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
Let us now study the all the factors in detail:
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.
Any message further comprises of the following elements:
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.
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.
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.