Reflection on Communication: Personal and Professional Development

This essay delves into the multifaceted realm of communication, examining its profound impact on both personal and professional spheres. The author begins by tracing the etymological roots of communication and emphasizing its fundamental role in human interaction, from infancy through adulthood. The essay explores the significance of verbal and non-verbal communication, highlighting the influence of childhood experiences, social customs, and the development of communication styles. It further analyzes various communication styles, including assertive, passive, aggressive, and passive-aggressive approaches, and discusses the barriers that can hinder effective communication, such as language differences, emotional intelligence, and cultural variations. The author also provides insights into overcoming these obstacles by emphasizing the importance of clarity, awareness of social and cultural differences, and an open-minded approach. The essay concludes by underscoring communication as a two-way process that requires cooperation, openness, and willingness from all parties involved, ultimately fostering a well-functioning society. References to relevant literature are included to support the analysis.

Running head: REFLECTION ON COMMUNICATION
Reflection on Communication
Name of the Student:
Name of the University:
Author’s note:

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REFLECTION ON COMMUNICATION
The term communication is derived from the Latin word ‘communicare’, which
means ‘to share’(Ellis & Beattie, 2017). This is the essence of communication. We, as a
member of human society, need to share our thoughts, emotions and opinions to other fellow
members, in order to perform and bond well as a community. Effective communication is of
prime importance to achieve a common purpose. It is essential to develop relationship among
individuals, irrespective of age, gender and social status. Hence, reciprocation among the
fellow members is a necessary mechanism in a society (Adler, Rodman & Du Pré, 2016).
Furthermore, for a person to grow and enhance his or her social abilities, communication
plays a vital role in both his/her personal and professional life. In this paper, we will examine
the role and importance of communication with regard to personal experience in personal and
professional sphere of life.
Communication can be verbal and non-verbal. Within a community, it may take the
form of employing mutually understood semiotic usage, sign and symbols (Mehrabian,
2017). Primarily, language serves as the key instrument of communication. However, beyond
a certain demographic region or a community, non-verbal communication is what enables the
fellow members to convey messages to each other. Human beings are unique for their use of
abstract language in an extensive range (Danziger, 2013).
I personally feel that without the help of communication, our lives will be way more
difficult. Since infancy, we are dependent on other people around us. When a child is born, he
or she is unable to use any language to convey his/her difficulties or needs to others.
However, the mother instinctively can reciprocate to the child. Upon hearing a child cry, she
can understand whether he/she needs feeding or comfort. As the child grows, he/she is taught
to communicate to other members of the family and society through their mother tongue.
Apart from language, children are taught social customs and practices to address or to

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reciprocate with elders and their peers. These are also essential elements of communication
(Castells, 2013). When I was a child, my mother made me understand that I should talk to my
elders with humility and respect. Also, I was aware that I must be nice to my friends and
cousins. As a child, I grew up in a large family abundant with love and compassion. This has
helped me to communicate to larger groups of people effectively. My parents looked after our
behaviour so that we never use any ill manner or disrespectful words. As an adult, now I feel
that this has made me an approachable person, where people find it easy to talk to me. The
training, starting at one’s childhood, influences the personality of a person. On the other
hand, children from a broken home or a disturbed surrounding have a great impact on them
psychologically (Habermas, 2015). They may grow up to be a bitter person in such cases.
With the said understanding of behaviour and manner from our parents and family,
we enter the social arena as individuals. School is the first social hurdle of our lives to
overcome with our communication skills. Often it is seen that the shy and introvert kids in the
class face difficulty to reciprocate to the rest of the class, or even with the teacher. This
usually hampers their participation and development. They fail to convey their difficulties to
the teachers. Also, they are often bullied by their peers but cannot stand up for themselves
(Akhmetshin et al., 2017). I, on the other hand, was very inquisitive and responsive child.
And thankfully, we had a teacher in our middle school who was very encouraging and
attentive to the students. I used to have a lot of questions regarding everything I saw around
me. She always had the patience to listen to me and answer my questions as much as
possible. It motivated me to pursue my education with passion. This is one example of
effective communication in one’s childhood that impacts the psychological development and
helps shape his/her personality.
The elements of communication, as has been mentioned earlier in the essay,
incorporate certain styles and manners, other than mere language. They comprises the

