Definition of Interpersonal Communication
Discuss about the important features and importance of the interpersonal communication.
This report provides an overview the meaning and importance of interpersonal communication. It introduces the main elements involves the process of communication. It also highlights the importance of effective communication skills at the workplace as well as in other situations of life. Further, it is describing persuasion, a term of communication that helps in developing impressive communication skills in an individual (Training, 2012). Since communication skills are related to a wider concept, this report was developed by providing a brief and systematic essence of the important features and importance of the interpersonal communication. Further, a conclusion has been drawn on the basis of the entire report to provide the understanding of and learning outcomes of the study (Kurtz, et al., 2016).
Interpersonal communication is a type of communication in which two persons communicate their ideas, feelings, information, and emotions to each other. Interpersonal communication can be done in non-verbal or verbal form. In this type of communication, along with what is said, the way in which it is said is also included. Body language used and facial expressions of the persons involved are the most important part of interpersonal communication (Walther & Valkenburg, 2017).
In other words, communication between two persons is known as interpersonal communication. It is one of the most important forms of communication. Skills needs in interpersonal communication can be improved by knowledge, practice, and feedback. The situation of this type of communication arises when two persons presented at the same place are familiar with each other’s existence. Interpersonal communication is not based on the intentions and planning. In involves gestures, body language and attention of the persons involving in it. The most essential factor which is required to perform the process of interpersonal communication is the message, and it is required to send to the sender and received by the receiver. Some main elements involved in interpersonal communication includes sender, receiver, message, noise, feedback, context, and channel. All the elements are required to perform the process of an effective interpersonal communication (Roloff, 2015).
Promulgating Laws:
Various laws related to the society will not be effective if a citizen is not able to read, learn, understand and communicate with each other. For example, all societies have some different forms of respective laws, if everything is performed fairly and accessible by the citizens without any difficulty then they can be aware of the laws of the land.
Importance of Interpersonal Communication
Calling for help:
It is said that sometimes sharing a problem with others may result into finding out the solution of that problem. For example, making a call to a doctor or a helpline or simply sharing feelings and emotions with friends gives van lighten up the minds and may result in the decrease in burden. In addition, one can get advice and information about many other things. A person can figure out that either the action was taken by him are right or wrong while he discusses the same with others (Burgers & Beukeboom, 2014).
Disseminating the news:
At present, media uses a kind of interpersonal communication techniques which includes social media outlets, magazines, and radio to provide information about current happenings. After hearing or reading, it is a common tendency to discuss the information and news using types of interpersonal communication. People share their opinions and views with each other and thus an informal communication arises among them (Mei, 2016).
Completion of jobs at the workplace:
Employees can work effectively only if they are aware of their duties and working. To communicate with the employees and make them understand their responsibilities, it is important to have concise and clear communication at the workplace. From work chats and emails to the discussion in coffee area, and from the training of professional to the presentations in board meetings, Interpersonal communication is an ongoing process at the workplace (Ruesch, et al., 2017).
Making friends:
By sharing experiences and stories, and comparing views and opinions on different topics, friends can be made. It is also said that friendships are based on communications and the friends are the first to whom, a person prefers to talk and discuss in every critical situation of life.
Interpersonal communication includes exchanging ideas and views with others using gestures, facial expression, voice tone and body language. The communication act as the lifeblood of the organization because using appropriate communication technique may result in increased efficiency and productivity of teamwork. It simplifies the key functions of business such as training, selling, managing and solving conflicts in the organization. For example: if a manager does not have good communication skills than both, his employees and customers may feel irritated by his miscommunicating skills.
The Head of the training department in an organization is required to have an excellent interpersonal skill in order to provide training to the new employees as well as to provide updates for existing employees. Similarly, conflicts can be solved at initial stages if one has a good understanding of communications skills. Thus the development of major issues can be controlled by using the suitable words and techniques of communication.
Effects of Interpersonal Communication in an Organization
Persuasion:
It is a term of communication which is used to influence the beliefs, intentions, attitudes, behaviors, and attitudes of an individual. In a business, persuasion is a process which aims at changing behavior and attitude of a person or a group towards a particular object, idea, event or other persons. The process can be followed by using visual tools, written or spoken words, facial expressions, and gestures (Stanko & Dawson, 2016). Persuasion is a widely used tool for the purpose of personal gain including campaigning, elections, and sales pitching or in the trials of advocacy. Persuasion can also be applied by using one’s positional and personal resources to change the mindsets, attitudes, and behavior of people. A systematic persuasion is a process by which beliefs and attitudes are fluctuated by appeals to reason and logic. On the other hand, heuristic persuasion is the process by which beliefs and attitudes are leveraged by appeals to emotion and habit (Botan, 2017).
