Communication is the act, by one or more persons, of sending and receiving messages that are distorted by noise, occur within a context, have some effect (and some ethical dimension), and provide some opportunity for feedback. 2. Communication is transactional. It is a process of interrelated parts in which a change in one element produces changes in other elements. Communication Models and Concepts
3. The essentials of communication—the elements present in every communication act—are sources–receivers; messages (feedforward, feedback, and metamessages); context (physical, cultural, social–psychological, and temporal); channel; noise (physical, physiological, psychological, and semantic); and effects. Principles of Communication
4. Communication is purposeful. Through communication, you learn, relate, help, influence, and play. 5. Communication involves choices and those choices will determine effectiveness or ineffectiveness. 6. Communication and relationships are always—in part—ambiguous. 7. Communication involves both content and relationship dimensions. 8. Communication and relationships invariably involve issues of power. 9. Communication sequences are punctuated for processing. Individuals divide the communication sequence into stimuli and responses in different ways. 10. In any interactional situation, communication is inevitable (you cannot not communicate, nor can you not respond to communication), irreversible (you cannot take back messages), and unrepeatable (you cannot exactly repeat messages). Culture and Human Communication
11. Culture permeates all forms of communication, and intercultural communication is becoming more and more frequent as the United States becomes home to a variety of cultures and does business around the world. 12. Significant dimensions along which cultures may differ are uncertainty avoidance, masculinity–femininity, power distance, individualism–collectivism, and high and low context. 13. Ethnocentrism, existing on a continuum, is the tendency to evaluate the beliefs, attitudes, and values of our own culture positively and those of other cultures negatively. Communication Competence
14. Communication competence refers to your knowledge of how communication works and your ability to use communication effectively. Communication competence includes, for example, thinking critically and mindfully, being culturally sensitive, communicating ethically and listening effectively. Several important communication skills emphasized in this chapter are presented here in summary form (as they are in every chapter). These skill checklists don’t include all the skills covered in the chapter but rather are representative of the most important skills. Place a check mark next to those skills that you feel you need to work on most.
Pick two to three competencies from the listing for which you feel you are currently strong, and describe why you feel that way. Pick two to three competencies from the listing for which you feel you currently need improvement, and describe why you feel that way. Each section should be written with at least three paragraphs (with a minimum of three to four sentences each) of commentary, which is in addition to any quoting from the listing you may choose to do. It may be helpful to explain your thought process and provide examples to give explanation to your descriptions of why you feel that way. This is not a formal paper, but college-level spelling, grammar, and syntax are expected.
Part II: General Improvement Strategy Using one of the competencies you felt needed improvement in Part I, develop an improvement strategy that follows the Communication Improvement Strategy Table in the weekly lecture. You may choose to format this into a table or write it in paragraph form. With whichever option, you should include your work in the same Word file (.docx) as Part I and have clear labels for the four main areas: problem, goal, plan, and test of measurability.
Use this information to begin the Communication Change Challenge (CCC) Course Project below.
