The Formal Communication Archive!

What formal communication means and how classroom activities help hone formal communication skills:

Communication is an extension of the innate social behavior of every human being. Communication helps build relationships among people and is very crucial for the existence of human society. It is essentially categorized into two types: formal communication and informal communication. Formal communication refers to the official exchange of thoughts, ideas, emotions and information. The flow of communication is controlled deliberately. This allows the information to reach the desired place without any obstruction and gives way to effective feedback from the receiver. 

  

Formal communication has certain unique features that differentiate it from informal communication.

Some of the important features are as follows:

• Formal communication can be both written and oral in nature.
• Formal communication passes through predefined paths of communication throughout an organisation. 
• Formal communication is mostly documented and thus evidence of the communication is present.
• Formal communication usually takes place in official organisations and there is a timely and systematic flow of information.
• Formal communication follows a hierarchical chain of command that is established by the organisation and sometimes there is distortion of facts due to the long chain of communication.
• the sender and the receiver involved in formal communication usually have some organisational relations.  

Formal communication can be of different types depending on the direction of flow of the communication. Some of the categories of formal communication are:

•  Vertical Communication:

Vertical communication is based on the assumption that people working in the higher levels of an organisation have the authority to pass directions and instructions to the people working under them and the people working on the lower levels can approach their seniors with their problems. This form of communication strengthens the authoritative structure of an organisation. Vertical communication can further be divided into upward and downward communication.

Example: when a teachers gives instructions to the students regarding an assignment, it is an example of vertical formal communication. 

• Horizontal Communication:

Horizontal communication is seen taking place between people working at the same level in an organisation. Employees or functional managers working at the same level engage in horizontal communication. Communication between two students in a college meeting can also be categorised as horizontal communication.

Example: communication between two employees that are working on a presentation together is an example of horizontal communication.

Formal communication comes with a set of advantages that allow communication in any official organisation to flow effectively. Some of the advantages are:

• Maintenance of discipline and authority in an organisation is made easier through systematic formal communication.
• There is an orderly flow of information in the organisation as formal communication takes a definite route in the organisation. 
• It is extremely easy for anybody in the organisation to trace the source of the information. 
• All forms of written formal communication like letters, emails and reports are kept permanently and is helpful for future decision making.   

Apart from the organisational setup, formal communication also takes center stage in an academic organisation like a college. Formal communication takes place between the teacher and the students, between two or more teachers, between management and the teachers and so on. From a student's perspective classroom activities help hone his/her formal communication skills immensely. Classroom activities involve multiple interactions between the students as well as interactions between the student and the teacher. These interactions help build the personality of the student and as personality and body language of a person matter to a great extent in formal communication, these classroom interactions are a boon for the students. Classroom interactions also help students develop a good active vocabulary, without which formal communication would not be effective. Being a student myself, I'm able to develop a better vocabulary and a more confident personality by interacting my fellow students and teachers during classroom activities.

The important aspect about classroom activities is perhaps the art of delivering presentations. Presentations are formal in nature and require the student to put in a lot of efforts. The student is expected to research and put together an interesting presentation. The student is then expected to communicate to the whole formally and deliver the presentation. This process prepares the student for his/her work life and helps develop good formal communication skills. Presenting in class has allowed me personally, to develop confidence and learn to use good vocabulary to ensure that I sound formal during the presentation.

 Classroom activities also involve a lot of writing and since writing is an integral aspect of formal communication, these activities help students gain a better understanding of formal communication. Classroom activities have helped me learn how to write formal letters, emails and resumes. These are extremely crucial skills that are necessary to work in any industry.

Classroom activities involve a lot of interactions between the teacher and the students. These interactions help students understand how formal organisations work and how hierarchy in any given organisation works. Taking instructions and inputs from teachers for assignment purposes has helped me understand how instructions are given in any workplace. Writing formal letters to the dean as well as the teachers seeking permission for leave, communicating with teachers formally via email, writing travelogues in class  are activities that have helped me develop better communication skills.

Classroom activities help students articulate their thoughts, develop a more confident personality, understand the various channels of communication, develop a good vocabulary and develop a positive body language.They are therefore, extremely crucial for the overall development of any student.