Question

1. Melissa and Miguel

Melissa and Miguel are having an argument on the phone about who should do the dishes. Miguel tries to think of how to tell Melissa that even though it is his turn, Melissa should wash them because she did such a poor job last time. When he says, “You did a crummy job, so you should do them again,” Melissa interprets that to mean that Miguel is lazy and trying to get out of doing the dishes when it is his turn. Besides, Melissa is not in the mood to argue and the lawnmower outside is making so much noise that she barely can hear Miguel anyway. She just hangs up.

From this communication event:

Identify who is/are sender and/or receiver(s)?
Give an example of a message.
What is the primary communication channel?
Give an example of encoding from the event.
Give an example of decoding from the event.
Give an example of internal noise from the event.
Give an example of external noise from the event.
2. Go online and find three definitions of "communication" that are different from the ones provided in your textbook. Provide the three definitions and explain the similarities and differences between them. Finally, explain which one you think does the best job of defining "communication."

3. Name three people who you feel use communication effectively in their jobs and explain what they do that makes them effective communicators.

Answer 1

1. The sender is Miguel and the receiver is Melissa.

The message is “You did a crummy job, you should do it again.”

The oral channel is the primary communication channel.

In this event, Miguel attempts to translate his that Melissa should be the one washing the dishes into spoken language that represents his thoughts and ideas. This is an instance of encoding.

In this event, Melissa interprets Miguels message as an indication of him being lazy and wanting to evade his responsibilities. This is an instance of decoding.

The internal noise in the event is Melissa’s refusal to argue.

The external noise in the event is the sound of the land mower.