Experiential Analysis on Factors Affecting Interpersonal Communication - Literature review Example

Experiential Analysis on factors affecting Interpersonal Communication Student’s Name Professor Course Date Introduction Interpersonal communication can be referred as the process through which two or more people send and perceive messages amongst each other either verbally or non-verbally. It is through effective interpersonal communication that two or more people can co-exist in the same working environment or the society at large. Research points outs that interpersonal communication is affected by various factors. Therefore, this paper aims at discussing four factors that affect interpersonal communication which are; culture, age, gender and individual factors. Most of the information for this paper will come from observation of a social group within the campus I belong to, which volunteers in social works, such as environmental cleaning and enhancing awareness on HIV/Aids among many other tasks. To explain the observations that will be made, previous literature on the same topic will be reviewed. Some of the organizational policies and practices that will be found to affect interpersonal communication among the group members will also be discussed. Finally, the paper will present some suggestions on how an organization, a group or an individual including I, can contribute towards effective interpersonal communication. Factors that affect Interpersonal Communication a) Culture According to Orbe and Spellers (2005, p. 173), culture can be defined as a specialized lifestyle of a group of people, which constitutes its values, beliefs, practices, and behavior; it is nurtured with time and passed on to the coming generations. It is argued that culture and communication are inseparable. For any culture to be transferred from generation to generation there should be a form of communication. On the other hand, the main feature that characterizes culture is communication. Different cultures have different forms of communications, language, and signs among others. As Orbe and Spellers (2005, p. 178) explain, culture provide its people with ways of seeing, hearing and thinking which all determine how a person interprets both verbal and non-formal communication. This means that same words or signs can mean very different things to two people who do not share the same culture. According to DeVito (2001, p.131), culture can affect communication in the workplace powerfully. I have observed various effects of culture in my social group. Some social topics cannot be openly discussed within the group because to some of the group members, they are taboo topics that they do not feel free to contribute in. Topics, such as sexual relations are very sensitive to some of my colleagues in such a way that they shun away from listening leave alone contributing in. As DeVito (2001) explains, because of cultural diversity in today’s workplace, one has to be careful while communicating non-verbally. Different signs mean different things to different cultures and sometimes may be highly offensive. Daniel, one of my colleagues in the social group is used to saluting someone as a sign of recognizing his or her expertise. One day, he was met by a rude shock after saluting Lucy, another group member. After explaining how a new communication device that had been donated to the group by an NGO works, Lucy was saluted by Daniel to appreciate her for the detailed explanation. Instead of appreciating as Daniel had expected, Lucy became very angry. When later I approached her and asked her why she reacted in such a manner, she said that a salute from a man in her culture is a taboo and highly offensive. According to DeVito (2001, p. 135), every culture has its own behaviour that affects how its people communicate. Some cultures restrict the distance to be maintained between a man and a woman while communicating. Celine one of my co-workers comes from a culture in which a woman is forbidden to stand very close to a man while conversing. Therefore, it is very hard to share any secret with her when other people are in close range unless using a text message. Other cultures are male chauvinist in nature. In my group, I work with a man who is irritated with any orders from a woman. According to his culture, it is a taboo for a woman to order a man around. This has greatly affected his efficiency because most of the times he intentionally ignores orders from our group leader, who happens to be a lady. Through observation, I have also discovered that various cultures have diverse emotional behaviours that affect their way of communicating. Some cultures are very emotional while debating an issue while others are cool. When emotionally hurt, some cultures scream or yell to communicate their pain whereas others bravely hide the pain in their hearts. These are just a few of the ways through which culture can influence interpersonal relationship. Because of cultural diversity, people are very cautious of which words and signs they use in addressing others in my group. We cannot discuss some topics openly, because some of my group mates cannot tolerate them. b) Gender According to Miller (2002, p. 203), some variations exist in ways through which male and females communicate. Biologically, it is argued that male and female brains receive and process information differently. Each gender has its own pattern of communication and mistakenly thinks that the opposite gender has the same pattern of communication. As Miller (2002) points out, this is where miscommunication between the two genders arises. It is argued that men tend to maintain a direct eye contact when talking than they do while listening. This is attributed to their tendency to be associated with power. In addition, research shows that men often ignore the communication of others and often interrupt ongoing conversations when compared to women. In fact, I have observed this phenomenon in my group many times. Daniel likes interrupting