communication process,concept,elements of communication

Presentation on
“Communication process, concept, elements of
communication and their characteristics”
PRESENTER
Mahesh.B.Tengli ,M.Sc (Agri) Extension Education
Semester : I
NMCA,NAU
Date: 13/08/2014

CONTENT
Introduction
Communication concept
Communication process
Elements of communication and their
Characteristics
Reference

INTRODUCTION
•Communication is as old as the universe, all the living entity
communicate.
•Communication with respect to extension, without
communication there is no extension.
•Extension agent with rich technical knowledge and poor
communication skills is of no use.
•Communication skill is a must for exchanging, extending
sharing the novel agricultural technology to the farmers
to make them understand and adopt the technology.

• It is through communication process the aim, objectives of
various community development programs and extension
programs are disseminated to people and the information
useful to solve the problems of farmers, villagers and village.
• There is a mandate for the extension worker to know
communication process thoroughly.

Meaning of communication
•According to Webster's new world dictionary-
Communication means transmitting ,giving or giving and
receiving message ,information, signals by talk, gesture,
writing etc..
•Communication is a Latin word – “communis” meaning
common

COMMUNICATION CONCEPT
•Communication is sharing our feelings, ideas and opinions with others.
•This can be intellectual, personal, spoken or written in nature.
• We live in groups and man is invariably a social animal.
•As the social needs insist that we share our thoughts with others.
this can be called communication, It is a two-way process.
•In spoken communication, we have speakers and listeners who send
and receive verbal messages from each other.
• In written communication, we have writers and readers, whereas in
visualization and observation, the symbols and signs are included

•Communication motivates, informs, suggests, warns, orders,
changes behavior, and establishes better relationships, to make
interaction meaningful and make oneself understood.
•Communication is effective when a communicator is effective
enough to communicate competently, simply, clearly, sincerely
and dynamically. Ones communication can be termed as
successful, if the receiver acknowledges it, i.e., when a listener
or reader understands, reacts, responds to this communication
and shapes his/her learning behavior.

•The other etymological source mentions that ‘communication’ is
derived from the Latin term ‘communicare’, which means to
impart or participate.
• In short, we can define communication as sharing ideas
and feelings mutually. As it involves interaction, it encourages
exchange of ideas until all the experiences become a common
profession.
• FUNCTIONS OF COMMUNICATION
I. Information function
II. Command / instructive function
III. Influence or Persuasive function
IV. Integrative function

DEFINITIONS' OF COMMUNICATION
• LEAGANS(1961), Communication is the process by which two or
more people exchange ideas, facts, feelings or impressions in ways
that each gains a common understanding of the meaning, intent and
use of messages.
• HOVLAND defines Communication is the process by which an
individual - - the communicator - - transmits stimuli to modify the
behavior of other individuals .
• ROJER & SHOEMAKER (1971): Communication is the process by
which message are transferred from source to receiver.
• VAN DEN BAN & HAWKINS(1988):communication is process of
sending and receiving message through channels which establish a
common meaning between source and receiver.

• STEVENS(1942):communication is a discriminatory response of an
organism to stimulus.
• WEAVER(1966):communication is all of the procedure, by which an
individuals mind affect others.
• THAYER(1968):communication is the mutual interchange of ideas
by any effective means.
• THAYER(1968):communication is arrangement of environmental
stimulus to produce desirable behavior on the part of the organism.
• HARTMAN(1966):communication is control of behavior through
descriptive and reinforcing stimuli.
• COLEMAN &MARSH says that “all educational and action
program in extension are communication.”

• WOODWARD W. SAYER : said , “communication is the
first principle of philosophy.”

NATURE OF COMMUNICATION
• Communication is a process.
• Communication employs many means.
• Communication involves interdependence.
• Communication process involves number of distinguishable parts.
• Communication takes place within participants.
• Communication takes place at many levels.
• Fidelity varies from one communication situation to another.

