Chapter 11: Communicating with a purpose

message

a specific idea or general information that a sender wants to convey to receivers

noise

potential barriers that may impede communication at all four steps of the communication process

decoding

process by which the receiver attributes meaning to a message

constructive criticism

providing a serious examination or judgment of something in a way that is intended to help the listener improve

encoding

putting a message in understandable terms yb using symbols and media

media richness

refers to a communication medium's ability to resolve ambiguity

deliberative dialogue

refers to structured multidirectional communication that enables multiple stakeholders to learn from one another what is best for the overall community

semantic problems

arise when words have different meanings for people who are from different demographic groups or who have had different experiences

feedback

lets the sender know whether the message has been received as intended

collective decoding

occurs when a message is interpreted by a group of two or more people with the result that each member learns more than anyone could alone (and typically more than the sender could have put into the original message)

filtering

occurs when information is withheld or not communicated to others

feedforward communication

the combination of relationships and prior communication that influences future messages

grapevine

the informal information network in an organization

channel

the pathway along which a message travels through a medium

communication

the process of transferring information by using meaningful symbols so that a message is understood by others

medium

the vehicle that is used to carry a message from the sender to the receiver