Communication is defined as the process involving the transmission and reception of symbols eliciting meaning in the minds of the participants by making common their life experiences.

The process/cycle of communication is as shown in the above diagram.

It majorly consists of five blocks/processes:

• Ideation

• Encoding

• Transmission

• Decoding

• Feedback

Ideation- the process of communication begins with ideation, which refers to the formation of the idea or selection of a message to be communicated. It consists of the ‘What’ of communication and is concerned with the content of the specific message to be presented. The scope of ‘ideation’ is generally determined by the sender’s knowledge, experiences, and abilities, as well as the purpose of communication and the context of the communicative situation. Ideation may consist of finding and selecting a subject or general topic, looking for ideas and thoughts, and deciding the type, scope, and source of information.

Encoding- It is the process of changing the information into some form of logical and coded message. The encoding process is based on the purpose of communication and the relation between the sender and the receiver.

Encoded message is then forwarded to the transmission channel for transmitting to the receiver.

Transmission- It refers to the flow of message over the chosen channel. Transmission confirms the medium selected during the process of encoding and keeps the communication channel free from interference or noise so that the message reaches the receiver without any disturbance.

Decoding- It is the process of converting a message into thoughts by translating the received stimuli into an interpreted meaning in order to understand the message communicated. This process involves interpretation and analysis of a message.

Feedback- It is the last stage in the communication process. It is the action or reaction of the receiver to the message received from the sender. It helps the sender know that message was received and understood. It is key to communication as the effectiveness depends on how congruent a receiver’s response is with the meaning intended by the sender. Based on the feedback, sender further continues the communication process with the receiver.