Essay Topic: Communication

1. Topic: Communication
Thesis: Communication makes our life easier
Worked by: RoelTafa

2. COMMUNICATION
The definition of communication is a process of passing information and understanding
from one person to another. Communication means not only transfer of message but
transmission of understanding as well. This processes the essence of human interaction and
learning. The nature of communication is dependent on the interaction between two or more
individuals and understanding is constructed through that interaction. Communication is a
basic human right and essential to our quality of life as a social species. Even
communication as other processes has his scheme that is presented at picture one:
The source or the sender sends a message through a communication channel to a receiver or
to multiple receivers. The sender must encode the message into a form that is appropriate to
the communication channel and the receiver than decodes the message to understand its
meaning and significance than he gives the answer of the feedback. Since we start to talk
we use this process but we don’t notice this. Usually the sender and the receiver are humans
in most of cases but the channel is the one who changes. It can be a TV, computer, written
letters even the air but important is that message must arrive to the receiver. As human we
use this right to: relate to others, socially connect, express opinion, share information,
negotiate, argue etc. Every day, every hour we use communication so is a process very
necessary in our life. We can’t stay without communicating with persons we have close. It
doesn’t matter how but we communicate with persons in different ways like signs, talking,
writing etc. There are two ways of communicating verbal and non-verbal communication
and these two categories have their subcategories. Forms of communication are formal and
informal. However communication has his levels that are: extra-personal, inter-personal,
intra-personal and organizational communication.
“The man, who can think and does not know how to express what he thinks, is at the
same level who as the person cannot think.” (Allen, 1902) Verbal communication is written
or spoken message that uses words to exchange information. Anything that emanates from
the mouth is referred as oral communication. Methods of oral communication among
individual are: face-to-face communication, phone calls etc. and methods among groups
are: negotiations, meetings, speech and presentations. As all other things oral
communication has his advantages that are: immediate feedback, better relationships, time
saving etc. and his disadvantages: distortion in passing the message, possibility of
misunderstanding etc. In the other side non-verbal communication includes all unwritten
and unspoken language, both intentional and unintentional. Non-verbal communication is
separated in two categories: Kinesics communication and Meta communication. Kinesics
communication involves body language and behavior while at Meta communication takes

3. place words, depicting, alternate meaning and latent meaning. “Non-verbal communication
has his forms too that are listed below: facial expression, body movement, gestures, eye
contact, voice and touch. In the other side verbal communication is an act of conveying
messages, ideas or feelings through the use of mouth.” (ask.com) Verbal communication is
the main way of communicating face-to-face.
“Formal communication is a type of verbal presentation or document intended
to share information and which conforms to established professional rules, standards and
processes and avoids using slang terminology.” (Wikipedia)This form of communication is
separated in two ways: written letters or emails, and verbal. Common forms of written
communication in business include e-mail messages, websites, memorandums, letters and
reports. “The organization’s formal communication network consists of downward
communication from superiors to subordinates, upward communication from subordinates
to superiors, horizontal communication among people at the same level and cross-channel
communication among people in different departments within the organization.” (Ober,
2006) The style of communication on this form is very formal and official. This isn’t all
about formal communication because this type of communication can be used between two
strangers when they meet for the first time. Most of the time people that work in banks, in
schools, government organizations etc. use formal communication but this doesn’t mean
that other people can’t use it. “Informal communication is a casual form of information
sharing typical used in personal conversation with friends or family members. (ask.com)
This type of communication is mostly used between friends, family members so between
people that know each other. Informal communication usually is oral and works easily in
small groups. “An organization can make efficient use of informal channels to fortify the
formal channels of communication. It acts as a valuable purpose in expressing certain
information that cannot be channeled via the official channels.” (Ober, 2006)
People need to get known with each other every day of our lives and to accomplish this
we need good communication skills and this type of language is called intrapersonal
communication. This type of conversation is a conversation between two people at least.
“Interpersonal communication is exchange of information between two or more people. It is
also an area of study. Related skills are learned and can be improved. During interpersonal
communication there is message sending and message receiving.” (Wikipedia) “Thirty
years ago, a businessperson was generally hired on the basis of technical skills. Since then,
the world’s economy has moved toward service-oriented, information-focused businesses
that are increasingly organized in teams. Now, Fortune 500 companies name strong
interpersonal, communication and team skills as the most important criteria for success in
management positions and employers consistently name interpersonal communication skills
as crucial for success on the job.” (Ober, 2006) We may often think that having good
communication skills is all about the ability to speak well or it’s all about speaking but
verbal communication has another important part, listening. Speaking consists of two parts:
what to speak and how to speak. The first part is what to speak and has 3 steps:
brainstorming, presentation format and presentation. “We have to ears and one mouth so we
can listen twice as much as we speak.”(Epictetus, Greece) Broadly listening may be
classified in two categories: sympathetic listening and empathetic listening. In sympathetic
listening we care about the other person and show this concern in the way we pay close
attention and express our sorrow in their ills and happiness in their joys. Meanwhile when
we listen empathetically we go beyond sympathy to seek a truer understanding of how

4. others are feeling. This method is very useful because you will take an answer immediately,
will save you time and your money. They are different type of interpersonal
communications in terms of the number of participants that are involved in conversation
and these types are: dyadic communication with two persons, group and public
communication. Meanwhile interpersonal communication takes place only with one person.
This communication it is meant to reflect oneself to clarify your thoughts. There are three
types of interpersonal communication namely as following: self-conception, belief and
values. To develop effective intrapersonal communication takes discipline and a
commitment to slow down your day enough so you can hear your thoughts.
Communication isn’t just through mouth; communication is face expressions, the way
how you breathe, how you move your eyes. Communication started before human
existence. Everyone that lives uses communications. Before Christ people had different
ways to communicate with each other such as: through shouts, paints, different body moves
etc. They communicated with us through the paints they left in caves and other places. Now
days everything has changed. We have many possibilities to communicate with each other.
We discovered internet that help us to feel closer with each other, phones, TV and many
other things that we can communicate with people around the world. We start
communicating since we are born. When we were little babies we cried, we moved our
hands and legs and other things but everything had a meaning. Than we started talking and
everything was easier. All this that I mentioned are ways to communicate. Communication
makes our life easier.
References:
www.ask.com
www.wikipedia.com
As a man thinketh by James Allen, 1902
Contemporary Business Communication by Scot Ober, 2006