The Communication Process: An Overview

The normal communication process includes five steps: idea formation, message encoding, message transmission, message decoding, and feedback. Senders of messages can generate ideas, and idea formation is influenced by many complex factors which are surrounding the sender. These can range anywhere from the senders mood, to the context of a situation. For example, a sender can wake up one day in a very bad mood; this will affect every message which the sender gives to other people. An experienced message sender can predict how a certain message will affect the receiver of the message; and will be able to adapt the message to make communication successful with a receiver.

When the sender encodes the message, this means they are changing their idea into words, gestures, or text to properly convey a message. The major problem with encoding a message is that a receiver may misunderstand the meaning of a message. This is called bypassing. Experienced encoders can easily recognize ideas, words, or sentences which can be misunderstood; they are able to encode the message to better suit the receiver.

Message transmission occurs when a message is physically transmitted over a channel. Channels are like pathways, or vehicles which transport items. Examples are: Fax, Telephone, Letter, Internet, Spoken word, etc. Different channels deliver different non-verbal types of communication; especially in the business world. For example, an e-mail may be sent to an employee who has certain words capitalized within it; this possibly could mean the sender is angry at the receiver. This is why a message sender must be careful when choosing the type of channel to send the message through.

When the message is delivered to the receiver, they decode the message. No two people ever decode the same message in the exact same way. Decoding can be difficult and is affected by many things in a receivers surroundings. A receiver may be biased in one way or another towards the sender, or external sounds, illegible words, etc may drive the receiver to decode the message in a certain way.

Feedback happens after the receiver decodes the message and is an extremely vital part of the communication process. It helps the sender know that the message was received and understood properly, and is normally encouraged by the sender. The best way to get positive feedback is for a sender to only send as much information as they feel the receiver can handle. This can enable the receiver to ask questions about information which was not present within the original message; and generates more fruitful communication.