Importance of Communication
Communication is the life blood of an organization. The public image of an organization not only depends on the quality of its product and the quality of the service that it provides but also on the communication skills of its management, administration, staff and workers. The individual's ability to communicate orally or in writing, and his/her ability to use different machines like the telephone, fax, computer, type-writer, etc., related to communication affect the public image of the company. Effective communication is of great significance in the emerging global business scenario.
The individual's ability to speak or write effectively will make a lot of difference to the career of the individual as well as the growth of the organization.
Mis Communication
We have already seen that at least two persons are involved in a communication process, Perhaps there could be more. At one end, we have the sender(s) and at the other end we have the receiver(s). They are also called the encoder and the decoder.
An Illustration
Let us examine the following situation that leads to a mis communication. In a company or an office, an employee makes a request or conveys a grievance to the Manager, either orally or in writing. The employee is the encoder and the Manager the decoder. The Manager does not react or respond as expected on desired by the employee. He may even have turned down the request of the employee or ignored this grievance by his apathetic silence. The frustrated employee tells his peer group that the manager has "turned a deaf car" to his plea. Human cars (at least the normal ones) cannot be tumed on or off mechanically or at will. What the employee meant was that the Manager had not responded as desired by him. There are ever so many reasons for the manager "turning a deaf car to the employee.
Probable causes of miscommunication
The employee might have made his plea at an unsuitable place or time, He might have made it when the manager was in some other problem; he might have made it when the manager was in a hurry; he might have made it amidst the din and noise of the factory floor. These are some of the physical /environmental causes for the miscommunication.
The employee might have chosen to communicate it orally while he was expected to do it in writing or vice-versa. The choice of the medium has caused his miscommunication.
The employee's linguistic competence or the use of a language not known to
the manager might have caused the mis-communication.
The employee might have been ignorant of the attitude of the manager and a probable bias against this particular employee. These are all attitudinal or psychological causes. The manager and the employee do not vibe at the same wave length, to put it in more simple words.
The employee's urgency which is a reality might not have been comprehended or appreciated by the manager. This gap in the perception of this reality might have caused miscommunication.
When we often say, "he has turned a deaf ear". "he has a mental block", "he has a jaundiced view" or "he has his blinkers on", we really mean that a miscommunication has taken place.
Communication becomes ineffective or fails because of several reasons.
The factors that affect effective communication are called barriers to communication.
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