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The Importance of Effective CommunicationEffective communication is an essential component of organisational success - whether it is at the interpersonal, intergroup, intragroup, organisational, or external levels. 
The Communication ProcessAlthough all of us have been communicating with others since our infancy, the process of transmitting information from an individual (or group) to another is a very complex process with many sources of potential error.Consider this example: John: "I won't make it to work again tomorrow; my back is playing up and my doctor says I should probably be reduced to part time." Boss: "John, this is the third day you've missed and your appointments are always being cancelled; we have to cover for you and this is messing all of us up."
In any communication at least some of the 'meaning' is lost in simple transmission of a message from the sender to the receiver. This is most obvious in cross-cultural situations where language is an issue. But it is also common among people of the same cuture. Communication - It's Easy to Get it WrongLook at this example again.John has what appears to be a simple message to convey - he won't make it to work today because of his bad back. But he had to translate the thoughts into words and this is the first potential source of error. Was he just trying to convey that he would be late? Was he trying to convey anything else? It turns out he was. He was upset because he perceived that his co-workers weren't as sympathetic to his situation as they should be. His co-workers, however, were really being pressured by John's continued absences, and his late calls. They wished he would just take a leave of absence, but John refuses to do so because he would have to take it without pay. 
Thus what appears to be a simple communication is, in reality, quite complex. John is conveying far more than that he would miss work; he is conveying a number of complex emotions, complicated by his own confused feelings about his illness, work, and his future.He sent a message but the message is more than the words; it includes the tone, the timing of the call, and the way he expressed himself. Similarly, the boss goes through a complex process in "hearing" the message. The message that John sent had to be decoded and given meaning. There are many ways to decode the simple message that John gave and the way the message is heard will influence the response. In this case the boss heard far more than a simple message that John won't be at work today. The boss "heard" hostility from him, indifference, lack of consideration, among other emotions. John may not have meant this, but this is what the boss heard. Why Is It So Difficult to Communicate?This is such a sensitive issue because at each step in the process there is considerable potential for error. By the time a message gets from a sender to a receiver there are four basic places where transmission errors can occur and at each place, there are a multitude of potential sources of error. Thus it is no surprise that social psychologists estimate that there is usually a 40-60% loss of meaning in the transmission of messages from sender to receiver.It is critical to understand this process and be aware of the potential sources of errors. Good leaders are constantly trying to overcome these tendencies by making a conscientious effort to minimise loss of meaning in their conversation. It is also very important to understand that a major part of communication is non-verbal. This means that when we attribute meaning to what someone else is saying, the verbal part of the message actually means less than the non-verbal part. The non-verbal part, of course, includes such things as body language and whether you are sweating, keeping eye-contact or fidgiting - all of which can provide clear signals that you might just not mean everything you are saying!
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