Interpersonal Communication for British Psychological Society

Question: Discuss about theInterpersonal Communication for British Psychological Society. Answer: Introduction: Interpersonal communication plays an important role in sending as well as building of successful relationships at work (Dixon, 1999). Interpersonal communication in workplace is mainly seen to involve interactions in varying relational situations not only among coworkers and even among the superiors and the subordinates. Interpersonal communication, not only, has the power of developing the productivity of the organization but it also helps in effective negotiation, relationship development and in conflict resolutions (Walker, 2011). This assignment will mainly focus on the concept of interpersonal communication and the different aspects associated with it. It will also depict a reflection of the incident that could have been handled effectively if effective communication had been carried out. Reflection: Igot an opportunity to lead a team during my internship years as my immediate mentor had lot of expectations from me. I had to lead a team of six members who were also fresher like me. I was quite excited to get the opportunity to lead a team and therefore after getting the first assignments, I allocated respective job to the individual team members and asked them to start their work. Two of the members came to me the next day and stated that the job activity given to each one of them cannot be completed successfully as they are not skillful enough to complete the work. They actually wanted to say that they want to swap the job roles as they could perform the tasks which as given to the other. I got so impatient from their discussion, I cut them short stating that I do not want to hear and excuses and they need to complete it as soon as they could. My impatient listening skill prevented me from listening to the entire situation and I commented without allowing them to complete their concern. This made them upset and they left the spot immediately without saying anything. On another instance, two of another team member approached me and suggested me to conduct a team meeting for two important purposes. They said that it would help in developing communication among the team members so that everyone comes to know how others are approaching their tasks and how much time they would require to complete the task. They wanted to suggest that as they were working individually, they cannot develop ideas about what others are doing and this may result in mismatch of task outcomes. I did not listen to the suggestion completely and asked them not to waste time suggesting different ideas and to concentrate on their work activities. These made them upset and they felt hurt. Lessons learnt from incidence: If I had listened to them properly, I could have known the entire scenario. They could have swapped their assignments for which the work could have done with quality. Researchers have stated that effective listening skills are extremely helpful in gaining information (Miller, 2012). Moreover, active listening also gives individuals the time to observe the attitudes and behaviors of the speaker that in turn gives lot of ideas about the feelings and concerns of the speaker. Moreover, it is also seen that active listening skills help in developing trust among the employees. When employees listen to each other concerns and issues, it helps in developing bonds and emotional attachments that in turn has the capacity o develop productivity and smooth workflow. Moreover, researchers have also stated that such active listening helps to develop the reputation of a good professional as customers feel that they are paid importance too (Yourish Hargie, 2004). In other cases, managers and leaders or even employees need to develop patient listening skills as that help in reducing conflict. Effective listening reduces the chance of confusion and thereby prevents any failure of tasks (Mazuttis slawinski, 2008). Therefore, if I had correctly conducted my active listening skills, I could have listened to the concerns of the team members and both their performance and the project would not have failed. Ineffective listening affects the morale of the employees as they feel that they are not paid importance to or that their concerns are not addressed. As I did not listen to them, they felt that I am ride and that I am not concerned about their issues. Interpersonal communicational skills: Interpersonal communication skill can be defined as the procedure for the expression of feelings, thoughts, information, ideas as well as information. This kind of communication can be conducted in two ways like the verbal way as well as the non-verbal way (Issac, 1999). Researchers are of the opinion that interpersonal communication is helpful in establishing relationships between two people thereby helping them in forming bonds. Just like verbal communication is important for the sharing of information, developing relationship, overcoming confusion and resolution of conflicts, verbal communication skills are also found to be important. Researchers are of the opinion that non-verbal skills are effective in understanding the body language of the opposite person along with their gestures, facial expressions, aesthetics, silence and many others (Fairhurst, 2008). Both the forms of communications are also very much importance in developing relations, understanding the intensity of the s ituations, showing empathy and sympathy, connecting emotionally and many others. Benefits: All these help in employee engagement and employee morale that help individuals to overcome any concerns or issues they are facing. Often effective interpersonal communication skills prevent employees from burning out and therefore help in job satisfaction and higher retention (Gergen, Gergen Barrett, 2004). Listening and negotiations skills are also very important for business organizations as that have the capability to overcome long periods of conflicts and help people to negotiate and come to a solution. This ensures smooth workflow and higher productivity. Also higher assertiveness skills are important for influencing others and these helps in motivating employees and make them align with the organizational objectives and goals. Such skills have the capability to make people work beyond their potential and hence every professional should develop such skills of communication. Researchers have stated that interpersonal communication skills are indeed important in creating as well s developing relationships, making new decisions, solving problems and many others (Gerard nEllinor, 2001). Expression of emotions and needs, persuading others, influencing and motivating them can only be achieved by effective interpersonal communication skills. It has been seen that those professionals who have good interpersonal skills are more confident as well as optimistic in comparisons with others. Such skills help professionals not only to maintain professionalism but also develop bonds with others in the workplace by connecting emotionally and participating in each others periods of crisis (Douglas, 1982). This ensures trust among the employee helping them to participate in teamwork and meeting up the lags of each other, ultimately helping in success of the overall projects of the organizational goals (Eisenberg, goodall Trethaway, 1993). Moreover, maintaining the right body language and being culturally competent in communication skills and procedures are extremely impo rtant while interacting with culturally different individuals (Eunson, 2012). Conclusion: From the entire discussion, it becomes clear that effective interpersonal communication has a large number of benefits in the workplace. It helps leaders to manage his team effectively by sharing concerns of the subordinates and helping them to align with organizational goals. It ensures development of bonding among employees helping them in emotional connection and thereby overcoming workload and pressures. Besides, organizational functioning, planning, negotiations and others and only be conducted successfully when individuals involves have effective communication skills. Co-ordination and conflict resolution are only achieved through effective communication ensuring higher productivity. Team building and employee morale are also developed. 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