This blog will help you understand the advantages and disadvantages of oral communication with examples in addition with importance of oral communication and its types.

What is Oral Communication?

The process of transmitting ideas or information verbally, from one person or group to another is called oral communication. The oral medium uses spoken words and is often carried out through face-to-face communication. It could occur among individuals, groups, or in mass. Oral business communication takes place in various ways like meetings, informal talks, telephone calls, etc. 

Advantages And Disadvantages of Oral Communication

While oral communication seems easy, there are many pros and cons of oral communication in business that can’t be ignored. 

Advantages of oral communication: 

1. Speed: The first advantage of Oral communication allows instant transmission and reception of the message once the sender and receiver come in contact.

2. Time-saving: Oral communication helps save plenty of time in organizations because the receiver instantly receives the message, which is rare to happen in written forms of communication. 

3. Instant Feedback: One of the merits of oral or spoken communication is that it facilitates instant communication feedback in most cases like meetings and calls. Such instant feedback is hard to execute in other forms of communication. 

4. Support of Non-verbal Communication: One of the biggest strengths of oral communication is that it allows the sender to use non-verbal elements while transmitting a message, ultimately helping the receiver understand the message better. 

Related Reading: Benefits and limitations of non-verbal communication

5. Morale-boosting Communication: The oral form of communication mostly invites instant and individual responses, leading to a boost in the morale of employees and encouraging them to participate more. 

6. No Rigidity: One of the greatest benefits of oral communication is that it offers high flexibility. Decision-changing discussions could be done easily or several important things could be discussed in one go.

7. High levels of Understanding: Since oral communication uses spoken words, it becomes much easier to understand when compared to the written form of communication.

8. Minimal Paperwork: When communication takes place verbally, it saves the effort of executing paperwork, leading to no or minimal written words. 

9. Higher Degree of Doubt Clearance: Oral communication offers the chances of doubt-clearance to a great extent. The receiver can instantly ask any questions and the sender of the message can easily clear any doubts instantly. 

10. Easy Withdrawal: It is easier to take back your words or change a decision in oral communication in an organization. This is one of the demerits of formal communication when done in written form as you can’t take back your words. 

11. Improved Personal Relations: Oral communication is mostly face-to-face and thus, adds a personal, human touch to communication. Spoken words help build personal relations among employees in an organization.

12. Easy Transfer of Confidential Information: Efficient and secure transfer of confidential information in organizations is possible when oral communication takes place. This is possible because communication can easily be done on a personal level through meetings, one-on-one calls, etc. 

13. Effective Problem-solving: In case of internal disputes, or any other business emergencies, oral communication facilitates rapid decision-making. This is not possible when it comes to any form of non-verbal communication. 

Disadvantages of Oral Communication: 

1. No evidence: One of the biggest limitations of oral communication is that there is no evidence of a message or information left in case of any future disputes or confusion. 

2. No Legal Validity: There is no validity of oral communication and it can’t be used legally in the future unless the communication has been recorded. 

3. Wasteful: Among the various demerits of oral communication, one is that it may become time-wasting in some cases when a face-to-face meeting or call doesn’t reach a goal or result.

4. Difficulty in Assigning Responsibilities: While oral communication is easy to execute, a disadvantage of oral communication is that assigning responsibilities gets difficult. Holding an individual responsible is also hard when decisions are communicated orally. 

5. Lack of Authenticity: Since withdrawing from spoken words is easy, there is a lack of authenticity in oral communication. It may also get difficult to track the source of a message and its genuineness.  

6. Lack of Seriousness: One of the most crucial drawbacks of oral communication is that it lacks the seriousness that a business communication might need. The difference between communication and conversation usually vanishes in oral communication and it often turns informal.  

7. Insufficiency: For a formal organization to run effectively, oral communication is not sufficient and is unreliable. Many decisions and communications need to be in written form to attain validity because oral communication may sometimes lack one or more principles of communication. 

8. Risk of Misunderstanding: In the case of lengthy messages or information, oral communication may lead to misunderstandings. This is because the receiver may fail to register lengthy spoken information in mind.

9. Miscommunication: The risk of complete miscommunication by a bad speaker is one of the biggest drawbacks of oral communication. If a message is not spoken clearly, there would be a higher chance of misinterpretation. 

