This document discusses communication and feedback. It defines communication as the mutual exchange of understanding between people. Feedback is described as a key part of the communication process, as it allows the sender to understand how the message is being received and make adjustments. There are different types of feedback, including positive and negative feedback on past behavior, and positive and negative guidance for future behavior. Feedback can take both verbal and non-verbal forms. The impact of feedback is that it improves the quality and accuracy of communication by creating a two-way exchange.

1. COMMUNICATION
Communication is not merely the transmission of messages or
messages itself. It is the mutual exchange of understanding of
between speaker and reciver .communication is the art of, transmitting
information, ideas and attitudes from one person to another
.communication is a process of meaning full interaction among
human beings.
 Personal process
 Occurs between people
 Involves change in behaviour.
 Means to influence others.
 Expression of thought and emotions through words and actions.
 Tools for controlling and motivating people.
 It is a social and emotional process.
FEATURES OF COMMUNICATION:
 Two –way communication.
 Information sharing and understanding.
 Verbal and non-verbal.
 Circular flow.
 Goal oriented.
 Continuous process.
 Pervasive activity.

2. COMMUNICATION PROCESS:
FEEDBACK:
Feedback is the main component o communication process as it permits the sender to analyze
the efficacy of the message. It helps the sender in confirming the correct interpretation of
message by the decoder. Feedback may be :
 Verbal ( through words)
 Non-verbal( in form of smiles , sighs, etc)
 It may take written form also in form of memos, reports, etc
EXAMPLES AND OBSERVATIONS RELATING TO
FEEDBACK OF COMMUNICATION:
The term 'feedback' is taken from cybernetics, a branch of engineering concerned with self-regulating
systems. In its simplest form, feedback is a self- stabilising control system such as
the Watt steam governor, which regulates the speed of a steam engine or a thermostat that
controls the temperature of a room or oven. In the communication process, feedback refers to
a response from the receiver which gives the communicator an idea of how the message is
being received.
Strictly speaking, negative feedback does not imply 'bad,' and positive feedback 'good.'
Negative feedback indicates that you should do less of what you are doing or change to
something else. Positive feedback encourages you to increase what you are doing, this can go

3. out of control (over excitement at a party, fighting or having a row). If you are crying,
feedback from those around may cause you to dry your eyes and put on a brave face (if
feedback is negative) or weep unashamedly (if feedback is positive).
Useful feedback on Writing:
"The most useful feedback you can give someone (or receive yourself) is neither vague
encouragement ('Good start! Keep at it!') nor scorching criticism ('Sloppy method!'), but
rather an honest assessment of how the text reads. In other words, 'Rewrite
your introduction because I don't like it' is not nearly as helpful as 'You start off saying you
want to look at trends in functionalistic interior design, but you seem to spend most of your
time talking about the use of colour among the Bauhaus designers.' This gives the author not
only insight into what is confusing the reader, but also several options for fixing it: She can
rewrite the introduction either to focus on Bauhaus designers or to better explain the link
between functionalistic interior design and Bauhaus designers, or she can restructure the
paper to talk about other aspects of functionalistic interior design."
Feedback on Public Speaking:
Public speaking presents different opportunities for feedback, or listener response to a
message, than does dyadic, small group, or mass communication. Partners
in conversation continually respond to one another in back-and-forth fashion; in small
groups, participants expect interruptions for purposes of clarification or redirection. However,
because the receiver of the message in mass communication is physically removed from the
messenger, feedback is delayed until after the event, as in TV ratings.
Public speaking offers a middle ground between low and high levels of feedback. Public
speaking does not permit the constant exchange of information between listener and speaker
that happens in conversation, but audiences can and do provide ample verbal and nonverbal
cues to what they are thinking and feeling. Facial expressions, vocalizations (including
laughter or disapproving noises), gestures, applause, and a range of body movements all
signal the audience's response to the speaker.

