Communication: Concept and Definition

Communication is a process, which involves organizing, selecting and transmitting symbols in an appropriate way to ensure the listener perceives and recreates in his own mind the intended meaning of the communicator. Communication involves the initiation of meaning in the listener, the transmission of information and thousands of probable stimuli. Human beings have a compulsive urge to communicate with each other. Mutual understanding is not only based on communication but also is the core of human relations. There can be no mutual understanding without communication; mutual understanding is the core of human relations. Communication is like birth, death, breath and wanting to be loved - a part of life itself. Man is a communicating animal; he alone has the power to express in words. Sight, sound, touch, smell and taste are the modes of exchange of messages. The story of man's progress is the story of his progress in communication skills. The degree to which a civilization or culture progresses is reflected in the state of its communication process.

Communication is a two-fold process between two parties- the sender and the receiver. It involves an exchange and progression of thoughts, ideas, knowledge and information towards a mutually accepted goal or direction. Here are some definitions by experts:

American Society of Training Directors: Communication is the interchange of thought or information to bring about mutual understanding and confidence or global human relation.

Behind Brown: Communication is the transmission and interchange of facts, ideas, feelings or course of action.

Alien Louis A.: Communication is the sum of all the things one person does when he wants to create understanding in the mind of another. It involves a systematic and continuous process of

telling, listening and understanding.

Ordway Tead: Communicating is a composite of information given and received, of a learning experience in which certain attitudes, knowledge and skills change, carving with them alterations of behaviour, of listening effort by all involved, of a sympathetic fresh examination of issues by the communicator himself, of a sensitive interacting points of view, leading to a higher level of shared understanding and common intention.

Theo Haiemann: Communication is the process of passing information and understanding from one person to another. It is the process of imparting ideas and making oneself understood by others.

M.T. Myers and G.E. Myers: Communication refers to a special kind of patterning: patterning, which is expressed in symbolic form. For communication to take place between or among people, two requirements must be met:

• A symbolic system must be shared by the people involved (we need to speak the same language or jargon or dialects) and

• The associations between the symbols and their referents must be shared.