COMMUNICATION IS PROCESS
• Process is any phenomenon which shows a continuous change in time.
• Communication is a process, as communication go on , the
communication is continuously changing.
• Communication is not intermittent but continuous function of human
being.
• BERLO (1960), says/sees communication as
1. Dynamic
2. Ongoing
3. Everlasting
4. Continuous act
5. The process has no beganing no end or fixed sequence of events.
6. It is not static.
• We cannot freeze communication at any one point, but must consider
it as s by product of interacting individuals.

COMMUNICATION EMPLOYS MANY MEANS
• Communication may occur in many means , many ways , many levels
and with many people.
• Examples:
1. Written communication –with authority structure
2. Telephonic communication – with task structure
3. Face-to-face communication- with personal touch

COMMUNICATION INVOLVES
INTERDEPENDENCE
• Interdependence means reciprocal and mutual dependence.
• Communication is two-way process, it has stimulus and
response among the organisms.
• Communication is both reciprocal and alternating.
• Communication involves constant reversal of roles.
• Thus communication involves interdependent relationship
between the participants.
• The level of communication may change from situation to
situation.

COMMUNICATION HAS NUMBER OF
DISTINGUISHING PARTS
• Communication has at least three phases
I. Phase – EXPRESSION
II. Phase –INTERPRETATION
III. Phase – RESPONSE

COMMUNICATION TAKES WITHIN
PARTICIPANTS
• As like learning, communication also takes place within
participants and between them.
• Within communication is determined by individuals
take- into- account abilities and take-into-account
susceptibilities.

COMMUNICATION TAKE PLACE AT
MANY LEVELS
• According to THAYER (1968),there are at least four levels of
analysis of communication.
• The four levels of communication
I. Level: intrapersonal communication
II. Level :Interpersonal communication
III. Level :Intraorganisational communication
IV. Level :Interorganizational communication

FIDELITY VARIES FROM ONE
COMMUNICATION SITUATION TO ANOTHER
• Fidelity – refers to faithful performance of all the elements of
communication
• Communication effectiveness varies from one communication
situation to another.
• Communication effectiveness refers to the communication
encounter that has produced desired result.
• Communication encounter refers to achieving commonality
between the communicator and communicate.

THE COMMUNICATION PROCESS
•communication begins the sender thinking about what to
include in the message.
•the message is encoded in a medium and conveyed using
a channel .
•the receiver (or audience) decodes the message.
•the receiver sends a feedback , which is evidence of the
message being communicated successfully or
unsuccessfully.
•the original sender then receives the feedback and the loop
closes.

To change the information into a set of letters,
numbers or symbols that can be easily readable by
a system.
To change the information from a set of letters
,numbers ,symbols ,etc. ,in such a manner one can
understand easily.

communication process,concept,elements of communication

ELEMENTS OF COMMUNICATION
• The communicator
• Message or content
• Channels of communication
• Treatment of messages
• The audience
• Audience response
• Feed back

THE COMMUNICATOR
• The person who starts the process of communication in
operation.
• He is the source or originator of messages.
• He is the sender of messages. He is the first to give expression
to messages intended to reach an audience in a manner that
results in correct interpretation and desirable response.
• The communicator may be a Agricultural Extension Officer,
Village Development Officer, a Principal or an Instructor in a
Training Centre, a Mandal Agricultural Officer, a villager, an
administrator or any other person.

CHARACTERISTICS OF A GOOD
COMMUNICATOR
• He knows:
• his objectives - has them specifically defined;
• his audience - its needs, interests, abilities, predispositions.
• his message- its content, validity, usefulness, importance.
• channels that will reach the audience and their usefulness.
• how to organize and treat his message.
• his professional abilities and limitations.

• He is interested in:
• his audience and its welfare.
• his message and how it can help people.
• the results of communication and their evaluation.
• the communication process.
• the communication channels - their proper use and limitation.
• how to improve his communication skill.

