Effective Communication Practices Communication is defined as “the transfer and understanding of meaning” (Robbins & Judge, 2013) and is the foundation of every relationship. There are four main reasons to communicate in business. They are about control, motivation, emotional expression, and information (Robbins & Judge, 2013). Without effective communication the sharing of ideas, information, feelings and questions cannot be completed. There is a process for communication and when the process is broken communication is not effective. In business it is the manager's responsibility to understand the communication process, the functions of communications and to minimize any barriers to communication so that there is effective communication. The communication process consists of a sender who is the person who sends the message or idea, the message, which is what is transmitted by the sender. Then there is encoding, encoding is when the sender transforms the desired message into words, symbols or gestures known to both parties. The way the message is passed from the sender to the recipient is called the channel. The recipient is the party to whom the sender is transferring the message. When the recipient provides feedback to the sender, the communication is considered complete. Feedback is also what is used to determine the effectiveness of communication. Barriers to Effective Communication There are many factors that can hinder the communication process. The most common barriers to communication are filtering, selective perception, information overload, emotions, language, silence, communication apprehension, lying and cultural barriers. To overcome barriers to communication, it is important to understand how they affect.... .. half of article ......sFlanagan, J., Research in Speech Communication (October 24, 1995), Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, vol. 92, No. 22 pp. 9938-9945Griffin, R.W. (2008). Management fundamentals. (5th ed.). Boston, MA: Houghton MifflinJohnson-Sheehan, R. (2010). Technical communication today. (4th ed.). New York, NY: Pearson Education Lucas, R. W. (2009). Customer service skills for success. (4th ed.). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill McConnell, C. R. (2007). The effective healthcare supervisor. (6th ed.). Sudbury, MA: Jones and Bartlett PublishersPhillips,DC, Review by: H. LeRoy Marlow (April 1956) Oral Communication in BusinessIndustrial and Labor Relations Review, Vol. 9, no. 3, The AFL-CIO Merger, pp. 503-504Robbins, S.P., & Judge, T.A. (2013). Organizational behavior, fifteenth addition. Upper Saddle River: Prentice Hall.