3 Models of Communication

Mohammad Aslam Ansari

What is a Model

A model is widely used to depict any idea, thought or a concept in a more simpler way through diagrams, pictorial representations etc. Models go a long way in making the understanding of any concept easy and clear. Through a model one can easily understand a process and draw conclusions from it. In simpler words a model makes the learning simple.

Aristotle Model of Communication

Aristotle was the first to take an initiative and design the communication model. In a political meeting, the prospective leader delivers speech to the audience urging for more votes from the constituency. He tries to convince the crowd in the best possible way he can so that he emerges as a winner.

What is he actually doing ?

He is delivering his speech in a manner that the listeners would get convinced and cast their votes only in his favour, or in other words respond in the same manner the speaker wanted to. Here the leader or the speaker or the sender is the centre of attraction and the crowd simply the passive listeners. The example actually explains the Aristotle model of communication.

    According to this model, the speaker plays a key role in communication. He is the one who takes complete charge of the communication. The sender first prepares a content which he does by carefully putting his thoughts in words with an objective of influencing the listeners or the recipients, who would then respond in the sender’s desired way. No points in guessing that the content has to be very very impressive in this model for the audience or the receivers to get convinced. The model says that the speaker communicates in such a way that the listeners get influenced and respond accordingly.

The speaker must be very careful about his selection of words and content in this model of communication. He should understand his target audience and then prepare his speech. Making eye contact with the second party is again a must to create an impact among the listeners. Let us again go through the first example. The politician must understand the needs of the people in his constituency like the need of a shopping mall, better transport system, safety of girls etc and then design his speech. His speech should address all the above issues and focus on providing the solutions to their problems to expect maximum votes from them. His tone and pitch should also be loud and clear enough for the people to hear and understand the speech properly. Stammering, getting nervous in between of a conversation must be avoided. Voice modulations also play a very important role in creating the desired effect. Blank expressions, confused looks and similar pitch all through the speech make it monotonous and nullify its effect. The speaker should know where to lay more stress on, highlight which words to influence the listeners.

One will definitely purchase the mobile handset from that store where the sales man gives an impressive demo of the mobile. It depends on the sales man what to speak and how to speak in a manner to influence the listeners so that they respond to him in a way he actually wants i.e. purchase the handset and increase his billing.

The Aristotle model of communication is the widely accepted and the most common model of communication where the sender sends the information or a message to the receivers to influence them and make them respond and act accordingly. Aristotle model of communication is the golden rule to excel in public speaking, seminars, lectures where the sender makes his point clear by designing an impressive content, passing on the message to the second part and they simply respond accordingly. Here the sender is the active member and the receiver is passive one.

Berlo’s Model of Communication

While the Aristotle model of communication puts the speaker in the central position and suggests that the speaker is the one who drives the entire communication, the Berlo’s model of communication takes into account the emotional aspect of the message. Berlo’s model of communication operates on the SMCR model.

In the SMCR model

• S – Stands for Source
• M – Message
•  C – Channel
• R – Receiver

  S – Source

The source in other words also called the sender is the one from whom the thought originates. He is the one who transfers the information to the receiver after carefully putting his thoughts into words.

How does the source or the sender transfer his information to the recipient ?

It is done with the help of communication skills, Attitude, Knowledge, Social System and Culture.

§  Communication Skills

An individual must possess excellent communication skills to make his communication effective and create an impact among the listeners. The speaker must know where to take pauses, where to repeat the sentences, how to speak a particular sentence, how to pronounce a word and so on. The speaker must not go on and on. He should also make a point to cross check with the recipients and listen to their queries as well. An individual must take care of his accent while communicating. A bad accent leads to a boring conversation.

§  Attitude

It is rightly said that if one has the right attitude, the whole world is at his feet. There is actually no stopping for the person if he has the right attitude. A person might be a very good speaker but if he doesn’t have the right attitude, he would never emerge as a winner.

The sender must have the right attitude to create a long lasting impression on the listeners. An individual must be an MBA from a reputed institute, but he would be lost in the crowd without the right attitude.

§  Knowledge

Here knowledge is not related to the educational qualification of the speaker or the number of degrees he has in his portfolio. Knowledge is actually the clarity of the information which the speaker wants to convey to the second party. One must be thorough in what he is speaking with complete in-depth knowledge of the subject. Remember questions can pop up anytime and you have to be ready with your answers. You need to be totally familiar with what you are speaking. Before delivering any speech, read as much you can and prepare the subject completely without ignoring even the smallest detail.

