Human Communication, Essay Example

There is a difference between doing something and doing something right. We may have been engaging in communication our whole lives but that doesn’t necessarily make us effective communicators which explains why good communication skills are so rare. Effective communication doesn’t only involve speaking and listening but also paying attention to non-verbal cues that sometimes convey more information than the actual words spoken.

Similarly, communication is influenced by several factors including communication context, background of the sender of the message as well as the receiver whether professional, ethnic, social economic, or cultural, communication channel, communication style of the parties, and the content of the message. It is important to understand the communication needs of your audience as well as their background otherwise unintentional communication misunderstandings may occur. For example, ‘thumbs-up’ is a vulgar insult in Russia (Zeveloff) while it has a positive meaning in America. Similarly, the use of professional jargons may be appropriate in work environments but should be avoided when communicating with the general public or someone from a different professional background.

Listening may be a passive activity but communication is an active process in which both the sender and the receiver engage in numerous processes to ensure that the message was sent, received, and understood just as the speaker intended. This is why communication process often involves the receiver seeking confirmation to ensure he/she has understood the message correctly.

An article on WorldBusinessCulture.com talks about the challenges of communication in cross-cultural environment. Even though language differentials do pose communication challenges, the communication issues occur even when both parties speak the same language. This is because the same language may have different versions in different countries. Another factor that poses communication challenges is cultural attitudes towards openness. Some cultures prefer direct communication styles while other cultures prefer harmony over conflicts and, thus, display ambiguous communication patterns. Similarly, second-language speakers, no matter how proficient they may be in the language, would still not match the language skills of the native speakers. Thus, a useful strategy is for native speakers to accommodate the communication style of the second-language speakers (World Business Culture).

Communication channels also differ across cultures. Some cultures are more frequent user of face-to-face communication while other cultures make extensive use of technological channels such as email and video conferencing. Thus, one benefits by doing research on the communication channels most commonly used in other cultures and adopting them. Moreover, situations may also determine the most appropriate communication channel to use, thus, one should go for situation-appropriate communication channel rather than the inconvenient one.

The importance of learning about the audience background is clear in the article because communication styles are influenced by factors such as culture, language proficiency, and preferred communication channels. In addition, the same language may have several versions so the speakers should be willing to adapt to the local version even if they are native speakers of the language.

References

World Business Culture. Business Communication. 17 September 2012 <http://www.worldbusinessculture.com/business-communication.html>.

Zeveloff, Julie. Rude Hand Gestures Around The World In Pictures. 27 September 2011. 17 September 2012 <http://articles.businessinsider.com/2011-09-27/lifestyle/30207335_1_culture-vulgar-insult-words>.