Interpersonal Communication
Introduction
Communication is a process through which people share ideas and information. Most people think of communication to be oral. Communication can be verbal or non verbal. Non verbal communication involves touch and push or any other method. Communication has become a major issue in the society and work place. This is because most people do not have good communication skills and this affects communication between them. Lack of clear communication has led to conflicts in the work place and poor interpersonal relationship. This is because workers or employees are not able to relate well. This paper analyzes interpersonal relationships as part of communication. It analyzes barriers to interpersonal relationships like language, cultural and perception. It also analyzes how perception, emotions and non verbal communication affect interpersonal relationships. Lastly, the paper identifies strategies to maintain interpersonal conflicts.
Discussion
An interpersonal relationship is defined as a relation between two people or more. The relation between the two people can be based on love or employment. Interpersonal relationships are common in many places. They can occur in the work place. Interpersonal relationship in the work place occurs between the employees or employees and managers. Also, interpersonal relationships can occur in the families. Family members have an interpersonal relationship. This is mainlybetween parents and children or children and other family members. In addition, interpersonal relationship exists between friends. For example, a boy and a girl can have an interpersonal relationship that is based on love. Interpersonal relationships are also found in the church and in the society. Most of the interpersonal relationships are not health. Some of the interpersonal relationships are abusive. This is because the parties involved in an interpersonal relationship abuse each other either mentally, emotionally or physically (Firestone, Firestone &Catlett, 2009).
Interpersonal relationships are codependency. Codependency refers to behaviors and thoughts that are extend the normal sacrifice and care taking. The behaviors, thoughts and feelings affect ones relationship negatively. They also affects the quality of life. Parties who show codependence relationships put the needs of other parties at a lower level than their needs. The parties concentrate on the needs of other parties who seem important to them. Codependency can occur in the families, work and friendships. The relationship is characterized by various factors. That is denial and low self esteem. Codependency relationship in the family occurs when parents rear children in a destructive manner. Parents are supposed to sacrifice and give the needs of their children priority. Some sacrifices reach unhealthy levels (Firestone, Firestone &Catlett, 2009).
People in a relationship are likely to depend on each other. People in a relationship influence each other as they share thoughts and feelings. Also, they tend to carry out similar activities. The interdependency between the parties involved in a relationship affects their relationship negatively or positively (Firestone, Firestone &Catlett, 2009).
There are various barriers to interpersonal communication. That is language, culture and individual barriers. Other barriers include perception and attitudinal barriers. The barriers have affected interpersonal communication negatively. First, language affects interpersonal communication in different ways. People have different languages, vocabulary and accents. Also, they have different dialects. The difference in language makes it difficulty for parties in an interpersonal relationship to communicate. For instance, most employees in an organization will find it difficultly to communicate with each other. This is because the employees in the organization are diverse and they have different languages. This will result to poor communication and hence poor interpersonal relationships. The employees will always have regularly conflicts as they are unable to communicate clearly. Also, employees having different languages have different vocabulary and accent that are associated with the languages. Most employees find it difficulty to use the vocabulary and accent in their communication. This affects communication between the employees and the interpersonal relationship. In addition, semantic gaps affect interpersonal relationships. This is because multiple words can have different meanings and the parties involved in an interpersonal relationship interpret the words wrongly. This leads to poor communication as the message being conveyed is distorted. Language barriers are also common in the society and families and they affect interpersonal relationships (Firestone, Firestone &Catlett, 2009).
Another barrier to interpersonal relationships is culture. There are various kinds of cultural barriers. That is age, gender, social, status and cultural backgrounds. Other barriers include ethics, religion etc. The composition in the workplace, the society and families is changing. This is because the society encourages diversity. The employees in the organization are from different cultural backgrounds. This makes it difficulty for the employees to communicate clearly and this affects interpersonal relationship. Difference in cultural backgrounds has led to conflicts in the society, workplace and in the families. This has influenced communication between the parties and also interpersonal relationship. Gender has also affected interpersonal relationships. People in the society think different about communication between men and women. Some societies do not encourage clear communication between men and women. This affects the relationship between men and women. Culture determines how people in the society behave. This affects communication in the society as different cultures have different behaviors. Varying cultures ate seen as a barrier to effective communication in the society and work place (Firestone, Firestone &Catlett, 2009).
Apart from cultural barriers and language barriers, individual barriers also affect interpersonal relationships. People have different perceptions and personality. This leads to discomfort among the parties and results to poor interpersonal relationships. People think differently about the world and things. So, they have different understanding and thinking capacity. This affects interpersonal relationships as they are not able to communicate well .Also, the message being communicated can be distorted or interpreted wrongly. Hence, this results to poor communication (Firestone, Firestone &Catlett, 2009).
Moreover, interpersonal barriers affect interpersonal relationship and communication. For example, lack of trust between the parties affects interpersonal relationship. Some employees might not trust other employees in the organization or managers. This makes it hard for the employees to communicate with one another. This in turn results to conflicts and affects their relationships. Also, lack of knowledge in non verbal communication can also affect the relationship. Most people are not able to read the message being conveyed using facial expressions, body language and gestures. This influences communication as they distort the message being conveyed (Nicotera, 1993).
Attitudinal barriers influence interpersonal relationships. Attitudinal barriers result from problems created by the staff in the organization. Deficiencies in physical ability and mental ability and intelligence affect interpersonal relationship and communication. Also, limitations in understanding and the notion of the employees might affect communication. The limitations lead to poor attitudes among the employees and this affects communication among the employees. This leads to poor communication as the employees are not able to communicate with each other (Nicotera, 1993).
