Types, Principles, and Ethics of Communication
John Rodolf N. Mortega, MAEd.
Educator/Writer
“The way we communicate with others and with ourselves ultimately determines the quality of our lives.” — Tony Robbins
Communication bridges the gap and resolves humans conflict, it is also a tool to redefine the future through effective communication. According to an article of Richard Nordquist (2019) “communication is the process of sending and receiving messages through verbal or nonverbal means, including speech, or oral communication; writing, and graphical representations (such as infographics, maps, and charts); and signs, signals, and behavior. A woman, labeled “Sender,” says, “Your food smells delicious,” which is labeled “message.” A man labeled “receiver,” says, “Thanks,” which is labeled “feedback.” He thinks to himself, “She wants to try a bite,” which is labeled “interpretation of meaning.”
More simply, communication is said to be “the creation and exchange of meaning.” Media critic and theorist James Carey defined communication is “a symbolic process whereby reality is produced, maintained, repaired and transformed” in his 1992 book “Communication as Culture,” positing that we define our reality via sharing our experience with others. All creatures on earth have developed means in which to convey their emotions and thoughts to one another. However, it’s the ability of humans to use words and language to transfer specific meanings that sets them apart from the animal kingdom.
Types of Communication according to Mode
Verbal and Non-verbal Communication
Effective communication needs awareness of verbal and non-verbal communication. Language alone is not enough to express and get the meaning of your desire, rather it takes the combination of the two to fully understand your point. For instance, when you were upset about something, frowning connotes serious meaning instead of explaining, non-verbal can be demonstrated through gestures, facial expressions, spatial, and more. While verbal communication can be expressed through oral and written. The visual communication, however, deals on the use of an image which conveys meaning, examples are signs or symbols, imagery, maps, graphs, charts, diagrams, figures, photos, drawings, illustrations, and various forms of electronic communication on the internet, emojis on Facebook and the like. These forms show something about our desire whether we are happy, sad, excited, upset, amazed, or the other way around.
Spoken versus Written Communication
Verbal communication is important to remember this can be in a form of oral or written, after all, written [writing] uses words too!
Imagine for a moment that you’re a college student who is struggling with material in a class. Rather than simply giving up, you decide that you’re going to ask your instructor for the guidance you need to make it through the end of the semester. Now, you have a few choices for using verbal communication to do this. You might choose to call your instructor, if they’ve provided contact information, or talk to them in person after class or during office hours. You may take a different approach and send them an email. You can probably identify your own list of pros and cons for each of these approaches. But really, what’s the difference between writing and talking in these situations? Let’s look at four of the major differences between the two:
1. Formal versus Informal: We generally use spoken communication informally while we use written communication formally.
2. Synchronous versus Asynchronous: Synchronous communication is communication that takes place in real-time, such as a conversation with a friend. In contrast, asynchronous communication is communication that is not immediate and occurs over long periods of time, such as letters, email, or even text messages.
3. Recorded versus Unrecorded: Written communication is generally archived and recorded for later retrieval while spoken communication is generally not recorded.
There’s a myth that says that when you speak, only 35 percent of your communication is verbal and 65 percent of it is nonverbal. That’s not entirely true (or else foreign languages would be much easier to understand!). But it’s absolutely true that nonverbal communication can make or break your message. Here are some types of nonverbal communication and the effects they can have on the success of your communication:
Facial expressions: Your teenage cousin we referred to at the beginning of this section might have told you he was happy, but his apathetic facial expression may have communicated different information. Facial expressions — happy, sad, angry — help you convey your message. Be aware of your facial expression when you talk and particularly when you listen, which is when it’s easy to forget.
Gestures: When you speak, a gesture can make your message stronger. Pointing out something you want your listener to look at more closely is an example of nonverbal communication that makes your message understood. Motioning warmly toward a coworker who deserves special recognition, making a fist to show frustration or anger, such gestures help further engage your audience when you speak.
Proximity: How close you are to your audience when you speak sends a nonverbal message. If your size is imposing and you leave a very small distance between you and your listener, it’s likely your nonverbal communication will be a bit threatening. On the other hand, giving someone too much space is an awkward nonverbal communication that might confuse your listener.
Touch: Shaking an audience member’s hand, putting your hand on his shoulder: these are nonverbal cues that can affect the success of your message. Touch communicates affection, but it also communicates power. In fact, when women touch a listener, it’s often assumed that they’re being affectionate or conveying empathy, but when a man touches a listener, it can be taken as a sign of communicating power or even dominance.
