PRINCIPLES OF COMMUNICATION
2.1 Introduction: To enable the speaker in public speaking, to achieve the intended purpose in the speech delivery, the speaker must understand the elements of effective communication and observe the following principles of communication. Without observing these principles, it will be very difficult to achieve the objectives of the public speaking. In this chapter, we shall examine the principles of effective communication which include the elements of effective communication.
2.2 The Elements of Effective Communication:
For us to be able to achieve our intended objectives in every communication, including public speaking, we must observe the following factors that are essential in communication process. These include the following:
a. The Source: Source denotes the originator of the message that is to be conveyed to the listener. It is the source that encodes the message in the form that the receiver will receive it. The source denotes the writer or speaker, the originator or the deliverer of the speech.
b. The Message: The message is the idea, the information that is to being conveyed or delivered to the audience. It is the news, the story, the speech or the ideas you want to convey to your audience.
c. The Channel – Channel is the pathway through wich the message is being passed to the audience. It represents the medium of communication. In public speaking, the medium is usually on face-to-face oral communication through which the message is conveyed to the audience.
d. The Receiver: The receiver is the person or the audience that they message is intended for. They are the audience who are being targeted during the delivery of the message. The receiver is the intended audience for your message, the listeners to your speech in public speaking.
e. The Feedback: Feedback is the information that flow from the receivers or the audience to the source in a communication process. It is the reactions from the receivers of the message during or after your communication.
These five elements are explained in details below.
A Source:
The source denotes the person that creates or originates the message being conveyed to the receivers or to the audience. This represents the originator of the message that are to be communicated to the receivers during the communication process. Before you embark on any communication, there must be purpose for communication and a message to communicate. The source encodes the message to be transmitted to the receivers into the form that the receiver will be able to receive them. There are four factors within the source which can increase the effectiveness of the communication. These factors include the following:
i. The communication skill of the communicator (i.e. the source of the message).
ii. His attitude,
iii. His knowledge, and
iv. His position within his socio-cultural group.
Communication Skill: The communication skill possessed by the source will determine the quality of the message being delivered as well as the achievement of the purpose of the communication. Lack of good communication skill will definitely mar the communication effectiveness. According to Nwosu and Idemili (1992), to send a message that expresses the purpose of our communication, we must possess the necessary skill. If we are to write our message before the speech proper, we must have enough vocabulary adequate to express our ideas to others. We should avoid using words that are hard to understand or highly technical words and languages or words that are peculiar to a particular profession We should use words that expresses our ideas more clearly and that can be easily understood. The linguistic facility of communication source is an essential factor in the communication process, that is, how effective we are in our communication, depends to a great extent on our command of the language of communication. As sources of communication, we are limited in our ability to express our purpose, if we do not possess the communication skill, especially in the subject-matter being discussed.
Attitudes: This is another factor that determines whether communication will be effective or not. In almost all human endeavours, right attitude is very imperative to achieve our intended objectives. The attitude of a communication source affects the way in which he communicates. Our attitude can make or mar the effectiveness of the communication. The source’s attitude affect communication in three different ways which include the following: -
1. Firstly, his attitude towards himself. The source attitude towards himself could be positive or negative. If a source has a negative attitude towards himself, and if he lacks self-confidence, that will affect his communication. His ability to convey his ideas to the audience will be inhibited. He will become jittery and non-coordinated in presentation of his speech. For a writer or a communicator to gain self-confidence, he must do a lot of writing and speaking before the delivery of the speech.
2. Attitude towards the subject matter: In every communication, there must be a subject matter of communication. This focuses on the content or the idea of the message you want to communicate. If the writer or communicator has a negative attitude towards his subject matter, if he does not like the subject matter, his attitudes will come through in his writing and presentation. His message will not be convincing enough. For example, if the subject-matter of discussion is legalization of abortion and the speaker has a negative attitude towards the legalization of abortion, he will be so critical about this subject matter. The major causes of negative attitude towards a subject-matter is when the writer or speaker does not share the same ideology or believe in the value of the subject matter or has a contrary view about the subject matter. Consequently, his presentation of the subject matter will in most cases be done shabbily and without any interest or motivation.
