Letter of Advice - Important Aspects of Interpersonal Communication - Research Paper Example

Communication: An Important Aspect of Interpersonal Relationships C-124 Regent Plaza Alaska. October 27, 2011 Dear George and Jenny,  Owing to the recent news about your relationship, I would like to guide you on the importance and understanding of communication to develop your relationship in a healthier manner. Communication at work and in personal relationships is an important aspect of running the business smoothly or building stronger relationships. Every relationship either the professional business relationship or the personal involve the aspect of communication in their day to day routine. This communication is either between the employees or employers or between the family members and friends. The communication which takes place in life is of different types. Verbal or non verbal communications are two forms which are widely used in the personal relationships and daily life. In verbal communication the person uses the help of his voice to send over messages to the other person whereas non verbal communication is a form in which voice is not used. Non verbal communication includes memos, emails, and other social software as well as eye movement, postures, facial expression, gestures and so on. To develop a perfect sort of communication it is necessary that some elements are kept into view. This brief would further take all these elements into view and provide with the related needs of communication at work and in personal interactions (Taylor 2001). To develop an effective interpersonal communication network it is necessary for the individuals to keep several factors in mind while communicating. In personal relationships, the communication network needs not be formal like letters or memos, yet needs to be perfect in transmitting the messages and views. For instance, if one partner wants to go out, he/she needs to communicate this desire rather than relying on the idea that the other partner will himself/herself identify and fulfill it. To achieve this it is necessary for the person who is communicating to reach clarity. By clarity here it is meant that the person who is communicating should be very clear in stating his thesis of the message. The words chosen by the communicator should be very precise which are clear enough for the other individual’s intellect. Thus it is necessary that the communicator does not drag his message up to critical levels where the other listener gets confused by the message. This confusion can therefore lead to several other problems in the relationships (Kelly 1979 & Taylor 2001). Dear George and Jenny, my advice to you for a successful relationship is to maintain a level of understanding and frankness which allows you to speak out ‘clearly’ your innermost feelings and communicate your expectation without hesitation. The expectations from the other partner to understand the unspoken or ambiguously communicated wishes may end up weakening the relationship. The communicator should make it a point that he is direct when communicating. The communicator should not involve irrelevant messages while he communicates as these irrelevant messages can lead to errors in understanding the basic idea or expectation of the other partner.. The misconception about reaching the point in communication is that the communicator usually thinks that adding up other points may give him an advantage but this rather creates an absurd image in which one can miss out the main points of the original message. So it can be concluded that in communication it is necessary that the main point is laid out firstly so that it is not missed out later on (Michael 1988 & Kelly 1979). It is also necessary for the communicator to make up his speech in such a way that it does not sound cold or harsh. This is because the message would put down the listeners or the person to whom the message is referred to. And this would create other errors at the workplace as well as in the personal relationships. Thus it is necessary for the communicator to bring warmth to his speech so that the person who is being referred to does obey the instructions carefully and understand them (Michael 1988 & Kelly 1979). Dear George and Jenny, my advice to you for a successful relationship is to bring that warmth in your communications which bring personal interest and affection to follow each other’s advices. This warmth of voice of affection in words will act as an emotional motivation for the other spouse to do as he/she was advised to do so. Another thing which is important in the mean of communication is that the person who is communicating does note carefully if the listener or the person who is being referred to understands the theme of the message. This can be achieved by a two way process. By two way process here it is meant that the communicator should ask for replies from the person who is being referred to with the message. This would help to assure the communicator that his message is being interpreted properly by the listener. Similarly if this is not done the message would be misinterpreted and other problems may arise because of this miscommunication (Michael 1988 & Kelly 1979). In personal relationship, it should be noted that some expressions like nodding, smiling and movement of eyes etc. help as a tool of answering and creating the two way process of communication. Similarly verbal messages like OK, I understand, true, indeed etc. also support the two way process of communication. Positivism is one important aspect in the communication process. By positivism here it is meant that both the negative and positive aspects of the message should be kept in balance so that the person to whom the message is being referred to does not get a wrong concept. If this happens and the negative aspect is given more weigh the person who is being referred to may take it wrong and get discouraged by the other person’s response or assertions (Michael 1988 & Kelly 1979). Communication process has several barriers when dealing with the spouses. The barriers which may come during