The Communication Cycle: 6 Stages of Michael Argyle's Theory

Michael Argyle Communication Cycle

Michael Argyle developed the theory of the communication cycle, in this theory there a six stages which are to happen.

The Сommunication Cycle 6 Stages

The six stages are:

• the idea occurs
• message coded
• message sent
• message received
• message decoded
• message understood

The Сommunication Cycle Theory

This theory does not apply when you are in a group conversation and is only used when you are in a one to one conversation which is between you and one other person.

The idea occurs is the first stage of this cycle, this is where you think of an idea to speak to the person about a certain subject and have thought about a subject you want to talk to them about. The second stage of this cycle is message coded, this is when you have thought about your idea and you are now deciding on how you are going to say your idea to the person in a manner which is appropriate to the type of conversation you will be having with them.

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The message sent is the third stage of this cycle, this is where you have spoken/ said your message to the other person, you will have said your message in the way that you think is appropriate for the conversation you are having and matches what you are saying.

The fourth stage of this cycle is the message received, this is where the other person has listened to what you have said to them and received your message towards them.

The message decoded is the fifth stage of the cycle, this is where the person who has received your message is now decoding what you have said and will now be processing the way you said it towards them with the tone in your voice and will have been looking at your body language and expressions to see whether the message they have just received is bad or good. The sixth and final stage of the cycle is the message understood, this is where the person has now understood your message and has fully translated and processed the way you have said it and the way you wanted it to come across. The other person will now be having an idea occur that they want to communicate back to you, this now means that the whole six stages will be gone through again but this time starting with the other person meaning the cycle will be continuously repeated until a final solution and understanding has been met by both people and no more ideas or questions have occurred for the conversation to continue.

In a hospital this commutation cycle is used when you are with a patient on your own, this means you will develop good communication skills for when you are with other patients and other people in your life. Michael Argyle’s communication cycle has benefits in a hospital because it means your conversation will be straight to the main point of you being there and can be easier for the patient you are with because it means they can also can ask you any question or queries they have about what they are being told and they may also feel a lot more comfortable in one to one basis with the conversation going to straight to the point as it means they know they are not being swayed around the problem they have and know that what are saying will be strictly confidential and that you are not going to tell other people so they are going to feel comfortable if you need to have a conversation like this again with them.

However this cycle can have its downside in a hospital as the person you need to have this communication may not be able to communicate back with you due to a disability they have or if it has something to do with the reason they are in care, this can be difficult because it means they cannot answer your questions you need to ask them or they cannot think for themselves so you can’t fully get the information you need of them or know how they are feeling. This cycle also has a downside because it may also depend on the person’s attitude and emotions, so if a person was feeling upset and like they didn’t want to talk it will be hard to get a conversation with them and can make the cycle harder because they may also decode the message wrong which you have sent to them due to them being upset they could have misheard you. This communication cycle is however easy to use with a person even though the message may sometimes be misheard and hard to interpret.

You do need to make sure that the message you have send to the other person is received clearly in the way you wanted it to be so the other person does not get angry or upset but as a professional in a hospital you have been trained to act professionally in that situation, and you will have to calm them down and help them feel better so they are relaxed again before you continue the conversation with them, in this cycle you must make sure that you have the other person’s fully divided attention for this to work, so you will have to make sure they are pre occupied with something else before you start the conversation with them. Finally you have to be careful in this cycle because the other person may lie to you to pretend that they are making progress in the situation they are in which will then mislead you into thinking they are doing well and will stop asking to see them or will discharge them from the hospital when in fact the person needs to be there because they have made no improvements but due to lying they have mislead you which can then cause problems to their own health if they continue to do this to you.

Works Cited

• "Answers." Answers, Answers Corporation, .
• "Communication." Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, .
• Stones, Catherine, and Frances Cole. "Breaking the Cycle: Extending the Persistent Pain Cycle Diagram Using an Affective Pictorial Metaphor." Health Communication, vol. 29, no. 1, 2013, pp. 32–40. doi:10.1080/10410236.2012.715537.