Types of Communication

Types of Communication

Verbal Communication

Oral
Written
E-mail

Nonverbal Communication

Expression
Expressive behaviors
Body language

Verbal Communication: The basis of communication is the interaction between people. Verbal communication is one way for people to communicate face-to-face. Some of the key components of verbal communication are sound, words, speaking, and language.

Oral Communication: Communication skills include the mix of verbal, interpersonal and physical strategies needed to interact confidently and effectively with a range of audiences. A skilful communicator draws on a number of different means (e.g., graphical, visual, statistical, audio-visual and technological) to get the point across.

Effective oral communication skills help students to:

improve their own academic performance;
increase their employment options;
enhance their subsequent professional competence; and
improve their own personal effectiveness.

Written Communication : Communication through words may be in writing or oral. Written communication entails transmission of message in black and white. It mainly consists of diagrams, pictures, graphs, etc. Reports, policies, rules, orders, instructions, agreements, etc have to be conveyed in written form for proper functioning of the organization.

Written communication guarantees that everyone concerned has the same information. It provides a long-lasting record of communication for future. Written instructions are essential when the action called for is crucial and complex. To be effectual, written communication should be understandable, brief, truthful and comprehensive. The main advantages and disadvantages of written communication are as follows: -

Merits of written communication

• It ensures transmission of information in uniform manner.

• It provides a permanent record of communication for future reference.

• It is an idealistic way of conveying long messages.

• It ensures little risk of unauthorized alteration in the message.

• It tends to be comprehensive, obvious and accurate.

• It is well suited to express messages to a large number of persons at the same time.

• It can be quoted as legal evidence in case of any disputes.

Demerits of written communication

*It is costly and time consuming

*It becomes difficult to maintain privacy about written communication

*It is rigid and doesn’t provide any scope for making changes for inaccuracies that might have crept in.

* It is very formal and lacks personal touch

*It boosts red-tapism and involves so many formalities.

* It may be represented in a different way by different people.

E-mail Communication : E-mail may be the most important, unique method for communicating and developing relationships since the telephone. First of all, it is easy to use. People also find it familiar and safe because it is similar in many respects to writing letters - minus the annoyances of addressing envelopes, licking stamps, and trips to the mail box. Of all the methods for developing relationships on the internet, it is the most common - and perhaps the most powerful. Although friendships and romances may indeed begin in chat rooms, instant messagin, avatar communities, blogs, or other environments, these relationships almost always expand into e-mail as a way to deepen the communication. It is a more private, more reliable, less chaotic way to talk. Even when other online tools improve greatly by becoming more effectively visual and auditory - as in video teleconferencing - e-mail will not disappear. Many people will prefer it because it is a non-visual and non-auditory form of communication. After all, we don't see people rushing out to buy video equipment to accessorize their telephone, even though that technology has been available for some time.

E-mail is not just electronic mail sent via the internet. E-mail communication creates a psychological space in which pairs of people - or groups of people - interact. It creates a context and boundary in which human relationships can unfold.

Non-Verbal Communication:Communication is the transfer of information from one person to another. Most of us spend about 75 percent of our waking hours communicating our knowledge, thoughts, and ideas to others. However, most of us fail to realize that a great deal of our communication is of a non-verbal form as opposed to the oral and written forms. Non-verbal communication includes facial expressions, eye contact, tone of voice, body posture and motions, and positioning within groups. It may also include the way we wear our clothes or the silence we keep.

"Nonverbal communication has been defined as communication without words. It includes apparent behaviors such as facial expressions, eyes, touching, and tone of voice, as well as less obvious messages such as dress, posture and spatial distance between two or more people".

In person-to-person communications our messages are sent on two levels simultaneously. If the nonverbal cues and the spoken message are incongruous, the flow of communication is hindered. Right or wrong, the receiver of the communication tends to base the intentions of the sender on the non- verbal cues he receives.

Some major areas of nonverbal behaviors to explore are:

*Eye contact
*Facial expressions
*Gestures
*Posture and body orientation
*Proximity
*Paralinguistics
*Humor