Reflection on Communication

This essay discusses the role of communication in personal and professional relationships, the impact of communication styles, barriers to effective communication, and strategies for overcoming them.

Running head: REFLECTION ON COMMUNICATION
REFLECTION ON COMMUNICATION
Name of the Student:
Name of the University:
Author Note:

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The aim of this essay is to discuss the role of communication in professional and
personal relationships. Communication is the basis of every interpersonal and professional
relationship in fact effective style of communication can be the key for developing healthy
and long lasting relationship. When individuals cannot communicate with one another
properly the problems emerge. In my life professionally and personally I have understood
that communication plays a pivotal role in the production of misunderstandings which
eventually strengthen the connection among the individuals. I feel a personal relationship can
lose its charm when one cannot express and reciprocate once feelings through different
modes of communication. However I also feel that it is not only through verbal
communication the individuals must express their feelings. The share of feelings can also be
done through nonverbal communication. However there are some barriers to communication
which create challenge for the individuals in developing professional and personal
relationships (Thomson et al., 2015). Therefore, I need to first point them out and then try to
mitigate them in a positive yet effective way. This essay will discuss the role of
communication in the personal and professional relationship building and negotiation,
listening and talking style and their impact on the others, barriers of communication and how
these make communication challenging. This essay ends with suggestion for overcoming
barriers to improve communication.
Role of communication in the interpersonal relationship as well as in professional
life search to be one of the most important skills. Communication skills not only required in
personal life but also required in the work classes. Depending on the nature of once
profession the communication modes are different (Lum et al., 2015). Some of the persons
need to develop verbal communication skills and some others named written communication.
In case I cannot be successful in communication skill in my personal life I can also not be
successful in the professional life also therefore I need to be a good communicator and

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perfectly convey what I actually want to share with the listener. Putting the personal life and
professional life I follow some of the very important factors that make my communication
more effective than the others (Jenifer & Raman, 2015). I take care of my tone and pitch and
make sure that I am not too loud or too soft because this can either hurt the other person or
they may not understand what I am saying. Therefore I speak softly and in a convincing way
so that the other person can understand me and follow what I am saying. Secondly I choose
the word differently for different persons. In both professional and personal life the intensity
of relationships are not always same. Therefore I remain very cautious that weather I am
talking to the person having the same position like me or higher authority (Nica, Manole &
Potcovaru, 2016). Choice of words therefore can prevent the possibility of miss
understanding and misinterpretation and makes me very straight forward without confusing
anyone. The role of personal and professional communication skills are also associated with
written communication. In the professional cases I prefer to communicate through written
communication so that I can take time to think and then communicate what message I want to
convey. In many cases the professional communication ads the nonverbal style of
communication. This always changes with the seniority of the employees and cultural
differences (Khan & Omar, 2018). In some cultures, the nonverbal communication process is
not accepted and the reading between the lines is not understood. Therefore I need to be very
careful while communicating my message to the audience and make sure that they understand
clearly everything what I have shared.
Communication is not only to share the thoughts ideas and concepts to the other or
pressurize the audience to abide by or follow the same. Communication also includes active
listening process. The more I will listen to others, the more I will be listened. Whenever I
listen to the others I try to be using my eyes. This is due to the fact in case I miss anything in
my ears I can capture those through my eyes. Active listeners always open their eyes and

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follow the gesture and body language of the communicator which help to understand the
feeling behind the message because with difference of gestures, the meaning of words
changes. I have also observed some people whose eyes to avoid contact. Avoidance of eye
contact therefore may be a sign of low self-confidence but it can also refer to the fact that the
communicator is not sharing true facts. When it is my turn to talk I let my thinking straight
and remain well prepared for speaking (Hall, 2016). I say exactly what I mean and do not
confuse the listener rather get to the point. In many cases I have seen that beating around the
bush can create confusing situation among the audience and the main point does not get
proper exposure therefore I try to be concise and don’t want to waste my words. I prefer
being shortest with more familiar words.
Different types of communication barrier:
In my professional and personal life while communicating I have come across
various barriers which truly have impact on my communication style. These barriers
include language, psychological barriers, physical and attitudinal barriers.
Linguistic barrier:
The language barrier is the most common challenge that the communicators in this
Global contexts face. As language is the most common tool for communicating in the
business, this effectively create limitation in the effective communication system. Each and
every major region has their own language hence one may not know the language of the other
region. In addition to this, the local dialects also may create issues in understanding the
communication system of the persons that makes communication truly ineffective. It is not
always possible that every one of them know a common language or use them properly
(Bryan, 2018). This language and linguistics abilities create more problem when it comes to
the service industry. When I need to communicate with a client who does not know the

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language I use and vice versa. in that case I feel quite helpless to communicate my message
in other common language on which I do not have much expertise.
Psychological barriers:
Secondly the psychological barriers refer to the communication with personal stress
and negative mental situation. In many cases the communicators share their thoughts when
they are stress or angry (Phutela, 2015). Similarly the communicator may have the different
psychological fear of talking with unknown people stage fear, speech disorders, depression
and phobia. These issues become more problematic when people let their emotions to take
over their communication system may face more difficulties. This can create scope for
misinterpretation and knowledge gap.
Physical barriers:
Thirdly the physical barriers relates to the Geographic distance between the center and
the receivers. The communication has always been easier with the communicator and listener
are sitting face to face or using more effective communication channels. The physical barriers
can be included like closed doors, noises, faulty equipment used for the communication and
often the closed cabin system. In addition to this, the physical separation among the
employees in the large office can be a reason of physical barriers. This physical barriers can
be disadvantage for the service industry where the Employees need to work quickly but not
getting proper orders from the higher authority.
Cultural barriers:
As the effect of globalisation has affected the companies, they are being large the
employees from different cultures and race are being incorporated in the workplace. Different
culture has its different meaning for the different parts of the world as well as basic values in
the society. Different clothing, religion, genera behavior and food style are changed
drastically from one culture to the other. Therefore, it must be stated that I need to have