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important aspect of non-verbal element in communication. How a person talks or behaves
while communicating creates an impression to the listeners. Hand gestures, shrugging,
squinting of the eyes and even how a person looks at others may impact the communication.
We often find it repulsive or annoying to talk to rude people, or to certain individuals who
show disrespect or create discomfort to others. Generally, it has been observed that we find it
easier to talk to people who are soft-spoken and well mannered. Moreover, people who talk a
lot instead of listening to others are not very appreciated. Listening is very important while
communicating with others. It enhances reliability and trustworthiness in the other party
involved (Knapp, Hall & Horgan, 2013). Thus, attitude impacts the effectiveness of
communication in an extensive way.
There are four basic style of communication found in general people, namely,
assertive, passive, aggressive and passive-aggressive. Assertive people tend to express their
requirements very clearly and respectfully. They listen to others while communicating
without interrupting and maintain a composed manner. Most importantly, they have a sense
of self-assertiveness that puts them in control over situations. Thus, they can make others feel
connected and at ease while talking. People with passive approach, however, fail to assert
themselves. They often speak with an apologetic manner, which enables others to manipulate
or exploit them. They fail to express their views and opinions, to an extent which leads to
infringe their rights and authority. This, in turn, leads them to suffer from anxiety, depression
and a sense of resentment to his/her own life. Further, aggressive speakers are usually found
to dominate others. They tend to reject others opinion and have a very low level of tolerance.
They are usually ill-mannered and overbearing. Most importantly, these kind of people never
listen attentively and keep interrupting others. Among all the four types, passive-aggressive
people are most difficult to deal with. They appear to be passive and introvert, but in reality

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they act out of suppressed anger and resentment. They never seem to share their true intention
or opinion (Giles, 2016).
The above mentioned discussion helps us understand how people may judge us in a
social setting as well. Therefore, to attain an effective communication skill, we must be aware
of our attitude and manners (Hargie, 2016). I found that, maintaining a positive attitude,
direct eye contact to the listener and a calm and composed posture help a lot to express my
desired message. Also, having an assertive approach of communication provides me with
authority over adverse situations.
Although, there are certain barriers than can hinder effective communication.
Language poses as the most important hurdle to be overcome. In a large company or even in
a class, there may be people speaking different languages. Moreover, people speaking the
same language can have differences of dialects. For example, one of the Asian students of our
class always faced difficulty to comprehend our professor with a thick British accent. Apart
from this, emotional, cultural and organizational structural barriers may cause hindrance as
well. People may have different levels of emotional IQ (Beebe, Beebe & Redmond, 2013).
Not everyone is very good with handling stress or balancing between workplace decorum and
emotional sensitivity. I myself had faced this issue a few times. When I was going through a
tough time in my personal life, it was really difficult for me to be patient and composed. I
lacked tolerance and mental peace to cooperate with a team. This comprehensibly affected
my communication with my peers as a team-member. Social and cultural barriers also cause
a lot of difficulty in understanding people. People from different backgrounds, such as
coming from a different region, even a different country may work within the same group.
However, difference in social customs and practices may create misunderstanding or
misjudgement among them.

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Hence, communication can be deemed as one of the most important elements in the
human society. In this paper we have discussed the concept of communication and various
conditions that impacts its affectivity. However, there are ways by following which we can
avoid such hindrances. First of all, clarity is very much needed in communication. To make
people understand whatever my intention or requirement is, I must employ clear and
sufficient effort. Also, it is important not to provide too many unnecessary information. Use
of slang and strong language must be avoided at all cost in a workplace. Even in one’s home,
such rude and ill manners only create problems. Further, we must be aware of the social and
cultural differences of the people around us. We should take into considerations their
psychological and emotional aspects while communicating to them. Above all. Keeping an
open mind always helps to achieve a successful communication. This makes one
approachable and easy to communicate. Therefore, it can be concluded that communication is
a two-way process. It requires Cooperation, openness and willingness needed on both ends.
In this way we can avoid all kinds of misunderstandings and have a well-functioning society.

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References
Adler, R. B., Rodman, G. R., & Du Pré, A. (2016). Understanding human communication
(Vol. 10). Oxford University Press.
Akhmetshin, E. M., Makulov, S. I., Talysheva, I. A., Fedorova, S. Y., & Gubarkov, S. (2017).
Overcoming of intercultural barriers in the educational environment. Man in India,
97(15), 281-288.
Beebe, S. A., Beebe, S. J., & Redmond, M. V. (2000). Interpersonal communication.
Scarborough, Ont.: Prentice-Hall Canada.
Castells, M. (2013). Communication power. OUP Oxford.
Danziger, K. (2013). Interpersonal Communication: Pergamon General Psychology Series
(Vol. 53). Elsevier.
Ellis, A. W., & Beattie, G. (2017). The psychology of language and communication.
Routledge.

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Giles, H. (2016). Communication accommodation theory. The International Encyclopedia of
Communication Theory and Philosophy, 1-7.
Habermas, J. (2015). Communication and the Evolution of Society. John Wiley & Sons.
Hargie, O. (2016). Skilled interpersonal communication: Research, theory and practice.
Routledge.
Knapp, M. L., Hall, J. A., & Horgan, T. G. (2013). Nonverbal communication in human
interaction. Cengage Learning.
Martin, J. N., & Nakayama, T. K. (2013). Intercultural communication in contexts. New
York, NY: McGraw-Hill.
Mehrabian, A. (2017). Nonverbal communication. Routledge.