NIRMA UNIVERSITY

B.PHARM SEM 1
SUB: COMMUNICATION SKILLS
UNIT I:
Effective Communication Simply, we can define communication as “sharing of ideas or
feelings with others.”
Communication takes places when one person transmits information and understanding to
another person. There is a communication when you respond or listen to someone. Movements
of lips, the wave of hands or the wink of an eye may convey more meaning than even written
or spoken words.
The basic elements of communication process include communicator, communicatee, message,
channel and feedback. –
Communicator is the sender, speaker, issuer or writer, who intends to express or send out a
message. –
Communicatee is the receiver of the message for whom the communication is meant. The
communicatee receives the information, order or message.
- Message, which is also known as the subject matter of this process, i.e., the content of the
letter, speech, order, information, idea, or suggestion.
- Communication channel or the media through which the sender passes the information and
understanding to the receiver. It acts as a connection between the communicator and the
communicatee, i.e., the levels of communication or relationships that exist between different
individuals or departments of an organization.
- Feedback, which is essential to make communication, a successful one. It is the effect, reply
or reaction of the information transmitted to the communicate.
Importance of communication: We use communication every day in nearly every
environment, including in the workplace. Whether you give a slight head nod in agreement or
present information to a large group, communication is absolutely necessary when building
relationships, sharing ideas, delegating responsibilities, managing a team and much more.
Learning and developing good communication skills can help you succeed in your career, make
you a competitive job candidate and build your network. While it takes time and practice,
communication and interpersonal skills are certainly able to be both increased and refined. The
majority of people communicate many times in a given day. This is especially apparent in the
workplace. In order to effectively communicate with others, it's important to understand how
the communication process works.
Communication Process : The communication process refers to a series of actions or steps
taken in order to successfully communicate. It involves several components such as the sender
of the communication, the actual message being sent, the encoding of the message, the receiver
and the decoding of the message. There are also various channels of communication to consider
within the communication process. This refers to the way a message is sent. This can be through

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various mediums such as voice, audio, video, writing email, fax or body language. The overall
goal of the communication process is to present an individual or party with information and
have them understand it. The sender must choose the most appropriate medium in order for the
communication process to have worked successfully. Here are the eight steps in the
communication process:
1. The sender develops an idea to be sent
2. The sender encodes the message
3. The sender selects the channel of communication that will be used
4. The message travels over the channel of communication
5. The message is received by the receiver
6. The receiver decodes the message
7. The receiver provides feedback, if applicable
1. The sender develops an idea to be sent The beginning of the communication process involves
the sender creating an idea that they plan to send to another person or group of people.
Essentially, they're planning the overall subject matter or information they want to transmit.
2. The sender encodes the message Once the sender develops an idea, they translate it into a
form that can be transmitted to someone else. This means they transform the thoughts of the
information they want to send into a certain format. For example, if you are writing a letter,
you'll translate your idea into words. The message can also be nonverbal, oral or symbolic.
3. The sender selects the channel of communication that will be used Next, the sender decides
how the message will be sent. This involves selecting the most suitable medium for the message
they're relaying. Some communication mediums include speaking, writing, electronic
transmission or nonverbal communication. If you're communicating at work, make sure to
select the proper and most professional channel of communication.
4. The message travels over the channel of communication After the medium is chosen, the
message then begins the process of transmission. The exact process of this will depend on the
selected medium. In order for the message to be properly sent, the sender should have selected
the appropriate medium.
5. The message is received by the receiver Next, the message is received by the recipient. This
step in the communication process is done by hearing the message, seeing it, feeling it or
another form of reception.
6. The receiver decodes the message The receiver then decodes the sender's message. In other
words, they interpret it and convert it into a thought. After they've done this, they analyze the
message and attempt to understand it. The communication process is performed effectively
when the sender and receiver have the same meaning for the transmitted message.
7. The receiver provides feedback, if applicable Lastly, unless it's a one-way communication,
the receiver will provide feedback in the form of a reply to the original sender of the message.
Feedback provides the recipient with the ability to ensure the sender that their message was
properly received and interpreted. Between two people, this is two-way communication.

