Explain the concepts of Oral Communication

The oral communication acts as one of the major and the very critical media of the communication as it helps to transfer the information from one end to the other depending on the large number of the factors. There are a number of the ways by which the communication can take place and these include in the written form or in the oral form or in the form of the gestures etc. all these are referred to as the medias of the communication as all of these act as a platform or the source or the channel to transfer the information from one end to the other. The use of these instruments depend on a number of the factors that include the amount of the matter that is to be transferred, the time that is available for the communication, the cost of the whole process and much more. The various forms of the medias that can be used for carrying on the process of the communication involves the face to face communication, with the help of the telephones or the mobiles, E-mail, Video conferencing, fax, email etc. All the above mentioned medias act as the verbal medias of the communication but in addition to all these there are a large number of the non-verbal medias of the communication as well that include carrying on the process of the communication with the help of the facial expressions or with the help of the body language and many more. The non verbal instruments of the communication are normally used in the informal chats and hence on the basis of the formal Medias that are available for the transfer of the information, there are basically 2 types of the Medias, the oral communication and the written communication. In this article we will be discussing about the oral communication.

The oral communication plays a very vital and the critical role in the social, business, political organisation etc. In what ever form it may be existent, this type of the media occurs in the form of the spoken words with the help of the speech that may take place face to face or with the help of any type of the electrical device like the mobile, telephone, public address system, teleconferencing etc. When ever one communicates whether in the form of the oral communication or the written communication, it is very necessary that the same is understood by the other person to whom the information has been transferred. In the other words it means that the oral communication needs to be very effective at the maximum times as this forms the formal type of the communication media. The various factors that can make the oral communication effective involve the Pronunciation, self confidence, concise and the complete message, logical sequence, natural voice, tune, variations in the intonation pattern.

During the oral communication, it is very necessary to pronounce the words in the correct form and in the very clear form as other wise the person will not be able to understand the information clearly or may understand something else that is not to be transferred. Pronunciation in the poor form leads to the formation of the wrong image in the mind set of the listener to whom the information is being transferred. The person who is speaking should have the appropriate amount of the confidence while speaking and this confidence can only be achieved if the one is thorough with the subject and has the appropriate amount of the knowledge of the subject that ultimately leads by over coming of the inner inhibitions. The message should be very concise in the nature but at the same time should be complete in the meaning as incomplete information transfer can lead to a lot of the misunderstandings. The oral communication depends a lot on the amount of the time that is available and hence it can be said that the message should be complete but also should be as short as possible so that whole of the information can be transferred in the given amount of the time. The communication that is made should be based on the logical facts with the support of the marshalled arguments as this will help the speaker a lot to make the communication very forceful and also very vivid in the nature. The information must be transferred in the form of the natural voice only, no need to change the pattern of the voice as it may lead to the wrong interpretation of the message but along with this, the voice should be very pleasing, with confidence and also should be very clear and should have the power to touch the listeners driving the emotional chord when ever required. The tone of the voice automatically depends on the natural situation that is prevalent when the communication is being made as with the help of all this, the message should not only appear to be intelligible to the mind but should also be very much heart appealing in the nature. The steadiness and the flatness in the sound of the voice has a lot of the negative affects on the communication and instead there must be the support of the variations in the pattern of the intonation that means that the pitch should be at times when required rising and when required the pitch should be falling in the nature. What this is that a large amount of the interest in created in the whole of the communication and the listener listens to the speaker with a large amount of the attention and interest. By possessing all these features, it becomes very much possible that the correct amount and the correct form of the information is transferred from the speaker to the listener and it will not at all lead to the wastage of the time as well the energy of the speaker and the listener as well as if in any of the case, the listener is not able to understand the communication then the speaker will have to waste time in the repetition of the same again and again.

