Ashish Jhingran, Contributor

This is perhaps one of the most commonly used words - communication - but the vital question is , do we understand communications in its entirety? We usually associate communication with speaking and writing mail. While these definitely qualify to be categorised as a part of communication, the word has a far deeper meaning and that is what we intend to explore.

To begin with, let us understand what is communication.

The term has been described as "A process by which information is exchanged between individuals through a common system of symbols, signs, or behaviour" (Merriam-Webster's Online Dictionary); or the process used "to share information with others by speaking, writing, moving your body or using other signals" (Cambridge Online Dictionary);

Defining communication

Theoretically speaking, communication is a mix of the following processes which:

1. Require involvement of more than one individual.

2. Require a channel/medium.

3. Results in exchange of meaningful information between involved individuals.

4. Uses a mode/method which needs to be understood in the same way by the involved parties.

You may wonder what role communication plays in our lives. Truly speaking, it is one of the biggest necessities of life.

Imagine a world without comm-unication. I don't think this is poss-ible for we start communicating right from the moment we are born and keep doing so throughout our lives. The paradigm changes, we all are born with some natural communication techniques, like crying and laughing. As we grow up, we learn ways to communicate more effectively by learning to speak a lang-uage or languages, making signs and symbols, modulating our voice, changes in facial expressions, using our limbs and even by the way of dressing.

Types of communication

Broadly speaking, communication can thus be categorised into

1. Verbal communication; and

2. Non-verbal communication

Verbal communication, which entails the use of words, may be further broken into oral/spoken (face to face, telephonic) communication and written (letters, emails memos etc) communication. On the other hand non-verbal communication includes communicating through symbols, signs, body movements (body language), facial expressions, etc.

In a nutshell, we all communicate with each other, whether knowingly or otherwise.

A new born baby communicates with the mother by crying, a teacher communicates with students when she scolds them for some wrong or pats them for some good, a businessman communicates with customers through advertisements and a writer communicates with his readers through a newspaper/magazine/book. In essence, without communication, life would not be as we know it.

Next: Impact of communication in formal and informal situations

The author is a seasoned professional with more than 18 years of experience in handling varied functions across media and entertainment and IT industry. A business management graduate from India, he is presently Director, Sales, Marketing & Operations with a Montego Bay-based software solutions company. Feedback may be sent to email: ajhingran@yahoo.com