Theories Of Communication

THEORIES OF COMMUNICATION
(WITHIN A HEALTH AND SOCIAL
CARE ENVIRONMENT)

Health and Social care
Level 3
BRA15436310
Zenobia Braund

IN THESE SLIDE I WILL BE..
• Explaining the 3 theory's of communication
•Explaining the pros and cons of each theory
•Using a health and social care setting to set a scenario

TUCKMAN’S THEORY

Theory 1

THEORY ONE..
TUCKMAN’S THEORY
The background;
 Dr.Bruce Wayne Tuckman developed the theory known as ‘Tuckman’s theory’ in 1965. It is the explanation of the stages of group development people go though.
 The theory is explained in 4 stages, Forming, Storming, Norming and Performing.
 FORMING;
 Sitting together and establishing roles to create ideas. The leader will be required to answer a lot of questions about other ideas so its vital they are selected right.

 STORMING;
 They struggle for positions, they challenge each other. Cliques form and there may be power struggles.

 NORMING;
 They start to establish agreement and begin to respond to the leader. Roles are clear and accepted. Big decisions are made by group agreement. Smaller decisions are delegated.

 PERFORMING;
 They know what they are expected to do. They have shared visions and able to stand on their own two feet but they look after each other also.

THE PROS AND CONS OF
TUCKMANS THEORY;
Pros

• Value - It shows how the group works together.
• Bond - Explains how people bond as a group.
• Trust - Shows the stages of how people build trust when working together. • Helps social skills/ interaction.
• Helps you understand peoples opinion.
• Respect - Helps people understand that you have to.

Cons
• It takes time to talk in groups, its not always possible to have this time length in certain situations within health and social care settings.
• Roles/ responsibilities - Sometimes the roles aren't accepted and people continue to challenge their role throughout the tasks.
• They all have to agree, and sometimes there are conflict of opinion and it doesn’t explain what happens if this occurs.
• Confidence - Some people may not speak up so get stuck in a role they arn’t comfortable in.
• It is based on the fact that nobody knows anyone, this wont always happen which means stages will be skipped and doesn’t explain what would happen if not all stages happen.

IN A HEALTH AND SOCIAL
ENVIRONMENT- A CARE HOME
When the team works together they would, in theory, go thought the steps to find a group leader. This person would be responsible for delegating roles, such as getting the service users fed and make sure their happy. This position, as the others would, would be fought for. Sorting out all the roles creates power struggles as some people want to be they higher authority but sometimes they arn’t suited.
After they have sorted out their positions they will form group to help each other get the task done at the highest standard. For example if the leader gave someone a task of assisting a service used to the toilet, they may have certain person in the same role as them they would ask for help for things such as opening doors or helping the service user stand up.

SOLER

Theory 2

THEORY TWO..
SOLER
•The background;
• Gerald Egan developed the theory of Soler, it is a acronym to describe the components of communication. • The main idea is to be assertive.
• S: Sit at an angle, attentively - You appear more open and ready to listen, and interested in what they have to say.
• O: Open posture - If you are too formal(sat straight) then people wont be as comfortable around you and will not elaborate on their concerns.
• L: Leaning forward - You can then talk quieter about more person things especially in open environments. Furthermore, it allows you to concentrate on the conversation especially if there are many of distractions.
• E: Eye contact - varied not just staring: shows services users that you are paying attention, but don’t look directly, this can be intimidating.
• R: Relaxed body language- it demonstrates that you are paying attention and focused on the message that the service user is trying to send.

THE PROS AND CONS OF
THE SOLER THEORY;
Pros

Cons
• You cannot teach people how to use this method, it comes naturally and develops on its own.

• Makes people feel comfortable.
• Helps build a good relationship with service users.
• Everyone gets treated equally.
• Gives you the tools to gain the correct information, and in depth if you are able to use the tool properly.
• Using interaction aids personalizes communication which helps understanding, this makes people feel like they are listened to as everyone gets a personal experience.

• People have different views on ‘relaxed’ and due to a variety of backgrounds using the services it may be offensive, rude, or seen as patronizing. • People may not think you know what your doing, and even may not take you seriously as you may appear over relaxed.
• It doesn’t cover verbal communication, it only tells you to have a calming presents.
• You may have time restraints and can not always spend a lot of time trying to get certain pieces of information.
• Blind spots, you may not understand how tot properly communicate with someone because of their different background or needs.
• If someone is aggressive it is hard to be relaxed and the Soler theory would not be used. It does not explain how not using all stages would effect the situation.

IN A HEALTH AND SOCIAL CARE
ENVIRONMENT – A CARE HOME.
This theory will be effective when a career is trying to find out what a service user needs. For example, if they need something of a personal nature, like the toilet they would not feel comfortable just saying it out loud. By using Soler, sitting at an angle with open posture, giving attentive eye contact, relaxed body language and leaning in will mean the service user will not have to feel embarrassed as they will not have to talk loud and feel comfortable as they know you are listening and not distracted and looking around the room.
On the other hand there are limitations of this theory. Due to services users coming from a range of backgrounds and having many special needs such as BSL or brail as at old age people loose ability to communicate it makes it harder to use the Soler theory effectively. If the theory isn’t used it does not necessarily mean that there will be no communication, it is possible to communicate successfully without Soler. An example of this is if a service user were to need a drink but they could not fluently talk, the career would be able to find out what is needed without having to sit and go through the procedure of Soler by looking for other signal such as hand gestures.

COMMUNICATION
CYCLE

Theory 3

THEORY THREE..
THE COMMUNICATION CYCLE
The background;
•Micheal Argyle though up the idea in the 1960’s that you have to work out people’s behavior really mean by decoding what other people are communicating.
•1 - Ideas occur – You have an idea that you want to communicate.
•2 – Message coded – You think about what you are going to say. You put your thoughts into language or another medium such as sign language.
•3 – Message sent – You speak/ sign/ write the message, you have to deal with distractions/ distortions. •4 – Message perceived – The other person has to sense your message, they hear the words/see the symbols. •5 – Message decoded – The other person has to interperate or ‘decode’ your message. This is not easy as sometimes things get lost in decoding and you have to make assumptions.
•6 – Message understood/respond – If all goes right your message will be understood and may be replied to if required.

PROS AND CONS OD THE
COMMUNICATIONS THEORY
Pros

• Argyle includes verbal and non- verbal methods. This shows variety and isn’t restricted to one medium.
• Its tells you clearly how the theory works and how its used.
• Helps you understand the person, or service user clearly.
• It explains that people think before they speak and also think before they respond which reflects effective listening as you have to think about it.

Cons
• There may be many things that break the cycle for example language barriers. • Someone may not be ready to receive the message so it could be misinterpreted. • They may not ‘decode’ it properly therefor also leading to misunderstanding. • It may be sent in the wrong medium that someone may not understand, for example they may be deaf and need sign language but its send in spoken language.
• It needs to be a two way process and if the person who is meant to respond they may not if their in a bad mood, this doesn’t explain what would happen next.

IN A HEALTH AND SOCIAL
CARE ENVIRONMENT- A
CARE HOME.
Within the care home the theory would help the careers understand and solve if there are any communication problems and what could be causing them. For example if they aren't getting a reply from a service user they could try different strategies such as trying a new medium as this could be why the message isn’t getting sent or decoded properly as they may not be able to translate spoken language as they only understand sign language. They would know to try something different as the theory sais that you need to go through the process to successfully send a message and it would be clear there is a break in the process which explains why they are not responding.