BBA Business Communication Study Material Its Meaning and Nature : BBA 1st Semester Most Important Topic Its Meaning and Nature Notes Study Material in English PDF Download.
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COMMUNICATION:
After studying this chapter you are able to understand:- Introduction, Part of the Process of Change, Factors Responsible For Importance of Communication, Purpose of Internal Communication, Purpose of External Communication
ITS MEANING AND NATURE
BBA
BUSINESS COMMUNICATION
STUDY MATERIAL
COMMUNICATION :
KEY POINTS
ITS MEANING AND NATURE
- All Communication is essentially sharing of information or some message.
- Communication is the most important of our activities.
- Social contact of two or more persons, a common medium, transmission of some message or information, and understanding or interpretation of that message – these four are the ingredients of communication.
- All communication has five clearly identifiable features: (a) its is meaning – based, (b) it is conventional (c) it is appropriate (d) it is interactional (e) it is structured
- the structure of communication has two levels – macro and micro.
- all communication is by nature conversational.
BBA
BUSINESS COMMUNICATION
STUDY MATERIAL
MEANING OF COMMUNICATION
COMMUNICATION:
ITS MEANING AND NATURE
Most of the readers of this book must already be having some idea of what we mean by communication. The simple reason is that most of the time we are in one situation or another that involves communication. Even then it is worthwhile to make an attempt to understand the exact meaning and nature of this most important activity of ours. The word ‘communicate’ comes from the Latin verb ‘communicare’ that means to impart, to participate, to share or to make common. By virtue of its Latin origin it is also the source of the English work ‘common’. Whatever is common is shared by all. Hence the sense of ‘sharing’ is inherent in the very origin and nature of communication. And, what is it that we share in communication? The one word answer is – ‘information’, i.e., some – thing to tell, in whatever way we like, or, as the situation demands.
BBA
BUSINESS COMMUNICATION
STUDY MATERIAL
SOCIAL ASPECT
COMMUNICATION:
ITS MEANING AND NATURE
It is, in this way, a social activity. In society we share our thoughts, feelings, emotions, reactions, propositions, and facts and figures with individuals as well as groups at all levels, higher, lower or equal. Communication is, in fact the most important of all our activities as it has helped us to organize ourselves as a civilized society. In a civilized society there are well-defined roles for all and once. The only way to play these roles is through communication. All communication is based on, and is guided by role-relationships. Only when we understand and appreciate these role-relationships we successfully communicate. In the words of John Adair “Communication is essentially the ability of one person to make contact with another and to make himself or herself under stood. Or, prefer a slightly more formal version; communication is the process by which meanings are exchanged between people through the use of a common set of symbols”.
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BUSINESS COMMUNICATION
STUDY MATERIAL
INGREDIENTS OF COMMUNICATION
COMMUNICATION:
ITS MEANING AND NATURE
The important words to note in the definition given above are
Process, Meaning
Meanings
Exchange
People
Common set of symbols.
A process, by definition or simple explanation, is ‘a systematic series of actions, operation of series of changes directed to some end.” The process of communication leads to a desired result as, for example, in the execution of an order, production of a report, a telephone conversation, a memorandum etc. If we think seriously about this process and try to isolate its ingredients we get the following table:
| Key Elements | Notes |
| Participants | The persons who are communicating have to be in touch with each other. |
| Medium or common language | Both parties to communication must share a common language or means of communication. |
| Transmission of the information | The message has to be imparted clearly. |
| Decoding or understanding | The message has to be received properly, understood and interpreted. |
It means, therefore, that in the process of communication two or more persons must participate through a medium that carries the information or message for a particular purpose mutually understood by both the sender and the receiver. Only when these conditions are fulfilled a significant communicative situation will take shape and what transpires between the two parties, viz., the sender and the receiver, whether spoken or written, will be the communicative event. The importance of these communicative events cannot be over –emphasized. They are the very lifeline of any organization.
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BUSINESS COMMUNICATION
STUDY MATERIAL
FEATURES OF COMMUNICATION
COMMUNICATION:
ITS MEANING AND NATURE
Whatever the form or situation or event, all communication has some clearly identifiable features that can be stated as follows:
- In the first place, communication is meaning-based. As has been very succinctly said by a specialist, “The most immediate need for communication is to able to refer to a core of basic referents or things in the real world, that is, to be able to name things, states events, attributes, using the words he or she knows”. In addition, we must be able to link words together so as to make propositions. Hence, the need to be clear-headed about what we want to say.
- Secondly, it is important to note that all communication is conventional and, to a large extent, tradition-bound. As English, for example, dominates business worldwide, it is not only necessary for us to imbibe the conventions of English speech and writing, but also the time-honored traditions of the organization to which we belong, whether a multinational corporation or traditional Indian family-owned organization or government organization. As S.V. Guptan of Administrative Staff College of India, Hyderabad points out “The different levels of relationships mesh into a ‘matrix communication relationship’ deeply influenced by the past”. Guptan goes on to say, “The past cannot be wished away, however strong the desire. The aeons of the past have a definite strong influence, and the long shadows they cast on the lives of present generations, have a clear story to tell”. “The relationship in communication provides a context for interaction. In almost all cases over time, the relationship between people expansively spreads beyond the functional interaction, encompassing other areas of their behaviour and life. This leads to communication relationships that begin at the point of function, and then work beyond it”.
- Thirdly, all communication is interactional. It is the use of language to keep open the channels of communication between people and to establish suitable rapport. It is thus aimed largely at the need of speaker and hearer, or writer or receiver, to fell valued and approved of.
- Fourthly, communication is always supposed to be appropriate. In all its forms it must take into account the relationship between speaker/writer and hearer/receiver, and the constrains imposed by the setting and circumstances, and selection of language/style/stone according to the age, rank and status of the participants in the communicative event. This will further depend on such factors as the age, sex, familiarity, and roles of speaker and hearer, or writer and receiver, which will determine whether a speaker adopts ‘conversational’ strategies implying either ‘affiliation’ or ‘dominance’, or in other words, the language he uses gives indications of his hierarchical status.
- Fifthly, it must be noted that all communication is structured. Recent studies in communication regard every piece of communication, whether spoken or written, as a genre, look into the pattern of its information-structuring or logical organization and come up with useful inference for the consumption of the corporate world. A classic example is that of administrative or commercial letter-that which communicates an administrative decision. The letter may communicate ‘good news’ (“Your application for promotion to the higher grade has been put up before the board of directors.”) or it may communicate ‘bad news’ (“Your application has been rejected”). Both letters will probably be written in the same bureaucratic style but they will probably be organized very differently. The ‘good news’ letter will announce the award early, whereas the ‘bad news’ letter will prepare the ground by what is known as ‘buffer statement’ and the ‘bad news’ will come late.
Equally important is the difference between the purposes of the two letters beyond the shared superficial intent of providing information about success or failure of the application. The ‘good news’ letter will be constructed in such a way that the continuation of the correspondence is encouraged, whereas the other one will be designed to terminate the correspondence by giving the unlucky recipient the least possible scope for objection or complaint.