4. Feedback in Conversations:
Here is an example-
Ira Wells: Mrs. Schmidt asked me to move out. That place next door to you, is that still
empty?
Margo Sperling: I don't know, Ira. I don't think I could take it. I mean you just never say
anything, for God's sake. It's not fair, because I have to keep up my side of
the conversation and your side of the conversation. Yeah, that's it: you just never say
anything, for God's sake. I want some feedback from you. I want to know what you think
about things and what you think about me.
TYPES OF FEEDBACK ON COMMUNICATION:
The Four Types of Feedback
Negative feedback or corrective comments about past behaviour. These are things that didn’t
go well.
Positive feedback or affirming comments about past behaviour. These are things that went
well and need to be repeated.
Negative feed forward or corrective comments about future behaviour. These are things that
don’t need to be repeated next time.
Positive feed forward or affirming comments about future behaviour. These are things that
would improve performance in the future.
The distinction that is largely missing for most people is the focus on the future or
feed forward.
As begin to understand the power of balancing both positive and negative input with
observations about the past (which can’t be changed) and advice for the future (which can be
changed), you have a new paradigm for the feedback and coaching process.
Here are five balancing strategies to help you use these four types of feedback in a way to
help the other person receive and use your insights to improve performance.
Five Balancing Strategies
 Make sure you use them all. Which means you must understand the importance of
each, and have insights in each area to share. The starting point must always be
usefulness. Your challenge is to look for examples in all four areas, not make
something up or be overly generic.

5.  Ask the other person his/her opinion, first. Ask questions about all four areas. Do it
without it being an interrogation – ask something like “How do you think it went?”
Or, more specifically, “What did you think went well?” “What do you wish you had
done differently?” Then ask about the future with questions like, “K nowing what
you know now, what would you do differently next time?” “What will you avoid
next time? “What do you plan to make sure you do next time?”
 Tie it all together. Connect the dots for people between past performance and how
that relates to the future. This may require generalizing out an idea or behavior.
Tying together past and future can help keep people from being defensive or
spending their energy trying to justify the past – which can’t be changed anyway.
 More ‘and,’ less ‘but.’ When you tie ideas together, do it with “and” not “but.”
“But” erases everything said prior to using the word “but.” “And” is inclusive and
draws people forward emotionally.
 Focus on the future. While you want the feedback to be balanced, the overall focus
needs to be on the future. Remember no one can change the past – its value in a
feedback situation is for context, consequences and concrete examples, not for
dwelling, hand-wringing or excessive blame. Always end the conversation talking
about the future, including their thoughts (see suggestion above about asking their
opinion) early and often. Doing this will give you the best shot at an action plan of
which the other person will feel ownership.
Hopefully this gives you a bigger view of what balanced feedback can be… and how your
feedback can be more successful in helping others create even better results.
THE IMPACT OF FEEDBACK ON COMMUNICATION:
Purpose:
The objective of this activity is to allow the student to explore the impact that non-verbal
feedback has on the communication process and how they can change it to accommodate for
the lack of feedback to effectively communicate.