this communication should be overcome for effective interpersonal interactions. As mentioned above clarity is a necessary factor for communication and thus muddled messages can be a great barrier for the interpersonal interactions. These muddled messages would lead the person to get the message wrong and would lead him to carry out the wrong actions or result in devastating effects on the personal relationships. To avoid such a barrier it is necessary for the communicator to carry out a two way communication. In such a communication the feedback would play a role in confirming that the person has understood the message properly (Michael 1988, Taylor 2001 & Kelly 1979). Dear George and Jenny, my advice to you for a successful relationship is to keep this point in view when dealing with each other. A misconception of misunderstanding may be troublesome for the health of the relationship that you are having. Prejudging/stereotyping is another factor which acts as a barrier in the communication networks. Prejudging/stereotyping can lead to misunderstandings between people. Usually people tend to stereotype certain factors which are known to all. For e.g. if an action is expected by the company due to recession and everyone knows about it, the person who is about to receive the message would stereotype the message and would carry out the action without properly reading the message. This can lead to problems in the workplaces as at times expected actions may not take place due to factors known to the employers only. Similar situations may occur in personal relationships due to Prejudging/stereotyping. Wrong channel in communication networks can lead to several problems too. This is an important barrier for communication in personal relationships. At times the distance becomes so large, that to give the message to a person a huge hierarchy is used. This hierarchy may include friends, other family members and other middlemen. This way can be an important barrier in which the proper message may not be passed to the person who is being referred to by the message. Similarly the means used for communication would be a barrier too. The means of communication used these days are memos and emails for people at distant places. Emails and memos are non verbal ways of communication. The body language, expressions and emotions of a person cannot be perfectly expressed through these emails and memos. And it is not necessary that the other individual can interpret the messages written in these emails and memos properly. Thus the emails and sms should be properly written and should be asked for a feedback from the receiver of the message. The usage of language can be a barrier too in communication. The words being used should be properly sought and thought out so that they do not create a different image in the mind of the receiver of the message. It is necessary for the person to see that the receiver does correctly interpret the words he is using. Words here can be referred to the use of appropriate vocabulary and timings of the communication. So it should be noted by the communicator that the receiver of the message does correctly understand the terminologies used (Michael 1988, Taylor 2001 & Kelly 1979). My advice for you as a couple is to take care of these barriers so they may not interrupt the communication patterns. These barriers may end up losing the actual context and meaning of the communication leading to several interpersonal conflicts and disagreements. Communication forms an important phenomena in this world through which people can contact with each other. This can be either in the form of gestures, signs and language. Language is asserted to be the most important tool of communication in this world. Through it one can communicate his feelings and perspectives on different subjects. In the recent years this mode of communication is considered to be very important as it is widely used. Furthermore this has lead to different researches being conducted by different linguists on the origin of the languages. Words are used in languages to communicate usually. Social interactions mark an important aspect of the lives spent by the hunters. The hunter-gatherer life requires interaction and human cooperation to work. Survival in this world requires the human beings to interact and cooperate with each other. Furthermore Isaac in 1983 asserted that even two million years back the Homo Habilis depended upon a life style which had social interactions in it. These social interactions can directly lead to the origination of the languages. Mike Beaken calls labor as the major factor which led to the composition of language. As quoted by Brinck and Gardenfors (2003, p. 492) “that a major reason for the evolution of language is that it enhances co-operation. Language is the tool by which agents can make their imaginations, desires, and evaluations known to each other.” This clearly illustrates that the language originated only to create harmony and cooperation amongst different individuals of this world. When individuals work together for mutual or personal interests with cooperation they have to interact with each other through the use of language. Dessales in the quote states that “relevance is a requirement of language” from which it follows that language conveys “valuable information and thus… any relevant utterance is potentially altruistic.” “Sharing information, like sharing food, is altruistic.” Thus it can be concluded that words are really important in affecting attitude, behaviors and perceptions (Hurford et al 1998 ). Even in personal relationships language forms the basis of the relationship as it brings people closer by establishing understanding between them. In the early ages cooperative human activities led to the usage of gestures and these gestures further led to the formation of languages. Firstly the languages used were not diversified as the cooperative human activities were also not diversified. Gestures are important in conveying someone’s emotions perceptions and other feelings. Emotions perceptions and other expressions help in