10. Risk of Distortion: Spoken words have a higher risk of being distorted by physical noise- one of the elements of communication. Physical noise could be any element that disturbs the oral communication process. 

11. Costly: Oral communication may be costly when there is a great physical distance between the sender and receiver of a message. A telephonic call, virtual meeting, or traveling to meet in person would cost money and would make communication expensive which is not a benefit of oral communication. 

12. Decreased Formality: Since oral communication adds a personal touch, it decreases the formal tone in communication. This may lead to increased informality and may erase the line of superiority in a hierarchy. 

13. Difficult to Maintain: As any records of oral communication are absent, it gets difficult to maintain such communication for a longer period in an organization. 

Summary for oral communication pros and cons:

When considering the most effective method of communication for a given context, it’s essential to keep in mind the principles of oral communication. Oral communication is known for its advantages such as immediate feedback, personal connection, flexibility, and effectiveness in group settings.

However, it also has some drawbacks, including the lack of records, lack of clarity, subjective interpretation, and limited audience. It’s important to weigh these factors against the context of the communication and decide if oral communication aligns with the principles of effective communication in that particular setting.

Example of oral communication

The above video is a demonstration of oral speaking.

Other examples of oral communication include face-to-face communication, public speaking, telephonic conversation, classroom lectures, etc.

Importance of Oral Communication

Though there are many strengths and weaknesses of oral communication, it is still one of the most crucial forms of formal communication. Oral communication helps share information in a simple way without costing much time, money, or effort.

It often comprises the basic operating principles of effective business, whether communicating individually or in groups. Oral communication holds importance in an organization because it also works as a great tool of persuasion. 

Advantages And Disadvantages of Written Communication

Advantages of written communication: 

1. Permanent Record: Written communication helps keep a permanent record of information or messages that can be referred to, in the future. It is also legally valid and can be used as evidence when needed. 

2. Lesser Chances of Misunderstanding: Since written communication includes written words, it can be as much detailed as needed for clarity and better understanding. In the case of lengthy messages or information, written communication proves to be much more efficient than other forms of communication.   

Disadvantages of written communication: 

1. Costly: Written communication often tends to be more costly than other means of communication in terms of time, money, as well as effort. One would need plenty of time to draft a formal message when executing written communication.  

2. Slow Feedback: Written communication includes slow feedback as it would take time and effort to draft a reply in written form. This may eventually lead to late decision-making in some cases.

Check out our detailed guide on what are the advantages and disadvantages of written communication

Frequently Ask Questions

Q1. What are the 3 types of oral communication? 

Ans: The 3 important types of oral communication are interpersonal communication, public communication, and mass communication. The term interpersonal is used when several people communicate among themselves, public communication is when an individual addresses a group of people, and mass communication refers to information being sent out to a mass of receivers from one source.  

Q2. What are the disadvantages of oral presentation?? 

Ans: The disadvantages of oral presentations include the lack of a permanent record, the potential for misinterpretation or confusion due to unclear messaging, subjective interpretation, and limited audience reach. Unlike written communication, oral presentations are not recorded for future reference, which can make it difficult to recall important details or decisions that were made during the presentation. 

Q3. What are the advantages and disadvantages of oral Quizlet?? 

Ans: Oral Quizlet, or oral communication through the use of Quizlet, has some advantages and disadvantages. One advantage is that it allows for immediate feedback, which can be helpful in assessing comprehension and addressing any misunderstandings. However, there are also some disadvantages. For example, oral Quizlet may not be as effective for visual learners who require visual aids or written notes to fully understand concepts. 

Q4. What are the advantages and disadvantages of verbal communication? 

Ans: The biggest advantage of verbal communication is it is a fast medium to communicate and helps in getting instant feedback from the receiver whereas the limitation of verbal communication is it is difficult to transmit lengthy messages and there is always a risk of denial while using a verbal channel of communication. 

Q5. What are the 5 advantages of oral communication? 

Ans: The top 5 advantages of oral communication are that it is highly flexible, helps save time, is quick to execute, is open to instant feedback, and improves interpersonal relationships among employees in a formal organization.