MODELS OF COMMUNICATION

Communication is the process of transferring information and meaning between senders and receivers, using one or more written, oral, visual, or electronic channels. The essence of communication is sharing- providing data, information, insights, and inspirations in an exchange that benefits both you and the people with whom you are communicating.

There are different models of communication.

1.      SHANNON AND WEAVER- LINEAR/TRANSMISSION MODEL

2.      DAVID BERLO – SMCR MODEL

3.      WILBUR SCHRAMM- INTERACTIVE MODEL 

4.      BARNLUND- TRANSACTIONAL MODEL

SHANNON AND WEAVER- LINEAR/TRANSMISSION MODEL

"The fundamental problem of communication is that of reproducing at one point either exactly or approximately a message selected at another point."

- Claude E. Shannon

In 1947, Claude E. Shannon, a research mathematician working for Bell Labs, created a theory of communication designed to facilitate information transmission over telephone lines. Later, Warren Weaver added the component of feedback to Shannon’s linear model, thus making it in effect circular. Although originally intended to be used by engineers dealing with information that was void of ‘meaning’, the Shannon-Weaver Model is one of the most popular inter-personal communication models used today.

The Model

Within the Shannon-Weaver Model, eight key elements exist that are required for communication, or information transmission, to occur. These elements are:

Source
The source of communication is the initiator, or origin, that puts the model into action. An individual or group has a specific reason to begin the communication process. That is, there is a message that they wish another to receive.

Encoder
Once the purpose of the source has been decided, there must be a specified format for the message to take. This is what the communication encoder does; it takes the concept that the source wants sent out, and puts it into a suitable format for later interpretation.

Message
The information, idea, or concept that is being communicated from one end of the model to the other is the message. Most of the time, in human communication, the message contains a distinct meaning. When the model was created, Shannon and Weaver were not concerned whether the message had substance, but rather that it was being transmitted.

Channel
It is essential for meaningful communication that a suitable means to transmit the message be selected. The channel is the route that the message travels on, be it verbal, written, electronic, or otherwise.

Noise
It is inevitable that noise may come into play during the communication process. Noise could be considered an interference or distortion that changes the initial message; anything that can misconstrue the message may be noise. Noise can be physical, as in an actual sound that muffles the message as it is being said, or it can be semantic, like if the vocabulary used within the message is beyond the knowledge spectrum of its recipient. In order for communication to be effective, noise must be reduced.

Decoder
Before the message reaches the intended recipient, it must be decoded, or interpreted, from its original form into one that the receiver understands. This is essentially the same interaction as that of source and encoder, only in a reversed sequence. 

Receiver
In order for communication to be executed, there must be a second party at the end of the channel the source has used. The receiver takes in the message that the source has sent out.

Feedback
For meaningful communication to come to fruition, it is vital that the receiver provides feedback to the source. Feedback relates to the source whether their message has been received, and most importantly, if it has been interpreted accurately. Without feedback, the source would never know if the communication was successful. Ongoing communication is made possible by the cyclical route feedback allows; if more communication between the two parties is necessary, they can follow the model indefinitely.

The Shannon-Weaver Communication Model can appropriately and effectively be applied to communication problems. It is a straightforward model of communication and information transmission. It is an intuitive process or system of communication. It easily connects the message from the sender to the recipient and allows for essential feedback to determine that the message was indeed understood or if further information or clarification is necessary.

(Viewed on 04 May 2013_http://www.uri.edu/artsci/lsc/Faculty/Carson/508/03Website/Hayden/ ShanWeav.html)

DAVID BERLO – SMCR MODEL

Communication models have been used throughout history as a means of analyzing the components of effective communication, as well as exploring methods for improving communication on many levels. In his 1960 work titled The Process of Communication, David Berlo quoted Aristotle, saying that “…the prime goal of communication was persuasion, an attempt to sway other men to the speaker’s point of view” (Berlo, 1960, p. 8). Berlo’s work focuses on the purpose and goals of communication before addressing his communication model.