3. Attitudes towards the audience: The source’s attitude towards his audience – his listeners or readers, that is, his dispositions, his feelings, his love and hatred towards the audience, will affect his communication behaviour. The attitude of the source towards the audience could be positive or negative. When the attitude of the source towards the audience is positive and the listeners or readers realize that the speaker or writer really likes them, they are likely to be less much critical of his message, and are much more likely to accept what he says or writes. On the other hand, when the audience realize that the attitude of the source towards them is negative, they are more prone to being critical to all that the source may do during the communication process. This is a very key point that every writer or speaker must bear in mind when writing or speaking. You must not disparage, talk down or ridicule your audience or your listeners or readers or regard them as below your own social status or economic level. You must not alienate your audience or your readers just because you are privileged and in charge of the public speech because this will militate against effective communication with them.
Knowledge level:
The level of knowledge the source has about the subject matter will affect his message and the quality of his speech delivery. What you can communicate depends on what you know. You cannot communicate what you do not know. You cannot also communicate with maximum and well researched content material that you do not know about or does not understand. On the other hand, if the source knows “too much” about the subject matter of discuss, or if he is over-specialized in the subject matter of discuss, he might err in that his particular communication skills if he resorts to employing highly technical concepts in a manner that his receives cannot understand him. To be able to convey your messages and ideas to your audience, you should use simple and easy to understand languages and avoid the use of vague and superfluous words that will confuse the audience the more.
Knowledge of the communication process itself also affects source behaviour (Nwosu and Idemili 1992). What and how the source communicates depends on his ability to conduct a kind of analysis we have be explaining here. In other words, his communication behaviour is affected by how much he knows about his own attitude both to himself, his audience and the subject matter of discuss, the characteristics of his receivers, the way in which he can produce or treat messages – the kind of choices he can make about communication channels. Knowledge of communication process affects communication behaviour, (Nwosu and Idemili 1992).
Social-Cultural System
No source communicates as a free agent without being influenced by his position in the social-cultural system, (Nwosu and Idemili 1992). A source needs to know the kind of social system in which he is operating. We need to know where he fits in that social system, the roles he fulfils, the functions he is required to perform, the prestige that he and other people attached to him. We need to know also the cultural context in which he communicates, the cultural beliefs and values that are dominant for him, the accepted forms of behaviour that are acceptable and that are not acceptable, required or not required in his culture. We need to know about his own expectations and the expectations others have about him.
People in different social classes communicate differently. People from different cultural backgrounds communicate differently. Social and cultural systems determine the word choices which people make, the purposes they have for communicating, the meanings they attach to certain words, their choice of audiences, the channels they use for their messages.
The Message
A message is the actual physical product of the source. When we speak, the speech is the message. When we write, the writing is the message. When we paint, the picture is the message. When we gesture, the movements of our arms, the expressions on our faces are the message. To achieve effective communication, the following points should be taken into consideration: -
1. The message must be so designed and delivered by the source to gain attention of the intended receiver.
2. The message must be tailored to subsist the style requirements of the channel and the source wants to use.
3. The message must employ the language of reference which refer to the experience common to the source and his receiver (audience), so as to “get the meaning across”.
4. The message must arouse personality needs of in the receiver and suggest some ways to meet those needs.
5. As communicators, in handling our message, we must always keep the receiver in mind at all times. We must choose the language our receiver can understand. We should use words that will appeal to him and that are easy for him to understand. We should choose message content that will be convincing to the receiver, and that will be pertinent to his interest and needs.
Finally, we should treat the message in a way to achieve the maximum possible effect to accomplish our purpose. By message treatment, we mean the decisions the source makes as to how he should deliver his message – the choices he should make with respect to both the language and content of the message. The personality and other characteristics of the source determine the treatment he will give a massage (Nwosu and Idemili 1992).
The Channel
The channel is the medium that is used to convey the message to the receiver from the source. Mass media of communication include newspapers, magazines and other print media, electronic media such as radio, television, film and other audio-visual media. Channels of communication available to communicators include the following: -
1. face-to-face communication,
2. newspapers, newsletters, magazines,
3. press releases,
4. Films, slides, and
5. Audio-visual medium, closed-circuit television and video cassettes, etc.
6. Until recently, we can now talk of the internet and companies’ websites.
The choice of channels of communication is an important factor in the effectiveness of communication. So many things determine channel selection. These include:
a. what is available,
b. how much money can be spent in communicating the message,
c. which channels have the most impact,
d. which channels are most adaptable to the kind of purpose which the source has, and
e. which channels are most adaptable to the content of the message.
The fact is that we usually do not pick one channel over another for any good reason. To guide our decision in channel selection, we may need to ask some basic questions including:
1. What kinds of message should be transmitted?
2. What kinds of messages should be transmitted visually, through newspapers, magazines, newsletters and through pictures?
