Paper Example on Berlo's SMCR Model of Communication

Introduction

In 1948, Claude Shannon and Warren Weaver developed a linear model of communication that was first published in "Bell System Technical Journal." From this model, communication includes sender, encoder, channel, decoder, receiver, and feedback. The sender was the originator of the message; encoder was the transmitter which converted the message into signals, decoder was the reception place which turned the signal into the message, the receiver was the final destination of the message. According to Shannon and Weaver, the noise was also an essential concept in communication because it affected the process going through the channel making the message more difficult for the receiver to understand (Berlo, 1960).

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In 1960 David Berlo sought to expand the Shannon-Weaver Model by separating it into clear parts. As a result, he created the Sender-Message-Channel-Receiver (SMCR) model of communication. Berlo's model was more efficient because he described the various factors that could affect the individual components in the transmission. In 1960, the SMCR model was first published in the book "El Proceso de la Communication" which is Spanish for "The Process of Communication," Berlo identified four elements in his model including sender, message, channel, and receiver. He argued that each of these four components was affected by some factors. SMCR model emphasized encoding and decoding activities in the communication process which occur before the sender sends the message and before receiving the signal by the receiver respectively.

Components of the SMCR Communication Model

As mentioned above, Berlo identified four essential elements of the communication process as the sender or the source, message, channel, and receiver. In explaining the various factors that affect each of these components, it is clear that Berlo's model included both verbal and non-verbal communications, in addition to considering emotional aspects of the message (Saud et al., 2014).

Sender

It was identified as the source of the message which could be a person or an object that sends the message to the receiver. According to Berlo, the sender could be affected by factors such as communication skills, attitude, knowledge, social systems, and culture. These factors also influenced the receiver of the message.

The communication skills possessed by a person is a crucial factor that would affect how he or she communicates. Berlo defined communication skills as the ability to read, write, speak, or listen. To impact the listeners, the person expressing must possess excellent communication skills. For instance, he must be able to pronounce a word correctly, know when to make pauses, and when to repeat for emphasis. If the person sending the message lacks such abilities, then the communication process will be ineffective. Similarly, if the receiver does not have the necessary skills, he cannot understand the message. Again, the communication process is inefficient.

In the process of communicating, there is an attitude created by both the sender and the receiver towards each other. Additionally, there is the attitude towards the subject matter which is also held by both the sender and receiver. The message is affected by these attitudes in that they can potentially change it meaning.

Knowledge is another factor that could affect the communication process. It is important to note that in this context, knowledge did not mean the level of education but rather the familiarity of the subject matter by the sender or the receiver. Knowledge by the sender makes him send the message more effectively and have more effect on the receiver.

Social factors such as values, beliefs, religion, rule, and law, and a general understanding of the society can affect the way the sender chooses to communicate his message. Such social systems create a difference in the generation of the message. Berlo also added the place and situation of communication process under the category of social networks. Cultural differences between the sender and the receiver have the potential to change the meaning of the message. For instance, what might be accepted in one culture might be offensive in another culture (Karahasan, 2016).

Message

It is the second component of the communication process. A message refers to the information that is sent by the sender to the receiver. It could be in the form of a voice, text, audio, video, or any other media. Factors that affect the message include content, elements, treatment, structure, and code. The content refers to the thing in the message from its beginning to its end while elements are the non-verbal things such as gestures, signs, and language that accompany the content. Treatment is the way in which the message is transferred from the sender to the receiver. Structure refers to the arrangement of the message including the various parts it has which influences it effectiveness in impacting the receiver. The code is the form in which the message sent which might be in the way of a video, audio, or language.

Channel

It is the medium used to convey the message to the receiver. When formulating this communication model, Berlo identified the five sense of a human being as the channels for the communication flow. We receive the message through hearing and perceive through seeing especially the non-verbal signals. Touching is also useful in non-verbal communication. Through smelling and tasting, the information to be sent is collected. However, with the advancement of technology in mass communication, the channels have been extended to include mechanical machines including telephones, television sets, the internet among others (Karahasan, 2016).

