Process
BCE-35,00 BCE)
3. Communication Is Guided by Talking was the only medium of
Culture and Context communication, aside from gestures, that
humans had (Poe,2011).
4. Communication Is Learned

5. Communication Has Ethical

Implications

6. Communication Influences Your Manuscript Era (3500 BCE)

Thinking about Yourself and
 This evolution in communication Radio Reaches a Mass
corresponded with a shift to a more
settled, agrarian way of life (Poe, 2011)
Audience
(They needed accounting systems to keep Used by the late President of the
track of their materials and record United States Franklin D. Roosevelt
transactions.) where he delivers the first of thirty
‘fireside chats”.
Ancient Greek philosophers and
scholars such as Aristotle theorized about
the art of rhetoric, (Rhetoric refers to Nestor Studios, the first motion picture
speaking well and Persuasively) studio in Hollywood, in 1973

Literacy didn’t spread far beyond the Television Begins a New Era
most privileged in society – (Manuscript
Era) of Mass Consumption
Hugo Gernsback, the editor of
Radio News, watches television in his
Print Era (1450-1850) New York Apartment, in August 1928.
Johannes Gutenberg perfected hi
printing press, which could print 3,600
pages in one day, facilitating access to Sputnik 1 (Russia 1957)
media; book prices dropped by two-thirds Since the launch of the first
between 1450 – 1500. communications satellite in 1962,
satellites have been an integral part of
global communications.
Audiovisual Era
(Today, more than 2,500 satellites orbit
This marked by the invention of the earth to track weather, monitor
radio telegraph, telephone (Graham Bell), military movements, give users accurate
and television. directions through the global positioning
systems (GPS), and more)
Cell Phones Facilitate Instant
and Mobile Communication
(1973)
Martin Cooper, inventor of the
handheld cellular mobile phones, holds a
1973 motorola DynaTAC prototype in
Taipei on June 5, 2007.

The Internet Transforms

Global Communication (1989
– present)