With the help of the oral communication, one is able to immediately transfer the information from one end to the other and that too in a very clarified form as if any of the case the listener is not able to understand at one go, he or she can ask for the same again and the speaker can again transfer the information to the listener and hence as a result of this one is able to provide the immediate clarification of the information. But this is not at all possible in the written form of the formal communication as the whole process of the written communication is very time consuming and at times requires a lot of the clarifications between the speaker and the listener. Hence in the other words it can be said that the whole process of the oral communication is very speedy in the nature as it generally takes place face to face or with the help of the various electronic devices as mentioned above and all these are also very helpful in carrying out the process of the communication at a fast pace but then also in a very accurate manner. The whole process of the oral communication is very speedy mainly because of the reasons that say like the written media of the communication, here there is no need of the dictation, drafting, revising, printing, recopying, proof reading etc. In the written type of the formal communication, it takes a lot of the time in the communication from the one end to the other and as a result of all this; it is not at all suitable for the emergency periods. But the oral communication is very suitable for the times of the emergency as this type of the communication is the fastest type of the communication Medias that are available naturally or in the form of the man made modes. As a result of its speed, it is able to transfer the emergency messages from one end to the other. In this case, very instant reaction can be achieved as it has the ability to eliminate any type of the chances that actually may lead to any type of the misunderstanding and at the same time also helps the speaker to make the listener understand the information if in any of the case, the listener is not able to get the details of the message. Although the oral communication is a type of the formal communication only but as compared to the written communication, it is much lesser formal and as a result of all this, all the parties that are involved are able to exchange the information in between them very honestly and frankly with the open minds. This type of the communication acts to be very convenient and also very helpful when ever the discussion is to be carried out in a group, mostly in the conferences, seminars and the meetings as all these scenarios allow the individuals to have interaction between groups of the persons. With the help of the oral communication, one is able to create an extra impact on the listener as this type of the communication has the quality of the personal effect and allows to convince the listener to a larger extent and at a fast speed of the various facts that are being discussed with the help of the oral communication.

But like the two sides of the coin the oral communication possesses a large number of the disadvantages as well. The main disadvantage of the oral communication is that nothing of this type of the communication is on the record; hence it can not act as a documentary record as it is not able to become the legal evidence. But there are cases if the oral communication is recorded, then it can act as a record but this scenario is not possible in all of the cases. There are times when the information that is being transferred becomes a little too big and in such cases there are chances that may lead the conversation to a confused state and further may lead to the misunderstanding, delusion etc. When the message is too long, the listener loses the interest at times and the communication is not able to become effective in the nature and hence the failures in the communication occur.

The main disadvantage in the oral communication is observed when there is the presence of the distortions in the oral communication. Here when the speaker is trying to say something to the listener, it may at times get misinterpreted as sometimes the listener may take the information according to what he is thinking at that time and this factor at the times lead to a number of the misinterpretations and the distortions. The ineffectiveness and the inability of the speaker results in the loss of the interest of the speaker and hence the speaker should be very effective in the nature and should also possess the much required vitality in the oral communication. As the oral communication is not on the record and hence the information that is passed on from the speaker to the listener can get washed away with the passage of the time as the human memory has some of the limitations as the human mind in a general view is not able to retain all the words that have been spoken even if they have been heard with great accuracy by the listener. The oral communication can take place face to face, on telephone, by teleconferencing and also by the voice mail. The face to face oral communication can take place between the 2 individuals or between a small gathering and a group of the individuals like in the case of the seminars or an address by an individual to an audience. With the help of the face to face communication, one is able to maintain the control over the attention of the reader as by this type of the communication, the speaker gets the power to capture the attention of the listener as he is able to make the information that he or she is delivering more and more interesting and clear in the nature. The role of the facial expressions become a very important part here as the speaker is able to convey the message in a much better way that is much more convincing in the nature. Hence it can be said that the communication here can be made much more vivid in the nature. The face to face communication is very much suitable for the discussions because all the discussions involve the intensive brainstorming and with this type of the communication the instant type of the reaction is very imperative as the communication that may take place on a phone etc may not be that effective and also when the communications include the negotiations, persuasion etc, the face to face oral communication comes out to be very handy in the nature. But like the 2 faces of the coin, this type of the communication also possesses the large number of the disadvantages. There is no doubt that a large amount of the things depend a lot on the speaker but a lot depends on the listener as well. The listener also needs to be very attentive to listen and then understand the things in a very proper and an accurate manner as if the listener is not doing his or her job well, the speaker alone will not be able to turn the tables. There are times the person seems to be acting like a very good listener but in reality he is not listening because the mind is not stable towards listening and is wandering here and there mainly due to the effect of the artificially made selective perceptions and at times may be due to egoism and as a result of this, the communication becomes ineffective in the nature. But this type of the communication is not able to produce the required results where the relations between the speaker and the listener are not at all in the good terms. Conflicts may arise and under such type of the circumstances, it is always much better to avoid such type of the communication as instead of improving the things, things may be turned towards the unwanted ways. In this type of the communication, it is very important to make the way for the healthy environment; otherwise face to face communications must be avoided. In the face to face communication, it is very difficult to arrange the contacts at the personal level and such a scenario is very generally observed in the big companies etc where there is the presence of the large number of the departments etc having a large number of the employees in each of the department. Also arranging all this is very time consuming and also very expensive as compared to the various other modes that can be used here for this type of the communication.

