Berlo's Communication Model

1. Berlo’s S-M-C-R Model
David K. Berlo, a communication theorist and consultant developed a model named S-M-C-R model of communication in 1960 in his book “The process of communication”. Berlo pointed out the importance of the psychological view in his communication model. The four parts of Berlo’s S-M-C-R model are S = Source, M = Message, C = Channel and R = Receiver. The model is as follows

Source: The first element of Berlo’s communication model is the source. All communication must come form some sources. The source might be one person, a group of people of a company. Several things determine how a source will operate in the communication process such as-
i. Communication skills like abilities to think, write, draw and speak. ii. Attitudes

Receiver: Receiver is the final element in the communication process. The receiver is the audience of the message.

2. 6 students participated in the verbal communication activity. 1st student was called and given some information which had to be passed to the next student with the same information. One had to listen it properly and give the same information to next student without loosing its content. It continued till the information received to last student. The last student had to tell what information he received.

3. i. The original information was lost till the time it came to the last student. The message given to the first student and the message received by last student was not the same. As the original information was lost. When the last student was asked to tell what message he got and asked the first student to tell whether this was the message, it was told that it was not the same message.

ii. By the time the message received to the last student the information was lost, as the message given to the first student and message received by the last student was not

It is the perfect guide towards achieving effective communication. The process assures that sender’s message will be understood by the receiver. But the process is not simple as sometimes use of inappropriate medium, incorrect grammar, words that conflict with body language and technical jargon have a negative impact on the communication process. This can create a barrier between you and your client. In counselling setting many a times client misunderstands the therapist words and interpret it wrongly because of which counselling is ineffective. Both have to make sure that they understand each other. The activity we did can be related to counselling setting as we saw that the information given to the 1st student came out to be so different by the last student, this shows that how the words change the meaning, and listening and understanding is very important. Because the same happens in counselling setting as the therapist(sender) gives the message to the client(receiver) which is interpreted by the receiver that is client, can be understood or