Communication Skills Vocabulary

Flashcards covering key vocabulary from Communication Skills lecture notes.

Communication

An act of conveying information or giving instruction through natural or artificial means.

Communication (Newman and Summer)

Exchange of facts, ideas, opinions, or emotions by two or more persons.

Communication (Peter Little)

The process by which information is transmitted between individuals/organizations so that understanding response results.

Administrative Communication

A process involving the transmission and accurate replication of ideas ensured by feedback for purpose of eliciting actions which will accomplish organizational goals.

Internal Communication

Exchange of information or message between persons of same organization, e.g. between employer and employee.

Communication

An act of conveying information or giving instruction through natural or artificial means.

To inform

Passing and receiving information about a particular fact or circumstance.

To advice

Involves personal opinions; subjective and neutral, aimed at influencing the opinion or behaviour of another person.

To order

An authoritative communication; a directive to somebody (subordinate) to do something or not to do something.

To suggest

Mild or subtle suggestion that may flow from subordinate to superior.

To persuade

Communication aimed at influencing the attitudes, feelings or beliefs of others.

To educate

A conscious process of communication involving teaching and learning to widen knowledge and improve skills.

Morale

Stands for mental health; sum of qualities such as courage, fortitude, resolution and confidence.

To motivate

Energizing and activating a person and challenge his or her behaviour towards the attainment of desired goals.

Motivation

The basic urge beneath the communication; the wider reason why communication takes place.

Aim

The more particular reason why communication has been undertaken.

Information

The material from which communication would be constructed; the actual content to put across to the listener or reader.

Sender

The person responsible for sending the communication.

Message

Information that has been encoded and takes the form of a letter, a memo, telephone call, or a shrug of shoulders.

Media

A larger group of ways of communication within which particular ways of communication can be classified.

Non-verbal communication

The combination of gestures, expressions, tone of voice, position, posture, etc.

Channel

The physical means by which message is conveyed.

Receiver

The person or body which receives the message.

Noise

Any factors which prevent proper exchange of information apart from that from the sender or receiver.

Distortion

Takes place at the encoding or decoding stage, leading to misunderstanding of the message.

Feedback

The message which the sender receives from the receiver to show the acceptance or disapproval of message.

Jargon

Special language of trade, certain profession or field of study e.g. medicine, business and only understood and used by people from such fields. It therefore creates a scenario of difficult understanding to those who are not from that field.

Ambiguity

A message that contains words that have more than one meaning, encouraging misinterpretation.

Impact integrity

Integrity, ethical principles of sincerity and fair treatment that should be observed in a message.

Courtesy

A considerate and friendly attitude towards the receiver.

Completeness

Complete presentation of facts and details in any business communication.

Correctness

Giving correct facts/statements/arguments, sending the message at the correct time, and in the correct style/medium/channel.

Wrong choice of medium

Unsuitable media that may act as a barrier to effective communication.

Physical barriers

Barriers due to inadequate staff, faulty procedures, inaccuracy in processing and delivery of communication.

Semantic barrier

Meaning of language; the same word may be interpreted differently by different people.

Denotative meaning

Literal meaning of the word.

Connotative meanings

Meanings that arouse qualitative judgments and personal reactions.

Abstracting

Process of focusing attention on some details and omitting others.

Slanting

Giving a particular bias or slant to a reality.

Inferring

Inferences drawn from observations and assumptions.

Socio-psychological barriers

Barriers due to some social or psychological problems.

Speech

Spoken word, which is very powerful and can stir people.

Meetings

Held to discuss particular issues or matters.

Discussion

A co-operative, critical exchange of opinions, information and ideas about one general subject, guided by a leader for the purpose of seeking appropriate, acceptable answers to a question.

Question of fact

Questions for which discussants try to find which aspects of a particular problem are true, probable or false.

Questions of value

Questions that evaluate different ideas to see which one is best.

Questions of policy

Questions that attempt to discover if something should or should not be done.

Panel Discussion

Involves four – eight members without prepared speeches, following specific lines to find an answer to a question.

Symposium

Requires individual discussants to deal with one assigned area of a discussion question or to present their unique viewpoints on the subject.

Round table discussion

Doesn’t include audience participation. It usually begins with a statement of the problem.

Lecture Discussion

Includes periods of formal, structured presentations or lectures by the discussion leader.

Progressive Discussion

Involves several small groups which discuss various, assigned aspects of the same question at the same time.

Interview

A meeting between two people for the purpose of getting to view each other or knowing each other.

Screening

Preliminary interview done when there are many applicants for a given post to eliminate unqualified applicants.

Random appearance

Method used when physical appearance is the essential requirement for a given post.

Under stress interview

Method where the candidate is provoked to test his poise and how he will acquit himself from difficult situations.

Essay writing

An attempt to write a given topic; a composition made up of paragraphs which are logically arranged and connected with one another.

Business letters

Communication to persons outside the organization.

Memo

Short form for memorandum; used for internal communication.

Report

An orderly presentation of facts about specific business activities or programs.

Business report

A document which investigates a specific subject according to a prescribed format and for a clearly defined leadership.

Informative reports

One that represents facts pertinent to a given situation or issue.

Interpretive reports

Reports that analyze the facts, draw conclusion and make recommendations.

Formal Reports

Prepared in prescribed form and presented accordingly to an established procedure to prescribed authority.

Informal Reports

Usually inform of person to person communication and usually submitted in form of letter or memo.

Statutory reports

Prepared and presented according to the form and procedure laid down by law.

Non statutory reports

Formal reports which are not required under any law.

Summary writing

Also referred to as precise or abstract; a prose passage or composition from which all unnecessary and unrelated ideas and words have been removed.

Scanning

The process of looking quickly through a text to find a particular piece of information.

Skimming

Glancing at speed over the printed words on a page to gain an impression.

Study Reading

Required when you need to read in detail.

Bar chart

Consists of strips of different lengths each representing a numerical figure.

Pie charts

Used to show the relative size of separate components of a whole.

Graphs

A valuable form of visual communication presenting data on the relationship between two constantly changing elements.

Posture

The way we stand or sit in relation to others or objects, and the position of the head and hands.

Gestures

Using our limbs especially hands and shoulders to convey messages.

Facial expressions

Using the cues of the face to send signals.

Position

Where we stand or sit in relation to objects and the persons we are communicating with.

Persuasion

The process of changing listener’s beliefs or moving a listener to action; a strategy of problem solving relying on appeals rather than force.

Perceiving

Ability to listen and observe, compare and contrast observations, understand how own point of view influences perceptions.

Arranging

Ability to group perceptions, classify them, discover pattern in them and place them in order of importance.

Enquiring

Ability to ask questions about and analyze meaning of perceptions.

Inferring

Ability to recognize underlying assumptions, make generalizations to understand cause effect relationship and make predictions.

Reasoning

Ability to make decisions and arrive at judgement.

Inductive reasoning

Begin particular facts and proceeds to larger general conclusions based on these facts.

Deductive reasoning

Begin with general statement know to be accepted as true and proceed to particular facts that logically follow form these general statements.

Physical needs

Involve the life and health of individual’s body.

Psychological needs

Involves an individual’s inner life.

Social needs

Involves an individual relationship with a group.

Ethical appeal

An appeal to an audience to identify with and trust the speaker.

Hearing

An automatic reaction of the senses and nervous system.

Passive Listeners

Do not pay attention to what is being said they pay more attention to the persons speaking.

Active Listeners

Guide the speaker towards a common interest.

Library of Congress Classification

System used to organize and arrange book collections in libraries.