Media of Communication
Broad Classification into five Groups
• Written
• Oral/ Verbal
• Visual
• Audio-Visual
• Computer-based
Written Communication
• Letters
• Circulars
• Memos
• Telegrams
• Reports
• Minutes
• Forms
• Questionnaires
• manuals
Merits of Written Communication
• It is accurate and precise
• It can be repeatedly referred to
• It is a permanent record
• It is a legal document
• It makes it easier to fix responsibility
• It has a wide access
Limitations
• It is time-consuming
• Comparatively expensive
• Quick clarification is not possible
Essentials of effective written
communication
• Clarity
• Completeness
• Conciseness
• Consideration
• Courtesy
• Correctness
Merits of Oral Communication
• It saves time
• It saves money
• Speech is a more powerful means of persuasion
and control
• Speech can convey shades of meaning that written
communication cannot
• The speaker can get immediate feedback and
listeners can get immediate clarifications
• Its informality helps to promote friendly relations
• Useful while communicating with large groups or
assemblies
Limitations
• Oral communication is not possible if the
sender and receiver are far from each other
and no devices are available to connect them
• Lengthy messages are not suitable for oral
transmission
• Oral messages cannot be retained for a long
time
• Oral messages do not have legal validity
• Responsibility for mistakes cannot be fixed
Essentials of effective oral communication
• Clear and correct pronunciation
• Brevity
• Precision
• Conviction
• Logical sequence
• Appropriate word choice
• Finding the right register for the particular
occasion
Merits of face-to-face Communication
• Facial expressions and gestures help to
communicate better
• Particularly suitable for a discussion
Limitations
• Difficult to practice in large-sized organizations
• Not effective in large gatherings
• Ineffective if the listener is not attentive
Essentials
• Face to face communication becomes most
effective if accompanied with appropriate
body language and subtle variations of tone
and expression.
Visual and Audio-Visual Communication
• Printed pictures, posters, slides, film strips
facial expressions gestures etc. fall under
visual communication
• Very effective to communicate elementary
and simple ideas instantaneously such as
warnings
• However most effective when used in
combination with other mediums
Advantages of Audio-Visual Mediums
• Strong and deep impact-the combination of
sight, sound and the written word has a
forceful effect on the mind
• Powerful Medium - message is remembered
longer with clarity
• Easily Recalled.
• Most suitable for mass publicity, mass
propaganda, mass education
Effective use of A-V
• To make the most effective use of the audio
visual medium, it is necessary to make the
slides or films attractive and interesting
• The narration accompanying the slide should
be clear, precise, lucid, and easily
understandable
Computer based communication
• The fax, voice mail, e-mail, cellular phones,
video calls, video conferencing etc. are some
of the computer based media of
communication
• It has dramatically changed the way we do
business today.
• It is fast annihilating barriers of time and space
• It is now possible to communicate instantly
with people in the remotest parts of the
world.
Advantages
• It is the quickest means of communication
• Space and geographical distance is no longer a
barrier to communication
• Video conferencing can replace personal
meetings
• Better means of keeping permanent record of
valuable and bulky data-CD-Roms, optical
discs, tapes, and other storage media has four
distinct advantages:
• 1) easy to store
• 2) equally easy to retrieve
• 3) possible to store bulky data
• 4) through networks this information can be shared
with and accessed by a large community of people.
• 5) the www as a publishing platform- it’s a
hypermedia which supports audio, video, graphics,
text etc. which can be sent or received by just a few
keystrokes
Limitations
• Uncertain legal validity
• Fear of undesirable leakage
• The virus malady
Silence
• Silence is sometimes more eloquent than
words
• Disapproval, anger, indifference
• Dissent and also consent effectively expressed
through silence
