Introduction
Communication is a vital element in any organization. It determines the perspective or the image customers have towards an organization. For effective communication within an organization, information has to flow smoothly from the source to the receiver (Ojo 2002). Besides, it has to be conveyed to the right parties. When communicating, the receiver must take time to listen. This facilitates grasping the information and giving the correct response. This paper aims at highlighting communication barriers based on a video clip.
Major challenges in the communication
One of the challenges exhibited in this conversation is the lack of parties to pay attention to each other when communicating. Mrs. Richards does not give the receptionist a chance to explain herself. This is the reason why the receptionist gets furious and shouts at her. Besides, when Mr. Emanuel comes to rescue the situation there is a challenge in encoding the information he is passing to Mrs. Richards (Fawlty towers 2009). The two do not get each other leading to Mrs. Richards using abusive language. Eventually, the two leaves without getting each other when Mrs. Richards becomes annoyed.
Importance of effective communication in promoting good organizational behavior
Communication greatly influences employee behavior. Normally, employees tend to be subjective when absorbing information and only select information that favors their needs (Ojo 2002). Besides, if employees sense that there is a sort of command in the information being conveyed they tend to be rebellious. This is well demonstrated in the conversation between the receptionist and the client. Initially, the receptionist was courteous when dealing with Mrs. Richards. On learning that Mrs. Richards was sort of commanding her, the receptionist became rebellious and shouted at her. Effective communication nurtures mutual respect not only between employees but also between employees and their customers. There is a perception that customers are always right and no employee is supposed to question their behavior. However, when an employee realizes that a customer is taking advantage of him or her respect flew through the window and the employee no longer respects the customer. In this scenario, the receptionist initially addresses Mrs. Richards with respect. On realizing that Mrs. Richard was not ready to respect other customers, the receptionist runs out of patience and no longer respected her. This went to an extent of acrimony with both blaming each other.
Effective communication facilitates building trust in an organization (Ojo 2002). When employees listen to customers’ complaints and customers listen employees’ explanations a problem is amicably solved leading to the parties trusting one another. In the scenario depicted by the video clip, there is no trust between Mrs. Richards and the reception. Mrs. Richards goes to an extent of complaining that she has never seen another institution offering such poor services. This leads to the receptionist being relaxed in attending to her.
Effect of non-verbal communication on employees with disabilities
Effective communication entails both verbal and non-verbal communication. The speaker’s feelings are best expressed by his or her non-verbal cues. This underlines the need for communicators to pay attention to non-verbal cues. Another area where non-verbal communication plays a greater role is when conversing with people with a disability such as visual impairment and hearing problems. While a person with visual impairment would be able to hear and understand what is being said, it is imperative to use non-verbal communication especially if the communication entails showing directions (Ojo 2002). To ensure that people with hearing problems contribute to communication, communicators need to use sign language as well as diagrams to explain themselves. This would not only help the deaf to understand the context of communication but would also lead to the deaf contributing to the communication. Hence, non-verbal communication helps people with disabilities understand the message being conveyed and also partake in communication by sharing their views.
Impact of technology on organizational behavior
Organizations are continuously embracing technology in a bid to enhance their performance. Today, information is conveyed to employees through e-mails. This has helped in cutting down on the time taken for information to reach employees. Nevertheless, if this technology is not keenly monitored it may harm organizational behavior. Generally, employees wish to receive messages that motivate them (Bakan, Tasliyan, Eraslan & Coskun 2004). Besides, as information flows down the hierarchy, it is subject to distortion and filtering. This implies that employees at the bottom of the hierarchy may fail to receive the information. This may lead to the management reprimanding them for failing to respond to the message thus affecting the trust between the management and respective employees. This may affect employees’ confidence in carrying out their responsibilities as since then they may fear that information may fail to reach them leading to them not doing what they are expected to do.
Technology is likely to compromise employee loyalty and honesty. It is human nature to have certain inclinations when communicating (Bakan, Tasliyan, Eraslan & Coskun 2004). Hence, based on the source of a message employees may decide to respond or ignore it. The fact that one can delete an email and claim to have not received any gives employees an upper hand. Failure to communicate face to face with customers may also affect employees’ loyalty to them. A customer can determine when he is being lied to when communicating live with an employee. However, using mails to communicate with customers may lead to some employees being dishonest as they attempt to lure customers.
Conclusion
For parties to communicate effectively, they have to be able to encode each other’s messages. Also communicating parties out to have mutual respect and be willing to listen to each other. It is imperative to pay attention to the non-verbal cues of the communicator to understand the person’s feelings. As organizations turn to technology as a tool of communication within organizations, the management must make a follow up to ensure that messages reach the intended people as expected.
Reference List
Bakan, S., Tasliyan, M., Eraslan, H., & Coskun, M., 2004. The effect of technology on organizational behavior and the nature of work. Web.
Fawlty towers., 2009. Problemas de comunicacion part. 1. Web.
Ojo, B. J., 2002. Effective communication: Towards a successful organizational management. Web.