§  Social System

Imagine a politician delivering a speech where he proposes to construct a temple in a Muslim dominated area. What would be the reaction of the listeners ? They would obviously be not interested. Was there any problem in the communication skills of the leader or he didn’t have the right attitude ? The displeasure of the listeners was simply because the speaker ignored the social set up of the place where he was communicating. He forgot the sentiments, cultural beliefs, religious feelings of the second party. Had it been a Hindu dominated society, his speech would have been very impressive.

§  Culture

Culture refers to the cultural background of the community or the listeners where the speaker is communicating or delivering his speech.

M – Message

When an individual converts his thoughts into words, a message is created. The process is also called as Encoding.

Any message further comprises of the following elements:

§  Content

One cannot show his grey matter to others to let him know what he is thinking. A thought has to be put into words and content has to be prepared. Content is actually the matter or the script of the conversation. It is in simpler words, the backbone of any communication.

Ted to Jenny -“I am really exhausted today, let’s plan for the movie tomorrow evening”.

Whatever Ted has communicated with Jenny is actually the content of the message. It is very important for the speaker to carefully choose the words and take good care of the content of the speech. The content has to be sensible, accurate, crisp, related to the thought to hit the listeners bang on and create an immediate impact.

§  Element

It has been observed that speech alone cannot bring a difference in the communication. Keep on constantly speaking and the listeners will definitely lose interest after some time. The speech must be coupled with lots of hand movements, gestures, postures, facial expressions, body movements to capture the attention of the listeners and make the speech impressive. Hand movements, gestures, postures, facial expressions, body movements, gestures all come under the elements of the message.

§  Treatment

Treatment is actually the way one treats his message and is conveys to the listeners. One must understand the importance of the message and must know how to handle it. If a boss wants to fire any of his employees, he has to be authoritative and can’t express his message in a casual way. This is referred to as the treatment of the message. One must understand how to present his message so that the message is conveyed in the most accurate form.

§  Structure

A message cannot be expressed in one go. It has to be properly structured in order to convey the message in the most desired form.

§  Code

Enter a wrong code and the locks will never open. Enter a wrong password, you will not be able to open your email account. In the same way the code has to be correct in the communication. Your body movements, your language, your expressions, your gestures are actually the codes of the message and have to be accurate otherwise the message gets distorted and the recipient will never be able to decode the correct information.

C – Channel

• Channel – Channel actually refers to the medium how the information flows from the sender to the receiver.
• How does one know what the other person is speaking ? – Through Hearing.
• How does one know whether the pasta he has ordered is made in white sauce or not ? – Through Tasting.
• How does one know that there is a diversion ahead or it’s a no parking zone? – Through Seeing.
• How will an individual come to know that the food is fresh or stale ? How do we find out the fragrance of a perfume ? – Through Smelling.
• How will you find out whether the milk is hot or not ? – Through Touching.

All the five senses are the channels which help human beings to communicate with each other.

R – Receiver

When the message reaches the receiver, he tries to understand what the listener actually wants to convey and then responds accordingly. This is also called as decoding.

The receiver should be on the same platform as the speaker for smooth flow of information and better understanding of the message. He should possess good communication skills to understand what the speaker is trying to convey. He should have the right attitude to understand the message in a positive way. His knowledge should also be at par with the listener and must know about the subject. He should also be from the same social and cultural background just like the speaker.

There are several loopholes in the Berlo’s model of communication. According to the berlo’s model of communication, the speaker and the listener must be on a common ground for smooth conversion which is sometimes not practical in the real scenario.

Shannon and Weaver Model of Communication

Shannon and Weaver model is the most popular model of communication and is widely accepted all over the world.

Let us first go through the following example to understand the model better.

Peter is working as Vice president – Marketing with a reputed multinational firm. He is currently heading Mike who in turn is taking care of a small team. Peter wanted Mike to prepare an exhaustive report on marketing strategies which can be employed to achieve the goals of the organization. He also wanted a detailed study on the competitor’s activity by end of the day. While he was speaking, the company peon interrupted to take the lunch order. Finally when Mike got the complete information, he in turn delegated the responsibility to his team members. He tried his level best to convey what Peter actually expected his team to prepare. At the end of the day, the team did prepare the report and submitted to Peter but there were few errors which they rectified later on.