ongoing conversations and maintains a direct eye contact with a person, especially when giving orders. He likes being listened to, but has little if any interest in listening to others. This has greatly affected his interpersonal and group communication because many of colleagues avoid him in their conversations. In my group, men and women often tend to group themselves separately when discussing social issues. This is because of the difference in the topics the two groups discuss. Men tend to avoid personal topics and concentrate on topics, such as news, events, and sports facts among others. On the other hand, women concentrate on personal issues. According to Carli (2001, p. 57), men tend to be assertive and direct in their speeches whereas women tend to be tactful and choose courteous words during their conversation. Because of using direct words, men can easily utter words that can easily hurt others. In my group, I have severally observed this. Kenneth one of my colleagues often uses harsh words on people and severally finds himself in conflicts, especially with the female members. As Carli (2001) explains, men hold more legitimate and expert power when compared to women. This is because in past and even today’s society, men hold more legitimate positions than women do. In addition, men are viewed to have more expert power than women do. Because of these two powers, men therefore tend to talk more in social and professional contexts than women do. This is evident in my group. It is clear that my male colleagues contribute more to social and professional conversations than women do. This has made my female colleagues become a bit dormant in contributing their views in any conversation. From my own judgment, this has been contributed by male dominance in conversations. c) Age Research indicates that members of different age groups interact differently with one another. According to Heilman et al. (2001, p. 658), the main factor contributing to these communication differences among generations is technological changes. Every generation emulates and adapts to the forms of communication provided by the available technology at its time. However, technology keeps on evolving meaning that communication changes with it. These changes have led to various communication changes in today’s workplace, which is characterized with both young and old generation. The young generation tends to pay much interest with the evolving technology in terms of communication and easily adapts to the changes. Features of communications, such as vocabulary, and signs among others keep on changing. Therefore, as the young generation take in these communication changes, it becomes difficult for the old generation to understand them. Research argues that what contributes to this problem is resistant to change by the old workers. They stick to what they know and ignore any changes that are taking place in communication. In my group, there are older three older members, one a student taking his PhD in psychology and the other two from the subordinate staff within the campus. One of these members, who is around 56 years, is referred to as old fashioned by my young colleagues because he regularly gets irritated when he overhears them conversing with vocabularies that he cannot understand. The other age factor affecting interpersonal communication is maturity. The level of maturity determines a person’s judgment of messages received from other people within the workplace. It also determines a person’s behaviour and means of communicating various messages. The level of maturity also affects the topics that people discuss. Because of varying level of maturity, the old and the young segregate themselves because they cannot discuss the same issues. This is evident in my social group. Age has greatly affected the level of interaction and communication between the old and the young members. d) Individual/personal Factors According to Orbe and Bruess (2005, p. 43), several personal factors influence interpersonal communication. One of these factors is self-image, which describes the way a person perceives him or herself, especially within a group. Self-image is highly affected by self-esteem. People with high self-esteem have a positive self-image whereas individuals with low self-esteem possess a negative self-image. As the two authors explain, self-image affects greatly the level if communication of a person. According to Rothwell (2004), people with a negative self-image are shy and talk less both in social and professional environments. On the other hand, people with a positive self-image are confident of themselves hence talk more in any context be it formal or informal. It is also argued that people with a negative self-image are over-reactive to some words or statements that might be offensive to them. I have severally observed this with Caroline one of my group mates. She overreacts on many statements and sometime may even brake down into tears. She keeps to herself most of the time and rarely converses with any of my colleagues. The other personal factors that affect interpersonal communication are attitudes, values, and principles. According to Adler, Rosenfeld, and Proctor (2007, p. 156), a person communicates and interprets messages based on his or her values, attitudes, and principles. Principles determine what kind of a conversation a person can participate. Values determine the choice of words and how a person uses them in passing information to other people. People have different values, attitudes, and principles, and this affects their interpersonal and group communication. I have witnessed these effects in my group. Mary, one of my colleagues is very cautious not to use vulgar language when communicating and is highly offended when anyone uses vulgar words, especially when conversing with her or in her group. Organizational Policies and Practices that affect these Factors and Influences their Impact on Interpersonal Communication a) Organizational/group