6. Overview:
During class discussion you have developed the definition of human communication to
include the component parts. The addition of feedback to the model makes human
communication a process and no longer a spectator sport where communication is something
that is done to a person. In this activity, the students will conclude that feedback improves
the quality of the communication event, increases the accuracy of the information exchanged,
and the overall communication is more enjoyable when all participants have an opportunity
to contribute. The trade off is that feedback requires time.In this activity a volunteer student
describes similar pictures to the student audience under three distinct feedback situations: no
feedback; only non- verbal, visual feedback from the audience; and full verbal and non-verbal
feedback.
Time:
The activity can be conducted within one class period including the activity and Class
discussion.
Skills Required:
 Listening skills
 Descriptive articulation
 Verbal to pictorial translation
 Empathy
 Materials and Tools:
 Three pictures of similar content complexity. The pictures should be simple enough
that the students could draw them from a verbal description, but with enough
ambiguity to require careful word choice to describe the content of the pictures. The
pictures must be able to be concealed from the student audience until the end of the
activity.
 Clock or stopwatch to time the communication events.
 Individual paper and drawing instrument to draw the pictures as they are described.
Preparation:
Before the activity begins, instruct the class on the rules that must be followed for the activity
to be meaningful and successful.
 Do not attempt to cheat by peaking at the pictures being described.
 Do not look on your neighbour’s drawing.
 In the first drawing, do not speak, giggle, ask questions, or verbally react to what the
speaker is saying.
 In the second drawing, you may use your normal facial expressions as the speaker is
describing the picture to you. The speaker is encouraged to look at the audience as
the description continues. No verbal feedback or cues can be given as before.
 In the third drawing, students may ask clarifying questions as needed while the
speaker is describing the picture.
 There are no set time limits.

7. Background:
What to do and how to do it:
 Ask for a student volunteer to describe the drawings.
 The speaker keeps the drawings concealed from the student audience.
 With his/her back to the student audience, the speaker describes the picture while the
audience attempts to recreate the picture being described. The audience is advised
that they must remain quiet during the speaker’s comments. The speaker announces
when she/he is completed with describing the picture and the teacher notes the total
elapsed time.
 Next, while the speaker is facing the audience, the second picture is described. The
audience is advised that they must remain quiet, but eye contact and facial expressions
are allowed. Again the speaker announces when he/she have finished the
descriptions.
 Finally, the audience is encouraged to ask as many questions as they want during the
last picture description. The speaker should try to answer as many questions and
provide clarifying details as asked. A final notation of the time required completes
the data collection for the activity.
 At the end of the activity, reveal to the students the actual pictures.
Data analysis:
The analysis of the data is primarily anecdotal. Interpretat ion of feelings and impressions is
the desired outcome.
Activity questions: The teacher leads a class discussion about the activity. First note on the
board the time required for each picture descriptions. The elapsed time will most likely
increase significantly from the first to the last picture.
 Ask the students to share their drawings.
 Ask the students which drawings that they feel they were able to complete more
accurately.
 Ask the speaker how they felt about each description, which did they find the hardest
to do, which did they feel best about etc.
 Ask the audience which description they felt more comfortable with. Which did they
like the most, which they liked the least.
 Ask the students to draw some conclusions about the time data collected. Generally
the students will feel more comfortable, and have a more positive feeling about
Importance of Feedback in Business Communication:
Improving Internal Relationships:
 When you regularly solicit input from staff members about your organization's
internal communication efforts, they feel they have stake in the process and that their
opinions are valued. They also are given the opportunity to become part of the
solution for improving communication systems. In addition, you will gain insight into
what your staffers need from you in terms of internal communications. Use surveys or

8. focus groups to find out how well you share company information. Communicate
daily with employees and ask for ideas on how to improve the system for sharing
ideas and concerns.
Successful Interaction with Consumers:
 Invite customers to share their thoughts on your current communication strategies and
ask for input about how they prefer to be contacted. For example, give customers an
option of receiving daily, weekly or monthly updates from your organization. Poll
clients about whether they prefer email, text messaging or social media, or if they
prefer snail mail, personal phone calls or cell phone ca lls. Gathering and using this
information effectively will help ensure customers see your communications as
valuable and helpful rather than as an intrusive nuisance.
Improving Customer Service:
 Communicating effectively with clients and consumers helps retain business, increase
loyalty and build rapport with your client base. Customers who feel they can easily
reach you are more likely to be satisfied with your service than those who must wait
on hold or navigate a maze of web pages or telephone options. Consumers who
believe information is forthcoming may also be more likely to view your company in
a positive light than those who feel communications are limited or hazy.
How to Do It:
 Include a feature on your website or social media accounts that invite consumers to
give you feedback about a wide range of subjects, including products, services and
communication mediums. Allow your employees the same option for expressing their
opinions on the way communications are handled internally. When you make changes
based on input from staffers or customers, publicize it to let people know you’re
listening to their concerns and responding proactively.
IMPROVE FEEDBACK ON COMMUNICATION:
Feedback rules :
To improve communication feedback is needed. Often people are not aware of the way
they communicate. Giving and receiving feedback can help to gain insight. It means that
people who communicate inform each other about the effects of the other person’s
behaviour. It’s almost impossible to learn without feedback of another person. Only when
people are told what the effect is of their behaviour, they have clues to change their
behaviour (if necessary).
It isn’t always easy to give feedback in a correct way. In this text you will find some
guidelines how to give feedback in a constructive way.

