Interpersonal and Intercultural Communication, Negotiation and Communication, Conflict and Communication - Literature review Example

LITERATURE REVIEW Name: Institution Affiliation: Table of Contents ABSTRACT 3 INTRODUCTION AND SUMMARY OF LITERATURE TOPICS 3 INTERPERSONAL COMMUNICATION 4 NEGOTIATION AND COMMUNICATION 5 CONFLICT AND COMMUNICATION 6 INTERCULTURAL COMMUNICATION 7 CONCLUSION 9 REFERENCES 10 ABSTRACT Communication plays a crucial role in the contemporary society. This is the process in which information, ideas, and other messages are exchanged between two or more people. For the communication to be deemed complete the receiver of the message must respond appropriately. Researchers and scholars have conducted in-depth research to expound on various issues concerning communication. The most significant of these primary concepts include interpersonal communication, negotiation, conflict and intercultural communication. As a result, various journals and articles covering these issues have been cited on this paper, the main objective being to expound and clearly outline these concepts. INTRODUCTION AND SUMMARY OF LITERATURE TOPICS The simplest way to describe interpersonal communication is to consider it as the exchange of ideas and feelings in a form of a message between the sender and the receiver. As well, it is the ability of a human being to transform meaningless grunts to spoken and written words with the objective of making ideas, needs, feelings, and want to be comprehended (Wood, 2010) Asserts that “Your personal success and happiness depend largely on your effectiveness as an interpersonal communicator” (Wood, 2010:2). This is a definite suggestion that an individual can be successful in life only if interpersonal interactions and well maintained. On the other hand, negotiation is the process that concerns two or more parties involved in inter-human interaction with the primary objective of finding an amicable solution or achieving a common goal. This is the most applied communication technique in the current business world. For instance, an entrepreneur has to engage in intelligent negotiation so as to find the real value of business. As well, clients must learn effective negotiation skills with the objective of winning bargains on products and services (Beebe & Redmond, 2011). In addition to the above, communication is the process of sending a message to a receiver which receives, understands and responds accordingly. However, not all interacting people are in a position to perceive the message as expected. As a result, a communication conflict arises leading to the misunderstanding or misconception of the message. Intercultural communication is described as the interaction between people of different cultures with the primary objective of ensuring that harmonious and peaceful coexistence prevails in the society. Thus, the literature review will expound on various key concepts, issues and theories concerning interpersonal, negotiation, conflict, and intercultural communication in the contemporary society (Knapp & Vangelisti, 2014). INTERPERSONAL COMMUNICATION As earlier stated interpersonal communication is a complex process but can be simplified by comprehending the roles played by the message sender and receive. Firstly, the sender is responsible for encoding the message destined to the receiver with the use of visual, verbal or vocal elements. On the other hand, the receiver is responsible for encoding, perceiving and interpreting the received message based on personal beliefs, experiences, and needs. Consequently, several reasons can be attributed to the need for interpersonal communication. One of the most significant reasons is that we live in a densely populated world, and we must live, work, and play together. As a result, we are not the only human beings and these calls for a means of communication to share ideas, feelings and experiences. As well, we all need to work as a team to achieve the set common goals and objectives. For instance, in a workplace employees will have to team up and communicate with the primary purpose of achieving the organizational objectives. Borman (2010) asserts that “Interpersonal communication is central to our everyday lives.” This is a definite suggestion that we can never count on other people to care about what happens in our lives on daily basis. However, we share our problems and joys on most occasions with the objective of finding lasting solutions. For instance, friends play a crucial role in encouraging and advising us on the best ways to overcome challenges. In addition to the above, interpersonal communication enables individuals to establish and build a relationship, coordinate efforts with others, and work out problems and opportunities. Finally, interpersonal skills enable employees to work well with others, listen and give appropriate feedback. This is the main reason managers all over the world substantially consider these skills when hiring employees. Employees with these skills are hired since they guarantee increased production in the workplace. NEGOTIATION AND COMMUNICATION Presently, assessing negotiators is one of the biggest challenges to offices, home and everyday life especially in the world of diplomacy and business. One of the most of the most significant way of assessing the success achieved by negotiators is to use time. In the modern companies, the value added to the corporation in one hour by a negotiator is one or two day’s performance of other employees. This is a clear indication that these professionals play a vital role in the success of the business. As well, the mastery of the art of negotiation in the enterprise world enhances partnerships. Thus, it is profound to note that good negotiators manipulate, guide and influence partners to cooperate in enabling the organization to succeed in all of its operations. Notably, the financial sector is the most demanding regarding negotiations. This has compelled successful companies to hire the services of competent and qualified negotiators to represent them (Popescu, 2011). According to Zhu and Sun negotiation is “A process between people who share some common interests, people who stand to benefit from bringing the process to a successful conclusion” (Zhu & Sun, 2014:207). Therefore, it is imperative to note that negotiation is purposely used in resolving conflicts or reaching an amicable conclusion. One the other hand, Graham, and Sano developed a four-step negotiation process that is widely utilized in the contemporary society. According to them, the first stage is non-task sounding. This is the phase whereby the negotiating parties get to know more about each other. The second phase is a task related exchange of information