Analyzing Communication Theories: A Conversation Based Essay

This essay examines the application of communication theories by analyzing a conversation that occurred between a friend and a waiter in a restaurant. The essay begins by defining communication and highlighting its importance in conveying information and understanding. The core of the essay focuses on a heated exchange regarding food quality, observing the verbal and nonverbal cues employed by both parties. The analysis delves into verbal communication models, including the components of communication means, networks, and activities, and then explores nonverbal communication theories, specifically referencing Birdwhistell's assumptions about body language. The essay concludes by emphasizing the value of communication theories in organizing and understanding communication experiences, improving individual communication styles, and facilitating the analysis of social interactions. It argues that a strong grasp of these theories helps individuals to navigate and influence interactions effectively.

Running head: COMMUNICATION THEORIES
Communication Theories
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author note

1COMMUNICATION THEORIES
The term Communication can be perceived as a mean of linking individuals to attain a
shared purpose of conveying information from one individual to another. By this process not
only information gets transferred, but the understanding also gets transferred. The chief factor
is to be able to get the information in the same way that is the intention of the sharer. To
provide a brief definition of this term, it can be said that Communication surely is the way of
sharing ideas, facts, emotions and opinions between two or more persons (Khan et al. 2016).
The purpose of this essay is to observe a conversation between two individuals and to
determine the importance of communication under the light of various communicational
theories.
A few days back in a restaurant there was a conversation between my friend and a
waiter of that restaurant. The origin of the conversation was our grievances against the
management of that particular restaurant regarding the quality of the food. The conversation
was somewhat heated as we received reheated food and the quality was inconsumable. Thus
my friend got agitated and asked the waiter either to replace the food with freshly cooked
food or to compensate in any ways. The stance of the waiter was unacceptable in that
situation and he was firmly arguing regarding the quality of the served food. The body
language of the waiter initially was firm and aggressive but eventually he had to accept that
the quality was very poor when the manager himself tasted the food. Throughout the
conversation I noticed the body language and the way of articulating of both the individuals;
my friend and the waiter. Under these circumstances, I observed how the both parties
conversed with each other and tried to identify the theories of conversation that are matched
with that particular conversation. I believe that the theories of verbal communication and
some theories of nonverbal communication actually serve the purpose of this essay.

2COMMUNICATION THEORIES
The model of Verbal communication consists of five major components and those are
communication means, communication network, information and activities regarding
communication (Asante 2013).
Information can be defined as the message that is transformed into a specific code
(various languages) by the sender of the message and gets transferred as a text via a medium
to the individual who is the receiver (Khan et al. 2016).
Means of communication are get represented by the language and medium. The code
or language explains the meaning of the message (Mikki and Antar 2016). In verbal
communication the code has to be natural language familiar to the receiver or the sharer.
Communication network is the bridge between the sharer and the receiver of the
information. As opined by Shockley-Zalabak (2014) It would be easier to consider it as a
medium of the conversation. Medium might be of various sorts, like oral, written or physical
connection between both the parties likes smelling, touching, direct or one on one. In this
case the medium was one on one.
Communicational activities are the production of the information like speaking or
encoding the information, hearing or receiving the information by decoding it.
Throughout the conversation there was presence of some nonverbal elements of
communications and to explain those it would be necessary to go through the features of
Nonverbal communication.
Birdwhistell’s six key assumptions can assist in this context. According to him the
movements of the body have the potential to influence the situation of the conversation. The
behaviour of both the parties can be analysed by the repetitions and patterns of those
behaviours (Asante 2013). Each person’s activities of the body that is visual can potentially

3COMMUNICATION THEORIES
affect the other party. The action of the body has some biological limitations and usage of the
motion of the body while interacting is a chief part of the system of the communication
(Khan et al. 2016). Each person’s usage of bodily activities should be different from others,
and it should be a part of the social system that the individual shares with the world. The
communicative functions of the activity of the bodies can be observed and studied (Mikki and
Antar 2016).
Thus, from the above mentioned features of both verbal and nonverbal
communications, it can surely be said that in the fit of anger and to defend the organization
both the parties of the conversation; my friend and the waiter used a common language to
share messages and there were presence of some behaviours that were clearly influencing the
situation. The aggressive attitude of my friend was intimidating the waiter and in defence he
straight away lied and showed quite firmness in standing by the side of the organization. This
influenced the situation too. Bothe usage of nonverbal and verbal method of communication
was the major factor of the observation.
Thus to conclude, it can be said that the theories of communication allows us to
organize the experiences of communication and to understand them. The usage of these
theories would wider the range of experiences that can help to understand the smaller things
too. I believe that these theories allow people to identify the characteristics of their way of
commuting and to modify if required. Understanding the characteristics of communicating
theories would surely help to commute well. Understanding of these facts can also help us to
control our way of communication or to predict the message before the sharer commutes.
Better understanding of these factors also helps individuals to retaliate and challenge the
cultural and social realities by introducing a new perception. There lies the importance of
these theories of activities and under the light of these theories individuals can with ease
analyse any particular situation and can apply the theories and judge the state of affairs.

4COMMUNICATION THEORIES
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