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proper understanding as well as knowledge of method of communication in different parts of
the world. Therefore, while communicating with the audience or the listeners I need to be
very careful about the values and gestures accepted in different culture.
Organizational structure barriers:
Different organization has their own different structures. Based on these structures the
communication level of the employees are differ from one another. In the hierarchical
cultures, the employees cannot access the higher level managers through communication but
the flat culture of the companies allow the employees to access their higher authorities more
effectively. However, each one of these methods have their own problems as well as
constraints which can be the barriers for effective communication. All of these barriers
emerge from misinformation and lack of appropriate transparency available to the employees.
Attitudinal barriers:
Finally, the attitudinal barriers relates to the behavior and perceptions of different
people which prevent them from communicating efficiently. Attitudinal barriers of
communication can result in personal conflicts, resistance to changes, management and lack
of motivation. I personally feel that the gap in the positions like the ground level employees
and manager is the most important instance to understand attitudinal barriers. The
management level employees do not intend to communicate directly to the ground levels and
only provide guidelines on orders. On the other hand the ground level employees same to
avoid the orders to perform stock hence the feedback system does not work and changes in
the organization cannot take place.
The challenges to these barriers can we overcome by following 3 simple steps.
Through my professional and personal life experiences I have understood that there are some
very impact factors present for effective communication system. These may include active

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listening, using simple and effective language and giving constructive feedback can reduce or
nullify the communication barriers among people.
Active listening:
This gives scope to show interest to the communicator where the audience give full
attention to them and understand their feeling and exact message. There is no need for
reading between lines when the audience listen to their speakers stuff as there are both verbal
and nonverbal cues present, the active listeners can effectively point out the main matter of
this communication. Active listening process get support when the communicator use simple
but effective language.
Using simple methods:
As mentioned before keeping the communication short and using proper terminology
the speakers can easily win the heart of the listeners (Yuriev et al., 2018). Most of the cases
the audience or listener does not admit that they did not understand the message therefore
simple language can help them to avoid asking questions for clarifying any points finally
giving constructive feedback to the speaker can help them to avoid these barriers of
communication and developed a desired team of employees who will be motivated through
communication and feel engaged with their works.
Knowledge about different cultural difference:
As mentioned before, different cultures of nations affect the organisational culture for
that matter the communication system of the company. In this regard, I need to be well
equipped with the knowledge how the different cultural people communicate or use gesture
for the effective communication in the organization.
Using visual methods of communicating:
The communication system faces challenges when the communicator is not so clear
with his or her voice therefore I need to understand the importance of using visual images or

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recordings while sharing my views. These are appealing factors and support the subject of the
communication. These will make the audience understand the points I want to share with
them.
Therefore, it can be concluded, that communication is one of the most important
factors in developing relationship and maintaining it. In both personal as well as professional
lives, communication can be a technique to reach goals effectively. In case I cannot be
successful in communication skill in my personal life I can also not be successful in the
professional life. Therefore I need to be a good communicator and perfectly convey what I
actually want to share with the listener. However, there are barriers to communication which
need to be overcome within a limited period of time to enhance efficiency of the individuals.

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References:
Bryan, J. (2018). Successfully managing change in the workplace. Corporate Real Estate
Journal, 8(1), 53-64.
Hall, A. (2016). Exploring the workplace communication preferences of millennials. Journal
of Organizational Culture, Communications and Conflict, 20, 35.
Jenifer, R. D., & Raman, G. P. (2015). Cross-cultural communication barriers in the
workplace. Internafional Journal of Management, 6(1), 348-351.
Khan, S. W., & Omar, N. (2018, March). Understanding Workplace Relationships-LMX
quality, Turnover intention and employee job satisfaction, Mediating role of Superior
Subordinate Communication. In SMMTC Postgraduate Symposium 2018 (p. 163).
Lum, L., Dowedoff, P., Bradley, P., Kerekes, J., & Valeo, A. (2015). Challenges in oral
communication for internationally educated nurses. Journal of Transcultural Nursing, 26(1),
83-91.
Nica, E., Manole, C., & Potcovaru, A. M. (2016). Competition in the worldwide workplace:
economic globalization and labor rights. Journal of Self-Governance and Management
Economics, 4(3), 73.
Phutela, D. (2015). The importance of non-verbal communication. IUP Journal of Soft
Skills, 9(4), 43.
Thomson, K., Outram, S., Gilligan, C., & Levett-Jones, T. (2015). Interprofessional
experiences of recent healthcare graduates: A social psychology perspective on the barriers to
effective communication, teamwork, and patient-centred care. Journal of interprofessional
care, 29(6), 634-640.
Yuriev, A., Boiral, O., Francoeur, V., & Paille, P. (2018). Overcoming the barriers to pro-
environmental behaviors in the workplace: A systematic review. Journal of Cleaner
Production, 182, 379-394.

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Yuriev, A., Boiral, O., Francoeur, V., & Paille, P. (2018). Overcoming the barriers to pro-
environmental behaviors in the workplace: A systematic review. Journal of Cleaner
Production, 182, 379-394.