Lastly, channel barrier can lead to poor communication and also impact interpersonal relationship. For instance, the length of the communication can affect the relationship between the parties. Long communications can make one bored. Also, poor medium of communication lead to poor communication and relationships. The medium results to conflicts between the send of the message and receiver. Access problems may affect the channel and accuracy and clarity of the message. Thus, this leads to poor communication and relationship (Nicotera, 1993).
Perceptions, emotions and non verbal communication affect interpersonal relationships in different ways. Non verbal communication has great influence on the social environment. It helps people convey message using non verbal means. Non verbal communication can enhance or distract interpersonal relationships. First, non verbal communication affects the introduction of interpersonal relationships. Problems can occur during non verbal communication if people communicating are not aware on the messages being send and received. The sender can send a wrong message when communicating and this may hinder establishment of an interpersonal relationship. Also, the receiver might interpret the message being sent wrongly and these stops the parties from being establish an interpersonal relationship. This mostly happens when the receiver is not conversant with various means of non verbal communication. The receiver might not know how to read facial expressions or body language. This affects the relationship negatively clear communication helps establish the relationships. This happens if the receiver interprets the non verbal communications well (Nicotera, 1993).
Human beings are not able to communicate well because of external and internal factors. Human beings do not display pure emotions and this affects communication and interpersonal relationship. They display a combination of various emotions. The neurophysiologic components in the body allow human beings to display opposing emotions. They also allow people to show overlapping emotions. People show overlapping and opposing emotions at the same time. For example, anger is always combined with anxiety and fear. When emotions overlap, they make it difficulty for the receiver to interpret the message being conveyed. This interferes with establishment of interpersonal relationships and maintaining them. People communicate emotions by displaying various behaviors. The behavioral cues shown by the person enable the receiver to know the psychological state of the sender. Behavioral cues are important as they help the receivers decode the emotions. This makes it easy for the receiver and sender to maintain an interpersonal relationship (Dwyer, 2000).
Further, facial expressions affect interpersonal relationship. People use facial communication to convey message. The facial expression may make it difficulty for the receiver to decode the message being conveyed. Effective facial display enhances interpersonal communication as the sender and receiver understand each other (Dwyer, 2000).
Perception also affects interpersonal relationships. People have different perception about other members in the society. For instance, some cultures view other cultures as inferior. This makes it hard to enhance interpersonal relationship. Poor perception causes disturbance and this leads to poor interpersonal relationships. Facial expressions, emotions and perceptions act as barriers to interpersonal relationship (Dwyer, 2000).
Interpersonal conflicts are common in the work place, families and society. The interpersonal conflicts result from poor interpersonal relationships. Barriers to interpersonal relationships have affected interpersonal relationships. They have led to poor relations among the members. There are various strategies that can be used to prevent interpersonal conflicts. First, the parties should improve their communication skills. Communication is important in interpersonal relationships. It helps build and sustain interpersonal relationships. Lack of clear communication has led to poor interpersonal relationship. This is because the members do not have good communication skills (Dwyer, 2000).
Also, the member needs to resolve interpersonal conflicts immediately. People do not see the need to resolve interpersonal conflicts. This affects the relationship between the members. In order to avoid more conflicts, the members should solve the conflicts immediately so as to enhance their relationship. When solving interpersonal conflicts, the members should identify the cause of the conflicts. They should discuss the issue with other members who are involved in the conflict. Then after discussing the issue they should look for the best method to resolve the conflict. The method should benefit everyone. This will prevent causing more chaos. When solving the conflict, the members should encourage face to face communication. They should talk with the members involved in the conflict face to face (Dwyer, 2000).
Additionally, the employees, family menders and other people in the society should work hard to minimize conflicts. They should take actions to prevent the conflict before it happens. This will prevent the members from having interpersonal conflicts. The members can develop good interpersonal relationships with other workers and members in the society. They should know other people well. Also, they should learn how to appreciate different people. Learning how to appreciated and accommodate different cultures is important as it helps prevent interpersonal conflicts. The society should avoid biasness (Dwyer, 2000).
Conclusion
Communication involves the transfer of message between two people. Interpersonal relationship is an association between two parties or more. Interpersonal relationships are common in the organization, families and churches. The relationship can be beneficial or not. Most of the relationships are not beneficial as they are abusive and affect the quality of life. There are various barriers to interpersonal relationship. The barriers have made interpersonal relationships ineffective. Examples of the barriers are language barriers, cultural barriers and attitudinal barriers. The parties in an interpersonal relationship may have different languages. This affects communication between the two members. Also, the members can be from different cultures. Cultural factors like age, gender and cultural background have affected interpersonal relationship. People from different cultures have found it difficulty to associate with each other. This has ruined interpersonal relationships. People have different perceptions towards other cultures and the world.
The difference in perception has led to poor interpersonal relationships. This is because people have different understanding and behaviors. Apart from interpersonal barriers, emotions, perception and non verbal communication have also affected interpersonal relationships. For example, non verbal communication has made it difficulty for the receiver to understand the message being conveyed. This has led to poor relation. Also, non verbal communication has affected interpersonal relations positively. It has made it easy for people to build and maintain relations. People convey different emotions at one. This has made it difficulty for the receiver to get the right message. For example, senders have displayed mixed feelings. They have displayed anger, anxiety and happiness. Interpersonal conflicts have also led to poor interpersonal relationships. There are various ways to manage interpersonal conflicts. First, members should, improve their communication skills so as to ensure clear communication. They should resolve the conflicts immediately.
Reference
Dwyer, D. (2000).Interpersonal relationships.Routledge
Firestone, R.W., Firestone, R,W., &Catlett,J.(2009).The Ethics of
Interpersonal Relationships. Karnac Books
Nicotera, A.M. (1993).Interpersonal communication in friend and mate
relationships. SUNY Press
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