Considering the communications process model, what do you think were the major challenges in this scenario?
The parties that are involved in communication have introduced barriers that hinder effective communication. As a result, the meaning of communication has been grossly denied. Taking into consideration a simple communication model that consists of the sender, message, receiver, and feedback; the challenges encountered in this scenario can be well understood. The barriers along this communication process have made it difficult for the participants to understand each others’ thoughts and ideas. The scenario has so many people who are talking loudly in the office, hence making it difficult for the receivers to pay attention to what is being communicated. Probably, the receivers who are sent the messages through the phone could hardly recognize the right message that was being directed to them.
While an attendant is making a call, others are speaking loudly in the same reception room. When the attendant was trying to attend to a particular client, another client kept interfering with them; hence creating a lot of confusion. The female client could hardly decipher the feedback from the man who was attending to her because of pronunciation differences. This woman was so emotional to an extent of making the communication process very difficult. Her temper prevented her from understanding the message from the sender (attendant) (Bocus, 2002).
What does this scenario teach us about the importance of effective communication in promoting good organizational behavior?
Effective communication is very critical in instilling good behaviors in an organization. When there are a lot of barriers to communication, it becomes hard to achieve this goal. Seemingly, people in an organization spend most of their time exchanging information; hence the character of their communication can affect their behavior. Naturally, the effectiveness of managers in ensuring good organizational behavior is majorly dependent on communication. In other words, good communication is what makes good managers, who in return play the biggest role in influencing organizational behavior. Office behavior in this scenario is wanting. The workers seem to disregard good conduct in their workplace, hence making the communication process very challenging. Undoubtedly, the managers have failed to instill good conduct in this organization hence the problems. For example, shouting in the office has messed up the communication process (Bocus, 2002).
How does nonverbal communication affect communication with employees with disabilities such as visual impairments or hearing impairments?
Nonverbal communication may distort the passage of a message to a person with visual impairments. This is in particular when the sender of the message keeps a distance from the employee with visual impairment, and perhaps uses sign language. As a result, this can lead to misunderstandings, and sometimes leading to conflicts if the sender is not aware of the visual status of the recipient employee. The sender might tend to think that the recipient is refusing to give feedback. On the other hand, nonverbal communication with employees with hearing impairments may not have any consequential effects because, after all, such employees do not rely on verbal communication (Bocus, 2002).
We are increasingly using technology to communicate in the workplace. What impact do you think this will have on organizational behavior if we are not able to physically interact with our colleagues/customers?
If there is no physical interaction with colleagues or customers, then the use of technology to communicate bridges the distance between the senders and recipients of messages. As such, the technological medium becomes very critical, and the effectiveness of such communication depends so much on the organizational behavior of the employees. For example, if the employees are unruly and lack office etiquette, the recipients will have a negative perception of the organization. To avoid this, employees should be very skillful in using tools such as phones. Communication in the office will require the employees to conduct themselves very professionally and should not shout or make noise in the office. Messages which are sent through writing will require the senders to be very professional to avoid misconception by the recipients (Bocus, 2002).
Reference
Bocus, R.A., 2002.Barriers to Effective Communication. New York: R.A Bocus.