Phases of Communication

Communication plays an important part in people's lives because it is a medium for sharing ideas and knowledge. Communication techniques are also important since they define the type and sources of knowledge flow. The contact networks are made up of two main entities: those who transmit messages and those who receive input from the source. This paper analyzes a recent miscommunication with a family member using the eight steps of the communication mechanism.

The sender must have an ideology about whether he or she is to say during the first step of contact. The idea in mind was that I would not be home for some few days owing to an educational trip. This educational exposure was scheduled on short notice. There are several ways that I would have encoded the idea of this message. However, the anticipated receivers of the message were on a business trip, and I could not reach them via the phone or social media. I was the only one at home and had been given enough resources to cater for my needs. Therefore, I had to devise a means of ensuring that the receivers who were my parents got the message at an appropriate time.

A letter was drafted and placed in a visible position to ensure that these receivers got the information. I placed the note on the kitchen countertop, and it read “Do Not worry about me. I am away on a trip and will be back soon.” This message was brief and easy to comprehend. However, the receivers did not decode it appropriately. My parents thought that the trip was not educational and were worried about me. I learned that these receivers interpreted the message on this note wrongly after getting several missed calls from my parents who would never worry whenever I went to an educational trip since they always left me with enough monetary resources for sustaining myself. However, I had to call back to give proper explanations on my whereabouts and provide full information regarding my financial status, accommodation and my expected return date.

Communication may be faced with several avoidable and unavoidable barriers. In this instance, the first barrier to proper communication was channel breakdown whereby I could not reach the anticipated receivers via phone. Secondly, the clarity of the message was another key barrier that prevented successful communication. If I gave a detailed explanation on my whereabouts in a lengthy letter, this communication would have been relatively successful and the receivers who have decoded it appropriately. Thirdly, there were noise and distractions. I was busy listening to my instructor at the time that my parents called to get some clarification regarding the nature of my trip. The nature of this destruction might have been my inability to multitask as I could not listen to my instructor and at the same time check my phone for any calls or voice messages.

All in all, the miscommunication in this discussion was caused by the various communication barriers. Clarity of any given piece of information plays a key role in determining its success. Therefore, I would have avoided the miscommunication by ensuring that I encoded the message in perfectly so that the receiver would decode it in an appropriate manner and respond to the information positively.