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8. Context: This is the setting and situation in which communication takes place. Like noise,
context can have an impact on the successful exchange of information. It may have a physical,
social, or cultural aspect to it. In a private conversation with a trusted friend, you would share
more personal information or details about your weekend or vacation, for example, than in a
conversation with a work colleague or In a meeting.

Barriers to communication: A barrier is any obstacle that prevents us from reaching our goal.
Any hindrance to communication stops the intended meaning of our message from reaching
our audience.
Physiological barriers : Physiology is the state of human body and mind. Physiological barriers
of communication occur due to the physical condition of sender or receiver which might even
be physical disabilities. It includes sensory dysfunction and other physical dysfunctions.
Physiological barriers to communication are related with the limitations of the human body and
the human mind (memory, attention, and perception). Physiological barriers may result from
individuals' personal discomfort, caused by ill-health, poor eye sight, or hearing difficulties. A
receiver with hearing impairment or hearing loss cannot receive audio message. The person
also cannot talk with people face to face easily. If the hearing problem is not very severe, he/she
might only hear some words and is unable to get the intended meaning out of the message.
Physical barrier : Physical barrier is the environmental and natural condition that act as a barrier
in communication in sending message from sender to receiver. Organizational environment or
interior workspace design problems, technological problems and noise are the parts of physical
barriers. When messages are sent by the sender, physical barriers like doors, walls, distance,
etc. do not let the communication become effective. The barriers are less if the proximity of
the sender and the receiver is high and less technologies are required. Disturbance in hearing
due to thunders, telephone call disconnection, problems in television reception, message not
being sent in chat, etc. are some examples of physical barriers of communication.
Cultural Barrier : People who live in various cultures and historical epochs communicate
differently and have different patterns of thought. A Cultural barrier in communication occurs
mainly when communication happens between two different cultural backgrounds. We
encounter cultural barriers in everyday life. Cultural differences causes, behavior and
personality differences like body language, thinking, communication, manners, norms, etc.
which leads to miscommunication. For example, in some cultures eye contact is important
whereas in some it is rude and disrespectful.
Language Barriers: Language is needed for any kind of communication, even people with
speech impairments communicate with sign language and brail. Communication becomes
difficult in situations where people don’t understand each other’s language. The inability to
communicate using a language is known as language barrier to communication. Language
barriers are the most common communication barriers which cause misunderstandings and
misinterpretations between people. Most of the people in the world do not speak English or,
even if they use, it is their second or third language.
Examples of language barriers that prevent individuals from effective communication include:
• Dialects - While two people may technically speak the same language, dialectal differences

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can make communication between them difficult. • Language Disabilities - Language
disabilities are physical im
pediments to language.
Gender Barriers : Gender barriers to communication can incite problems at home and in the
workplace. Societal stereotypes, assumed gender roles, and interpersonal differences can
contribute to a communication gap. Style differences during decision making is a common
gender barrier to communication. • Women are more likely to talk to other women when a
problem or conflict arises. Men are often known for dealing with problems or issues internally
• Women focus on feelings, senses and meaning. They rely on their intuition to find answers.
Men focus on facts, reason and logic. They find answers by analyzing and figuring things out.
Psychological Barrier : The psychological barrier of communication is the influence of
psychological state of the communicators (sender and receiver) which creates an obstacle for
effective communication. Communication is highly influenced by the mental condition that the
communicators are in and is disturbed by mental disturbance. If the people involved in
communication are not emotionally well, they won’t be able to communicate properly. Every
person’s mind is unique and communication does not work like that in machines or in numbers.
The people who are involved in the communication matter as much as the message e.g. If your
boss doesn’t trust you, he/she will only send selective information, which makes the
communication ineffective.
Emotional barriers : Emotional barriers are emotional factors that impede a speaker's ability
to deliver a clear message or a receiver's ability to hear a message effectively. Examples of
emotional barriers that prevent individuals from effective communication include: • Anger -
Anger can affect the way your brain processes information given to you. For example, angry
people have difficulty processing logical statements, limiting their ability to accept
explanations and solutions offered by others • Pride - The need to be right all the time will not
only annoy others, it can shut down effective communication. For example, you might focus
only on your perspective, or you might come up with ways to shoot down other people before
you even listen to their points. • Anxiousness - Anxiety has a negative impact on the part of
your brain that manages creativity and communication skills. For example, your constant
worries can hinder your ability to concentrate on the information you are giving or receiving.
Perspectives in Communication: A communication perspective focuses on the way in which
our shared meanings and practices are constituted through language and symbol, the
construction of messages, and their dissemination through media, organizations, and society.
The key to successful relationships lies solely in our ability to take the perspective of another.
Perspective taking is that all important skill of being able to look at things from a point of view
other than our own.
Perspective taking brings in the mindfulness of compassion and empathy to our relationships.
7 Important Factors in perspective in communication 1) Be patient in your specking. 2) Think
before you speak. 3) The listener should be in good mood. 4) Equality should be there in your
world. 5) Positive words should be used. 6) Talk in the perfect tune. 7) Be calm and in the
prosperity.
Factors affecting our perspectives : PERSPECTIVE IN COMMUNICATION

