Essay Sample on Interpersonal Communication

Interpersonal communication refers to the form of interaction that exists among a small group of individuals while characterized by individualized and personal communication unlike the case of the one apparent in bigger groups. Interpersonal communication takes place whenever persons speak to other people as exceptional individuals. The state of the relationship that exists between communicators as well as communications nature shapes interpersonal communication. The relationships nature prevails in the messages component within a relationship (DeVito, 2015). The purpose of this paper is to offer advice to a group of coworkers concerning interpersonal relationship in terms of the ways through which they can communicate in their professional or personal relationships.

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Principles and Barriers to Effective Interpersonal Communications

Various principles and obstacles characterize interpersonal communication. In the case of coworkers, they need to understand the principles and constraints behind interpersonal communication to allow them to communicate in an efficient manner.

Interpersonal Communication Principles

Inevitability: Within an organization, individuals communicate on a constant basis. Communication serves as a process of transaction that exists between a receiver and a sender. Effective communication depends on the accuracy through which a receiver understands the message. In the case of issuers, they broadcast messages on a constant basis through nonverbal and verbal behaviors and communication (Bevan & Sole, 2014). To emerge as proficient communicators, individuals in the workplace should ensure they remain constantly aware of messages they send to others. They should ask themselves of the message they wish to send as well as how other people would interpret it. Once you develop awareness concerning the message you want to send, you would manage to develop efficient and practical skills for communication (Mind Tools, 2016).

Irreversibility: In interpersonal communication, people are incapable of undoing things they speak. Colleagues should make sure they think before speaking to avoid saying things they would later regret. When in anger or the case of relaxed social environments, people might say things, which need avoidance. To serve as efficient and competent communicators, individuals should ensure that their communication remains active while laying emphasis on establishing stable relationships (Wood, 2015).

Complexity: Communication entails the use of different words or symbols among the various people, which people understand differently. Also, various identity variables make the communication process complex, such as who people think they are, and what they think of other people. To emerge as effective communicators, people should consider minimizing ambiguity possibilities while seeking clarification to make sure the interpretation of the messages takes place in an accurate manner (Steele, 2015).

Contextual: All forms of interpersonal communications occur in a contextual model, which comprises of psychological, relational, situational, and cultural contexts. To serve as effective communicators within an organization, colleagues within a workplace should ensure they consider the context since they boost the flexibility and ability for adapting to distinct communication contexts.

Interpersonal Communication Barriers

In most workplaces, they aim at developing strong teamwork for raising productivity as well as fostering enjoyable work environments. Nevertheless, certain barriers affect effective communication, thus hindering collaboration among coworkers. The common barriers that influence interpersonal communication comprise of the following.

Language and Cultural Differences: For multicultural work environments, the differences in language and culture hinder communication. Cultural barriers emerge where employees need to behave in particular ways to realize acceptance. Language barriers appear whenever employees have distinct native languages, terminologies, buzzwords, or jargon, which new workers are not familiar with, leading them to feel excluded (DeVito, 2015).

Gender Issues: Distinct genders might result in communication barriers in various ways. For example, for work environments dominate by males, women encounter challenges when trying to bring out their ideas, or may be ignored or treated in a harsh manner. Different styles of communication might also lead to barriers, mostly because women and men express their ideas differently. Individual people might experience discomfort while working with female supervisors, thereby hindering effective communication (Bevan & Sole, 2014).

Competition: In workplaces characterized by intense competition, employees usually lay emphasis on advancing their careers as opposed to communicating or assisting their co-workers appropriately A distrust atmosphere might emerge, posing challenges for colleagues to work collaboratively mostly due to backstabbing fear. In this sense, workers become reluctant when it comes to sharing vital information with colleagues. The rivalry might also result to power struggles, especially in cases whereby certain individuals or even actions prevalent within a company fail to interact with others in an efficient manner (Steele, 2015).

Role of Communication in Developing and Maintaining Ones Self-Concept, Self-Image, and Self-Esteem

Self-concept, self-image, and self-esteem affect the ways through which coworkers interact. For many people, communication serves as a major feature in their daily lives. Communication becomes smoother when people act as part of it. Peoples attributes, how they see themselves, ways people want others to see them, and how they think of others serve as primary attributes that determine their communication behaviors.