Teleconferencing acts as another medium with the help of which the oral communication takes place. In the simpler terms it can be referred to as the replacement for the face to face communication that can be done even if the two or more individuals are away from each other. With the help of the teleconferencing, these individuals can actually see each other, can hear each other and can even talk to each other just like they are sitting in a room opposite to each other. Normally for making the face to face communication, the individuals who are away from each other, can be very expensive, so the method of the teleconferencing acts as a very good alternate of the same. In the present day scenario where the globalisation is always spreading its wings in almost each and every section of the world, the companies are actually hiring people world wide and now the teleconferencing helps a lot in connecting the office globally with the people who are actually operating in the different countries of the world. But the major drawback of using this technique is that setting up the whole system of the teleconferencing is itself very expensive and it is not at all possible for the various small scale organisations do afford the same. Also it acts as a very suitable alternative for the face to face communication but many of the points go for a toss in the case of the teleconferencing, what can be achieved in the case of the face to face communication. Various processes of the brainstorming, persuasion, negotiation etc can not be dealt with in the case of the teleconferencing. But then also the process of the teleconferencing acts as a very good saviour of the expenses of the travelling and helps in avoiding work interruptions, ultimately leading to the outweighing of the costs of the operations. For a large number of the operations teleconferencing overlaps the face to face communication but as mentioned above in some of the cases the teleconferencing has its limitations. So face to face communication should always be preferred but in the cases when that is not possible and fir that the expenses may be going further high, teleconferencing must be or can be considered as a very useful alternate as here like the face to face communication, one can very easily see each other, talk to each other like one does in the face to face communication, leading to the very effective communication that is very important for the transfer of the information from one end to another.

Telephone acts as the other mode of the oral communication and is actually the most widely used medium of the oral communication in this present world, where the people are actually very busy and can devote very less time for the transfer of the information from one end to the other. Most the matters or the problems that are very urgent in the nature are worked upon with the help of the phone as this provides the easy means of the transfer of the communication from one end to the other and not only allows the one to one contact but in this case with the help of the audio conferencing, the group communication is also possible when more than 2 persons who are away from each other speak on the telephone. As the two sides of the coin, this mode of the oral communication has some merits as well as some of the demerits but in spite of having few of the disadvantages, this mode of the oral communication is the most widely used means for the transferring of the information from one end to the other. With the help of the telephone, the individuals who are present miles away can be touched and this type of the communication actually results in the saving of the time as the precious time is not at all wasted in the transfer or the transmission of the message from the personal or the first of the contacts. The instant feed back can be received on the telephone that is not at all possible in the written form of the communication as with the help of the telephone, the doubt if there at any time, can be actually clarified by the communicator itself in the case if the receiver requires, the message can be adjusted accordingly by the receiver. As we move high in the hierarchy, the schedule of an individual becomes busy and busy day by day and it becomes very difficult for such an individual to give his precious time to some one and in such a case the telephone acts as a very good tool as it helps to contact such type of the busy person to be contacted and without actually disturbing the busy schedule of that particular individual. With the help of the telephone, the communication can be very effective in the nature if compared to the face to face communication as it can be supported by the various types of the voice modulations.

