1.2 Forms and types of communication
People communicate with each other in a variety of ways that depend on the message they want to send and the context in which it is to be sent. As a result there are a variety of forms and types of communication such as e-mail, face-to-face, telephone, meetings, corridor conversations and seminars. Dwyer (2005) categorises these into three forms of communication - verbal, nonverbal and graphic - and four types of communication - intrapersonal, interpersonal, public and mass.
Activity 1b
1. Review the forms (verbal, nonverbal and graphic) and types of communication (intrapersonal, interpersonal, public and mass) provided by Dwyer (2005) in Chapter 1. Use the table below to provide examples for each type and form of communication and where and/or why they are important.
| Form of communication | Example | Where/why important |
| verbal | ||
| nonverbal | ||
| graphic | ||
| Type of communication | ||
| intrapersonal | ||
| interpersonal | ||
| public | ||
| mass |
2. What might happen if the different forms of communication conflict? For example, it is often clear when a person is lying as the nonverbal communication betrays the verbal communication. Provide other examples of conflict between the different forms of communication and the subsequent effect on the communication message.
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