1. Riley and Riley Model :

John and Matilda Riley pose a model in which the process of communication is an integral

part of the social system. Both the Communicator and the recipient are affected by the three

social orders, namely: the primary group/s of which they are members, the larger social

structure (the immediate community-social cultural, industrial - to which they belong,) and

the overall social system. All these are in dynamic interaction, with messages flowing multi-

directionally. Thus the C and R are neither passive nor isolated but are related and their

messages are patterned in terms of these relationships.

2. Maletzke’s model:

Maletzke’s model of the mass communication process is extremely useful because of its

comprehensiveness and the complex interaction of the factors at play. The self-image of the

communicator corresponds with that of the receiver. Both act upon and are influenced by the

Message which is itself constrained by the dictates of the Medium chosen. To add to the

complexity, the message is influenced by the communicator’s image of the receiver’s image

of the communicator. Maletzke’s model suggests that in the communication process, many

shoulders are being looked over. The more the shoulders, the more compromises, the more

adjustments.

Thus not only is the communicator taking into due regard the medium and the nature of the

audience, and perceiving these things through the filter of self-image and personality

structure, he or she is also keenly responsive to other factors - the communication team, with

its own special set of values and professional practices. Beyond the team, there is the

organisation which in turn has to look over its shoulder towards government or the general

public.

Just as the communicator is a member of a team within an organisational environment, so the

receiver is part of a larger context of reception. He or she is subject to influences other than

the media message. Those influences may start in the living room of a family home, and the

influencers might be the viewer’s or reader’s family, but there are contextual influences

beyond that - in the pub, at work, in the community. The complexity suggests an almost

limitless interaction of variables which indicates the enormous difficulty faced by research

into mass media and its effects.

3. Gerbner’s General Model (1956):

Gerbner's General Model emphasizes the dynamic nature of human communication. It also

gives prominence to the factors which may affect fidelity.

The model shown diagrammatically is to be read from left to right, beginning at E - Event.

The event (E) is perceived by M (the man (sic) or machine).

The process of perception is not simply a matter of 'taking a picture' of event E. It is a

process of active interpretation.

The way that the E is perceived will be determined by a variety of factors, such as the

assumptions, attitudes, point of view and experience of M.

E can be a person talking, sending a letter, telephoning, or otherwise communicating with

M. In other words, E could be what we conventionally call the Source or Transmitter.

Equally, E can be an event - a car crash, rain, waves crashing on a beach, a natural

disaster etc. In this case, we could be applying the model to mass media communication,

say the reporting of news.

The model is a useful starting-point for the analysis of wide variety of communication acts.

Note that the model, besides drawing our attention to those factors within E which will

determine perception or interpretation of E, also draws our attention to three important factors

viz. Selection, context and availability.

4. Convergence Model (1981):

Rogers and Kinclaid formulated convergence or network model which represents

communication as a process of horizontal sharing among two or more participants within

social networks.

5. Jakobson’s Model 1958:

Based on the Organon-Model by Karl Bühler, Jakobson distinguishes six communication

functions, each associated with a dimension of the communication process:

One of the six functions is always the dominant function in a text and usually related to the

type of text. In poetry, the dominant function is the poetic function: the focus is on the

message itself. The true hallmark of poetry is according to Jakobson "the projection of the

principle of equivalence from the axis of selection to the axis of combination". Very broadly

speaking, it implies that poetry successfully combines and integrates form and function, that

poetry turns the poetry of grammar into the grammar of poetry, so to speak.

6. Baker’s Mosiac Model of Message Environments:

In The Prospect of Rhetoric (1968), Sam Becker presented a mosaic model of

communication, arguing that "our traditional concept of the message has severely limited

usefulness for understanding contemporary communication. The emphasis of rhetorical

studies should probably

remain upon the message,

in a way that is more

descriptive of what man

as receiver is exposed to,

rather than what man as

source creates." We

construct message which

"are, in effect, overlaid to

form the large and

complex communication

environment or 'mosaic'

in which each of us

exists. This mosaic consists of an immense number of fragments or bits of information on an

immense number of topics. . . . These bits are scattered over time and space and modes of

communication. Each individual must grasp from this mosaic those bits which serve his

needs, must group them into message sets which are relevant for him at any given time, and

within each message set must organize the bits and close the gaps between them in order to

arrive at a coherent picture of the world to which he can respond."

7. Toulmin model

A six-part model of argument (with similarities to the syllogism) introduced by British

philosopher Stephen Toulmin in his book The Uses of Argument (Cambridge Univ. Press,

1958). The Toulmin model can be used as a tool for analyzing and categorizing arguments.

Observations:

"What is it that makes arguments work? What makes arguments effective? The British

logician Stephen Toulmin made important contributions to argument theory that are useful

for this line of inquiry. Toulmin found six components of arguments:

o Claim : A statement that something is so.

o Data : The backing for the claim.

o Warrant : The link between the claim and the grounds.

o Backing : Support for the warrant.

o Modality: The degree of certainty employed in offering the argument.

o Rebuttal: Exceptions to the initial claim.

The Toulmin model provides us with useful tools for analyzing the components of

arguments."

8. Transactional Model (Dean Barnlund Model):

The current evolutionary development of basic interpersonal communication models is the

Transactional Model of communication, first proposed by Barnlund (1970) and subsequently

refined by other theorists. Departing from a linear view of communication which had its

rhetorical/persuasion seeds before the time of Aristotle, the transactional model posits that

interpersonal communication is a dynamic, process-oriented activity in which the two

participants are simultaneously sending and receiving messages. Anderson and Ross

summarize the model as follows: "Encoding and decoding are not alternating sub processes

of communication, however, but are mutually dependent, each contributing to the meaning

the communicators are building together. The two-way symmetrical model identified by

Grunig and Hunt (1984) takes a transactional view of public relations because the objective is

to gain understanding rather than to persuade.

Figure: Barnlund's Transactional Model

References:

1. Andal N. 1998 Communication, Theories and Models Himalaya Publishhing House

Mumbai

2. http://www.mcgraw-hill.co.uk/openup/chapters/9780335220533.pdf