Overcoming Barriers in Interpersonal Communication

Overcoming Barriers in Interpersonal Communication

COM 200: Interpersonal Communication

Interpersonal Communication skills are essential assets for excellent communication. When the party is sending a message with a clear understanding of the intentions, the receiver has succeeded in implementing a value path of dialogue. Bevan and Sole (2014) lists two critical principles for effective communication as “taking responsibility and respecting yourself and others.” When these principles are neglected, barriers, such as irresponsibility and disrespect, can arise that will limit effective response and allow negative retaliation. Taking responsibility in Interpersonal communication is a process where it is vital to require a plan of knowing what is needed and what is essential. Having a purpose and utilizing the time it takes to achieve that mission, guides the decision-making process and can allow prioritizing a critical and vital issue. When taking responsibility for actions with proper communication, being honest, competent and clear with the intentions is resourceful.. An excellent way to assist a win-win situation is to have universal acceptance and respect for the feelings of each other. This can be accomplished by listening, as defined by Bevan & Sole, (2014): “Listen and evaluate the other person’s statements before responding” (2014, section 1.4, para. 3).

Respecting the communication between parties by first listening and clearly understanding the nature and purpose of the question or comment means you must listen. Sometimes the simplest way to be clear of picking up the correct information is to return verbally what the receiver stated to you. This can assure both parties that the line of communication is clear and rid the conversation of confusing barriers that limit growth. An example is a conversation between church members and the First Lady of the church about how much food is required at an anniversary church dinner. In the pre-anniversary meeting, the first lady suggested that the servers were not necessary to bring a dish to the dinner, but that all attendees of the church taking part in the services must bring a dish. Even though the members privately disagreed on who was to bring what, they all left the decision to the First Lady of the Church. When the day of the dinner came, there was only enough food for the guests, and the servers could not eat after serving food to all of the members. It was evident that there was not enough food to serve everyone. When looking back, the First Lady realized that she did not view the number of attendees or ask for help to calculate the amount of food needed during the preparations. Servers were not given a dinner elsewhere, nor were they given an apology toward the shortage of food and several hungry participants not able to eat at the church dinner. The barrier here would be the lack of merely conveying a message to clarify the instructions given. It is truly the fault of the First Lady not being responsible for professionally organizing the preparations to assure everyone would be accommodated.

The importance of effective communication is respecting each other and taking responsibility for one’s actions. These interactions are fundamental in our interpersonal relationships and beneficial in our career obligations. Overcoming the barriers of subjection and disrespect that can affect our relationships can lead us in acknowledging and acceptance of personal and academic commitments. If the pre-anniversary meeting was handled responsibily and members behavior more open and respectful, the intentions of the pre-anniversary celebration would have turned out in a satisfying manner (Bevan and Sole, 2014).

Reference

Bevan, J. L., & Sole, K. (2014). Making connections: Understanding interpersonal communication (2nd ed.) [Electronic version]. Retrieved from https://content.ashford.edu/ (Links to an external site.)

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