• He prepares:
• a plan for communication - a teaching plan;
• Communication materials and equipment;
• a plan for evaluation of results

• He has skill in:
• selecting messages.
• treating messages.
• expressing messages - verbal and written
• the selection and use of channels
• understanding his audience
• collecting evidence of results

MESSAGE OR CONTENT
• A message is the information a communicator wishes his audience
to receive, understand, accept and act upon
• A good message must be:
• In line with the objective to be attained.
• Clear – understandable by the audience .
• In line with the mental, social, economic and physical capabilities
of the audience.
• Significant – economically, socially or aesthetically to the needs,
interests and values of the audience
• Specific – no irrelevant material;

• Timely – especially when seasonal factors are important and
issues current
• Supported by factual material covering both sides of the
argument;
• Appropriate to the channel selected
• Appealing and attractive to the audience – having utility,
immediate use.
• Applicable – audience can apply recommendation;
• Simply stated covering only one point at a time.
• Accurate – Scientifically sound, factual and current;

• Adequate – Combining principle and practice in effective
proportion.
• Manageable – can be handled by the communicator with high
professional skill and within the limits imposed by time.
• In short ; In line, Clear, Significant,Specific,Simple,Timely,
Appropriate,Appealing,Applicable ,Accurate, Adequate
,Manageable.

CHANNELS OF COMMUNICATION
• The sender and the receiver of messages must be connected or
‘tuned’ with each other. For this purpose, channels of
communication are necessary.
• Channels are the physical bridges between the sender and the
receiver of messages and the avenues between a communicator
and an audience on which messages travel to and fro.
• Channels are the transmission lines used for carrying messages
to their destination. Thus, the channels serve as essential tools
of the communicator.

• A channel may be anything used by a sender of message to
connect him with intended receivers.
• The crucial point is that he must get in contact with his
audience.
• But channels are no good without careful direction or use in
the right way, at the right time, to do the right job for the right
purpose with the right audience, all in relation to the message.

• Many obstructions can enter channels. These are often referred
to as ‘noise’ - that is some obstruction that prevents the
message from being heard by or carried over clearly to the
audience. ‘Noise’ emerges from a wide range of sources and
causes.

SOURCES AND CAUSES OF NOISE
• 1. Failure of a channel to reach the intended audience
• 2. Failure on the part of a communicator to handle channels
skillfully.
• 3. Failure to select channels appropriate to the objective of a
communicator.
• 4. Failure to use channels in accordance with the abilities of
the audience.
• 5. Failure to avoid physical distraction.
• 6. Failure of an audience to listen or look carefully.
• 7. Failure to use enough channels in parallel.
• 8. Use of too many channels in a series.

• 1. Failure of a channel to reach the intended audience:
Usually, no one channel will reach an entire audience. Some
examples: Meetings - all people cannot or may not attend.
Radio - all people do not have access to a receiving set or may
not be tuned in if they did. Written materials -many people
cannot read.
• 2. Failure on the part of a communicator to handle
channels skillfully: If in a meeting, tour, radio programme or
any other channel is not used according to good procedure and
technique, its potential for carrying message is dissipated. For
example in a meeting when everyone cannot hear what is said
and see what is shown, they cannot receive the message.

• 3. Failure to select channels appropriate to the objective of
a communicator:
• All channels are not equally useful in attaining a specific
objective. For example, if an objective was to show a certain
group of people how to do something - dig a compost pit,
build a sanitary latrine, treat seed, cook vegetables. etc. - the
radio; circular letter, or newspaper would not do the job.
Obviously, the channel needed is a method demonstration
meeting. On the other hand, if an objective was to give general
information about subjects like the above or to inform people
of events etc., radio, letters and newspapers would be the
proper channels to use.

• 4. Failure to use channels in accordance with the abilities
of the audience:
• Written materials, for example, cannot serve as useful channels
for communicating information to people who are unable to
read or to understand the level of complexity or abstraction of
the message.
• 5. Failure to avoid physical distraction: When using the
channel of meetings, for example, distractions including
people moving in and out, loud noises in or out of the group,
heat, lighting crowded condition and many other forms of
distraction often obstruct successful message - sending. Static
on the radio, poor writing, unattractive exhibits are other
examples of ‘noise’ that lessen the effectiveness of channels.

