Interpersonal Communication in Workplace: Importance and Benefits

This article discusses the importance and benefits of interpersonal communication in the workplace. It includes a reflection on a situation where effective communication could have prevented a failure. The article also covers the different aspects of interpersonal communication, its benefits, and the skills required for effective communication.

Running head: INTERPERSONAL COMMUNICATION
INTERPERSONAL COMMUNICATION
Name of the student:
Name of the university:
Author note:

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Contents
Introduction:....................................................................................................................................2
Reflection:........................................................................................................................................2
Lessons learnt from incidence:........................................................................................................3
Interpersonal communicational skills:.............................................................................................4
Benefits:...........................................................................................................................................5
Conclusion:......................................................................................................................................6
References:......................................................................................................................................7

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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:
I got 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

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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

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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 situations, 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

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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 other’s 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 important 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

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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. Effective listening and feedback sharing are two important aspects of
communication. Every organization should therefore try to achieve effective communication
attributes to reach their goals.

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References:
Dixon, N. M. (1998). Dialogue at work: Making talk developmental for people and
organizations. London: Lemos & Crane.
Douglas, J.(1982), A'systems' perspective to behavioural consultation in schools: a personal
view, Bulletin of the British Psychological Society, 35, 195-7.
Downs, C. W., & Adrian, A. D. (2012). Assessing organizational communication: Strategic
communication audits. Guilford Press.
Dwyer, J. 2012, The Business Communication Handbook, 9th edn, Pearson Australia, Frenchs
Forest. (Available via UTS Library Open Reserve)
Eisenberg, E. M., Goodall, H. L., & Trethewey, A. (1993). Organizational communication:
Balancing creativity and constraint. New York: St. Martin's Press.
Eunson, B. (2012). Communicating in the 21st Century, John Wiley & Sons., 3rd ed.,
Wiley, Milton QLD.
Gerard, G., & Ellinor, L. (2001). Dialogue at work: Skills for leveraging collective
understanding. Pegasus Communications. Pegasus Communications, Waltham, MA.
Gergen, K.J., Gergen, M.M. & Barret, F.J. 2004, 'Dialogue: Life and Death of the Organization',
in D. Grant, C. Hardy, C. Oswick & L. Putnam (eds), The Sage Handbook of
Organizational Discourse, Sage, London, pp. 39-59.
Fairhurst, G. T. (2008). Discursive leadership: A communication alternative to leadership
psychology. Management Communication Quarterly, 21(4), 510-521.

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Isaacs, W.N. 1999, Dialogue and the Art of Thinking Together: A Pioneering Approach to
Communicating in Business and in Life, Currency, New
02/03/2018 (Autumn 2018) © University of Technology Sydney Page 6 of 9
Isaacs, W.N. 1999, Dialogue and the Art of Thinking Together: A Pioneering Approach to
Communicating in Business and in Life, Currency, New
York.
Mazutis, D. & Slawinski, N. 2008, 'Leading Organizational Learning Through Authentic
Dialogue', Management Learning, vol. 39, no. 4, pp. 437-56.
Miller, K. 2012, Organizational Communication. Approaches and Processes, 6th edn, Cengage
Learning, Boston.
Tourish, D. & Hargie, O. 2004, Key Issues in Organizational Communication, Routledge,
London.
Walker, R. 2011, Strategic Management Communication for Leaders, 2nd international ed.,
South Western, Mason.

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