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GALAXY GLOBAL GROUP OF INSTITUTIONS

LESSON- 8 WILBUR SCHRAMM'S MODEL OF COMMUNICATION

INTRODUCTION CONTENTS 1. Six elements of communication 2. Concepts 2.1 Feedback Loop Model 2.2 Field of Experience Model 3. Strength 4. Weakness 5. Communication Barriers 5.1 Role of communication barriers in ineffective communication

SUMMARY IMPORTANT QUESTIONS REFERENCES

INTRODUCTION 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. Schramms model also revolves around the above principle.

According to the Schramms model, coding and decoding are the two essential processes of an effective communication. Wilber Schramm proposed the model of communication in 1954. He was one of the first to alter the mathematical model of Shannon and Weaver. He conceived of decoding and encoding as activities maintained simultaneously by sender and receiver; he also made provisions for a two-way interchange of messages. 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. 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. 1.) The Shannon-Weaver model proposed six elements of communication:

source encoder message

channel decoder 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. 2.) In addition to the six elements above, Schramm has included these Concepts:

2.1

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

2.2

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 plane and hidden meanings. Other characteristics of messages that impact communication between two individuals are: 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 are 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 "a place to store the accumulated knowledge and wisdom of a society and that is why we have libraries". Within a

library, all of these elements of Wilbur Schramm's communication model are useful in addressing problems with conducting a reference interview. This model provides the rationale to solve the problem presented in this project.

3.)

STRENGTHS OF THE MODEL i. Schramm provided the additional notion of a field of experience, or the psychological frame of reference; ii. Included Feedback Communication is reciprocal, two-way, even though the feedback may be delayed. iii. Included Context
A message may have different meanings, depending upon the specific context or setting.

iv. Included Culture

A message may have different meanings associated with it depending upon the culture or society. Communication systems, thus, operate within the confines of cultural rules and expectations to which we all have been educated.

4.)

WEAKNESS OF THE MODEL Schramms model, while less linear(linear models assume communication is one way process), still accounts for only bilateral communication between two parties. The complex, multiple levels of communication between several sources is beyond this model.

5.)

COMMUNICATION BARRIERS Communication Barriers are the various obstacles and hurdles which arise in between of an effective communication leading to misunderstandings and misinterpretations by the receiver. In the above example noise was the communication barrier. 5.1 Role of communication barriers in ineffective communication

Noise - Noise plays an important barrier to effective communication. If we want to pass on some information to a person standing next to a blaring mike. Do you think, the sender will ever be able to interpret it correctly? Do you think the receiver in this case is to blame? In this case, because of the blaring mike, the information will never reach the person in its desired form. Any presentation or speech delivered in a noisy classroom or auditorium is pointless as the information would never fall on the ears of the listeners. Try sharing some information with a friend in an overcrowded bus or a noisy market, correct information will never reach the recipient and he would never be able to interpret it correctly or respond accordingly. Here noise is an external communication barrier and it results in the distortion of the message.

Unorganized Thought - Unorganized and haphazard thoughts also are instrumental in poor communication and a very important barrier to effective communication. Person A to person B -Please come at 2 pm, okay not 2 come at 2.30 pm instead, fine let us freeze it for 3 pm Person B is bound to get confused as A himself is not clear about the timings. The sender must pass on crystal clear information to the receiver. The sender must first be himself very clear what he wants to communicate and then only begin the conversation. Abstract ideas, haphazard thoughts lead to ineffective communication. First know what you have to communicate and then only speak.

Wrong interpretations - Wrong interpretations again plays a very important role in miscommunication. Information can be wrongly interpreted by the receiver leading to a complete mess. My friend went for a bash yesterday night. The word bash can be decoded as beating as well as a party. The sender might convey his message to the recipient in order to provide some necessary information but the receiver might misinterpret it. It is the responsibility of the receiver to give proper feedback to the speaker and clear all the doubts before ending the conversation. Dont keep things within yourself; ask if you are not clear with anything.

Not Understanding the receiver - The boss once wanted to address his young team. He quoted examples from the year 1950 - the year when his team members were not even born. Dont you think, all the young chaps will lose interest after sometime? Thats the importance of understanding the recipient. Dont just prepare a speech,

learn more about the culture, habits, thought process of listeners. The sender must understand the receiver first and then pass on the information. If a sender is sad and you want to give him some exciting news, he will neither respond nor understand and hence the effect will for sure get nullified. Not understanding the receiver again is a barrier to effective communication.