Culture According to Berger (1979, p. 125), communication within any organisation or group is highly affected by the organisation’s or group’s culture. An organisational culture is comprised of set standards of behaviours, practices, beliefs, norms and values that govern people within the organisation. The main aim of an organisation or a group having a culture is to ensure that their diverse employees or members put down their cultural differences and adapt to one culture for peaceful and productive co-existence. In my group, I have observed that its culture has influenced people’s way of behaviour, which in turn affects the way they communicate with others. New members have difficulties in having effective communication within the group, but after adapting to the group’s culture, they become more social and interact more with other colleagues. Having adopted the same culture, members within the group can keep off from their original cultures and hence communication becomes easier within the organisation. However, according to Berger (1979), it is hard for an organisation or group culture to replace all the values, beliefs, practices, and norms of the original culture of a person. b) Organization’s/group’s Leadership Policies Another organisational factor that affects interpersonal communication is leadership policies. According to Trenholm and Jensen (2004, p. 89), when women are given leadership roles, their legitimate power is boosted. Research shows that women have been brought up in societies where they are discouraged from holding legitimate positions because it is considered unfeminine. Because of low legitimate powers, women tend to talk less in social and professional contexts when compared with men. However, a woman holding a powerful position in the society, organisation or any kind of group tends to talk more. I have observed this in my organisation. My female colleagues given leadership roles are more confident and tend to stand up to challenging debates even against men. Conclusion and Recommendations Effective interpersonal communication is very essential for any productive co-existence among people in either formal or informal environments. As clearly explained, factors, such as age, culture, gender, and individual factors affect interpersonal communication. Organizational culture and leadership policies are two organizational factors found to influence the impact of these factors on interpersonal communication in an organisation or any king of group. Therefore, it is important that individuals including organisations and myself do their best in enhancing effective interpersonal communication. According to Trenholm and Jensen (2004), for any effective interpersonal communication to take place, people should learn to be effective listeners. Personally, I have realised that I am a poor listener, and this greatly affects the way I respond to various messages, which ends up affecting my interpersonal communication with my colleagues and even with other friends away from my workplace. Through effective listening, a person is able to understand the message and hence correctly respond to it. Through listening also, the communicating person feels appreciated and this positively affects interpersonal communication. People should learn to shun away any preconceived negative ideas about other people’s culture, especially in workplaces. This will help reduce conflicts arising when discussing topics that touch on cultural aspects hence improve interpersonal communication. It is important that old people should learn to change with time to be updated on any communicational changes taking place. Through this way, they will easily adapt to new ways of communication and hence improve their interpersonal communication with the young generation. Organisations or groups should structure their cultures in such a way that they promote interpersonal communication. This is possible by teaching and training the employees or group members on effective communication skills and ways through which barriers to effective communication can be overcome. It is important that an organisation or a group try to promote high level of interaction between the young and the old generation within their workplace to ensure their old-aged employees or group members are updated on new ways of communication, especially use of new communication technologies. In addition, organizations and other social groups should form policies that allocate leadership roles to women to boost their level of communication by boosting their legitimate powers. Reference List Adler, R, Rosenfeld, B & Proctor, I 2007, Interplay: the process of interpersonal communication, Oxford University Press, New York Berger, C1979, Beyond initial interactions: uncertainty, understanding, and the development of interpersonal relationships. In H. Giles & R. St. Clair (Eds.), Language and social psychology (pp.122-144), Blackwell, England Carli, L 2010, Assertiveness in J Worell, (ed), Encyclopedia of women and gender: sex similarities and differences and the impact of society on gender, Academic Press, SAN Diego DeVito, J 2001, The interpersonal communication book (9th ed.), Addison Wesley Longman, New York Heilman, M 2001, Description and prescription: how gender stereotypes prevent women’s ascent up the organizational ladder, Journal of Social Issues, vol. 57, pp. 657-674. Miller, K 2002, Communication theories: perspectives, processes, and contexts, McGraw-Hill, New York Orbe, P & Bruess, J 2005, Contemporary issues in interpersonal communication, Roxbury Publishing Company, Los Angeles Orbe, M & Spellers, R 2005, From the margins to the center: utilizing co-cultural theory in diverse contexts. In W. B. Gudykunst (Ed.), Theorizing about intercultural communication (pp.173-192). Sage, Thousand Oaks, CA Rothwell, D 2004, In the company of others: an introduction to communication, McGraw-Hill, New York Trenholm, S & Jensen, A 2004, Interpersonal communication, Oxford University Press, New York Read More