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Factors Affecting Our Perspective: There are a multitude of other factors that can affect our
perspective, thereby affecting how we communicate with another person. Some of these factors
come from our past experiences, our prejudices, our feelings, and our environment. Past
experiences: Past Experience are the things that have made up our life up until this point. They
are positive and negative events.
They are both one-offs and the things we do day in day out that become ingrained us. They
are of vital importance to our happiness and wellbeing. A person's past experience plays a big
role in shaping their perception of communication.
This is vital to understand in a business environment because it will affect whether or not your
customers want to buy from you. Past experiences can include anything from someone's
childhood to something they did last week. The experience of previous communication strongly
determines the effectiveness of further communication between the same sender and receiver.
If either of the parties has a bitter experience, further communication between them is likely to
be ineffective. Imagine that you are in a meeting where you will be discussing changes in your
personnel policies at work. What will you be bringing to that conversation? You might have
examples of other company’s personnel policies. You might have examples from your own
time in the 14 company that demonstrate why you feel that certain changes might need to be
made. Or you might come to the table empty-handed, with just a pad of paper and a pen in
order to take notes.
What influences you to do any of these things? Your past experience. You would bring outside
information because you have learned in the past that comparing situations can be helpful in
decision making. You bring examples of your own experience because you have learned in the
past that examples can be powerful ways to make your case. Or you come to the table
emptyhanded because in the past you have felt that your input wasn’t valued or you have no
past experience in this topic and so you are a ‘clean slate’ information wise. In every one of
these situations, your communication is being affected by your past experience. You enter a
situation, a meeting, or a conversation, with certain expectations of what will happen in that
scenario, and you behave accordingly. Of course, sometimes you want your past experience to
influence your future communications. For example, when your team responded positively to
the sales tactics you put in place, those same or similar tactics can certainly be successful again.
When our negative past experiences stifle our communication or alter our full potential for
communicating that we need to be aware.
All of them are negative – our past experiences can reaffirm our communication as well.
Prejudice: Prejudice is an affective feeling towards a person based on their perceived group
membership. The most common expressions of prejudice and stereotyping are manifested in
verbal communication, including casual conversation and the mass media. But, until recent
years, little empirical work has examined how stereotypic beliefs and prejudiced attitudes are
manifested in everyday communication. Some of the most well-known types of prejudice
include: • Racism. • Sexism. • Ageism. • Classism. • Homophobia. • Nationalism. • Religious
prejudice We all have prejudices. They occur when we take our past experiences with a person
and assume that the same type of experience will happen with all people who are similar to the
first. Prejudices are partly due to culture and partly due to personal preference or experience.
Not all prejudices involve a negative characteristic either; for example, you could consider all