The demerits of the communication that is done with the help of the telephone involves that this type of the communication does not have any type of the support of the visual feed back and as a result of this, it becomes very difficult to understand or have an idea of the receiver’s moral and hence, the communication at this point of the time becomes very ineffective in the nature and the impression that the other side gets is that the individual is perhaps in some kind of the anger or may be is in a hurry. Holding the attention of the receiver actually becomes a challenge in such cases of the communication as unlike the communication that is done face to face to all those done as the communication on the telephone. So in the other words it can be said that this type of the communication is not at all suitable for transferring the information that is very long or lengthy in the nature. One of the other demerit that can be considered as a very valid point in this scenario is that the communication that is done with the help of the telephone can be a bit expensive and specially when the same is done between the individuals who are geographically away from each other. The more is the distance between these individuals geographically, more can be the expense but then also it is much cheaper as compared to the whole process of the video conferencing. The communication that is done with the help of the telephone can not act as any type of the record as the communication is not at all documented in this case but the same can be recorded and then it can be used as a record but such a scenario is not at all possible every where and every time. There was one more demerit in the case of the telephones as when the sender wanted to send the information, the same could not be delivered as when the receiver was not available, may out of station or travelling some where or busy at some of the times. But now this demerit has on whole been eradicated all most as the same first was over come by the pagers and now the same has been over come by the Mobile phones. But there was a time when such facilities were very expensive but now as the time has passed, the availability of the technology has been made much easy and also very convenient. The telephone is a very quick mode of the transfer of the information and hence to allow the very effective use of the telephone, it is very necessary to plan about what needs to be talked about. One should always keep the paper and the pen ready as there could be some content that may be required to be noted at any point of the time of the conversation. During the communication, one must be very pleasant, polite, possessing the positive manners in the whole of the communication. The talk needs to be very well planned as during the talk one must not waste the time on the irrelevant and the unnecessary talks. One must speak in the natural voice that should not at all be very low or too loud as it may deflect the communication to the other ways of the understanding. One should be very much attentive while communicating with the help of the phone as when the speaker is speaking and in any case if the listener is not able to understand the same, the time is wasted and as a result of all this, he or she will not be able to understand the rest of the talk and hence will ask the speaker to repeat the content same and hence as a result of all this very precious time is wasted. The speaker as well as the listener must be very attentive and also possess the quality of the patience when the communication is being transferred on the phone. The speaker as well as the listener must wish each other, may be simply Good Morning or Good Afternoon etc. before one introduces each other. One must assure one’s identity before going any further in the communication as the communication must not be transferred to the wrong person in any of the case.

There was a time when the telephones were followed by the coming of the pagers. These days the pagers find a very limited use as the same has been over come by the coming of the mobiles in to the world. In the case of the telephones, the major disadvantage is that the access to the technology is limited in a way as these could not be carried at all the places and the range of this type of the technology was very limited geographically. As a result the pagers were discovered as these were able to provide the required connectivity along with the convenience as the pagers allowed an individual to roam very freely. In the case of the pagers, the sender first dials the pager number and then transfers the message in the form of the human voice and then this message or the information is transferred to the receiver in the form of the text that is printed on the screen of the pager holder of the pager. The actual form of the dialogue is not at all received but in turn the pager holder gets the permission to give back a suitable answer just in order to respond to the information that has come from the sender to the receiver. Here in this case, there is availability that an individual can either call back and in any of the cases can also avoid the talks with whom he or she is not willing to do the same. The paging can be done in 2 forms, the Auto Paging and the Operator Assisted Paging. The information can be directly keyed in the case of the Auto Paging by the sender and this all can be done with the help of the tone mode that is available on the phone but in the case of the Operator Assisted paging, the role of the service provider is very critical as in this type of the case, the service provider is actually asked by the sender for actually conveying the information to the receiver. The Pagers were used as a very good and an important tool even when the mobile phones came in to the lime light but at those initial times, the rates of the mobile phones and the various services related to all these very high, so the Pagers were being used but as the time has passed, the mobile phones have actually become the part and the parcel of the life of every individuals and all this has actually led to the diminishing of the Pagers form the world. The Pagers used to send the messages as explained above but were also able to provide the service to transfer the information from one end to the other in the form of the emails. The sender used to write the information or the message in the form of the emails and then this information in the form of the emails was transferred by the service provider in the form of the email to the receiver and it also allowed the receiver to reply back to the sender or any one else in the form of the emails but only with the help of the service provider and here there was no need of the internet connection etc and hence there was no space for the charges of the internet and the whole process of transferring the information from the one end to the other could be done by spending very nominal charges that were charged by the service provider.