• 6. Failure of an audience to listen or look carefully: The only
messages that get through to an audience are those which are heard,
seen or experienced. An unfortunate tendency of people is not to give
undivided attention to the communicator. This is a powerful
obstruction that prevents messages from reaching their desired
destination.
• 7. Failure to use enough channels in parallel: The more channels a
communicator uses in parallel or at about the same time, the more
chances he has for the message getting through and being properly
received. No single channel will ordinarily reach all people who need
to receive a message. Research indicates that up to five or six channels
used in combination are often necessary to get a message through to
large numbers of people with enough impact to influence significant
changes in behavior.

• 8. Use of too many channels in a series:
• An important principle of communication is that the more channels
used in a series the less chance a communicator has for getting his
message through to the intended audience. Let it be assumed for
example, that a Assistant Director of Agriculture originates a
message he wishes to communicate to a sizeable number of local
cultivators.
• Assistant Director of Agriculture communicates the message to the
Mandal Agriculture Officer, who in turn communicates it to the
Village level Agriculture Extension Officer, who in turn
communicates it to a village leader, who in turn is asked to
communicate it to a number of local cultivators

Assistant Director of Agriculture
Mandal Agriculture Officer
Village level Agriculture Extension
Officer
village leader
local cultivators
SERIES OF CHANNELS

• The use of such a series of channels raises two grave questions
• (a) Did the message ever really reach the intended destination?
• (b) Did it reach with the same content and intent as the original?
• Two important principles emerge from this example:
(1) The more steps by which the communicator is removed from his
intended receiver, the greater are his chances of losing the proper
message.
(2) When lines of communication get too long for assured
communication they can be improved in two primary ways
• (a) by using additional channels in parallel and
• (b) by eliminating some of the channels in the series.

4. TREATMENT OF MESSAGES
• Treatment has to do with the way a message is handled to get the
information across to an audience.
• It relates to the technique, or details of procedure, or manner of
performance, essential to expertness in presenting messages.
• treating messages does not relate to formulation of the message or to
the selection of channels, but to the presentation within the situation
provided by a message and a channel.
• The purpose of treatment is to make the message clear, understandable
and realistic to the audience.

• Treatment of messages can be varied in an almost
infinite number of ways.
• the three categories of basis useful for varying
treatment.
• A. Matters of general organization
• B. Matters of speaking and acting
• C. Matters of symbol variation and devices for
representing ideas

A. MATTERS OF GENERAL
ORGANISATION:
• 1) Repetition or frequency of mention of ideas and concepts
• 2) Contrast of ideas.
• 3) Chronological- compared to logical, compared to psychological.
• 4) Presenting one side compared to two sides of an issue.
• 5) Emotional compared to logical appeals.
• 6) Starting with strong arguments compared to saving him until the
end of presentation.
• 7) Inductive compared to deductive.
• 8) Proceeding from the general to the specific and vice versa.
• 9) Explicitly drawing conclusions compared to leaving conclusions
implicit for the audience to draw.

B. MATTERS OF SPEAKING AND ACTING:
•
• 1) Limit the scope of presentation to a few basic ideas and to the time
allotted. Too many ideas at one time are confusing.
• 2) Be yourself. You can’t be anyone else. Strive to be clear, not clever.
• 3) Know the facts. Fuzziness means sure death to a message.
• 4) Don’t read your speech. People have more respect for a
communicator
who is sure of his subject.
• 5) Know the audience. Each audience has its own personality.
Be responsive to it.

• 6) Avoid being condescending. Do not talk or act down
to people or over their heads. Remember, good
treatment of messages result in hitting the ‘bull’s
eye’, not the surrounding terrain. Never over-
estimate the knowledge of an audience or
underestimate its intelligence.
• 7) Decide on the dramatic effect desired. In addition to the
content of messages, a communicator should be
concerned with ‘showmanship’. Effective treatment
requires sincerity, smoothness, enthusiasm, warmth,
flexibility and appropriateness of voice, gestures,
movements and tempo.

