#2 Intoduction to Communication

VERBAL COMMUNICATION


We use verbal communication for most purposes. Verbal communication may be oral or written.

a)ORAL COMMUNICATION:


Oral Communication is more natural and immediately available for responding to a comment / statement. In natural and informal situations, we speak readily without hesitation in order to communicate with others; but in a formal and official situation, many persons feel nervous and cannot speak easily. It needs training, practice and skill to speak effectively in a formal situation.
Oral communication requires the presence and simultaneous attention of both the persons. Need for personal presence makes certain demands on the skills of both; each must be able to respond to the body language of the other, and must be able to make immediate response to what the other says.
Oral communication occurs in situations like conversations, telephone talk, interviews, presentations, group discussions, and meetings.


FACE-TO-FACE CONVERSATION:

Oral communication is best when it is face-to-face. A face-to-face setting is possible between two individuals or among a small group of persons at an interview, or in a small meeting, where both the sender and the receiver could see each other and communicate. Communication can flow both ways in these situations. Here, an immediate feedback, which gives clarification is possible. Besides, a face-to-face setting offers a rich communication experience owing to the presence of the living personality whose voice, tone, expressions and movements add significance to the words.


TELEPHONE TALK:


Telephone talk depends entirely on the voice and its quality. It does not have the advantage of physical presence or facial expressions since there is no option to look at others physical appearance at live. Clarity of speech and skillful use of voice are important in this kind of communication. There can be confusion between similar sounding words like “pale” and “bale”, or between “light” and “like”. Names and addresses communicated on the telephone are sometimes wrongly received. It is therefore customary in telephonic conversation to clarify spellings by saying G for God, P for pen etc.


PRESENTATION:


It has a face-to-face setting. It is a formal, well-prepared talk on a specific topic, delivered to knowledgeable and interested audience. It looks odd and slumbers if the presentation is not welcomed by the audience to which it is presented. At times a touch of humour always enriches the presentation. The purpose for such kind of communication is to give / pass on the information rather than making them dull and sleepy.


PUBLIC SPEECH:

 A public speech or lecture also has a face-to-face setting, but here the space between the speaker and audience do matters. This distance increases as the audience gets larger, as in an open air public meeting. This way of communication much depends on the speaker’s skill in using gestures and using the microphone in the correct order.

INTERVIEW:


An interview is a meeting at which one person or panel of persons, who are the interviewers, discuss a matter with another person or ask questions of another person, who is the interviewee. The purpose is, usually to assess, to judge whether it would be worthwhile to enter into a relationship with the other. An interview is of structured question and answer type of communication.



MEETING:

 Usually a meeting involves many persons; there is a chair person or leader who leads and guides the communication and maintains perfect order. There is a fixed agenda, that is, a list of issues to be discussed at the meeting. Meetings are of many types, from the small committee meeting consisting of three or four persons to the large conference or the share holders’ meeting. This type of oral communication is backed up by note-taking and writing up of minutes.



b)WRITTEN COMMUNICATION:


Written communication is used for many purposes. Many types of documents are required for official work. Letters, circulars, memos, notices, reports and minutes are constantly prepared and exchanged in and between organizations. All has a format and layout which is fixed by custom.

Letter:
Letters are the most widely used form of written communication. They are used mostly for external communication. A letter has a complex lay-out which has to be carefully followed.


Memo:
 Memo, short form of memorandum, is an informal message between members of an organization and generally relates to daily work. Information or instructions can be conveyed by a memo. A memo may or may not be signed.


Notice:
 A notice is used in order to communicate the same message within an organization. It is the most common method of mass communication, within an organization. It should be short, its language should be simple and the type should be large and well spaced for easy reading.


Circular:
 A circular is a detailed document giving information, instructions or orders on a specific matter. A circular has a number and date for reference, and is signed by the authorized signatory of the issuing office. They are generally issued by government department and other official bodies like government departments, councils, universities and Head Offices of organizations.


Report:
 A report is a document prepared by an individual or a committee entrusted with the task of collecting information on a given subject. It requires careful research, collection of data and presentation of the findings, conclusions and recommendations. Reports are of varying length and may be anything from two pages to a full book dived into chapters.

Minutes:
 Minutes are the written record of decisions taken at a meeting. Different bodies have their own convention of recordings the discussion and the decisions. Minutes may be written by hand or typed and pasted in minute books, or typed and filled in a minute file. Minutes are a legal document.



NON-VERBAL COMMUNICATION

Non-verbal methods of communication can be consciously created and used with both written and oral communication. Graphics of all kinds can enrich the message presented in a document or in a speech. Pictures, maps, charts, diagrams, sketches, cutouts, models, etc., communicate more effectively quality vice and clarity vice than verbal communication. Apart from these symbols we consciously may convey the meaning by facial expressions, gestures, eye contact, clothing, posture, etc. These are called body language. They do communicate more than verbal communication.
Non-verbal communication occurs even when there is no verbal communication. Going by the road side, on seeing the no parking board, we are not parking our vehicles near it. Rather a NSS volunteer person when suggesting not to leave our vehicle in that place, often we ignore him. Thus we say that non-verbal communication, by way of a picture here, communicates something more than what is communicated through verbal communication. Henceforth, a good understanding of non-verbal communication will entitle a person or persons to communicate more effectively than what is conveyed through verbal communication.