A Practical Guide to Airline Customer Service. Colin C. Law

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      Chapter Two

Theory of Communication

      Chapter Outline

       Communication in the aviation industry

       Communication process

       The arc of distortion

       Communication barriers

       Eliminating barriers to communication

       Effective communication

       Effective listening

       Active listening skills

       Barriers to effective communication for airline service agents

       Environmental barrier

       Linguistic barrier

       Psychological barrier

       Perceptual barrier

       Content barrier

       Effective internal communications

       Summary

       Applying the knowledge

       Endnotes

      Learning Objectives

      After reading this chapter, the reader should be able to:

       Recognize the communication process

       Understand various communication barriers

       Recognize the importance of effective communication

       Identify different barriers to effective communication

Communication in the aviation industry

      Communication is one of the important elements of customer service. Understanding customers’ expectations and fulfilling their needs requires good communication skills. It is an act of transferring information from one person to another; many people consider communication the skill of talking and listening. However, effective involves other behavioral aspects. It is the art of transferring information both verbally and non-verbally and ensuring the content and the information delivered and received remain unchanged. Communications in the airline industry are in the form of interactions between airline frontline service agents and customers.

Communication process

      The communication process consists of the various elements: sender, encoding, message, decoding, receiver, response, feedback, context and noise.

      Sender

      This refers to the person who initiates a message. His or her intention is to deliver a message to a specific audience and seek their response.

      Encoding

      To deliver the message, the sender needs to transform the message into a form that the receiver will understand. This process is known as encoding. The sender must evaluate the best method to ensure that the encoded message is understood by the receiver.

      Receiver

      This refers to recipient of the message.

      Channel

      The message is next delivered via the sender’s desired channels of communication. The delivered message can be verbal or non-verbal and is usually transmitted via the various channels: face-to-face, handwritten formats, electronic mails, text messages and phone call conversations.

      Decoding

      After the message has been delivered, the receiver will need to decode the message and interpret it in a context that is understandable, whilst analyzing its meaning.

      Response and feedback

      After receiving the message, the receiver can choose to react with verbal or non-verbal responses or feedback. An example of a verbal response is a ‘yes/no’ reply and an example of a non-verbal response can be the mere nodding of one’s head to indicate acknowledgement. The response is an action used by recipient to signal acknowledgment of receiving the message and feedback is the action taken by the receiver in response to the message received.

      Context

      It refers to the situation or location where the communication process takes place. The communication process may vary according to different locations and context. For example, one-on-one personal communication differs from communicating in groups as the content may be interpreted differently based on the context.

      Noise

      Communication noise is a barrier that influences the effectiveness of the communication process. Noise within the communication process diverts the delivery of the message, leading it to be unable to be delivered successfully and the message may be misinterpreted, resulting in misunderstandings. These noise barriers may be created by machines, other background conversations and public announcements.

      Figure 2-1: The communication process.

      At the airport, a customer approaches the check-in counter.

      Customer:

      Excuse me; the self-check-in kiosk is not working. I am unable to check in.

      Ground Agent:

      Madam, my apologies. I can help you with this over here.