Communication: meaning, history, objectives and importance

1. Meaning and definitions

The word comes from the Latin communis, “common”, and communicare, “to share” or “to make common”. To communicate is to make an idea, fact or feeling common to two or more persons. Communication takes place only when the receiver understands the message in the sense the sender intended; sending a letter that is never read, or speaking in a language the listener does not know, is not communication.

• Keith Davis: communication is “the process of passing information and understanding from one person to another”.
• Louis A. Allen: it is “the sum of all the things one person does when he wants to create understanding in the mind of another. It is a bridge of meaning.”
• Newman and Summer: “an exchange of facts, ideas, opinions or emotions by two or more persons”.
• American Management Association: “any behaviour that results in an exchange of meaning”.

Features. From these definitions:

1. it involves at least two persons, a sender and a receiver;
2. there must be a message: a fact, idea, order, request or feeling;
3. it needs a medium or channel (speech, writing, gesture, electronic means);
4. its aim is understanding, not mere transmission;
5. it is a two-way, continuous process completed by feedback;
6. it may be verbal (oral or written) or non-verbal (gestures, posture, signs);
7. it flows in all directions in an organisation: downward, upward, horizontal and diagonal;
8. it is pervasive: it runs through every function of management.

2. A short history

The history of communication is the history of the means of carrying a message further and faster.

• Signs and speech. Early humans used gestures, sounds, drums, smoke and fire signals. Spoken language made detailed exchange possible but left no record.
• Writing. Pictographs and cave paintings were followed by scripts: cuneiform in Mesopotamia, hieroglyphics in Egypt, and in India the Indus script and later Brahmi (the script of Ashoka’s edicts). Writing allowed records, laws and commerce to outlast the speaker.
• Printing. Gutenberg’s movable-type press (around 1450) made books, newspapers and printed notices cheap and allowed mass communication.
• Postal service. Organised posts carried letters across kingdoms; in India the modern postal system dates from the colonial period.
• Electrical and electronic media. The telegraph (Morse, 1830s–40s), the telephone (Bell, 1876), radio (Marconi) and television brought instant communication over distance.
• Digital communication. Computers, e-mail, the internet, mobile phones, video conferencing and social media made communication instant, two-way and global. Courts in India now hear cases by video conference and accept e-filing.

3. Communicators and subject matter

The communicator (sender, encoder, source) is the person who has an idea and wishes to share it. The communicatee (receiver, decoder, audience) is the person for whom it is meant. In business both may be individuals, departments or the firm itself (a company communicating with shareholders, customers, government or the public).

The subject matter is the content of the message. In a business it includes orders and instructions, policies and procedures, reports of performance, suggestions and grievances, enquiries, quotations and orders with outsiders, notices to shareholders, publicity and press releases. The subject matter decides the medium: an order to a supplier must be in writing; a quick clarification can be oral; a delicate personnel matter is best conveyed face to face.

4. Objectives of communication

• Information: to give facts about products, prices, policies and performance.
• Instruction and order: to tell subordinates what to do and how.
• Advice and counselling: to guide employees and clients.
• Persuasion: to change attitudes or bring about action, as in sales letters or arguments in court.
• Motivation: to encourage employees to work willingly towards goals.
• Education and training.
• Raising morale through recognition and open channels.
• Warning: against breach of rules or discipline.
• Co-ordination: to link departments and activities.
• Public relations: to build the image of the firm.

5. Importance and benefits

1. Basis of management. Planning, organising, directing and controlling all depend on information. Chester Barnard called communication the first function of the executive.
2. Smooth working. Orders, instructions and reports keep the organisation running.
3. Quick decisions based on accurate, timely information.
4. Co-ordination between departments and levels.
5. Good industrial relations. Upward communication lets grievances surface before they become disputes.
6. Motivation and morale.
7. Leadership. A leader leads through communication.
8. External relations with customers, suppliers, bankers, shareholders and government.
9. Growth of large organisations. The larger the firm, the greater the need for formal channels.
10. For the advocate (the syllabus objective): interviewing clients, drafting pleadings, examining witnesses and persuading the court are all acts of communication.

6. “Communication is the nucleus of everything we do”

The nucleus is the central part that holds a cell together. The statement means that no human or business activity can take place without communication. To answer it:

• Introduction: define communication (Davis or Allen) and explain the metaphor.
• Body: take the objectives one by one (information, instruction, persuasion, motivation, co-ordination, public relations) and show that each business function depends on it. A plan not communicated is never carried out; a product not advertised is not sold; a grievance not heard becomes a strike.
• Personal and social life: family, education, democracy and the courts all run on communication.
• Conclusion: when communication fails, co-ordination fails, and the organisation fails with it.

How this is examined

Expect “Define communication. Explain the types of communication” (January 2026 and January 2025, 80-mark papers, 10 marks; combine this note with the note on models and types), the “nucleus” quotation with reference to the objectives (January 2026, 100-mark paper, 16 marks), and short notes on the importance or benefits of communication. Write the definitions first, then the features, then the objectives or importance in numbered points with a line of explanation each.