Eye contact: Making and maintaining eye contact with an audience when you’re verbally communicating or listening communicates to the other party that you’re interested in and engaged in the conversation. Good eye contact often conveys the trait of honesty to the other party.
Appearance: Your clothing, hair, and jewelry are also a part of nonverbal communication. If you put a dachshund pin on your lapel each morning (because you have a pet dachshund), that says something about you as a person. Similarly, the quality and condition of your clothing, how it fits, if it’s appropriate for the season — all of these things speak non-verbally about you as a communicator.
Nonverbal communication reveals a lot about you as a communicator and how you relate to other people. It pays to be aware of the elements of your nonverbal communication so you can maximize the impact of your message.
Types of Communication according to Context
Intrapersonal Communication
This term comes from the Latin prefix intra- means within or inside. Intrapersonal communication means talking to oneself. The inner talk, inner monologue, and inner dialogue are examples of intrapersonal communication. For psychologists, this was called as self-verbalization or inner-statement.
The following are examples of intrapersonal communication
1. Intuition
2. Reading
3. Mind’s eye
4. Heuristics
5. Directed thought
6. Meditation
7. Emotion
8. Learning
9. Counterfactual Thinking
10. Imagination
11. Directed Thought
12. Introspection
13. Rational Thought
14. Prayer
15. Self-assessment
The practice of intrapersonal communication will help promote power, intelligence, creativity, and energy to strengthen verbal competence.
Interpersonal Communication
Intelligence cannot be measure on the Intelligent Quotient (IQ), there is a lot of intelligence that the humans possess and one of which is the interpersonal communication where it is a skill that needs to be developed in the long run of formal education or through informal encounters, people should emerge themselves in collaborative work, so they have to be independent and competent for them to find work and for any cause. Interpersonal communication is also important in maintaining a social relationship, extending connections, and having friends. Observed those people who have a lot of friends are said to be friendly or because they know human relationships, good command, and proper language imparted do great in establishing organization/company.
Example of interpersonal communication.
JIM: Excuse me, is anybody sitting here?
SHIELA: I don’t think so. Have a seat.
JIM: Thank you. By the way, I’m Jim. I’m a CSR and I belong to Industrial Maintenance Account.
SHIELA: I’m Sheila from the same account. Pleased to meet you.
JIM: Pleased to meet you, too.
SHIELA: Oh, that’s my friend. Lucy over here!
LUCY: Hi Sheila. How are you?
SHIELA: I’m fine. Thank you, and you?
LUCY: I’m fine too.
SHIELA: Why don’t you sit here and meet a new friend. Lucy, this is Jim. We all belong to the same account. I just hope we’ll all be in the same unit.
JIM & LUCY: Let’s keep our fingers crossed.
SHIELA: Umm, the trainer is here. We better keep quiet now.
JIM & LUCY: Yes we will.
Extended Communication
The use of electronic media is a modern platform for information dissemination not just the use of television and radio. The use of extended communication pertains to electronic media through the help of the internet to cater a large number of people, these are audio, video, teleconferencing, Skype calls, group chats, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and other e-media where active involvement is maintained. Since extended communication, speakers should be prepared on their presentation for this requires large audiences.
The message can easily be transmitted to the destination through the strength of the internet or data. In this modern time, where digitalization is in trend, teaching online is highly encouraging to promote convenience, especially this pandemic, teachers have shifted from traditional in-classroom to online teaching, modular or virtual meet up. However, there are disadvantages, but this is just part of an option.
Organizational Communication
The role of communication in an organization is imperative in the context, good organizational communication command people to do their job and obligations, but the wrong cue and use of force towards your people or group will bring negative results. It is important that you should know the position of people whom you are talking with, at least a few knowledge of their background, culture, language, and the like. If a person is new to you, a direct or indirect speech should be used depending on the context of the situation to avoid an insulting/unwise move. As a future teacher, you have to be very careful and mindful of your diction and the way you communicate with the people around you. Respect is granted to those who have respected others.
There are two types of organizational structures: (1) formal and (2) informal for the formal it uses correct protocols to facilitate the communication, they consider the channel, message, and the position of the receiver.
Four Approaches
1. Downward communication
2. Upward Communication
3. Horizontal Communication
4. Crosswise communication
According to Carl Lindberg in Leadership Communication. Downward communication is the sending information downwards through an organizational hierarchy from leaders to followers. It is characteristic for organizations were hierarchies are strictly followed, often also for upward communication. It can often lead to information loss as each layer forwards the message, but it is often a necessity in large organizations. The communication is top-down meaning there is ahead over the subordinates.
