Communication Skills

2.1.1.Communication Concepts and Process

Our ability to communicate and the different forms our communication takes are very often taken for granted. The communication process is fundamental for human survival. It is essential to the development of the individual, to the formation and continued existence of groups and to the interrelations among groups.

Communication is as old as human history; many indicators prove that effective communication is the main factor enhancing civilization through history. This is why communication is ,considered multi-culture phenomena, Ancient-Greeks, Ancient Egyptians, Ancient-Chinese, Arabs, Europeans and Americans have got their impact on communication.

On the other hand, the study of human communication is interdisciplinary. It began with the mathematically theory of communication by Claude E.Shanon and Warren Weaver in 1949, scientists considered as strictly mathematical. Their aim was to measure the amount of information, in the mess ages, that is transmitted through the media the telephone; however, as years passed by, inter-disciplinary approaches to study human communication came up. They rely on psychology, sociology, speech communication, political, journalism, anthropology management, education, marketing and philosophy. Thus, we can say that every discipline concerned with human behaviour must deal with communication.

There are many definitions of communication:

Definitions of Communication

Schramm defines communication as "a tool that makes societies possible and distinguish human from other societies". Berelson and Steiner define communication as the transmission of· information, ideas, emotions, skills through the use of symbols, words, pictures, figures, and graph. Rogers says, "Communication is the process of transmitting / ideas, information, and attitudes from the source to a receiver for the purpose of influencing with intent". Kar defines communication as "all those planned or unplanned processes through which one person influences behaviour of others."

A more comprehensive suggested definition to define communication would be: "a process of transmitting ideas, information, attitudes (images which we have formulated for ourselves) by the use of symbols, words, pictures, figures from the source (who is the originator of the message) to a receiver, for the purpose of influencing with intent", So communication is considered as a process through which senders and receivers of messages interact in a given social context.

We can conclude that communication is a process used to timely and properly exchange information between a sender and a receiver to achieve a desired goal.

A) Process: It suggests that the components of interaction are dynamic in nature. They can not be regarded as unchanging elements in time and space. This simply means that no single aspect of communication can be meaningfully understood apart from the other elements

B) Interaction: It is the process of linking between senders and receivers of the message. The process specifies interaction or linkages between or among countless factors; so that the changes in any set of forces affect the operation of all other processes to produce a total effect.The concept of interaction is central to an understanding of the concept of process in communication. Communication is an attempt to bridge the gap between two individuals through producing and receiving messages which have meaning for both.

C) Social Context: Human communication is, to a great extent, . Influenced by the social context in which it occurs. The context or the situation that consists of a set of rules which govern the origin, flow and effect of the messages.