Types and charecteristics of Communication
Communication is key to any business success! Unless potential clients and customers are aware of your business, they will not have the information to contact you or to purchase your products. When they are aware of your business, they must be able to contact it easily.
Two types of communication are essential - EXTERNAL and INTERNAL.
- External communication reaches out to the customer to make them aware of your product or service and to give them a reason to buy. This type of communication includes your brochures, various forms of advertising, contact letters, telephone calls, websites and anything else that makes the public aware of what you do.
Image is extremely important in external communication! Your logo should represent who you are; your letterhead should be a selling tool; your telephone message should reflect your professionalism. External Communication comprises formal contacts with outsiders as well as some informal contacts with outsiders.
- Internal communication is essential to attracting and retaining talented staff. You must provide the direction for the company by consistently communicating that message; you must motivate your staff through various forms of communication, which can include awards, newsletters, meetings, telephone calls and formal and informal discussions. Internal communication is further subdivided into two parts, the Formal Communication channel and the Informal Communication Channel.
The formal communication network is the official structure of an organisation, which is typically shown as an organisation chart. Information may travel up or down, up or across an organisation hierarchy. But, when managers depend too heavily on formal channels for communicating, they risk encountering ‗distortion‘ or misunderstanding.
The Informal Communication network in an organisation is basically the grapevine in the organisation. As people go about their work, they have casual conversations with their friends in the office. And this comprises the informal communication channels. Sometimes these informal channels are more strong and effective than the formal communication networks. They also turn out to be speedier than many formal channels of communication.
CHARACTERISTICS OF COMMUNICATION
Communication has the following characteristics –
#ItisUnavoidable – It is impossible to not communicate, since we communicate unintentionally all the time, even without the use of words. Our body language, the way we dress, the importance we give to arriving on time, our behavior and the physical environment in which we work, all convey certain messages to others.
#ItisaTwo-wayExchangeofInformation – Communication is sharing of information between two or more persons, with continuous feedback.
#ItisaProcess – Each message is part of a process and does not occur in isolation. This means that the meaning attached to a message depends on what has happened before and in the present context. For example, your boss‘s response to your request for promotion will depend on your past relationship with him, as well as your mood at that particular moment.
#ItinvolvesaSenderandaReceiverofInformation – Any communication starts with a sender of a message and requires a receiver to attach some meaning to that message.
#ItcouldbeVerbalorNon-verbal – Communication could be through the use of words in spoken or written form, or through the use of body languages such as gestures and facial expressions.
It is successful when the Receiver Interprets the Meaning in the Same Way as that intended by the Sender. The receiver does not always attach the same meaning to a message as the sender. When the message is wrongly interpreted, the communication is a failure. This may be due to several reasons, which we will examine later in this unit.