In contrast, the message of upward communication is bottom-up meaning from subordinates to the superior/head/boss of the organization. It can be observed that in sending information extra-cautious of the message have been observed to achieve the formality and flow of communication. In horizontal communication, the flow of information among employees and units is at the same hierarchical level in an organization. In other words, horizontal communication (also called lateral communication) refers to departments and managers on the same organizational level communicating with one another across organizational silos. Horizontal (or lateral ) communication is used to run departments, where it is essential to gather information across members of the same workgroup, across members of workgroups at the same level, across managers at the same level, or across any other horizontally equivalent personnel.
Meanwhile, crosswise communication is diagonal in nature as employees from different units or departments working at various levels communicate with each other. Each of these communication approaches has its own advantages and disadvantages. This approach is commonly the usual approach in a certain organizational setting.
Intercultural Communication: Cultures and Communication
There are so many ways just to say hello! No matter where you are in the world, communication is important. But communicating across cultures can be pretty hard. And I don’t just mean that there’s a language barrier, although that can be an issue. No, I mean that cultures actually have some very different ways of communicating. Some cultures are informal, some cultures use a whole series of ritual greetings before having a conversation, and some cultures consider it rude to show up to a meeting on time.
But what do all these cultures have in common? Well, for one, you can offend each of them if you don’t understand their communication practices. And we want to avoid that. So what do we do? Well, to put it simply, we learn to communicate all over again, just like when we were children. This requires learning a language as well as learning behavioral norms for good communication. However, this will be a bit different since we’re adults learning how to communicate in someone else’s culture, not our own.
Intercultural communication is the verbal and nonverbal interaction between people from different cultural backgrounds. Basically, ‘inter-’ is a prefix that means ‘between’ and cultural means… well, from a culture, so intercultural communication is the communication between cultures. Sometimes, this is used to describe a single person trying to interact in a foreign environment but more often, it is a two-way street, where people from both cultures are trying to improve their communication.
Now, if you want to learn about intercultural communication, it’s important to understand what it isn’t. Intercultural communication is targeted at allowing for positive and productive interaction. You are not joining this culture, you are not becoming a member of another society, you are not abandoning your own culture. That would be assimilation and that’s not what we’re after.
Intercultural communication is also not simply a language proficiency. Yes, communication requires the ability to understand language, but just think about how much of your communication with even your own friends is nonverbal: our body language, our attitudes, the rituals from hand-shaking to the stink eye. Some researchers estimate that up to 93% of all human communication is nonverbal, although according to recent studies, it’s actually closer to 60%.
Still, that means that more than half of communication is never spoken. So, intercultural communication is going to take a lot more than just learning a language.
Click the link and watch | Julien S. Bourrelle TedTalk about the How Culture Drives Behaviours TEDxTrondheim https://youtu.be/l-Yy6poJ2zs
Types of Communication according to Purpose and Style
Finally, communication may be classified according to purpose and style. Earlier formal and informal communication has been discussed in relation to organization and communication. Similarly, the types of communication and relationship purpose and style our formal and informal. However, rather than focusing on the transmission of the message and message below the focus here is on the communication setting and the mode of delivery. Formal communication can be delivered orally or in written form. Lectures, public talks/speeches, research and research proposals, reports, and business letters, among others, are all considered formal situations and writings. Note that while lectures and speeches are delivered already the texts have been thought out carefully and written well before they are delivered. To inform, to entertain, and to persuade or the main objectives of this type of communication.
On the other hand, informal communication certainly does not employ language. It involves a personal and ordinary conversation with friends, family members, or acquaintances about anything under the sun. The mode may be oral as in face-to-face ordinary or everyday talks and phone calls or written as in the case of emails personal notes letters or text messages. The purpose is simply to socialize and enhance relationships.
References:
Madrunio R., and Martin P. (2018). Purposive Communication Using English in Multilingual Contexts. Quezon City: C&E Publising, Inc
Habermas, J. (1984). The theory of communicative action (Vol. 1, p. 100).Boston, MA: Beacon Press.
McLean, S. (2005). The basics of interpersonal communication (p. 14). Boston,MA: Allyn & Bacon.
Vocate, D. (Ed.). (1994). Intrapersonal communication: Different voices, different minds. NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
Wood, J. (1997). Communication in our lives (p. 22). Boston, MA: Wadsworth.
How Culture Drives Behaviours | Julien S. Bourrelle | TEDxTrondheim https://youtu.be/l-Yy6poJ2zs
https://www.thoughtco.com/what-is-communication-1689877
https://courses.lumenlearning.com/wm-businesscommunicationmgrs/chapter/verbal-and-
https://open.lib.umn.edu/businesscommunication/chapter/1-3-communication-in-context/
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