Introduction
An individual’s experience in an organization is greatly influenced by his attitude, competence, values, beliefs, and preferences. The ability of an individual to effectively communicate with others affects his job quantity and quality, job satisfaction level, and interaction with others. An individual’s intrapersonal experience is influenced by factors such as motivation, expectations, communication competences, and behavior predisposition. In most organizations, there exists great diversity among the employees. People from different races, cultures, religions, and gender work together (Shockley-Zalabak, 2011). These differences affect the relationship between an individual and the other employees. Due to these diversities, an individual must use effective communication to improve his intrapersonal experience in an organization. In this study, Dave Green individual experiences at AMX were analyzed and ways of improving them formulated based on the existing knowledge and theories.
Dave Green was a new employee at AMX. Dave graduated with honors and was among the top students in the class. Even though Dave had good communication skills, he was not well experienced to lead the highly qualified workers at AMX. On one hand, Dave was highly motivated and wants to contribute towards AMX success. Dave believes that the organization expects him to be a high achiever. On the other hand, he was inexperienced and fears that his colleagues might not accept his decisions and ideas. Dave initial experience at AMX required that he develops effective interpersonal communication strategies (Shockley-Zalabak, 2011).
Motivation and Job Satisfaction
Motivation has a great impact on communication and interpersonal experiences. An individual’s Motivation is influenced by different factors which in turn affect an individual experience at a firm. Factors that affect motivation are expressed in theories such as Abraham Maslow’s hierarchy of needs theory, motivation-hygiene theory, and the rewards theory. In this case, several motivating factors are likely to affect Dave’s behavior. First, Dave as a recruit wants to be accepted by his peers and supervisors. To do this, he must have good behaviors that can be accepted by other employees in the organization.
Secondly, according to the hygiene theory, Dave wants to become a competent worker and has great motivation to handle challenging work (Shockley-Zalabak, 2011). Thirdly, according to Skinner or reward theory, Dave expects the job to be very rewarding and this will force him to conform to the organization rules and policies and form good work relations with other employees. All these motivators affect Dave’s interpersonal behavior since satisfaction and communication are affected by the level of motivation. To improve his individual experience, Dave must identify his goals, aspirations, and expectations and use them as the guiding factors or motivators in his career.
Leadership and Predispositions
Predispositions for organizational communication affect individual experiences. A person’s preferences and attitudes affect how he effectively communicates with others. These preferences are determined by past events, current information, and one’s self-esteem. In this case, Dave’s experience indicates that he can effectively communicate with others but lacks the practical skills required at AMX (Shockley-Zalabak, 2011). On-campus, Dave presented projects publicly but left the practical work to be handled by other students in his group. This means that even though Dave is an eloquent speaker, he lacks practical knowledge. Dave must use his effective communication skills to effectively communicate to gain knowledge from his peers and supervisors. Preferences also affect leadership and job satisfaction. Individuals with competitive predispositions don’t accept other people’s ideas as compared to those with collaborative preferences. For Dave to succeed, he must evaluate other people’s ideas and compare them with his own.
Relationship between an Employee and Supervisor
Employee – supervisor relationship affects an individual’s satisfaction and communication effectiveness. In this case, Dave was given a project by his supervisor, but not all details were provided. The project details, organization, and presentation methods were not clear. Though Dave had a lot of materials and different approaches for the project, he was not sure of the best approach or materials that would be acceptable to his supervisor. Dave’s main goal was to impress the supervisor and ensure that his relationship with her supervisor was cordial. If Dave was able to meet the supervisor’s expectations, he would feel more satisfied with the job. Most interposed relationship between an employee and their supervisors are developed through the accomplishment of tasks assigned to them. Since the supervisor and the employee have diverse preferences, their interaction affects personal relationships. Supervisors normally view employees who share the same values and ideas with them as being competent.
On the other hand, a supervisor’s ability to respond quickly to issues affects the employee’s satisfaction. Normally, employees only transmit positive information to the supervisor and withhold any negative information. In this case, Dave seems to fear her supervisor and refrains from asking her questions as well as guidelines in the preparations of the project (Shockley-Zalabak, 2011). Dave must support his supervisor, be ready to ask pertinent questions, and clarify issues regarding the tasks assigned to him. He must also ensure that there is open communication between him and the supervisor. Since Dave’s supervisor is very experienced, the mentor –to mentee relationship can be established between her and Dave. For this to happen there should be mutual trust between them. Thus, Dave should ensure that the supervisor can trust him and he should also ask her pertinent questions that will assist him develop his career. Dave should also embrace diversity in the workplace and be ready to be mentored by a lady.
Employee-Employee Relationships
Employees to employee interactions are imperative in improving an individual organizational experience (Sias, 2009). In this case, Dave was assisted by John to learn more about her supervisor and in developing the project assigned to him. Through peers, Dave can learn the organizational background and culture of AMX. Peers can also help Dave solve both personal and work-related problems as well as share tasks with others in the organization. Communication between peers is very frequent in any organization and it assists employees to reduce stress and develop a favorable perception in the workplace. Dave should carefully evaluate his peers and interact closely with those who can assist him in advancing his career (Feeley, Hwang, & Barnett, 2008).
Valuing Diversity
In most organizations, there are great variations in age, sex, culture, ethnicity, race, and religion. An employee must learn how to effectively interact with other colleagues who have different values and norms. In this case, Dave must learn how to separate his values, perceptions, and beliefs from his behavior, be open to learning new ways of understanding others and learn to tolerate other employees despite their weaknesses and stereotypes (Shockley-Zalabak, 2011). Prejudice in the workplace has great negative impacts on interpersonal effectiveness. It can be described as considering one race or group as being superior to the other. Dave should be nonjudgmental and he should not prejudge others based on their culture, sex, ethnicity, or race.
Communication Networks
In this case, Dave interacts not only with members of his department but also with other employees and managers at AMX. This effectively forms a communication network. Dave must understand all communication links and how to respond to queries and issues from other departments. Dave must become an active member of the communication network. He must also ensure that there is the symmetry of information flow by responding to all issues directed to him promptly. This will ensure that he is an active participant in the network (Feeley, Hwang, & Barnett, 2008).
Building Trust
Trust is a critical factor in individual organizational experience. Most interpersonal relationships in a firm are established based on trust. Through trust, employees to employee and employee to supervisor relationships can be established. Communication is a critical factor in building trust among workers (Shockley-Zalabak, 2011). For Dave to be successful, he should ensure that his supervisor and other workmates have a positive attitude towards him. This can be achieved by giving accurate information all the time and being open. Dave should also ensure that he responds to supervisors, peers, and clients promptly and provide explanations to all issues that may arise.
Active Listening
Active listening is one of the ways of achieving interpersonal relationships. In most cases, employees and other members of staff don’t get the correct information. It is therefore important that Dave uses active listening techniques such as concentrating during conversations and evaluating the message before responding.
References
Feeley, T., Hwang, J. & Barnett, G. (2008). Predicting Employee Turnover from Friendship Networks. Journal of Applied Communication Research, 36(1), 56-73.
Shockley-Zalabak, P. (2011). Fundamentals of Organizational Communication,(8th ed.). Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Pearson publishers.
Sias, P. (2009). Organizing Relationships: Traditional and Emerging Perspectives on Workplace Relationships. Thousand Oaks, California: Sage publication Inc.