Importance of persuasion:
The most important need of persuasion skills are as follows:
- Persuasion is helpful in convincing people to work and action accordingly.
- It helps in changing their attitudes and beliefs.
- It provides a sense of weaknesses and strengths of the current ideas and beliefs of people.
- By using persuasion skills, a person can get his work done by others in the way he wants. Fr example, if a salesman has good knowledge or persuasion skills and techniques, then he can attract the customer towards his product and can sell his products accordingly. Similarly, a team leader can make his team work according to his requirements by using effective tools of persuasion. Persuasion plays an important role in the business organizations were managers. And team leaders need to motivate their employees in order to make their work completed(Shanahan, et al., 2018).
The Art of Persuasion presents the history of diplomatic and shrewd manipulation. Its main objective is to convince the audience to adopt the result of argument as a part of their beliefs and thinking (Fisher & Gonzalez, 2013). Some practices to learn The Art of Persuasion can be defined as follows:
Providing reasonable proof for one’s point of view:
It is a fact that only feeling passionate about the host of beliefs is not sufficient. There should be a solid reason behind those particular beliefs. In order to make others believe in the same thing, one should be transparent in his view to points.
Connect with others in an emotional way:
Persuasion requires the ability to make others feel considered and honored. This is an essential point that a person must connect on a heart level and in an emotional way to connect another one who wants to work with that person. This is one of the most important qualities of successful and best leaders (Mones, 2014).
Repeat important ideas:
Clear communication id the best way by which results can be obtained in all type of conversation. It may be possible that because of shorter attention duration, the listener may not be able to get the essence of the delivered idea in first time. Thus, repeating the important ideas and points helps to focus listener’s mind about the message.
Persuasion
In order to communicate effectively and undoubtedly, one is required to be precise and clear about the topic he is going to communicate. If he is not, then he would not be able to influence others and get his work done.
Conclusion:
On the basis of above discussion, it can be concluded that effective interpersonal communication is needed in every aspect of human’s life. In order to communicate ideas to another person, making friends, for leading a group in a company, for managing various works in day to day life, one is required to have effective communication skills. The way of communicate to others often simplifies many tough situations of in business organizations. The above discussion also concludes that for the purpose of developing communication skills, there are a number of approaches and techniques that can help a person in this process. Effective Communication is the base of all types of relationships and one can perform better in his personal and professional life by having the essential communication and interpersonal skills.
References
Botan, C. H., 2017. Public Relations Theory. Abingdon-on-Thames: Routledge.
Burgers, C. & Beukeboom, C. J., 2014. Stereotype Transmission and Maintenance Through Interpersonal Communication. Communication Research, 43(3), pp. 414-441.
Fisher, E. J. & Gonzalez, Y. S., 2013. Journal of Management Research. The Art of Influencing and Persuasion: How Managers Can Put ‘Square Pegs’ into ‘Round Holes’, 5(4), pp. 2-19.
Kurtz, S., Draper, J. & Silverman, J., 2016. Teaching and Learning Communication Skills in Medicine. 2nd ed. London: CRC Press.
Mei, Z., 2016. Influence of Physical Exercise on the Mental Health and Interpersonal Relationships of Adolescents. Journal of Nanjing Sport Institute(Social Science), Volume 5, p. 016.
Mones, G. A., 2014. The Art of Persuasion. The Western Australian Jurist, Volume 5, pp. 197-212.
Roloff, M. E., 2015. Theorizing Interpersonal Communication: Progress and Problematic Practices. Communication Theory, 25(4), pp. 420-425.
Ruesch, J., Bateson, G., Pinsker, E. C. & Combs, G., 2017. Communication The Social Matrix of Psychiatry. 1st ed. New York: Routledge.
Shanahan, F., Vogelaar, A. E. & Seele, P., 2018. Persuasion in Organizational Rhetoric Distinguishing between Instrumental and Deliberative Approaches. In: O. Ihlen & R. L. Heath, eds. The Handbook of Organizational Rhetoric and Communication. s.l.:s.n., pp. 329-343.
Stanko, E. A. & Dawson, P., 2016. Police Use of Research Evidence. Devoting Time to Persuasion: Communication and Challenging Business as Usual, pp. 57-57.
Training, M., 2012. Effective Communication Skills. Denmark: Bookboon.
Walther, J. B. & Valkenburg, P. M., 2017. Merging Mass and Interpersonal Communication via Interactive Communication Technology: a Symposium. Human Communication Research, 43(4), pp. 415-423