Communication and Customer Relations glossary

Communication is simultaneous and continuous, with meaning constructed by both parties rather than transferred by one.

Taught in Introduction to communication

Source, Message, Channel, Receiver, each with its own attributes: the source's communication skills, attitude, knowledge, social system and culture. It explains why identical messages land differently on different receivers.

Taught in Introduction to communication

The physical, social, cultural and organisational setting, which alters meaning. The same instruction from a supervisor and from a peer carries different weight.

Taught in Introduction to communication

The receiver's response, which is the only evidence the sender has that the message was understood. Communication without feedback is transmission.

Taught in Introduction to communication

Channels differ in their capacity to carry cues, and ambiguous messages need rich channels. Face-to-face is richest, an unaddressed printed notice the leanest. This is the theory that tells you not to make someone redundant by email.

Taught in Introduction to communication

The carrier: speech, letter, email, SMS, WhatsApp, telephone, notice board, radio, a meeting.

Taught in Introduction to communication

The encoded content: what is actually sent, as distinct from what was intended.

Taught in Introduction to communication

Anything that distorts the message between sender and receiver: physical noise, poor network, jargon, prejudice, fatigue, or an unfamiliar accent.

Taught in Introduction to communication

Both parties encode, decode and interpret continuously, making communication circular rather than linear. This is the transactional view.

Taught in Introduction to communication

The person who receives and interprets the symbols, drawing on their own knowledge, language and experience.

Taught in Introduction to communication

Adds the field of experience: communication succeeds only where the sender's and receiver's fields of experience overlap. It is the theoretical basis for avoiding jargon.

Taught in Introduction to communication

The person or body originating the message, who converts an idea into transmittable symbols: words, figures, gestures or images.

Taught in Introduction to communication

Information source, transmitter, channel, receiver, destination, with noise acting on the channel. Engineering in origin, and it introduced noise as a formal concept, but it treats meaning as a package and ignores context.

Taught in Introduction to communication