‘Communication is a two way process’. Discuss with reference to at least four models of communication.
Two way communication is a form of transmission in which both parties involved transmit information. This process can also be referred to as a process of reaching mutual understanding, in which participants not only exchange (encode-decode) information but also create and share meaning. The information goes out to a person on the other end. There is a sender and a receiver. Simply put, effective communication is getting your message across to the receiver. It is the sender’s responsibility to make sure that the receiver gets the message and that the message received is the one sent. This essay seeks to prove whether communication is a two way process or one way process. The essay has already tried to define what is referred to as two way process, now it will try to bring out whether the notion of communication is a two way process. Models that are going to be used as referees will be the Newcomb model, Wilbur Schramm and C. E Osgood, Helical Model and the Westley and MacLean’s model.
Newcomb was the first scholar to design a model that tried to illustrate communication as a two way process. His model was triangular in shape (see figure 6). Its main significance, however, lies in the fact that it is the first of our models to introduce the role of communication in a society or a social relationship. For Newcomb this role is simple, it is to maintain equilibrium within the social system. John Fiske describes the model in this way. A and B are communicator and receiver; they may be individuals, or management and union, or government and people. X is part of their social environment. ABX is a system, which means that its internal relations are interdependent. If A changes, B and X will change as well; or if A changes her or his relationship to X, B will have to change his or her relationship either with X or with A....