Communication involves an act by a sender, a message, and a means of delivery. It is successful when the receiver understands the message as intended. Feedback is important to ensure understanding. Barriers like physical, emotional, intellectual or psychological factors can disrupt communication by interfering with the sender, receiver or message. Both parties must work to understand each other and check for shared understanding to overcome these barriers.

1. PowerPoint
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Chapter 4
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WHAT IS
COMMUNICATION
?
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The act of communicating
 singing,
 writing,
 miming,
 gesturing,
 signalling,
 drawing,
 sketching,
 kissing,
 hugging,
 hitting,
 Punching or
 kicking

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Message that is being
communicated
 emotions,
 feelings,
 wants,
 needs,
 thoughts,
 ideas, opinions,
facts,
 knowledge,
 information,
 warnings,

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Means of communicating
 An audio tape on which you have recorded
yourself talking.
 The accompanying letter that you have
written.
 Poster that you have developed to advertise
the new house.

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Means of communicating
 Communication, then, can be understood as
the act, the message, or the means of
communicating with another person or group
of people.
 Communication has been successful only
when the person or group towards whom the
message has been directed (often called the
receiver) has understood the message exactly
as the person who imparted the message
(often called the sender) intended it to be
understood.

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Feedback
 For the sender, feedback may range from a
simple request for the receiver to repeat what
was said, to an invitation for the receiver to
discuss the message.
 For the receiver, restating the message for
the sender is a good check.
 Communication is a circular procedure that
requires checking and rechecking that the
message received matches the message
sent. Without feedback, failure to
communicate is likely.

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Barriers or blocks
 can exist in the environment in which the
people are communicating; in the system
by which they communicate; or in the
people who are trying to communicate.

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Barriers to communication
 physical,
 emotional,
 psychological or
 intellectual.

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Physical barriers
 In the environment or the workplace, such as
loud machinery noise or obscured safety
signage, can affect communication.
 In a telephone or two-way radio
communication system, interference can
interrupt contact.
 In people, disabilities such as deafness or
failing hearing, and blindness or failing
eyesight, can create a barrier to
communication.

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Emotional barriers,
 Emotions such as anger, resentment,
frustration, dislike and hatred can get in
the way of good communication.
 The presence of these emotions in the
sender can override the content of the
message.
 The presence of these emotions in the
receiver can distort the perception of the
message.

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Psychological barriers
 People who as senders are continually
aggressive, arrogant, judgemental,
manipulative, confrontational or guilt inducing
in their communication behaviour are unlikely
to encourage the feedback that is essential
to successful communication.
 Similarly, people who as receivers avoid,
make light of, refuse to acknowledge or
divert communication messages are avoiding
communicating frankly about an issue.

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Intellectual barriers
 A person’s lack of knowledge can limit his
or her effective use of complicated
communication systems such as
computers.
 Not understanding the language of signs or
instructions might jeopardise a person’s
safety.

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Intellectual barriers
 Similarly, the lack of a shared language could
cause serious misunderstanding between a
sender and a receiver.
 In the workplace, the use of language that is
too technical for beginners, or the use of
jargon with the uninitiated, can lead to
problems.
 Also, the inability to read technical plans
correctly can lead to expensive mistakes.

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Overcome these barriers
 we must not make the assumption that it is
the receiver’s responsibility to understand
the message we are trying to impart.

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Overcome these barriers
 If it’s our message, it is our responsibility to
get it across.
 We must anticipate the possibility of the
operation of physical, emotional,
psychological or intellectual barriers to
communication, and, by imagining ourselves
in the shoes of the receiver, try to make sure
that our communication avoids these
barriers.

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 Both sender and receiver have the
responsibility for successful
communication.
 They work together to create
understanding.
 They do this by checking that the
message received is the same as the
message sent.
 They check by seeking and giving
feedback

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The sender checks by:
 asking for the message to be repeated;
 asking questions; or
 asking for the message to be restated.

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The receiver checks by:
 repeating the message;
 asking questions; or
 restating the message.

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