3. What kinds of messages should be transmitted audio-visually through slides, video cassettes, films etc.?
4. What kinds of messages should be transmitted physically, through touch, by having the audience actually perform certain objects and so?
These are all channel questions. We cannot make decisions about the selection of channels independently of our decision on message. The content, the language, and the treatment of message are still related to our choice of channels. Can the receiver understand better by ear, by eye or by touch?
Finally, the source himself is related to the channel he selects. Is the source a better communicator when he speaks, when he writes, when he demonstrates something physically? It is needful to point out that face-to-face communication gives the audience the opportunity to participate. Participation is a significant factor in effective communication because it tends to create a sense of involvement, a group bond, a circular pattern of influence and decision making (Nwosu and Idemili 1992).
The Receiver (Audience)
The receiver or the audience is the individual or the persons that the message is being sent to. To receive the message effectively, just like the source, the receiver should have some skills. If the receiver do not have the ability to listen, to read, to think, he will not be able to receive and understand the message that the source has communicated.
We can talk about the receiver in terms of his attitudes. How he understands a message is in part determined by his attitudes towards himself, towards the content of the message. All the things that we said about the attitude of the source apply to the receiver as well.
We can talk about the receiver in terms of his knowledge level. If he does not know the language, he cannot understand the message. If he does not know anything about the content of a message, he probably cannot understand it either, (Nwosu and Idemili 1992).
We can also talk about the receiver in terms of his culture and his position in a social system. His own social status, his group memberships and his customary modes of behaviour affect the ways in which he receives and interprets messages.
Finally, we should note that the receiver is the most important factor in the communication process. If the communicator does not reach his audience with his message, he might as well have talked to himself.
We should understand these about the receiver’s behaviour:
1. The receiver will interpret the message in terms of his stored experience consisting in part of ego-related beliefs and values, and in part his beliefs and values of the group to which he belongs (family, job, social and other groups). A message which challenges these beliefs and values may be rejected, distorted or misinterpreted.
In case where beliefs are finally fixed, the communicator should know that it is more effective to redirect existing attitudes slightly than to meet them head on.
2. When a receiver is confronted with an over-supply of messages, he turns to those which are easy to understand. He merely notes those which contrast with typical messages, stressing something different from his own setting. He considers those which benefits him, his family, his business, and his religion, (Nwosu and Idemili 1992).
Feedback
Feedback is essential in effective communication. Feedback is the reaction which take place along the communication process and which are transmitted backwards by members of the audience, to the communicator and by different persons in the audience to each other. Feedback provides the source with information about the success or failure in accomplishing his objectives. It allows the source or receiver to check upon himself to determine how well he is doing in accomplishing his purpose. Feedback also affects subsequent communicator’s behaviour, if the source and receiver are sensitive to it.
When the source receives feedback that is rewarding, he continues to produce the same kind of message. When he gets non-rewarding feedback, he eventually will change his message. In responding to a message, the receiver exerts control over the source. The kind of feedback he provides determines in part the next set of behaviour of the source. Speakers and audience, actors and theater goers, sources and receivers can in fact be interdependent through the mutual effects of their reactions on others.
THE AUTHOR OF THIS BOOK
MR BENJAMIN I. IBEMr. Benjamin Ibe holds B.SC Business Administration, MBA (Human Resources Management) and MSC in Management from University of Lagos. He is an Associate member of Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN). Mr. Ibe has over twenty years professional work experience mostly in telecommunication, Information Technology and Educational Institution during which he worked as Office Manager, Accountant, Administration Manager and Human Resources Manager. Before joining Daniking Consulting Nigeria, as the Chief Consultant and Managing Partner,
Mr. Ibe has been a resource person for Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN) Alternative Examination Solution Provider for so many years at ATS and Professional levels. Mr. Ibe has also been a Visiting Lecturer at ICAN/CRS Study Centre, Calabar, Cross River State, Nigeria, ICAN for so many years.
He has attended so many seminars both locally and internationally including Training the Trainers Programme organised by CIMA for CIMA Global of the United Kingdom. Mr. Ibe was also a visiting lecturer at Lagos State University, Isolo and Festac Town Campuses and also Lagos State Polytechnic Oshodi Campus. Mr. Ibe has written so many books among which include Enhancing Advertising Campaign Effectiveness to Achieve Marketing Objectives; Idol Worshipping in Africa, A Story My Father Told Me and many more books
THE AUTHOR CAN BE CONTACTED VIA 234-08028177177 or email; benjyibe@gmail.com
