Communication Essay
Communication is an avenue available to human beings for the exchange of ideas, information, and feelings and allows the planning and provision of solutions to problems. There are wide varieties of ways in which human beings can interact. It may happen interpersonally, in a conference, in a small group during a particular discussion, or even on a computer. It is important to note that the process of communication consist the transmission of relevant information between two or more individuals. The ability to communicate effectively amongst ourselves depends on the relationships that exist between us and this has resulted in the formulation of theories to describe how best this process can be. This is exemplified by the theories postulated by West and Turner like the privacy management theory, which requires individuals to scan their information, and only letting out what is necessary.
This theory simply means that in order for the communication process to be effective it is important to overcome the possible effects of groupthink conversation that might make us to release information that may not be relevant to the topic (West & Turner, 2009, 4).West and turner call for outright responsibility for all the parties in a communication process so that the conversation can be effective and successful. In their book, “Introducing communication theory: Analysis and application” the communication process is described in detail. This is necessary so that we can be able to understand the communication theory well by applying the theoretical concepts learnt. Additionally, it calls for one to be a decisive thinker so that ideas can be presented in a more organized manner that does confuse whomever we are communicating with.
The authors begin their analysis by describes the components of an effective communication process. The linear model of communication indicates that the communication process consists of two important parts namely other essential components exist and they affect the degree of the success of the communication process. The components, which are usually interactive in nature, include messages, noise, channels, feedback, and context. Noise for instance may limit effective communication and may lead to distortion of information (West & Turner, 2009, 43).This calls for the use of the parties involved in a communication process to choose the suitable medium while taking into consideration the surrounding environment.
Various theories are presented by the authors to describe a successful communication process can be achieved. Some theories like the structural and functional have believed that social structures play a major role in ensuring that the psychology of individuals’ communication is psychologically controlled. This is achieved by observing the behavior of those who are interacting in communication process. Some other theories are based on the analysis of the interactions of individuals engaged in a communication process. It is through this theory that we are able to learn that the process of communication is influenced by how we present ourselves to the other person. This is because the process might involve the use of gestures, facial expressions, and body language and use of such techniques affects the meaning of the word s being communicated.
Other theories are classified as being critical and they deal with the description of innate features of every individual in relation to the conflict created in the society because someone may be more dominant than the person may.The process of communication is made up of three domains namely social, public and the media. The social domain involves the interaction of individuals one-on-one where individuals can reply instantly to each other. The public domain on other hand may be exemplified to a public lecture where one person is speaks to the and there is no instant reply. The success of this domain is affected by many factors including the distance. If someone is in a far distance from the speaker then the communication process may be negatively affected and the listener may not benefit much from the communication process.
The media domain deals with passage of information over the radio, television, and print media. The broadcaster in the radio station for instance has no direct relationship with the listener and the success of this process is hard to determine. Print media may also be regarded as silent and its success depends on the literacy of the person using it.As indicated earlier, the success of one-on-one communication depends on one’s ability to decode verbal communication and integrate it with their thinking. This will enables individuals engaged in a learning process to know the meaning of words, signals, and symbols that the other person may use.
This extends to involve the ability to understand the semantics and the syntactics of the language used and as described by the behaviouristic theory. According to this theory, the success of a communication process is determined by the ability of an individual to understand all the circumstances surrounding that process. For instance, one must know that nodding is used to indicate or to mean agreement. The communication process in the absence of a good behavior towards the surroundings will ultimately fail. The behavioristic theory extends to include the ability of an individual to learn new things like grammar so they can be able to improve their communication ability.
Language acquisition is therefore necessary for the achievement of a successful communication process.The authors to describe the fact all forms of human communication flow in a similar manner whether it is a telephone conversation or physical communication also use systems theory. This means that any communication process has features like the feedback process. It is important to note that a communication process is deemed successful if a reply is given to the one who initiated the conversation (West & Turner, 2009, 34). Politeness theory as used by the authors is used to indicate that the communication process will be successful if an individual possess the strategies that enable them to have face admirable to the public. This theory shows that for a public figure to deliver the messages effectively, they should be presentable.
This theory is enhanced by the social exchange theory that predicts that people engaged in a conversation should be able to initiate and maintain relationships the facilitate the sustenance of a communication process. Communication is always is needed in order to sustain interpersonal relationship and tensions between the conversing parties should be minimized.Cultivation theory is another paradigm used by the authors to express the mode of communication involved in the use of television. According to this theory, televisions promote the development of beliefs to appear as if they are real. This means that individuals who watch violent television acts will develop such acts in the future and their behavior in the end. Such attitudes that are developed are seen to affect the communication process in the sense that it lead to the development of ethnic and racial types (West & Turner, 2009, 67).
This will also affect someone’s expectation in their view regarding appearance and sexuality. This theory assumes that television is pervasive and reinforces the development of new cultural norms and practices that will ultimately affect the communication process in the future.Complexities involved in a communication process have been fully solved by the descriptions provided in this book. Pros of each theory are easily identifiable and their applications deemed relevant if a successful communication is to be achieved. It is important to note that human beings perceive a lot of information from a communication process and this requires for those who are involved to present themselves in a manner that might not facilitate the distortion of information. This leads us to another theory used by the authors, the development communication theory which stipulates that development cannot occur if there is breakdown of communication.
This shows that individuals have to internalize the information that they get and put them into practice thus enabling one to achieve the ultimate aim of initiating a communication process (West ; Turner, 2009, 17). Other theories employed include the symbolic interactionist theory that into consideration the fact that the meanings of words are created from symbols used in a communication process. This means that the meaning of words depends on the social part of the process of communication. This means that if individuals communicating have a sour relationship then the meaning of words may easily be distorted.