9. To make feedback effective a few rules are given:
 Take your time to think about what you want to say. Writing down (short description)
an incident for yourself helps in giving good feedback.
 Give feedback in ‘I-messages’. “I think that….”. Avoid the use of descriptions in
which you start with “You...” such remarks can easily be perceived as accusing or
judgmental which makes the feedback loose its purpose.
 Limit the feedback to what has happened in the contact with this person.
 Describe your own feeling as an extra to the feedback.
 Describe the effect of the behaviour on you.
Content of feedback:
Feedback is more effective if it is more explicit. It is more functional if it is directly linked to
observable behaviour. There are several criteria for good feedback.
Feedback is effective when:
1. It is linked to observed and demonstrable behavior and not to the person.
2. It is descriptive: this means NOT an interpretation or a judgment about the behaviour.
The point is to describe what you observed, and how you perceive this and what kind
of reaction it evoked in you. Remember, this description is always subjective. Try to
avoid judging.
3. It is specific and not general, aimed at concrete, specific and clearly defined
behaviour.
4. It follows directly to the behaviour.
5. It helps the receiver to do something with it. Giving advice, which is networkable, is
not helping.
6. It is given on the right moment (when the receiver is receptable for it).
7. It is formulated in such a way, that it is inviting to the receiver to react on the
feedback.
A few extra advices concerning feedback:
1. What went well? (Positive feedback) “I think it was good that you gave me the
opportunity to finish my sentence, before you…..”.
2. What can be improved? (Constructive criticism) “It was a pity that you didn’t see that
I had some problems with that question”.
3. How can you improve? Try to give an alternative. “It would have been better if you
had explained why you asked that question”.
4. Is it clear? Check if the other person understands what you’re trying to explain. If the
goal of your feedback is not understood the learning ineffective.

10. CONCLUSION OF FEEDBACK OF COMMUNICATION:
As we know that communication is an important process, and its effectiveness and
assertiveness depends on many factors. The most important one is the return message, the
response; by obtaining it we understand how the message was comprehended, and it helps us
to proceed in the same way or change something in our communication, with the intention to
achieve the goal, i.e. the effectiveness of feedback helps us to understand whether the
communication that we made in the first place was constructive. An efficient feedback
provides information about what was done, an evaluation and guidance on how the
performance can be improved. The key to a successful programme is evaluation. It provides
any formative feedback guiding us to the future realisation of the programme. It also provides
summative data that clearly demonstrate if the programme is accomplishing its stated goals
and objectives. Without an efficient evaluation, the programme staff may fail to document
some important impacts that the programme has on its participants. Evaluation relates to the
information regarding the reaction to a product, and this is why it is so important to
understand the customers’ opinion. Finally, we can always find something or someway to
improve our communication and achieve better results. The final goal of the feedback is
indeed to improve the performance, not just to measure it. There are many ways to gain the
return message, and it is not important which way we choose as long as it is successful. An
effective communication provides effective feedback, and when we get it, we can understand
if the goals we are moving towards are the real aims we wanted to achieve. Starting an
effective communication is the root, the base of the communication that we are building. And
we are always looking for a way to build it in a better and more efficient way.