• 8)Use alternative communicators when
appropriate, as in Group discussions, panels,
interviews, etc.
• 9) Remember that audience appeal is a
psychological bridge to getting a message
delivered.
• 10) Quit on time. Communicators who stop when
they are “finished” are rewarded by audience
goodwill.

C. MATTERS OF SYMBOL VARIATION AND DEVICES FOR
REPRESENTING IDEAS:
• Word symbols- speech
• Real objects.
• Models
• Specimens.
• Photographs.
• Graphs.
• Charts
• Motion pictures.
• Slides.
• Drama.
• Puppets
• Songs.
• Flash cards etc.

• The foregoing list of suggested possibilities for message treatment can
be extended and the techniques used in an almost infinite number of
combinations.
• Communicators should be aware that treating messages to achieve
maximum audience impact is a highly professional task.
• The task cannot be reduced to a formula or recipe.
• Treatment is a creative task that has to be ‘tailor made’ for each
instance of communication.

5. THE AUDIENCE
• An audience is the intended receiver of messages.
• The consumer of messages.
• The intended respondent in message -sending and the assumed to be
in a position to gain economically, socially or in other ways by
responding to the message in particular ways.
• In good communication, the audience aimed at is already identified
by the communicator.
• The ‘pay of’ in communication is dependent on what the audience
does in response to messages.

• An audience may consist of one person or many.
• An audience may comprise men, women, or both; youth groups,
villagers or their leaders.
• An audience may be formed according to occupation groups as
farmers or artisans; professional groups, as engineers, educators,
administrators etc.
• The more homogeneous an audience, the greater the chances of
successful communication. Likewise, the more a communicator
knows about his audience and can pinpoint its characteristics the
more likely he is to make an impact.

• unless a communicator sees his target clearly, he can shoot a
thousand rounds, and yet accomplish nothing.
• It may be noted that the audience is not a passive recipient of
message.
• The individuals are rather selective in receiving, processing
and interpreting messages.
• Selective Exposure
• Selective perception
• Selective retention

• Selective Exposure.: KLAPPER (1960)
• suggested that people expose themselves to messages
selectively.
• There is a tendency for individuals to expose themselves
relatively more to those items of communication that are in
agreement with their ideas, beliefs, values etc.

• SELECTIVE PERCEPTION:
Regardless of exposure to communication, an individual’s
perception of a certain event, issue, person or place could be
influenced by one’s latent beliefs, attitudes, wants, needs or
other factors. Thus, two individuals exposed to the same
message could go away with different perceptions about it.

• SELECTIVE RETENTION:
• All information is not retained by the individuals.
• People generally tend to retain that information in which they
have some interest and which they consider to be important.
• Research showed that even recall of information is influenced
by factors such as an individual’s needs, wants, moods,
perceptions and so on.

• AUDIENCE SEGMENTATION:
• According to Rogers (1995), audience segmentation is a
communication strategy that consists of identifying certain sub
audiences within a total audience, and then conveying a
special message to each of these sub audiences.
• The strategy breaks down a heterophilous audience into a
series of relatively more homophilous sub audiences, in which
different communication channels or messages are used with
each sub audience.

• 6. AUDIENCE RESPONSE
• This is the terminating element in communication applied to
rural development programmes.
• Response by an audience to messages received is in the form
of some kind of action to some degree, mentally or physically.

• 7. FEED BACK:
• Extension communication is never complete without feedback
information.
• FEEDBACK means carrying some significant response of the
audience back to the communicator.
• Communication work is not an end in itself.
• The extension agent should know what has happened to the
audience after the message has reached them.

REFERENCE
• Text book on Agricultural communication
-by A.S.SANDHU
• Extension communication and management
- by G.L.RAY
• Education and communication for development
- by O.P.DHAMA & O.P.BHATNAGAR

Thank you
AGRICULTURE IS MOTHER OF ALL CULTURE

communication process,concept,elements of communication

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