With the help of the pagers the messages in the form of the voice messages could also be transferred as the sender could record the message or the information in any of the form or the language and then this was transferred by the service provider to the receiver and the receiver was informed that a certain type of the message was waiting and the same could be retrieved as per the convenience of the receiver. The Pager also used to help in the transfer of the information from one end to the other and this type of the information can be related to the forex, stock price, various types of the political events, sports etc, so in the other words it can be said that the Pager acts as a tool for providing the various types of the Information Services.

But the scene of the Pagers has been forgotten way back as the coming of the mobile phones has changed a lot and almost everything. The mobile phones allow the best form of the freedom for roaming, the best form of the connectivity followed by the best form of the convenience. It has become possible to contact a person any where and any time that is having a mobile phone with him. The person can act the sender or the receiver of the information any time or at any place, while being in the trains or in the buses or any where else. The mobile phones have actually provided the real time transfer of eth information with the virtual reality and as a result of all this, the pagers and the various kinds of the landline phones have been left way behind. The user can go any where or roam any where, but this kind of the technology has made it very much possible for him to contact any one and at the same time has provided the other’s, the option to contact him but the both of the individuals must carry the mobile phones with them. With the help of this type of the technology, the information can be transferred from one end to the other on a very real basis and on a very quick instant and also the reactions can be received very quickly with the help of the mobile phones. The number of the persons using the mobile phones is increasing day by day and from the coming of the mobile phone about 2 decades ago, the number has risen a great deal and is still increasing at a very fast pace and as a result of all this, the nation like that of India has become one of the largest market for the various types of the mobile phone companies as the growth in this sector has been great and actually tremendous in the nature. But there are times when one person is trying to call or contact the other person but he or she is not free or available at that particular time to attend the call, in such a scenario, the sender can leave the message in the form of the voice mail or can at least convey that please call back when ever free. This facility is a bit expensive in the present time but it has helped the mobile phones to go away from the tag of the telephone with this type of the facility. The technology of the voice mail acts as a great form of the tool but for the receiver it can act as the factor of the annoyance as well at times, depending on the mood or the circumstances of an individual. the message that is being transferred with the help of the voice mail, should be kept as short as possible as it will help in keeping the cost factor in the control and also short message is always easy for the receiver to digest as the same can be organised in a very proper manner and if the quantity is more,, then only the major points should be transferred with the help of the voice mail and the various others points need to be using the other forms of the communication like the fax, overnight mail or the memo etc. One should always try to speak slowly according to the situation and the message should be very clear so that the same can be understood by the receiver in a very proper way and should not be misunderstood at any point of the time. The message should be kept clear, accurate and short and this can only be achieved only if the message is very well organised, so in the other words it can be said that the message should be kept or said in a very organised manner and the same must be planned in advance about what to say and what not say. The things that need to look here is that first one should identify himself then should make clear by leaving the name of the person for whom the message is and one can also leave his or her phone number so that if required, the listener can get back to the sender if required at any point of the time.