Ignoring the content - One should lay emphasis on the content of his speech. The content has to be clear, crisp and above all interesting. Dont just speak; take some time to find out what you are speaking. Find out whether the content is relevant or not? During presentations, the speaker must use interesting words, funny one liner to capture the attention of the listeners. Dont make speech monotonous otherwise the listeners after sometime will definitely fall asleep. One should be smart enough to understand when to crack a slight joke in mid of a conversation. It really works. Dont just speak for the heck of it, understand what you are speaking and try to make it more interesting, crisp and above all relevant.

Avoiding the Listener - Imagine yourself attending a seminar where the speaker is simply reading from his notes and for once has not made any eye contact with you. You will never be able to relate with the speaker and hence never bother to find out what he wants to convey. Dont just go on. Create a friendly atmosphere and then start communicating. Dont just come to the point, one can ask questions from the listeners like whats new? Lovely weather or even use compliments like wonderful crowd, enthusiastic group. Dont avoid your listeners; make an eye contact with them to effectively communicate.

Not confirming with the recipient - Always cross check with the listeners, whether they have received the correct information or not. For instance, if you are sharing some important contact no, do make it a habit to verify the number with the receiver whether the receiver has noted it correctly or not. Use words like Did you get it? Am I Audible? in between the conversation. Try to find out whether the listener is getting your message or not. Take pauses in between, simply dont rush. Make a habit to spell out words. If you want to pass on your email id to your team, it is better to spell out each word of the email account. Another effective way is to break each word into alphabets, like ant can be communicated as a as in alpha, n as in Netherlands, t as in tango. The error rate will definitely go down and the communication will be more effective.

Not understanding the mood of the recipient - Try to understand the interest or the mood of the second party and read the mind of the other person. Dont just start speaking, understand the mood of the other person first and then share the information. If you think, the receiver is in the pink of his moods, dont give him sad news, he will never bother to listen. Wait for the correct time and then communicate if you want your communication to create an impact.

Low pitch and tone - Sometimes even the pitch and tone can play a communication barrier. Your content might be accurate, crisp and even related, but if your pitch is low your information will never reach the listeners bang on. The tone has to be crystal clear and loud for passing on correct information. Remember to give the correct pause after each sentence and dont forget the punctuation marks. Remember you are communicating not only for the first benchers but the people on the last bench are also a part of the communication. Be loud and clear but dont shout.

Impatient Listener - The listener also has to be patient enough to absorb the complete information and then respond accordingly. Always jot down your points and start off with your queries once the sender is through with the communication. Dont just jump in between the conversation as it leads to unnecessary confusions, misunderstandings and conflict and the communication never reaches any conclusion.

Different cultural level - In any organization, an individual can never think on the same line as his boss does. There is always a difference in their thought process. The work pressure, lack of transparency between the team members are also the barriers which lead to an ineffective communication. These barriers are called internal barriers.

SUMMARY Wilbur Schramm is sometimes called the "father of communication studies," and had a great influence on the development of communication research in the United States, and the establishing of departments of communication studies in US universities.

In Schramm's model it is noted, as did Aristotle, that communication always requires three elements the source, the message and the destination. Ideally, the source encodes a message and transmits it to its destination via some channel, where the message is received and decoded & overlapping experiences makes it easier to communicate successfully.

To communicate effectively, we need to be familiar with the factors involved in the communication process. If we are aware of them, these factors will help us plan, analyze situations, solve problems, and in general do better in our work no matter what our job might be. Communication is a concern to many people. Today, such people as psychologists, educators, medical doctors, sociologists, engineers and journalists represent only a few of the professional groups whose members have developed ways of looking at and talking about the communication process in their specialized fields.

SUGGESTED QUESTIONS

Q.1: Explain in detail the concept given by Wilbur Schramm. Q.2: What are the different barriers of Communication & how we can overcome these barriers?

REFERENCES

Singhal, A. (1987). Wilbur Schramm: Portrait of a development communication pioneer. Communicator: Journal of the Indian Institute of Mass Communication, 22(1-4), 18-22. Baran, Stanley. "Theories of Mass Communication". Introduction to Mass Communication. McGraw Hill. www. oxfordjournals.org www.communicationencyclopedia.com