Friday, December 01, 2006

Communications errors

Error is a natural part of human communication. It occurs when someone understands a message differently than the sender of that message intends. It is largely related to ambiguity in language, but also due to individuals having a different understanding of the subject. Errors are particularly common when one person is much more knowledgeable than another (i.e. experienced person talking to a trainee).

One-to-one face-to-face communication is usually most reliable because people have an opportunity to discuss the message so that both parties can be sure it has been understood properly. Of course that requires the people to choose to discuss. Other forms of communication including remotely (i.e. by telephone or radio) and written usually cause more errors.

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