The document outlines the basic model of communication, which involves a sender encoding a message based on some stimulus, a receiver decoding the message, and feedback. It discusses the different codes used to transmit messages as well as appropriate channels. An effective communication process considers the environment and works to minimize noise. The document also briefly discusses ethics in communication and four rules to guide ethical decisions and behaviors.

1. The Communication Process
Model

2. Communication Defined
• Communication is not
“the process of
transferring thoughts and
ideas from one person to
another.”
– Meanings are not
transferable, only
messages are
transmittable, and
meanings are not in the
message, they are in the
message-user.
• Communication is the
process of people
sharing thoughts,
ideas, and feelings
with each other in
commonly
understandable
ways.

3. Basic Model of Communication
• The sender is the source of the message; the
receiver is the interpreter of the message.
• Before a sender wants to send a message, they
must be stimulated (internal or external) which in
turn triggers the desire to communicate.
• A sender also has to have sufficient motivation
(benefit) to send a message.

4. Basic Model of Communication
• The process of putting a message into the form in which
it can be communicated is called encoding.
• The process the receiver goes through in trying to
interpret the exact meaning of a message is decoding.
• Inaccurate encoding and decoding can occur because
we use our own background and experience—our frame
of reference—to encode and decode messages.
– The message sender should ask receivers to paraphrase
(summarize in their own words) what the receiver thinks the
sender meant.

5. Basic Model of Communication
• The code is NOT the message, but the symbols
that carry the message; there are three basic
codes.
– Language (verbal code)—spoken or written words to
communicate through emotions.
– Paralanguage (vocal code)—the vocal elements that
go along with spoken language (tone, pitch, rate,
volume, and emphasis).
– Nonverbal cues (visual code)—all intentional and
unintentional means other than writing or speaking by
which a person sends a message, including facial
expressions, eye contact, gestures, appearance,
posture, size, and location of office, arrival times, etc.)

6. Basic Model of Communication
• A channel is the medium selected to carry the message.
Ex. face-to-face, email, IM, text messages, telephone
calls.
• The amount of information a channel can convey is
referred to as channel richness.
• In deciding which channel is appropriate, these factors
should be considered: 1) the importance of the message;
2) the needs and abilities of the receiver; 3) the amount
and speed of the feedback required; 4) the necessity of a
permanent record; 5) the cost of the channel; 6) the
formality or informality desired.

7. Basic Model of Communication
• Feedback is the verbal and visual response to a
message.
– Advantages of feedback include: improves the
accuracy and productivity of both individuals and
groups; increases employee satisfaction with the job.
– Disadvantages of feedback include: can cause people
to feel under attach psychologically; time-consuming;
can be difficult to elicit; past experience.
– Descriptive feedback is tactfully honest and objective;
evaluative feedback is judgmental and accusatory.

8. Basic Model of Communication
• The environment includes the time, place, physical, and
social surroundings in which you find yourself.
– Time, location, social environment (the relationships of the
people present).
• An organization’s social and work environment is often
referred to as its climate; the climate is determined by
the prevailing atmosphere and attitude of its members.
• Anything that interferes with communication by distorting
or blocking the message is noise. External noise
includes distractions in the environment; internal noise
refers to conditions of the communicators.

9. Communication and Ethics
• Ethics are the standards by which
behaviors are evaluated for their morality;
their rightness or wrongness.
• Ethics are moral principles that guide our
judgments about the good and bad, right
and wrong, of communication.

10. Four Ethical Rules
• The utilitarian rule. Ethical decisions create “the greatest
good for the greatest number of people.”
• The moral rights rule. Ethical decisions protect people’s
fundamental or unalienable rights; “do unto others as
you would have them do unto you.”
• The justice rule. Ethical decisions provide fair and equal
treatment for all individuals and groups involved.
• The practical rule. Ethical decisions are easy to
communicate because the typical person would find
them acceptable, thus you feel good as well.

11. Practical Reasons for Being Ethical
• If people lose faith in you, or in your
company, failure is inevitable.
• Not only do people enjoy dealing with
honest people, they prefer working for
ethical companies.
• Unethical behavior weighs heavily on your
conscience.