Functions and Features of Effective Communication

• The Functions of Communication

  control, social interaction, motivation, information dissemination, emotional expression
• control

  use language, actions, gestures to express what they want you to do
• social interaction


  to establish connections in order to function as a whole
• motivation


  influence the behaviour of a person without controlling them
• information dissemination

  the most basic. To share the information to a wider audience
• emotional expression


  to express our emotions for other people to understand us
• 7C's of Effective Communication by Scott Cutlip and Allen Center


  these are the key to better understanding for better communications
• What are the 7C's?

  Completeness, conciseness, consider, concreteness, courtesy, clearness, correctness
• Completeness


  communication should include everything that the receiver needs to hear for them to respond, react , or evaluate properly
• Conciseness


  not necessarily keeping the message short, but making it direct or striaght to the point
• Consideration

  Taking into account relevant information about the receiver to avoid misunderstandings
• Concreteness

  supported by facts, figures, and real-life examples and situations
• Courtesy

  respecting the culture, values, and belief of the receivers to avoid offending them
• Clearness

  use simple and specific words to express ideas
• Correctness

  how you use the language (grammar) to eliminate negative impact on audience and increases the credibility and effectiveness of the message
• Barriers to Communication

  Physical barriers, semantic barriers, language barriers, socio-psychological barriers, cross-cultural barriers
• Physical Barriers

  faulty organization structure, noise, time and distance, information overload
• Semantic Barriers

  difficulty in using a language, homophones, homographs, homonyms, connotations and denotations
• Homophones

  similar sounding words
• Homographs

  words having multiple pronunciation
• Homonyms

  words having multiple meanings
• pale and pail, altar and alter, rain and reign, are examples of what semantic barrier?

  homophone
• We must polish the Polish furniture, is an example of what semantic barrier?

  Homographs
• The bandage was wound around the wound, is an example of what semantic barrier

  Homographs
• He could lead if he could let the lead out, is an example of what semantic barrier?

  Homographs
• Close the window before the bee gets too close, is an example of what semantic barrier?

  Homonyms
• The dog barks at the tree's bark, is an example of what semantic barrier?

  Homonyms
• Denotation


  literal meaning of a word
• Connotation


  emotion and associations connected to a word
• Language Barriers


  different languages, no clarity in speech, use of jargons, not being specific
• Socio-psychological barriers


  we cannot see since it happens in the mind, inattention, closed mind, fields of experience, group identification, self-image, distrust, etc.
• Cross-cultural barriers


  languages, values, social relations, concept of time, concept of space, gestures