In this brief introduction to the concept of ‘noise’ in the communication process

In this brief introduction to the concept of ‘noise’ in the communication process it may be

dangerous to draw the conclusion from the examples above that gestures are more

capable of being misunderstood than words. The nineteenth- century politician Disraeli

said: “Words are just vessels for me to pour meaning into.’ Similarly, the expression ‘I

think they got the message’ often implies that the speaker has not been direct in

expressing his feelings but instead has purposely pursued a roundabout method to put

over his point.

Practising industrialists have no doubt of the importance of communication in

organizations. Fayol placed ‘unity of direction’ in his seven management principles while

Barnard, in his popular book The Functions of the Executive, saw ‘maintenance of

organization communication’ top of his list of three basic executive functions. Perhaps

Bavelas and Barrett expressed this most eloquently when they wrote: ‘It is not a

secondary or derived aspect of organization-rather it is the essence of organizational’

activity and is the basic process out of which all other functions derive’.