There are four factors can affect the success of message encoding by sender and decoding by receivers: skill, attitude, knowledge and social-cultural system. Our writing, reading, listening and reasoning skills can affected the success in communicating between the sender and receiver. Clearly, the amount of the knowledge the sender and receiver hold about the subject will affect the clarity of the message that is transferred. Our interactions with others are affected by our attitudes, values, and beliefs. Thus the attitude of the sender and receiver toward each other will affect how message is transmitted. Finally, the position in the social-culture system will affects the ability to successfully engage in communication. Message s sent and received by people in equal position are sometimes different than people in different position. Thus, selecting right symbol to effective the communication depends on your audience and environment.
The message is the communication in writing, in speech or by signals. The message is affected by the group of symbols that we used to transfer meaning and the content of the message. The poor choice of symbols and confusion in the content of the message can cause problems in the communication.
The channel is the medium through which the message travels. We must determine which channel is normal and which is informal when it is selected by the source. Formal channel are established by the organization and transmit message to job-related activities of members. However, the personal and social messages follow the informal channels in the organization. The channel can distort a communication if a poor one is selected of if ht noise level is high.
The feedback loop is the receivers put the message back into the system as a check against misunderstanding. The feedback allows the communicator to adjust his message to be more effective. Without feedback, there would be no way of knowing if meaning had been shared or if understanding had taken place.
There are numbers of factors have been identified as barrier of communication effective. They are filtering, selective perception, defensiveness and language.
. Filtering is the sender manipulation of information so that it will be seen more favorably by the receiver. When a filtering message is passed up from the receiver to the sender. The sender must condense synthesize the information so that the receivers do not become overloaded with the information. However, much important information may be conduct by the personal interests and perceptions. The more vertical levels in the organization the more information are filtered.
Receivers in the communication process selectively see and hear based on their needs, motivations, experience, background, and other personal characteristics. Receivers also project their interests and expectations into communication when they decode the message.
When people feel that they’re being threatened, they become defensive- tend to react in ways that reduce their abilities to achieve mutual understanding. Thus, when people interpret the message as the threatening, they often respond in engaging in behaviors such as attracting others, being overly judgmental that hinder effective communication.
The meaning of the words sometimes means different to different people. The choice of words or language in which a sender encodes a message will influence the quality of communication. Because language is a symbolic representation of a phenomenon, room for interpretation and distortion of the meaning exists. Note that the same words will be interpreted different by each different person. Meaning has to be given to words and many factors affect how an individual will attribute meaning to particular words. It is important to note that no two people will attribute the exact same meaning to the same words.
Cultural Differences: Effective communication requires deciphering the basic values, motives, aspirations, and assumptions that operate across geographical lines. Given some dramatic differences across cultures in approaches to such areas as time, space, and privacy, the opportunities for mis-communication while we are in cross-cultural situations are plentiful.
Teamwork usually follows 4 basic procedures: forming, storming, norming and performing. A group of people with different background and different concepts gather together, getting acquainted with each other and begin with defining roles, goals, and governing procedures for each person. Conflicts may arise during the teamwork and communication is needed to reach the agreement and move towards the common goals. “The success of teamwork depends on building relationship and developing ways of working together.” (www.logheights.co.uk) As described in Business Communication, 3rd Edition, “someone even observed that as an acronym TEAM means Together, Everyone Achieves More”. This definition illustrates the essentiality and importance of communication within teamwork.
According to Business Communication, 3rd Edition, “a successful team normally has the following characteristics in communication”:
- Small-sized but diverse group makes a more effective group and performs better than bigger and homogeneous group;
- A common purpose within a group is the beginning of successful teamwork;
- Agreement on developing procedures contributes a best team;
- Ability to confront conflict without avoiding helps the teamwork moving on smoothly;
- Use of effective and good communication techniques is the key process of teamwork;
- Ability to collaborate with other team members makes it easier to achieve the goal;
- Shared leadership and encouraging democratic approaches boost and energize the teamwork.
Among all these characteristics, break the barriers to team communication, willingness to share information and recognize other members’ value and strength are three effective methods to promote the communication within teamwork.
- Identify the barriers to team communication and break down the barriers among different sectors—Different background and culture sometimes will cause misunderstanding among team members and even make it difficult to start the teamwork. Under this circumstance, “Put yourself in others’ shoes” is the best solution. Consider and respect the way other members prefer, not your own way; adjust what you say and how you say it to fit others’ patterns. In this way, different groups could accept and respect these different ways of thinking and working. Because the receiver thought he or she heard the message, it does not insure that the message was correctly received. Often, it is important to check that the message was properly received in order to verify its accuracy and to confirm to the speaker that you in fact received and understood the message.
- Willingness to talk and sharing information within the team members to bridge the communication gap—Conflicts and disputes are inevitable while the teamwork is going on. The best solution is to confront the conflicts without avoiding and have open discussion within the team. Trust that the information will not be used in a negative way, lack of politics or belief that information is power that would inhibit sharing information Listen objectively without bias and share views with all members. Once the conflict is resolved, great productivity is initialized.
- Recognize other members’ value and strength—“Everyone has his/her own style of working and thinking…environmental equity concept should be considered.” (Quoted from Franklin Becker & Fritz Steele, “Workplace by Design”, P. 73.). Realize the functional diversity and the contribution of individual factors as well. Combine all members’ unique strengths and utilize the power of diversity for successful teamwork.
The process of communication within teamwork can be concluded as take into consideration of others’ communication pattern, express our own style and make the agreement through discussion and understanding, then put into action.
In conclusion, Communication is a two-way process that involves getting your message across and understanding what others have to say. Communication involves active listening, speaking and observing. Now that you have learned the communication process, you can begin to evaluate your communication skills. Begin to watch yourself in action. Each time you communicate observe what you do, how it went, what went well, and what could have been better. The ability to effectively communicate is a critical skill. The more you become an effective communicator the more likely you are to achieve what you want. Remember, you can improve your communication skills by observing people who communicate effectively, learning new skills, and practicing those skills. Acquiring effective communication skills will help you be a better student, parent, family member, worker, and citizen.
Work Cited
- www.stuartatkins.com/communicat
ion.asp - www.logheights.com
- www.change-management-toolbook
.com/teamwork.htm - Mary Ellen,“Communication in Teams: Listening, Nonverbal Communication, Collaboration, and Meeting Skills”. Business Communication, Third Edition
