A person’s interpersonal life is dependent on that person’s facility for making his or her thoughts, feelings, and needs known to others and on that person’s receptiveness to the attempts of others to share similar data with him or her (Pfeiffer, 1998).Interpersonal skills and interpersonal relationships are necessary conditions for the survival in the marketplace as it helps to form solid bonds between people. To better understand what interpersonal communication is, one must break down the definition of both words which are interpersonal and communication. According to Merriam-Webster (2013), interpersonal means “being, relating to or involving relations between persons” while communication is the activity of conveying information through the exchange of thought, messages or information by means of speech, signals, visuals, behaviour or writing. When put together, interpersonal communication is the process that is used by people to communication ideas, thoughts and feelings from one to another (Foundation Coalition, 2004).Every company’s aim in business is to confront the intense market competition & make profit in order for them to achieve their goals and missions. Thus, it is important to note that these labour forces must have interpersonal skills to work with others as interpersonal skills are essential in managing people (Whetten& Cameron, 2002). They would also have to be able to satisfy their customers’ needs. According to Downs and Adrian (2004), interpersonal communication involves the process of encoding (deciding on what and the method of communication) and decoding (how to interpret the message) while filtering messages that result in the understanding of messages received. Interpersonal communication can be improved by knowledge, practice, feedback and reflection. This essay will outline three different interpersonal communication skills that will help employees to work and think more efficiently. The three different parts are intercultural, questioning and feedback as well as working in teams. In each aspects that are discussed, two real world examples of interpersonal communication that involves how employers use those interpersonal skills to build strong and lasting relationships for the overall success of their business ventures.
Intercultural communication skills are one of the most important factors for interpersonal communication. If done properly, intercultural communication can be very helpful in the company because companies would usually deal with customers of various cultures, and by doing so, they can avoid misunderstandings and improve relationships with their customers.Many managers from various companies believe that the behaviours and actions do not affect people from different cultures as they are quite oblivious to the fact that they might be actually offending them one way or another. According to Mergler (2010), “Communication has and always will be a major impact especially on international business interactions”. This is because people from different cultures might not be able to cooperate in a good team because culture relates to the way people live and the behaviours will be passed down from one generation to the next (Limaye and Victor, 1991). There are many factors that can impact intercultural communication in business such as social customs, gender, and oral communication. Of course, there are many more but these are some of the most common cultural factors that exist in the workplace. Some social customs that are accepted in one culture may not be accepted by others and must be treated with caution as some people in different cultures might be more sensitive or less forgiving about violations than other cultures. As for the gender, the roles of men are usually constant in cultures; however, women play only a small role in business activities in some cultures while in some cultures, women would play a large role in business activities. Finally, different languages have different emphasis on their words and may be taken as an insult by different cultures. As such, when considering intercultural communication, it is advisable to hire an interpreter to ensure success as an interpreter conveys meaning unlike a translator, which only translates the words that are said.
An example of intercultural communication skills that is used in business by employers is in Falls Church, Virginia. Where companies give Muslim employees frequent break times so that they can pray to break their fast or to rest. (Taboh, 2012). Another example would be in American employees in Japanese companies or vice versa. Both have to compromise when it is time to come to an understanding between them (Kobayashi, Viswat. 2011). Understanding of a culture can avoid misunderstandings and thus, create a better atmosphere in the workplace.