Let us now understand the example in a more detailed away.

Who is Peter ?

Peter is actually the person who thought of preparing the detailed report for better output of the organization. He is actually the one from whom the thought came. It was Peter’s brain who came up with this idea of preparing marketing strategies for the organization. Thus Peter is actually the source of information.

Had Peter kept the idea in his mind only without sharing it with his team the organization would have never been benefited out of it. It is very important for the individual to share his ideas as well as information with others to make the best possible use of the information. Do you think, Mike and his team would have come to know about Peter’s idea if he had stored it in his brain only? Obviously NO. Peter had to convert his thoughts into words and bring out the information through his mouth. Here mouth is actually working as a transmitter which helps in transmitting the information, message from the brain to the mouth after carefully putting the thought into words. Peter spoke about some reports which he wanted from his team, the words or Peter’s voice is actually the signal being sent to Mike about what he is expected to do. Without signal or without content how will Mike know what he is supposed to do? Go through the example once again. The conversation was interrupted by the peon who came for the lunch order. In the same way signals get interrupted by various noises and distractions while traveling from the sender and finally reaching to the recipient. Horns at crowded streets, hustle bustle of the market place, babies wailing, people screaming are all various types of noises which get coupled with the signal or in other words the information. Finally Mike could gather all the information from Peter after ignoring what the peon spoke and downloaded it to his team who were supposed to prepare the report.

Shannon and weaver model simply proposes that a message actually originates from the person who gets the thought or has the information. The sender is also called the Source of information or the Information Source. The information then gets transmitted from the brain to the mouth and comes out as a signal which then reaches the recipient after joining hands with several noises and other disturbances. The recipient then further passes on the message to its final destination or other minds of other individuals.

Information Source (Thought / message)

↓

Transmitter (Brain to mouth) [Along with noise and distractions-external barriers]

↓

Signal

↓

Recipient (Receives the signal)

↓

Final Destination (Finally gets the message)

Let us go through the above example once again. The team did prepare the report but there were some errors which got rectified later. This is the loophole of Shannon Weaver model. The message while reaching the final destination might get distorted sometimes as different people interpret messages in a different way. For Mike marketing strategy could be branding strategy but for the team marketing strategies could be simple sales techniques to increase the output. Thus even a simple message can get a different meaning after finally reaching its destination.

Schramm’s Model of Communication

After learning the Shannon weaver model, let’s find out about Schramm’s model of communication which has its roots from the Shannon weaver model itself.

Wilber Schramm proposed the model of communication in 1954.

Information is of no use unless and until it is carefully put into words and conveyed to others. Encoding plays a very important role because it initiates the process of communication by converting the thought into content. When the information reaches the recipient his prime responsibility is to understand what the speaker intends to convey. Unless and until the second party is able to understand or decode the information what the sender wants to communicate, the message is actually of no use. Thus encoding and decoding are two most important factors of an effective communication without which information can never flow between two individuals.

Schramm’s model also revolves around the above principle. According to the Schramm’s model, coding and decoding are the two essential processes of an effective communication.

He also emphasizes that the communication is incomplete unless and until the sender receives a feedback from the recipient. Imagine a person sharing his thoughts with his friend and his friend not responding to him. Is the communication complete? NO.Schramm believed that communication is actually a two way process between the first party and the second party.

Let us understand more with the help of an example

Jennifer to Sam -“Will you accompany me for a movie ?”

Sam kept mum and did not respond and hence the communication between Sam and Jennifer was not complete. If Sam was not interested for the movie, he could have responded or given the feedback to Jennifer about his unwillingness. According to Schramm’s model, whenever the information reaches the recipient, it becomes his responsibility to give the feedback and let him know if he has downloaded the message in exactly the same manner the speaker wanted. If he is not clear with anything or has any doubts, it must be cleared with the speaker. Thus when the speaker conveys any message to the listener, the listener, decodes the message and once again passes the message to the speaker after understanding it and completing the full circle.

Sender

M↓ ↑M

Receiver

M – Stands for message

Schramm believed that an individual’s knowledge, experience and cultural background also play an important role in communication. Individuals from diverse cultures, religion or background tend to interpret the message in different ways.