He states that the purpose of communication is four-fold. It is:

1. Not logically contradictory or inconsistent with itself;

2. Behavior-centered; that is, expressed in terms of human behaviors;

3. Specific enough for us to be able to relate it to actual communication behavior;

4. Consistent with the ways in which people do communicate

(Berlo, p. 10).

Once the purpose of communication is defined, it is necessary to understand the concept of levels of interdependence. Berlo writes, “In any communication situation, the source and the receiver are interdependent” (Berlo, p. 106-120). There are four levels of interdependence, from the most basic to the most sophisticated and effective. He is careful to note that all levels of interdependence are used in communication to some degree. 

The levels are:

1. Definitional- physical interdependence, which is the act of the source and receiver talking “at” each other, not listening or reacting to each other’s message. The only function served by either is having a physical presence with which to communicate.

2. Action-reaction interdependence, in which the source has a purpose, encodes a message or request, the receiver decodes the message, performs the interpreted task, and the source provides feedback.

3. Interdependence of expectations (empathy), is explained as communication relying on the source anticipating the receiver response, followed by adjusting the message and channel so that the message will be decoded accurately and reach the receiver as the source intends.

4. Interaction is the goal of interdependence, where the source and receiver cannot be independent and provide successful communication.

Berlo’s theory is not unique in using compartmentalizing communication as a way to understand and facilitate communication. According to Berlo (1960), Aristotle asserted that there are three ingredients to communication: the person who speaks; the speech that he produces; and the person who listens (p. 8).

Berlo, recognizing the potential effectiveness of the linear model of communication known as the Shannon-Weaver Mathematical Model, made alterations to create a communication model that was more cyclical than the technological, linear Shannon-Weaver Model. As a result, Berlo’s model, also known as the SMCR model, includes non-verbal as well as verbal communication.

The acronym SMCR is comprised of the Communication Source-encoder, the Message, the Channel, and the Communication Receiver-decoder. Berlo’s model has depth in that it acknowledges the multiple ingredients to each element of communication.

According to Berlo, the source “encodes message intended to produce desired response from receiver”. The source-encoder is influenced by four factors: the source’s communication skills, attitudes, knowledge level, and position within the social-cultural system. The message is encoded by the source and reflects these influences. The message itself is “the actual physical product of the source- encoder”, and relies on three factors: the message code, content, and treatment. The channel is “how the message will be transmitted”, meaning the determination of which senses will be utilized so that the receiver has the greatest opportunity to accurately interpret the message. It is crucial to note that the communication- receiver is influenced by the same factors as the source-encoder. Without accounting for the four critical factors of communications skills, attitudes, knowledge level, and social-cultural system position of the receiver, the sender is less likely to be able to communicate a message in an effective manner. When the message is decoded as the source intended the receiver is able to provide an effective response, thus exchanging roles with the original source-encoder (Berlo, 1960).

(Viewed on 04 May 2013_http://www.uri.edu/personal/carson/hendersonk/explanation.html)

WILBUR SCHRAMM- INTERACTIVE MODEL

Wilbur L. Schramm was a forefather in the development of a basic model of communication. His model is a derivation of the Shannon-Weaver transmission model of communication. The Shannon-Weaver model proposed six elements of communication: 

Source, encoder, message, channel, decoder, and receiver.

Wilbur Schramm's 1954 model expands on this thinking by emphasizing the process of encoding and decoding the message. Schramm envisioned this process as a two-way circular communication between the sender and receiver. Where the Shannon-Weaver model is a more mathematical and technological one, Schramm incorporates the study of human behavior in the communication process.

In addition to the six elements above, Schramm has included these concepts:

• Feedback - information that comes back from the receiver to the sender and tells him how well he is doing.

Diagram of Schramm's feedback loop

•  Field of Experience - an individual's beliefs, values, experiences and learned meanings both as an individual or part of a group.

