Introduction
In this essay, I shall attempt to demonstrate how Plunkett’s concept of “Communication” relates to some of the online articles we have studied. According to Plunkett, Communication is extremely important in both interpersonal relations and for proper functioning of an organization. Communication helps us understand each other’s attitudes, values, emotions, ambitions, wants and needs. Yet at the same time, improper communication can be counter-productive and lead to a number of problems. In personal context, improper communication can lead to misunderstanding which can sour the relations and even lead to a total break of communication leading to a severing of relationships in extreme cases. In organizational context, improper communication can lead to problems related to productivity. If the employees do not properly understand what the management needs, it can cause them to expend their time and energy in getting things done, which are subsequently rejected by the management. Similarly, if the management does not understand the employees’ concerns, they are likely to form policies or issue orders which are extremely unpopular, leading to dissatisfaction and eventually low productivity. In view of these problems related to improper communication, it becomes extremely important for all of us to understand the basics of proper communication.
Communication
According to Plunkett, communication is transfer of information. This information can be transferred in many ways. Communication, in some form, takes place among all animals, from the smallest of ants to the largest of mammals. However, humans are unique in our ability to express ourselves in so many different ways. From the basic non-verbal communications and face-to-face communications of the earliest human, we have come a long way today to emails and instant messaging. Unfortunately, every time humans invented a new way to communicate, they increased the chances of miscommunication.
Ironic as it may seem, when we try to communicate only with gestures and body language, we are much less likely to be misunderstood. The receiver in this case is likely to give you full attention while trying to interpret your meaning. The receiver will also probably repeat what he or she thinks you mean and continue to do so until you indicate that you have been interpreted correctly. In the online article, “Barriers and Gateways to Communication”, this is exactly what Carl Rogers is trying to say when he says that a listener must restate what he has just heard to the proper satisfaction of the speaker. The process helps the listener understand the speaker’s point of view, even if he does not agree with it. It seems we tend to become better listeners when we are not being spoken to. As Plunkett notes, we tend to rely more on gestures and body language when interpreting what another person really means. Perhaps this explains why we become better listeners when we are not really listening with our ears. Perhaps, we humans are better attuned to “listening” with our eyes than with our ears.
Semantics problem
Another problem when communicating with words, as pointed out by Plunkett, is that of semantics. The same word can mean different things to different people. In the example given by Roethlisberger, the manager assumes he knows what “Oh yeah!” means and proceeds from there. This assumption causes the manager to become prejudiced and as a result, despite his best efforts, he is unable to put his point across to the employee. As the manager tries harder and harder without any success, he tends to become frustrated while the employee becomes further alienated. This problem of semantics becomes even more acute in multicultural and diverse organizational setup. As Plunkett points out, a foreigner who has only learned English in a classroom, may not understand typical American slang, causing further misunderstanding.
Rogers & Roethlisberger emphasize how our prejudices prevent us from really listening to one another. We tend to evaluate others from our own point of view without trying to understand the other person’s perspective. This problem becomes even more acute, when we are in a heightened emotional state. Emotions tend to make our feelings stronger and we become even more prejudiced. As a result, we are even less likely to listen to the other person. And as both Plunkett and Rogers & Roethlisberger point out, listening is the most important part of communication. Listening is different from hearing. A person may hear each and every word said by another and yet not listen a word. Listening means to listen with understanding. One way to accomplish this, according to Rogers, is restate what the other person has said to that person’s satisfaction. This is exactly what happens when we try to understand a person who is communicating only with gestures and signs. However, when we use words to communicate, it can be extremely difficult and impractical to restate everything said by the other person. And this leads to inability to communicate even when it seems that two people are actually having an exchange of ideas. Once this happens, both the parties start feeling that they are being ignored. This feeling of being wrong leads to heightened emotions, which in turn leads to a total breakdown of communication.
In order to avoid this, it is important to avoid being prejudiced. Most of the time we enter into a conversation with preconceived notions about what another person has to say. As a result, we assume that we know what the other person means and interpret their words according to our own prejudices. A manager may have assumed beforehand the employee is not interested in work and interpret any objections raised by the employee to justify this assumption. Similarly, an employee may have been told a manager is extremely arrogant and when he is pulled up for some slack in his work, he may see that as an evidence of the manager’s arrogance. Other prejudices may result from stereotypes related to country, region, religion etc. Hence, in order to properly communicate, it is important that we do not allow our prejudices to come in the way. And the only way to do that is to listen with understanding.
In the article “The Power of Talk: Who gets Heard and Why”, Deborah Tannen points out how even slight differences in linguistic styles can cause problems with communication. In verbal communications, language plays an extremely important role. However, language does not just communicate ideas, it also negotiates relationships. In an organization, some form of relationship exists between all the employees. For an organization to function smoothly, it is important these relationships be good and everyone understand each other. This requires proper communication and language plays an important part of verbal communication.
Besides language, another important factor in proper communication is the way the words are uttered. The tone of voice, the accompanying gestures, all add to the meaning of the words. And yet their cultural differences between how the same mannerism is interpreted by different cultures. In one culture looking someone straight in the eye may be a sign of confidence while in another culture it could be interpreted to mean aggression. So in order to have proper communication, it is important people coming from different cultural backgrounds try and understand each other with forming any preconceived ideas.
In a modern organization, where men and women work side by side, these differences can also cause problems in the way members of the genders perceive each other. This is further elaborated by Tannen who points out how men and women tend to have different ways of saying what they mean. As a result, conversations between members of different sex tend to be like cross-cultural conversation.
Feedback
Feedback is another important element of conversation. According to Plunkett, feedback is giving the sender information about how the receiver has perceived the sender’s message. Rogers & Roethlisberger article emphasizes on this feedback part of a communication. When a receiver restates the senders message to the sender’s satisfaction, he is giving the sender feedback that he has understood the sender’s idea. However, even feedback is subject to cultural differences as pointed by Tannen. In some cultures, it is natural to “sugar-coat” a feedback. This can again create problems in the more direct cultures.
Proper communication is extremely important for proper management. According to Plunkett, communication can be downward, upward or horizontal. In an organization, the purpose of communication, whether downward, upward or horizontal is to manage. Although, formally, the person higher up in the hierarchy is deemed to have higher authority, in the practical world, as mentioned by Tannen, every person has to assert his or her authority on a daily basis. A person with better communication skills is obviously in a better position to assert his or her authority. It has often been pointed out that women have a very low representation in higher corporate positions. One reason for this could be women’s reluctance to assert themselves positively. Culturally, women tend to be more apologetic and this can be interpreted by both their bosses and subordinates as a sign of weakness.
Inappropriate communication can sometimes even be dangerous as pointed out by Tannen through an example where a copilots reluctance to put down a pilot resulted in a fatal accident. Thus we see that proper communication is necessary, not only in order to be able to manage better but also for a better quality of life. And in some extreme cases proper communication could mean the difference between life and death.
Conclusion
Thus comparing the Plunkett’s concept with the two articles, one by Tannen and the other by Rogers & Roethlisberger, we find that both of them make some significant contributions to the idea of proper communication. These ideas are directly related to Plunkett’s concept of communication and help extend out understanding of both personal and organizational communication.
Work Cited
Rogers, Carl & Roethlisberger, F.J. “Barriers and Gateways to Communication.” Harvard Business Review.
Tannen, Deborah. “The Power of Talk: Who gets Heard and Why.” Harvard Business Review.