While all of the complexities of human communication can not be captured in a single model, this diagram will offer a reasonable beginning. A sender source has a message in mind. The source intends to “encode” the message into language that will be understood by the receiver. Perhaps it is a statement of the sender’s preference for a particular outcome in a negotiation.
The message may be encoded into verbal language or it may be encoded into nonverbal expression. Once encoded, the message is then transmitted –sent via voice or facial expression, or written statement, and through face-to-face interaction, video, letter, telegram, etc.- to the receiver.The receivers receptors pick up the transmission, and “recode” the message to give it meaning to the receiver. In a one way of communication cycle this would constitute a completed transmission. A source who puts his message in writing and sends it by mail to the receiver generally assumes that the message is received and understood. However, most communication –particularly in negotiation- involves continued dialogue and discussion between at least two parties. As a result, the receiver takes on a more active role in the communication process in two ways.
First the receiver provides information on how the message was received, and second, the receiver becomes a “sender” himself and respons to, or builds upon, the earlier message of the sender. For the current discussion, we shall refer to both of these processes as “feedback.” In the feedback process, the receiver encodes the message –through reading or listening- to assure his own understanding and comprehension of what the sender said , and what the message meant. He then ascribes “ meaning” to the communication –a comprehension of the information content of the message, as well as an “interpretation” of that content. The receiver then becomes a “sender” of communication back to the source. The encoded message may take multiple forms: questions or other communications to obtain clarification or better understanding of the earlier message; exclamations or reactions to the information content of the message; or rebuttals to the content of the first message. All of these are encoded, transmitted through various channels, received, and decoded by the original source. The entire sequence may be as simple as a question by one person, “Want to go for a cup of coffeee?” and an affirmative headshake by the other, to complex statements and responses used by negotiators in shaping a contract.
This model of communication “works” to the degree that a wide variety of information –facts, opinions, feelings, preferences, and experiences- are completely and thoroughly shared between parties. However, human communication systems seldom perform with this high degree of efficiency and effectiveness. Most of the linking elements in the model are subject to external factors that distort messages and their meaning, hampering them from getting through accurately.