Diagram of Schramm's field of experience

Dr. Schramm suggests that the message can be complicated by different meanings learned by different people. Meanings can be denotative or connotative. Denotative meanings are common or dictionary meanings and can be roughly the same for most people. Connotative meanings are emotional or evaluative and based on personal experience. A message can also have surface and latent meanings. Other characteristics of messages that affect communication between two individuals are intonations and pitch patterns, accents, facial expressions, quality of voice, and gestures. The successful transmission of a message depends on whether this message will be accepted over all the competing messages.

Schramm's model of communication also allows for the process of interpreting the message. This process is influenced by the presence of both physical (phone, TV, sirens, etc.) and semantic (distractions, age, attitudes, etc.) noise.

Dr. Schramm believed that all of these elements were important functions of communication in society. He felt that people in a society need information on their environment and methods of communicating in order to make decisions. Most importantly, we need "places to store the accumulated knowledge and wisdom of a society and this is why we have libraries" (Schramm, 1963, pg. 14).

(Viewed on 04 May 2013_http://www.uri.edu/personal/carson/kulveted/wlsmodel.html)

BARNLUND- TRANSACTIONAL MODEL

Barnlund’s Transactional Model presents a multi-layered feedback system for all parties involved, and recognizes that anyone can be a sender and receiver at the same time.  The layers of feedback consist of both verbal and non-verbal cues sent concurrently with the message itself.  This further suggests that the feedback could take equal standing as the message itself.  

Barnlund-Transactional Model of Communication’s strength is its shared field experience. In a nut shell it’s a beauty of its complexion and features, enables simultaneous message sending and feedback as well. Weakness of the transactional model is its complexion. Mixed blessing caused it lack of simplicity like linear do, in some situation; it may not need a complex model but a simple model of communication.

By far the most systematic of the functional models is the transactional approach taken by Barnlund (1970, pp. 83-102), one of the few investigators who made explicit the key assumptions on which his model was based.

Its most striking feature is the absence of any simple or linear directionality in the interplay between self and the physical world. The spiral lines connect the functions of encoding and decoding and give graphic representation to the continuous, unrepeatable, and irreversible assumptions mentioned earlier. Moreover, the directionality of the arrows seems deliberately to suggest that meaning is actively assigned or attributed rather than simply passively received.

Any one of three signs or cues may elicit a sense of meaning. Public cues (Cpu) derive from the environment. They are either natural, that is, part of the physical world, or artificial and man-made. Private objects of orientation (Cpr) are a second set of cues. They go beyond public inspection or awareness. Examples include the cues gained from sunglasses, earphones, or the sensory cues of taste and touch. Both public and private cues may be verbal or nonverbal in nature. What is critical is that they are outside the direct and deliberate control of the interactants. The third set of cues are deliberate; they are the behavioral and nonverbal (Cbehj cues that a person initiates and controls himself. Again, the process involving deliberate message cues is reciprocal. Thus, the arrows connecting behavioral cues stand both for the act of producing them-technically a form of encoding-and for the interpretation that is given to an act of others (decoding). The jagged lines (VVVV ) at each end of these sets of cues illustrate the fact that the number of available cues is probably without limit. Note also the valence signs (+, 0, or -) that have been attached to public, private, and behavioral cues. They indicate the potency or degree of attractiveness associated with the cues. Presumably, each cue can differ in degree of strength as well as in kind. “t each end of these sets of cues illustrate the fact that the number of available cues is probably without limit. Note also the valence signs (+, 0, or -) that have been attached to public, private, and behavioral cues. They indicate the potency or degree of attractiveness associated with the cues. Presumably, each cue can differ in degree of strength as well as in kind.

(Viewed on 04 May 2013_http://www.shkaminski.com/Classes/Handouts/Communication% 20Models.htm#BarnlundsTransactionalModel1970)