Influences on the Communication Process

Communication

Influences on the Communication Process

Communication takes in many ways and for many reasons; the communication itself may also be impacted by many influences. To understand the process it is necessary to look at both the reasons for communication and the influences that may impact that communication.

There are three main purposes for communication; information, persuasion, and motivation. Although each of the different purposes will be examined separately, it should be remembered that in many cases a single message may include more than one purpose as the processes are not mutually exclusive (Rosengren, 1999).

Information may be seen as the most recognized communication purpose; it takes place on many ways, where information is communicated in many different types of scenarios'. For example, employers may communicate with employees to tell them of their job requirements, changes to the job requirements, or changes in goals. Information communication is also seen with friends telling each other about events in their lives, the way bus or train companies may publish timetable data (Rosengren, 1999). Product information on packing, media news articles, and academic books may also be classified as information communication (Rosengren, 1999).

The second type of communication is persuasion, where there is an attempt to influence the views of the communication receivers. This is also used frequently, examples may include marketing messages where firms try to persuade consumers their products will satisfy a particular need. Persuasion may also be seen in political campaign broadcasts, where friends or colleagues try to pursue another to actions they do not want to take. Persuasion is often most effective where there is the use of emotional content, which can help to stimulate responses that do not traverse rational thought processes (Rosengren, 1999). Notably, persuasion communication may use information to support their view/argument, and the message may also include communication to motivate action.

Motivation communication is undertaken to direct or stimulate action being taken, it is also one of the most difficult forms of communication as different people will be motivated by different factors. Motivation communication may include the demonstrations of trust and handing over of responsibility to employees to enhance performance or the offering of incentives for specific courses of action (Thompson, 2011). Motivation communication may be combined or follow persuasion communication (Thompson, 2011).

Understanding the types of communication, the way it may be influenced can be considered. The process of communication has three stages; firstly, the message is created by a sender who encodes the message. The encoding will include the conscious choice of words, the uses of images and symbols as well as aspects such as body language, tone of voice, all of these may consciously or subconsciously reflect the feelings and circumstances of the message sender (Thompson, 2011). For example the same word said in different tones may be interpreted to mean different moods or intentions (Rosengren, 1999). Cultures can also impact on the meaning of words, likewise with physical gesture; the OK sign in U.S. culture is an insult in Italian culture. Body language and non-verbal clues need to match with the message, if they appear to create a conflict the recipient is likely to pick up on the conflict, and the message will be undermined, creating cognitive dissonance, and loss credibility (Rosengren, 1999).

The second stage is the sending of the message; this may be though different mediums, such as verbally face-to-face, over the telephone, or television (Thompson, 2011). Another common medium is the written medium which may include letter emails, printed adverts, books and manuals. The mediums may also be used to send a message on a one to one, many to one, or one to many basis, and may be sent vertically, such as from a superior to a subordinate, horizontally between peers, it can also be undertaken formally though official channels, such as an employee memos, or informally, such as through gossip (Thompson, 2011). The choice of an appropriate channel is essential to meeting the communication aims; mass marketing would be ineffective if undertaken on a many to one basis, or on a face-to-face basis, the use of a mass communication medium that reaches many people is likely to be more cost effective (Rosengren, 1999). Another example may be the communications of technical information, which may be best communicated in writing in a memo or manual, rather than verbally, where information may be lost (Rosengren, 1999).