The Receiver

At the end of the communication process, we have the receiver who is the person who gets the message. The receiver tries to understand the intentions of the send in conveying the message and decides whether to respond or not. This process is known as decoding. According to Berlo, effective communication is easily achievable when the sender and the receiver are on the same level. If this is not the case, then the message might fail to have the intended impact on the receiver. As it the case with the sender, the receiver must possess excellent communication skills of reading, writing, and listening. Other factors that affect the receiver include knowledge, attitudes, and social systems.

Assumptions and Characteristics

Berlo's model assumed that there are five verbal communication skills. The first two were speaking and writing which Berlo named as the encoding skills. He also identified listening and reading as the two decoding skills. Finally, though our reasoning was the last verbal communication skill but according to Underwood (2003), Berlo's fifth skill was crucial to both encoding and decoding because it is an intellectual skill affected by emotion and intention.

Additionally, Berlo assumed that the communication skills of the encoder affected the fidelity of information in two ways. First, it changed the ability of the sender to analyze his purpose and intentions when saying what he wants to communicate. Secondly, it improves the sender's ability to encode messages they intend to convey this includes the ability to choose the right words to express what needs to be delivered (Karahasan,2016). According to Berlo, the encoder's communication behavior was affected by his/her knowledge of his/her attitudes. This assumption may at first strike someone as odd because it suggests that the encoder may have attitudes which he/she may not be aware of. However, there is plenty of evidence to support this proposition.

For instance, if the sender is aware of attitudes from the receiver, he/she will act appropriately to conceal his/her attitude. Another assumption of the model is that the sender's knowledge of the ways to treat or produce messages affected his/her communication behavior (Rogers & Valente, 2017). In his text, Berlo wrote "you need to be aware of the possibilities open to you. It might transpire to you that you are highly skilled or natural in a particular possible treatment of your message."

Influence on Communication Theory and Research

Berlo's approach is considered to be somehow different from what is suggested by more straightforward communication model because of his emphasis on dyadic communication. He stressed the role of the relationship between the source and the receiver as a crucial factor of the communication process. Therefore, from his theory, the more developed the communication skills of both the sender and receiver, the more effective the communication process will be in encoding and decoding the message. A monadic approach to communication process would point out about the communication skills and personality traits of the sender and the receiver which communicates the competence of both, but it fails to help us make any firm predictions about the likely success of the communication.

Berlo's SMCR model is a useful point of departure for practical work in communication and media studies. It may transpire to a communication student progresses in his studies that many points and assumptions could be used to challenge the SMCR model. However, the model does have the merit of drawing attention to the unpredictability nature of communication. Additionally, the model draws attention to some of the factors that may cause the communication process to be unpredictable. As such, the SMCR model serves as an excellent broad framework for audience research for mass communication (Narula,2006).

Applicability, Strengths & Weaknesses

The purest form of application of Berlo's communication process model is in person-to-person communication that includes all the four essential elements as identified by the model. But, the model is also applicable in more complex areas such as behavioral theories of Maslow, Herzberg, and McGregor to explain human behavior. Problems obstructing the achievement of organizational goals and objectives may be traced through this model resulting in more successful approaches to solving such problems. In reaching the real world situations of human behavior, modern management can make use of Berlo's model as a basis for problem discussions during their management conferences. In a study to determine the applicability of the model Rogala & Bialowas (2016), argued that the encoder-decoder unit is divided into two parts which represent the lower- and upper-level need aspects of a relationship. Accordingly, the lower-level needs must be sufficiently satisfied before the upper-level needs have any impact on a person. Once the lower-level needs are met, they are no longer effective in motivating the person because the upper-level needs have taken over.

The weaknesses of the SMCR model can only be judged based on the context that the user intends to use it for. By the language used in the model, Berlo was only concerned with sending a message from one person to another with little concern about the hardware. Unfortunately, the lack of interest is the major weakness of the model because it makes communication unidirectional and lacks a feedback feature. Karahasan (2016), humorously compared communication without feedback with the sound of a single clapping hand. Constructivist thinking teaches that meaning is a personal construct, and in communication the receiver tries to establish a purpose for themselves which may differ from the meaning held by the person transmitting the message. Feedback is an essential part of communication because it matches the intent of the sender with that of the receiver. For this reason, communication should be a two-way affair.

References

Berlo, D. K. (1960). The process of communication; an introduction to theory and practice...