Communication basically is the process of transferring information from one party to another. The means by which people communicate has evolved throughout the ages. From smoke signals used by the native Americans, to phones and the internet today. Communication is direct in most cases, but it can be subtle like the use of body language to convey certain emotions.
Communication allows us to interact with other members of our society. Being able to convey and understand the intentions of others, have allowed people to work together towards a common goal, thus forming the society we live in today. Without proper communication, even a team made up of extremely talented people is not guaranteed success as there is no focus and teamwork. Each individual might do what he thinks is best but that might not be what the group needs. Communication might be so fundamental, but yet so important.
Wars could have been avoided if there was better communication. For example, the cold war could have been avoided if both sides had not decided that the other was impossible and just stopped talking to each other. It was only when President Kennedy reopened communication that a nuclear fallout was narrowly avoided. Fears of communication difficulties also lead to the introduction of the first hotline between the US and USSR. This formed a direct link between the two superpowers and allowed them to more easily discuss future military actions and political maneuvering.
To me, communication is a process of life-long learning. There is no one who has mastered the art of communication completely and only through continued practice can we hope to become a better communicator.
Regards
Corn
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ReplyDeleteHi Cornelius, i like the point u wrote that Communication can be in any channel,"From smoke signals used by the native Americans, to phones and the internet today.",i totally agree with that point.I would like to add that, communication not only allows us to interact with other members of our society, but also to animal.There are ways that we can use to communicate with animals.The communication with animals are not very different than communicating with people.According to Dawn Baumann Brunke,the author of Animal Voices ,You can first share an same observation and await a response. This may excite you to share something else and listen eagerly to a reply. And so it goes, back and forth, an exchange of information, ideas, thoughts, laughter, sadness, joy and delight.
ReplyDeleteHi Cornelius,
ReplyDeleteI agree that the examples used in describing the advancement of channels nowadays is very good.Great job there but however you seem to neglect the facts about teamwork.It would be better if you could elaborate more about the relationship between communication and teamwork rather than just writing on communication skills.Great job on the examples though.
Regards,
Joon Wai.
Hey Cornelius,
ReplyDeleteA truly enlightening post. I like the simple description of communication. There are also things like laughter, and other emotions that are part of the universal language which can still be misunderstood when used in the wrong context. It just goes to show how important effective communication is, was, and always will be. Sure, lifelong learning applies to everything, including communication :) You seem to have missed out the details on teamwork though.
Excellent example on communication. Imagine what would have happened if everyone refused to talk to one another and blew up the world. Scary!
-Anni
Hey Cornelious
ReplyDeleteFirst of all, i would like to say, great job on the examples! There have been so many tragedies throughout history that could have been easily avoided simply with better communication skills!
Like you said, communication is really a fundamental skill that could prove to be so important in so many ways. Though the ways in which we humans communicate has evolved tremendously over the years, but the basic communication process still applies, and sadly, the basic communication barriers are also still present.
There is absolutely no doubt that communication is life-long skill. There is no fixed way of communicating with every single person. It varies from person to person, and we are constantly picking up new ways of communicating with other people.
To end off, i would like to say that you could have elaborated more on what is communication exactly. Maybe add on from what we learnt during the tutorial.
Andy
PS - Nice cartoon picture!
Thanks for all your constructive comments.
ReplyDeleteTo Jeisern - A very interesting comment on animals. Maybe that is why studies have shown that people with pets seem happier then those without. Thanks for sharing :)
To Anni and Joon Wai - Haha I totally missed out teamwork. Will be more careful reading the topic in the future :)
To Andy - Thanks for elaborating on my points. I agree that I could have spent more time explaining what communication is. I will try to allocate my words better in the future, maybe by making my examples more concise.
PS - Glad you liked the cartoon :)