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of one group to be smart. The problem with prejudices is when they start to influence how or
to whom we communicate.
Prejudices occur when we take an isolated experience with one ‘type’ of person and then act
as if all encounters in the future with people of the same ‘type’ or with the same characteristics
will result in the same experience When we categorize people like this, we eliminate their
individuality. If you are communicating to a person through a perceived prejudice or
stereotype, at the very least you are greatly limiting the chances of your communication being
successful or producing the desired result. At the most, you are alienating or insulting someone
with whom you are trying to build a working relationship. Your goal should be to see each
person as an individual that is separate from any preconceived notions you might have about
them. Feelings: For this area of influence, there are actually two ways in which your feelings
can influence your communication with another person. The first simply refers to the way that
you feel on a given day; if you feel well, you’ll communicate in one way and if you feel ill
you’ll communicate in another. Since your well being fluctuates, it makes sense that the way
you communicate will change somewhat with how well you are feeling. If you find yourself
experiencing difficulty in communicating due to an illness or other physical stressor,
recognizing and acknowledging it, when appropriate, can be very helpful when others might
interpret the change in your communication as having something to do with them. The second
aspect related to feelings refers to how you feel about a specific person. When you genuinely
like someone, the way you communicate is going to show it. Unfortunately, the same can be
said for when you don’t like someone.
Environment: The last area of influence on communication is environment. All of us
communicate differently in different environments. This is simple enough to observe in
everyday life. Do you speak to your colleagues the same way that you do to your friends? Do
you talk to strangers with more or less formality than people you know well? Do you talk to
your subordinates the same way when your own boss is there as you do when she is not there?
As you go through your workday, notice how and where you are, what is going on and who
else is present may be impacting the way that you communicate. Recognizing how the
environment might be affecting others you communicate with is a skill that can come in handy
for you, particularly when you perceive that the environment is having a negative impact on
your ability to communicate effectively with someone. This skill will help you to perceive why
someone might be communicating in the way that they are. It will also give you a factor that
you can alter in order to make the person more comfortable or to establish a level of formality
that you feel is important in a particular situation.
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Face-to-face communication:
In sociology, linguistics, media studies and communication studies, face-to-face interaction
(less often, face-to-face communication or face-to-face discourse) is social interaction carried
out without any mediating technology. Face-to-face interaction is defined as the mutual
influence of individuals’ direct physical presence with his/her body language. Face-to-face
interaction is one of the basic elements of the social system, forming a significant part of
individual socialization and experience gaining throughout one's lifetime. Similarly it is also
central to the development of various groups and organizations composed of those individuals

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Face-to-face communication is the distinction of being able to see the other party or parties in
a conversation. It allows for a better exchange of information since both speaker and listener
are able to see and interpret body language and facial expressions. Face-to-face communication
doesn’t have to be done by people in the same physical space; the benefits can also be achieved
over a video conference call or a more informal video chat.

Physical Communication:
It is a for
of communication where symbols, signs and gestures are used. Unlike verbal communication
which involves the use of sound and the ear for hearing, physical communication involves the
use of the eyes for seeing and other parts of the body for gesturing.
Everyone possesses some form of physical communication skills. These include our body
posture when speaking, eye contact, facial expressions, touch etc. Even little children know
that nodding the head means yes and shaking the head means no. Aside these and some very
common gestures, there is more to physical communication skills.

Importance of Physical communication:

Physical communication is as important as any other form of communication. Although it is
often under-valued, it is equally as essential as being able to speak or hear. It compliments
verbal communication and yields marvellous results when combined effectively with it. In
certain professions and job positions, your ability to use physical communication is very
important.
In sporting games, the ability to use and understand signs and gestures is a necessary skill.
Coaches and players use them.
In security agencies, this is a very important skill to possess due to the nature of their
operations. The police, navy, military etc. make great use of these skills to avoid being detected
by their enemies. Detectives and investigators use some of these nonverbal signs to detect
whether a person is lying or telling the truth.
In the mining and construction industries as well as other work places, where extremely loud
sounds hinder verbal communication, physical communication is put to maximum use.
Counsellors, motivational speakers, and public relations officers etc. use physical
communication skills when addressing audiences. Great orators do not only speak eloquently
but they possess physical communication skills that help draw the attention of their audience.