Billy to Servant – “Please bring something hot for me to drink as I am suffering from sore throat.”

The servant brought him a glass of lukewarm water but Billy actually wanted a cup of hot chocolate coffee. Hence different interpretation by the servant. He was not on the common grounds with Billy and failed to understand his master’s information. It was neither Billy’s nor the servant’s fault but actually the differences in both their backgrounds which was to blame.

Go through another example

John to Teddy -“I get late for my office, please buy me a clock”

Teddy went to a local market and gifted a clock to John and John was never late to office after that. He could have also misinterpreted the message, then how come he could understand his friend’s desire? A Clock is always a clock whether Teddy has to bring it or any other individual has to bring it. A clock can never be confused with a wrist watch or for that matter something else. There are some messages which are more or less same for everyone. They are called as messages with a Denotative meaning which are almost the same for all individuals and in such cases chances of misinterpretation and misunderstanding gets nullified.

Please once again refer to the above situation of John and Teddy and slightly modify the situation. When John wanted a clock, Teddy brought two clocks for him as he was two concerned for John and didn’t want him to get late. In this case John actually wanted a single clock but Teddy brought his emotional quotient and personal affection in between. Such meanings are called Connotative meaning which are affected by emotional factors. A message can also get distorted due to wrong body movements, gestures, facial expressions and many other factors.

To conclude according to this model of communication when a sender passes on the information to the receiver, the receiver must interpret it in the desired form the sender wants and give him the feedback or respond accordingly. Any communication where the sender does not get the feedback, the communication is not complete and thus ineffective.

Westley and MacLean’s Model of Communication

Yet another achievement in the discipline of communication was the Westley and MacLean’s model of communication proposed in the year 1957 by Bruce Westley and Malcolm S.

MacLean Jr.

Let us try to understand this model with the help of below examples:

At night, when suddenly an individual experiences the shaking and trembling of the earth’s crust or indications of an earthquake, he immediately wakes up and conveys to his family that they immediately need to vacate the house.

Jackson had important meetings lined up during the day. The moment he was about to step out of his door, he was greeted by a heavy downpour. He had no other option but to cancel all his appointments however urgent they were and had to stay indoors. Why did he take the decision of not going to work? Due to the heavy shower, Jackson preferred staying indoors and rescheduled all his meetings.

On the way to office, if one witnesses a road accident or a murder, the first thing he does is to call his friends or relatives and share his experiences with them. He passes on his message to his relatives and tells them to be safe and call him immediately after reaching their respective destinations.

In all the above cases, the individual received signals from the environment and then began communicating with others. Thus the communication actually was initiated by the external environment which then led the speaker to convey his information to the others. This explains the  Westley  and  MacLean’s  model  of  communication.  Unlike  Frank  Dance,  Westley  and

MacLean believed that communication doesn’t start from day one but actually begins when the speaker receives signals or messages from his external surroundings. In this model again the process of initiating communication by first sending messages takes a back seat and suggests that communication actually starts with receiving messages from the environment.

Jim works with a leading advertising firm. His key responsibility area is to design ads for his clients. One fine day, while he was driving back to his apartment, he noticed a hoarding advertising a certain product. Immediately he called his subordinate, shared his brilliant idea which just originated the moment he saw the hoarding. In this case, communication actually began with Jim receiving the message from the signboard and then further sending it to his team members – an example of Westley and MacLean’s model of communication.

This model considers a strong relation between the signals from the surroundings and the process of communication. According to this model the process of communication begins with receiving messages rather than sending messages.

(Receives message) Environment———————————————-Sender—-then message sends (Communication starts)

In this model it is not necessary that the signals coming from the surroundings are intentionally sent to start the process of communication. Sometimes events might accidentally occur or the thought can be accidentally received. As in the case of Jim, the hoarding was there for quite a long time, Jim took the same road for almost a year, but one fine day he suddenly received the idea from the banner and initiated the process of communication. Thus signals can be received anytime and communication can begin anytime. It was Jim who saw the hoarding, his team members did not see it and thus there are fair chances they might download the message with few errors. This is a common loophole of this model of communication, where the information sometimes gets modified when it is passed from one person to the other individual.

To conclude this model of communication supports the initiation of communication from receiving messages rather than the sender sending it.

References and Web links

• https://www.managementstudyguide.com/communication-models.htm
• https://www.businesstopia.net/communication