Source: Image of Man on Phone, Public Domain, http://mrg.bz/dEPawI; Image of Human Peace Symbol, http://mrg.bz/OTfAtj
Hi, I'm Julie Tietz, and welcome to Conflict Resolution-- Putting the Pieces Together. Today we're going to talk about the communication process. So let's get started off by defining communication.
Communication is the process of moving information from person to person using symbolic codes. So here we want to send information or messages from us to another person. And this is a little outline or a diagram of the communication process.
And so let's go through each of these pieces separately so we can understand it a little bit better. So what we are wanting to communicate, we're starting off with a piece of information. And that is then translated to a message, which is a packet of information. And it has been encoded from us, the sender, to the receiver. And so information is defined as a sequence of symbols that can be interpreted as a message. And a message is a packet of information which has been encoded and has moved from sender to receiver.
So once we have our information or message that we want to get across to another person, we then as the sender, which is in communication the person moving information from one self to another. So we are the person that is going to take the message and information and send it on to another person.
And that other person is what we'd like to call as the receiver. And the receiver and communication is the person receiving that information from another. So it's the person that we are emailing. It's the person that we are calling on the phone. It's the person that we are talking to on the bus. So that is the receiver.
After they receive our message, the receiver then needs to confirm to us that they received and understood our message as intended. And they do this through a confirmation message. And a confirmation message is a message sent by receiver to sender indicating that a message has been received and indicating how the message has been interpreted. A confirmation message, you can think of it is the check in to let us know that they got the message that we sent and they interpret it correctly.
So let's look at our communication process diagram here a little bit further. And so for us we have the message that is to be sent and that is sent through the sender to the receiver, who then sends the confirmation message back up to the sender to let them know that they received the message as intended.
When we have some information to get across to another person, we can't do that in its raw state. It has to be put in through a set of symbolic codes. And a symbol is a representation of a concept in a tangible form. So a symbol could be something as a letter or a number.
And the symbols then are set into codes. And that is a set of symbols with consistent meanings used to hold and convey information. So this would be a word, a sentence, et cetera. So we need to transmit the information into symbolic code in order for it to be understood.
When we are trying to carry our messages, there can be things that get in the way of having our message received. And this is called a filter. And a filter is a factor that can prevent a message from being received or cause it to be received or interpreted in a way other than the one meant by the sender.
There are two different types of filters-- one is external and the other is internal. So let's talk about what external filters do. So let's use this little diagram I've made here.
This line here represents the filter. And here's our coded message that we want as the sender for the receiver to have. And an external filter comes from outside forces. So it could literally be a bad connection on your phone that gets in the way of the receiver hearing everything you want to say.
Or it could be a misplaced note that we left for a family member that we were leaving. And it got destroyed somehow. Maybe the dog ate it or something like that. And so these are all things outside of our control or external issues or factors that can get in the way of a successful message.
And the other is an internal filter. And these are a little bit different than the external filter. An internal filter comes from within ourselves. So it could be something within our own minds, maybe we are put off by a comment the sender said to us. And so us as the receiver are going to tune them out. And we are not going to hear everything they have to say.
Or maybe it's misinterpretation on some of the information that the sender is receiving. And so those are examples of internal filters that are more with inside ourselves that can get in the way of us hearing or receiving the whole message as intended.
So going back to our communication process diagram one more time, the information is taken by the sender to the receiver. The receiver then sends back a confirmation message to the sender to let them know that they received their message as intended.
And when we have all of these steps happen, this is known as a successful communication event. And so a successful event is having the information and message from the sender to the receiver with a confirmation message back. That means that we had a successful communication event.
So how does communication and conflict relate? Well, I'm sure you can think of many reasons why communication is essential in conflict. For one thing, communication can create conflict. And this could happen through misinterpreting messages.
Let's say here this guy on the phone is losing connection and misunderstood what the sender was trying to say to him and did the complete opposite. And his actions caused the conflict.
And also, communication can help in resolving conflict. When we communicate effectively to another party, we can hopefully reach some better understanding about our intentions, our emotions, and the conflict itself. So we can reach a resolution hopefully through effective and good communication.
So now that we've covered the communication process, let's go over some of the key points. So here, the communication process diagram one last time. Information is from the sender to the receiver. And the receiver sends back a confirmation message to the sender letting them know they received the message.
And in order for us to transmit information, it must be converted into symbolic code that people understand. And filters, whether they're internal or external, can prohibit a message from being transmitted. So those external filters, such as maybe a bad connection on the phones, or the internal filters, such as our own minds tuning out, those types of things can prohibit a message from being transmitted.
It can also cause a conflict. This typically happens when we have misinterpreted messages. But it also can resolve conflict. Communication is essential in conflict resolution. And so we need to be able to use it effectively in order to reach understanding and to come to some sort of resolution with our issues.
That's all I have for you today. Thank you so much for taking the time out. And I can't wait to catch you again next time.