developing the interpersonal relationships of the individuals at work. Even when communicating at work it is necessary for the individuals to keep in mind that the non verbal expressions that are being used are positive. These expressions may help to develop a clearer image of the original message which is being communicated. Interpersonal relationships are all dependent on the factors of perceptions emotions and these expressions. If the emotions and perceptions about each other in couples are not positive then the interpersonal relationships may not develop to be warm. And this may lead to quarrels and negative feelings. Similarly when communicating it is necessary that these three factors are properly sought out so that interpersonal relationships are developed in a positive way (Taylor 2001). Emotional intelligence is the ability of someone to understand his own emotional state or the state of the other individuals. It helps to realize one what he himself wants in his surroundings and what others want. Emotional intelligence is an important aspect in determining interpersonal relationships in the home environment. It can be counted as a communicating factor too in the personal relations. In communication it is necessary for one to assess what the other individual is going through (Lenaghan, Buda & Eisner 2007). And among couples this is quite necessary so as to develop an important interpersonal relationship. Emotional intelligence provides the individuals with the capability to realize what the emotional state of the other person is. This would help the couple in corresponding with each other during any phase of life. The spouses would not laden work on each other if they see distortion in their emotional state. Moreover this emotional intelligence helps them to know if the other spouse is listening to the conversation and paying heed to the important chores or things that need to be done. It would also help the spouses to assess the personality of each other and act in the way in which the other ones expects him/her to react. And to have an effective interpersonal relationship, it is necessary that emotional intelligence skills are well developed in the individual (Goleman 1995 & Lenaghan, Buda & Eisner 2007). Gender and culture have an important role to play in interpersonal relationships. Both these factors are importantly involved in developing the interpersonal communications between people. Although nowadays several laws have been imposed so as to stop discrimination and gender bias in different areas of life, but even now such problems can be seen to be affecting the environment. Males are seen to be more dominant in the home environemnt even now and thus they tend to have an ordering behavior. Women on the other hand are still left behind when it comes to interpersonal communications and relationships. This is because of the minority of women involve in the working class and they tend to carry out domestic work. Women and men don’t seem to have the type of interpersonal communications with each other than the same type of gender has with each other. Similarly culture plays an important role in developing communication between couples. People from an eastern culture may not have the same interpersonal communications in the west as people of the west may have. This is because of the difference in the cultures between these two sides. Moreover at times because of the culture difference a language difference is also seen amongst the individuals. And this again creates a huge gap when developing interpersonal relationships (Schnurr 2009 & Barrett & Davidson 2006). Dear George and Jenny, my advice to you for a successful relationship is to maintain a level of harmony in the relationship by rejecting any discriminatory factors involved in the decisions made which affect both of you. I offer you a balanced relationship where communication forms the basis of every decision and the effects of decisions are communicated with each other before stepping ahead with them. In conclusion, we can say that communication forms an important part of our professional and personal lives. The aspects of communication that are being discussed should be kept in view in order to maintain healthier interpersonal relationships. Conflicts may be resolved by proper communication patterns. For the spouses, it is necessary to understand the importance of communication and the barriers that may lead to miscommunications and misunderstanding. My advice for you, as a couple, is to research more about communication, its importance and development in the personal relationships. Best Regard, Lorin. References Top of Form Taylor, J. (2001). Communication at work. Creating success. London: Kogan Page. Top of Form Satterwhite, M. L., & Olson-Sutton, J. (2000). Business communication at work. New York: Glencoe McGraw-Hill. Bottom of Form Top of Form Kelly, E. W. (1979). Effective interpersonal communication: A manual for skill development. Washington, D.C.: University Press of America. Bottom of Form Top of Form Michael, N. (1988). How to say what you mean: A guide to effective communication for people at work. Auckland [N.Z.]: Reed Methuen. Bottom of Form Top of Form Goleman, D. (1995). Emotional intelligence. New York: Bantam Books. Bottom of Form Top of Form Lenaghan, J. A., Buda, R., & Eisner, A. B. (2007). An Examination of the Role of Emotional Intelligence in Work and Family Conflict. Journal of Managerial Issues : JMI. 19 (1), 76-94. Bottom of Form Top of Form Schnurr, S. (2009). Leadership discourse at work: Interactions of humour, gender and workplace culture. Basingstoke [England]: Palgrave Macmillan. Bottom of Form Top of Form Barrett, M., & Davidson, M. (2006). Gender and communication at work. Aldershot, Hants, England: Ashgate Pub. BRINCK, I., & GARDENFORS, P. (2003). Co-operation and Communication in Apes and Humans. MIND AND LANGUAGE. 18, 484-501. HURFORD, J. R., STUDDERT-KENNEDY, M., & KNIGHT, C. (1998). Approaches to the evolution of language: social and cognitive bases. Cambridge, UK, Cambridge University Press. Bottom of Form Bottom of Form Read More