Self-Concept

In self-concept, communication influences individuals in the workplace to start their self-discovery journey by building their skills. People need to identify themselves through the identification of activities that describe them or list the various organizations they belong to as well as the roles they play. The things, in this case, serve as part of the self, which describes who a person is. Self-concept revolves around the perceptions of individuals regarding their beliefs, attitudes, and values they hold. People learn these constructs to allow them to shape their behavior based on the ways in which they respond to objects, people, and ideas in either an unfavorable or a favorable manner (Wood, 2015).

Self-Image

Self-image entails the ways that people connect with others through interactions. One major way that people establish as well as evaluate their self-concept is through receiving the reactions of other people through self-image. During communication process among coworkers, self-image prevails when individuals offer information to other people in a purposeful manner, which they would not understand without telling them. For example, people are not capable of learning from other individuals height, age, or weight unless they get the information from the appropriate people. Personal information disclosure only offers a basis for people to understand others better, although it conveys their level of acceptance and trust of other people. Through the self-image of other people, it is possible to learn about them, thereby boost interpersonal relationships (DeVito, 2015).

Self-Esteem

Self-esteem closely related to peoples self-concept during the communication process. Through the self-concept of individuals within an organization, people usually describe who they are. In the case of self-esteem, people are supposed to evaluate who they are. The evidence of overall self-esteem among individuals matches with the feeling as well as the ways they express positive messages to other persons and offering support to them. People typically feel better about themselves when they behave in a manner that benefits other people. In an organization, individuals usually gather their self-esteem sense by comparing themselves to other people through embarking on social comparison. It assists individuals in measuring the ways they think they are performing when they compare themselves with other people. During the communication process, therefore, self-esteem provides people with opportunities for determining the effectiveness of their interactions by comparing themselves with other people Mind Tools, 2016).

Appropriate Levels of Self-Disclosure and Emotional Intelligence in Various Relationships

Self-Disclosure

Self-disclosure serves as a gradual process that unfolds an individuals inner self. It is not possible for people to disclose their secrets to the people they do not know well, while people are highly unlikely to reveal their innermost layers. Thus, self-disclosure entails refer to a process that revolves around information sharing to allow them to understand you. Self-disclosure becomes more revealing through sharing present events rather than past events. Disclosure might comprise of sharing both low-risk and high-risk information in line with personal ideas, experiences, attitudes, values, feelings, life stories, past facts, dreams, future hopes, goals, and ambitions. When people share information about themselves, they usually make choices concerning the information they want to share (Bevan & Sole, 2014).

To emerge as competent communicators within an organization, individuals should ensure they utilize self-disclosure in a selective manner. They should make sure they make choices concerning information disclosure in a judicious manner while ensuring they are aware of the negative and positive repercussions of engaging in the act (Wood, 2015). They should consider weighing the influence that information disclosure would have on the wellbeing as well as the growth of a relationship within the workplace. Furthermore, they should ensure they learn the ways that their personal information might affect other people, especially based on the trustworthiness and receptivity of other people in responding to the disclosed information (Bevan & Sole, 2014).

Emotional Intelligence

Emotional intelligence refers to the capacity for people to understand as well as act on the emotions of other people as well as personal feelings. Emotional intelligence plays a significant role in supporting high engagement in problem-solving, communication, and skills for building rapport, which is vital in the relational element associated with advising. Lack of emotional intelligence makes the process of advising to be more than the dissemination of authoritative information. Even though it is possible to measure emotional intelligence in diverse ways, the major areas worth giving significant emphasis on comprise of psychological motivation, emotional perception, social skills, empathy, and emotional regulation (DeVito, 2015).

In the workplace, emotional intelligence would play a fundamental role in solving conflicts, build relationships, and support active leadership. Here, individuals within the workplace should exercise emotional intelligence at a higher level to allow them to develop as well as sustain positive relationships with their colleagues. Concerning self-regulation, self-awareness, and positive communication, it is possible for individuals in the workplace to refine as well as strengthen their skills through practice. Similarly, it would be vital for people...