The fifth stage is the decoding of the message, at this stage it is the other person responsible for decoding or interpreting what the other person communicated. This stage is not easy because the other person is forming an opinion on what has been received. If both sides of the communication cycle are familiar to the other than this stage would be a bit easier. But when you do not know someone you are less likely to know what they are trying to get across to you.
The sixth stage is the message being understood, if the communication was effective in the message, then it will be understood however this may not happen on the first attempt. If someone tells you some thing you might understand it the first time but as they start to go over it or elaborate on the subject, the second or third time you will be more likely to understand it as the message becomes clearer. (http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/2002/oct/03/guardianobituaries.highereducation)
Communication in groups can be influenced to a level in which people feel they belong together. When people first meet in a group they normally go through the process of group formation. Most people within a group experience some sort of challenge before they feel that they can communicate effectively. Tuckman (1965), is one of the well-known theorists to talk about group formation. He said that many groups go through a process including four stages. These stages are:
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Forming: the group meet and get together for the first time and share ideas with each other.
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Storming: there is a lot of tension and arguments, as the group stat to get to know each other and start to debate about how the group operates.
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Norming: Everyone comes together to discuss their values and expectations of the group.
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Performing: the group start to become completely comfortable with each other and become an effectively performing group.
When communicating with people there needs to be an understanding that it is a two-way process that requires both sides’ participation, because each person is trying to understand the other person’s point of view. You should remember that communication is a cycle that should not be broken because when people are communicating they need to be able to check that their thoughts or ideas have been understood by the other person. A good communicator would have open body language, keep eye contact and have other signals to suggest their attention. (B.Stretch, M.Whitehouse, 2007)
When speaking we can learn about different people by checking their body language- in the way the person is standing or sitting, whether they are leaning forward or standing or sitting back with their arms crossed, in their posture and if they are avoiding eye contact- and also the tone of voice- whether the tone is friendly and soft or rough, deep and grumpy. (Notes from class)
Gerard Egan (1986) believes that empathy is important in communicating and understanding someone’s feelings. It is important for a social worker or a carer to express empathy, because it is an effective way of supporting an individual. Egan defined empathy as an ability to enter into and understand the world of someone an else and communicate this understanding to him or her. By doing so a carer is able to understand the emotions associated with another person’s situation and offer advice by looking beyond their own assumptions. (B.Stretch, M.Whitehouse, 2007)
Different ethnic groups, teenagers and different cultures have their own special words, phrases and speech patterns that they use when they meet with their groups. These different communities and groups can create unconscious barriers to effective interpersonal interaction, for those who are not of the same group or community. SOLER is an example of a type of interpersonal interaction which was developed by Egan (1986). He developed this for remembering the importance of non-verbal communication during the listening process. (Notes from class)
S- Sitting squarely
O- Open position
L- Lean slightly towards the patient
E- Eye contact
R- Relax
Sitting squarely means sitting opposite to the person who is being listened to, rather than sitting next to them. This means that the person who is doing the listening can see all of the other person and can make observations on the other person’s non-verbal behaviour.
An open position means that the listener is sitting down with arms at their sides or on their laps, rather than having them crossed. Having them crossed can create barriers and make the other person feel like closing the conversation with you. Speakers are less likely to trust people who have their arms crosses when communicating.
Leaning slightly towards a person when communicating, indicates to the patient that you are interested in what they are saying and it shows that you are paying attention to them.
Maintaining good eye contact with a client is another way of saying ‘I’m interested in what you have to say’. You would have to be careful to make sure that the eye contact is steady and that you are not staring at the patient, as this could make them feel very uncomfortable.
When communicating with someone it is important not to fidget, and to feel comfortable and relaxed with your own non-verbal behaviour. This is because the patient is more likely to feel relaxed with listeners who are calm and relaxed (http://earlybird.qeh.ox.ac.uk/rfgexp/rsp_tre/student/comcoun/cou_03.htm)
Argyle’s main argument was that people can learn how to communicate and it is supported by the later theory of Gerald Egan with his SOLER theory. Argyle would seem to deal more with verbal communication while Egan’s work is on non-verbal communication. SOLER techniques are used in health and social care services to help put patients at ease by using, body language and eye contact.
While on my work placement, I had to hand out permission slips to the parents of the 3-5 age groups to go on a trip to the theatre. One of the parents was quite anxious about the trip so I had to sit down and talk it through with them. I tried to put them at ease by adopting a relaxed posture, being friendly and answering all their questions in a slightly informal manner. While doing this I was conscious of using some of the SOLER techniques. It was effective as the parent was content to sign the consent form, but I found it rather hard to concentrate on the techniques and talk with the parent at the same time.
During my placement I could see how some of Argyle’s communication stages worked. It was easy for example to see when a child had an idea. In the garden area there was an overgrown green bush. Some of the children asked the play worker, what sort of bush it was and they said it was a head of a green monster which lived at the other side of the wall. One little boy went and sat down and started thinking really deeply about this monster. He started asking a lot of questions such as, ‘’don’t monsters only appear in books?’’, ‘’If it is a monster over the wall, why is he standing still and not moving?’’ ‘’Why is his hair like that?’’. This showed that he had taken the idea of the monster and was working through a series of questions to find out if the monster was real or not. This reflects stages one and two of Argyle’s theory, he asked me the questions stated which acted as Argyle’s message. I was initially confused about why he was asking me about monsters, I answered his question about monsters in books and then I asked him why he was interested in monsters. He explained that one of the play workers had told him about the monster that lived on the other side of the wall. Because he was really worried about monsters being real, I told him that the play worker was only joking around and that the ‘monster’ was really an overgrown bush.
Argyle’s theory assumes that when a message is sent, and perceived by the other person, it can be easily decoded and understood but my experience with the boy and the monster shows that this is not always the case. The feedback helped me to understand what he was concerned about, but the stage one and two process within the boy was not that clear either. Although the boy was worried about the monster being real, he did not ask a direct question such as; ‘’Does the monster really exist?’’. This meant that I had a feeling that he had a general fear of monsters and so I tried to reassure him that monsters don’t exist rather than realising he was talking about something specific.
I was able to observe Tuckman’s theory of group communication on my placement at the Bath House nursery. The nursery had decided to put on a Christmas play based on a book called ’The stickman’. I had to help to separate the kids into two groups and took one group into another room to rehearse for the play. Although most of the children knew each other, they had not been in this group before. The play worker decided on the roles for each of the children. Some of the children started arguing about the roles that they had been given. The play worker was quite skilful in distracting the children and making other roles in the story sound more exciting than the role they were arguing over. This lead to gradual agreement over the roles, the Norming stage where they were happy with the roles they had and eager to start rehearsing, the final performing stage of Tuckman’s theory. Because the group only came together for a short while, there wasn’t enough time for them to identify with the group values in the performing stage. Also when they re-joined the other group, there was no real sense of identity with the group that they had just practiced with.
