Communication Theories Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3500 words

Communication Theories - Essay Example In professional practice, communication is a sensitive tool that defines the relationship between employers, employees and the customers and the attitude that they have for one another. Consequently, the professional environment requires effective communication mechanisms to build a conducive social environment for every person and ensure an effective flow of information. The purpose of this paper is to analyse the extent to which communication theories illuminate areas of professional communication practice. Communication theories have attempted to provide an abstract explanation of the various elements that define an effective communication process as one way of modelling competence in communication. Whether an individual intends to relay information, persuade, trigger a response, or explain a phenomenon, the choice of the mechanisms of information flow and communication techniques will determine the success of the intended purpose of communication. Most scholars have arrived at a concession that the choice of word, media and the channel will be determined by the kind of communication, either social or official, and the audience that receive the information (Emory, 2006, p. 22). These dimensions of communication are all vital if an individual has to pass their information and be understood by their target audience, and this can only be measured by evaluating the response of the audience after the information has been propagated. One of the popular communication theories is the medium Theory of Communications that perceives the communication process as a message oriented process. As opposed to the information theory that perceives communication as a bidirectional linear process, the rhetorical theory provides an abstract of the communication process as a complete messaging loop. According to Sharma (2009, p. 11), the key element in any communication process is the message that is intended to be transmitted over to the audience and the feedback that the audienc e will provide. Message, may it be in speech or textual form, refers to the information that a professional intends to provide to relay to their audience. Competence in communication has been associated with the formulation of the message in such a manner that it is concrete, precise, clear, free of distortion and well-articulated. The design of a speech or a text message will depend on the choice of words, the intonation, non-verbal expressions and presentation techniques. Optimization of the properties that affect a message is vital as a failure of any of them will have a consequential impact on the entire communication process. For instance, even after the choice of the right words, the speaker may mess up the entire process by presenting in a low tone that the audience may not grasp the intended message. In a nutshell, the message is the central attention of any communication process and hence its organization and presentation is the core of effective communication. Another vita l element of the medium theory is the mechanisms of information transmission especially in the journalistic professional practice. A proponent of the medium theory, McLuhan predicted the evolution of the communication process with the proliferation of new technology where messages would need to be transmitted across the entire world. The medium refers to the channel of communication through which message is