whereby the needs of each party are subject to open discussion. The third phase is persuasion where each party uses various persuasion techniques to ensure that their needs and preferences are favored. The final stage is concession and agreement which marks the conclusion of the negotiation (Dima & Vlăduţescu, 2012). CONFLICT AND COMMUNICATION Harvey states that “communication discourse is fraught with misunderstandings, and many individuals often find the effort unsuccessful and futile” (Aula & Siira, 2010:2). One of the major reasons that lead to conflicts is communication misunderstandings. This occurs when the sender of the message are not regarding the receiver. Typically, this is stimulated by other internal and external factors. Research reveals that approximately forty percent of marriages end in the first fifteen years primarily due to conflicts. As well, there has been the great emphasis on training employees on the need to have conflict resolution skills. Typically, this is attributed to the fact that there are several conflicts in the workplace. For instance, most employees may not get along with the supervisors. On the other hand, employees may not be in a position to work under pressure to achieve the goals of the organization. Thus, managers are encouraged to emphasize on training their employees on the need for equipping their staffs with conflict management skills (Jand, 2015). Furthermore, it is profound to note that two main concepts are interchangeably used in conflicts and communication. One of the most significant of these terms is conflict management. It refers to the behavior that is applied to an individual to overcome a conflicting situation. The second term is conflict resolution which aims at reaching a conclusive solution to a problem that exist between two or more parties. Conflict management focuses on making an individual to learn from the previous mistakes. Therefore, this makes that individual to be competent and cannot hesitate in handling a recurrence of such a conflict. Finally, it is imperative to note that such skills are not innate but are learned through experiences. Thus, people should be encouraged to work through conflicts to gain the needed competence to solve them efficiently in future. INTERCULTURAL COMMUNICATION According to Arthur, “Communicating and establishing relationships with people from different cultures can lead to a whole host of benefits” (Ting-Toomey & Chung, 2012:3). This is a clear indication that there are several advantages of intercultural communication. Some of the most significant benefits include increased global commerce, healthier communities, reduction of conflicts, and enhanced personal growth. Most of the most successful societies have substantially emphasized the need to value their differences rather than similarities. Therefore, healthy communities have eliminated issues such as racism, ethnicity, and gender-based discrimination. Thus, regardless of the intercultural differences people work together to achieve the organizational goals and objectives. As well, interact with people from diverse cultures is associated with numerous economic benefits. For instance, research reveals that the countries that hold the increase of United States of America exports include Brazil, Argentina, and South Africa. These are nations that have totally diverse cultures as compared to the US. Finally, it is precise that intercultural communication is all about sharing ideas and information among individuals of different cultures. However, several differences can be manifested in such communication. One of the most significant of these is misunderstanding in the communicative behavior. The best way of solving such a misunderstanding is to ensure that the patterns of communication of each culture are well comprehended. On the other hand, making a conclusion based on the individual level as well is profound. Although for this to succeed four aspects namely; body movements, sound and writing, vocabulary and grammar must be considered (Neuliep, 2006). Lastly, it is profound to note that intercultural communication is based on some assumptions. One of the most significant assumptions is that it focusses on the face to face communication between human beings. Thus, all participants must be in a position to perceive the message and give appropriate feedback. CONCLUSION In conclusion, it is imperative to note that personal success is substantially dependent on interpersonal communication. Presently, managers are interested with the employee’s interpersonal skills such as communication since it substantially improves the productivity. On the other hand, negotiation skills play a paramount role in the business world. For instance, it enables the organization to source investors leading to improved performance in the firm. However, it is also worth noting that sometimes during communication various conflicts arise. As a result, conflict resolution skills play a vital role in coming up with amicable solutions. Lastly, the world is composed of people from diverse cultures leading to diverse practices, beliefs, and ways of living. In that connection, it is necessary to establish relationships through intercultural communication. All that said, it is definite that each of the concepts plays a crucial role in the contemporary society. REFERENCES Aula, P. and Siira, K., 2010. Organizational Communication and Conflict Management Systems: A Social Complexity Approach. Nordicom Review, 31(1). Knapp, M.L., Vangelisti, A.L. and Caughlin, J.P., 2014. Interpersonal Communication & Human Relationships. Pearson Higher Ed. Beebe, S.A., Beebe, S.J. and Redmond, M.V., 2011. Interpersonal communication. Allyn & Bacon. Popescu, M.M. and Popescu, M.M., 2011. Negotiation Process-Interpersonal Communication. Lucrări Ştiinţifice-Universitatea de Ştiinţe Agricole şi Medicină Veterinară, Seria Zootehnie, 56, pp.338-341. Zhu, Y. and Sun, Z., 2014. Communication barriers to negotiation: encountering Chinese in cross-cultural business meetings. Intercultural Communication and Diplomacy, pp.207-21. Ting-Toomey, S. and Chung, L.C., 2012. Understanding intercultural communication. New York, NY: Oxford University Press. Jand, F.E., 2015. An introduction to intercultural communication: Identities in a global community. Sage Publications. Neuliep, J.W., 2006. The necessity of intercultural communication. Intercultural Communication a Contextual Approach. Sage Publications Inc., Thousand Oaks, California, pp.1-42. Dima, I.C. and Vlăduţescu, Ş., 2012. Persuasive communication in logistic negotiation. International Journal of Economic Research, 3(1), pp.14-21. Wood, J., 2015. Interpersonal communication: Everyday encounters. Nelson Education. Read More