Communication Theories

Communication root lies back to thousands of years to the ancient Greece. Communication was then called as Rhetoric. Rhetoric was considered the art of talking, using language to persuade the audience to do something. Aristotle defines the composition of every speech. It consists of a speaker, a subject, and a hearer.

Modern theorists have dealt with the communication theory .They have found out communication is a information related behavior. It is a necessary life process .There is 3 main types of communication. They are interpersonal communication, machine related communication and mass communication. Interpersonal communication is to compare it with other forms of communication with interpersonal communication, we can examine how many people are involved, how physically close they are to one another, how many sensory channels are used and the feedback provided. Machine assisted communication can be defined as communication with the help of different tools. Such as computer, mobile phones, and telephone. When a sender distributes messages to more than one person simultaneously is called mass communication.

There are various communication theories explained by different people.
Harold Lasswell explained communication model in 1948 referred to us as transmission model of communication. A speaker initiates a message and gives it through a medium /channel to the audience. The goal of communication is to get a desired effect from the audience.
Shannon & weaver’s model introduced in 1949. They are known as the fathers of information theories and they have focused on the noise source in communication.
Schramm’s first model was introduced in 1954 and focused on signal.

He has also introduced the second model with field of experience.


He also introduced the third model with feedback. He was known as father of information




Katz & Lazarsfeld’s model was introduced in 1955 . It was the first model to deal with mass media and communication in organization.
Kincaid’s convergence model was introduced in 1979 and included mutual understanding where participants create and share information to reach a common goal.
All these models are very useful in organization and offer convenient ways to think.