8 Copyright Goodheart-Willcox Co., Inc. Chapter 1 Professional Communication Rhetoric is an important part of professional communication. Rhetoric is the study of writing or speaking as a way of communicating information or persuading an individual. Professional communication focuses on improving the ability of writers and speakers to inform, persuade, or instruct the audience to respond in a certain manner. Professional communication encourages goodwill. Goodwill is the advantage an individual or an organization has due to its good reputation it cannot be bought. It is the positive opinions that a business creates. The goal is to encourage better communication between people in the workplace and those outside of the workplace. Communication Process Before you begin to study the skills that will make you a better writer, speaker, listener, and reader, it is a good idea to explore the broader concept of the communication process. The communication process is a series of actions on the part of the sender and the receiver of a message and the path the message follows. The six elements of the process are the sender, message, channel, receiver, translation, and feedback, as shown in Figure 1-1. Sender The person who has a message to communicate is called the sender. The sender begins the communication process. First, the sender decides there is a need to relay information to the receiver. Intrapersonal communication is the conversation a person has with one’s self. Sometimes known as self-talk, this is how most individuals sort through the information they want to convey. Next, the information is assembled and takes the form of a message. Message The sender decides which format the message will take. The sender might choose to use written words, spoken words, pictures, or other visuals such as a YouTube video. Encoding is the process of turning the idea for Channel Message Sender Receiver Translation Feedback Goodheart-Willcox Publisher Figure 1-1 Each of the six parts of the communication process is important.