Friday, August 24, 2012

why is effective communication important?


why is effective communication important?

We are living in the world where no one is able to survive without interactions with others. From the most simple to the most complicated job of a national president, communication plays such a vital role.

 

In Chinese, to converse is “”, which literally means throughout(通) communication(话). Hence,effective communicating has proved itself to be emphasized since ancient time.

Thousands of years later, in this modern time, communication is not only on face-to-face basis but also has been introduced to new channels due to influence of technology .Now we can easily be in touch with someone who is thousands of kilometers away from us through text, email, facebook and skype. We are actually spoilt for choices. Surprisingly enough, although communication channel reaches its acme, communication breakdown occurs more commonly than ever. For example, statistics shows that in the past decade, divorce rate in the world has increased dramatically. How could this be possible?While there are variety of factors that have  contributed to this, effective communication certainly has a major impact on identifying and resolving these social issues.

 

In this course, we analyze different types of communication,namely interpersonal communication, writing(for internet communication), position communication( for employment purpose) and oral communication.

 

While being effective in all the above-mentioned communication models would be ideal, I personally think that interpersonal communication is the most important because it requires both external skills (like asking questions, observations etc) and constant reflection on the internal belief system. Honestly,I am terrible at internet communication, It sometimes takes a week for me to reply an email because of my procrastination habit; I was just not born to provide an answer to certain issues right away, especially if the communication model is not on face-to-face basis. Strictly speaking, I guess this behaviour pattern has been existing partly because of my ignorance to others'feelings  and most probably also due to my superior mind: subconciousy ,I want to be perfect in replying that single email/message. As a result ,being obsessed to be good actually hinders me from expressing my thoughts freely and spontaneously to others. In any case, this certainly has something to do with my family up-bringing and personal preconceptions which I believe could be changed by adopting new interpersonal communication skills in this course….Well, I am here to learn and am looking forward to seeing how I can utilize new interpersonal skills to break this persistent habit!!

 

Thank you guys for reading and have a nice weekend !!:)

 
 

 

10 comments:

  1. Hi Heather!

    good job on your first post =]

    I liked how you linked the chinese meaning of communication to why effective communication is so important.

    It is not very clear though, why effective communication skills are important to YOU. I think replying emails late is just simply procrastination! hah. But not because of a lack of communication skills.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Gwen,

      Thank you for your encouragement. It makes me feel good!!! :)

      I agree with you that the last part was really ambiguous...I was in a dilemma of explaining the key point without spending too many words on it.Anyway, I had it edited.
      Hope you like it.

      Delete
  2. Hi Heather,

    I like the way you show the irony of having an increase in communication breakdowns even though many more channels of communication are available today. This example indeed illustrates the importance effective communication =) You were also very clear on which aspect of communication you wish to improve throughout this course.

    Here are just a few minor grammatical errors that I wish to bring up:
    1) spoilt for choices
    2) …I personally think "that" interpersonal communication "is" the most important…

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Jestina, that's right, it should be " Spoilt for choices"!!!sorry, my bad. Thank you very much for being a lovely grammar nerd. :)

      Delete
  3. Hi Heather!

    I remembered posting a comment on your post on Wednesday but it's missing!!! Not sure why but I guess I have to do it again!

    Like Gwen, I love the way you used mandarin to explain communication. It somehow enhances the fact that communication is important across all cultures and is equally essential regardless of language. However, I thought you gave a very trivial explanation on why a certain communication skill is important to you. For example, why do you think that improving your interpersonal and internet skills will make you less of a procrastinator?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Min,thanks for trying to repost your comment.I like your resilient spirit!!
      Glad to know that you like the Mandarin wordplay explanation.

      I agree with you that I was not specific in explaining the last part....Therefore, I have just editted it. Hope that it is clearer now.

      Anyway, please let me know if you find there are any points that I should have improved on. :)

      Delete
  4. Heather,

    This is a well formulated post, clear, coherent and quite comprehensive. In some ways it strikes me as a well researched expository essay. You open the discussion well with the description of the Chinese characters for conversation. Then you continue the general background discussion with reference to the many channels of communication available today.

    Like Jestina, I appreciate the way you explain the irony in us having a plethora of channels but worsening relationships as illustrated by the rising divorce rate.

    There is an area that you might have given greater attention. Like Min and Gwen, I feel that you could have written more about your own needs. I tend to agree with Gwen when she states that procrastination might not really be a comm skill as you have explained it. However, maybe you could connect it to a lack of motivation or empathy with others' expectations.

    Here are a few other issues to consider:

    1) In Chinese, to converse is “通话” which literally means throughout(通) communication(话). >>> In Chinese, to converse is “通话” , which literally means throughout(通) communication(话).

    2) to new models >>> to new channels

    3) through text, email, facebook , letter... >>> through text messaging, email, facebook , and skype ("letters" are not so new)

    4) most commonly >>> more commonly

    5) For example, statistics shows ,in the past decade, divorce rate in the world increased dramatically. >>>

    For example, statistics show that in the past decade the divorce rate in the world has increased dramatically. (Can you explain my changes?)

    6) that contributed to this.. >> that HAVE contributed to this

    7) communication namely >>> communication, namely

    8) the above-mentioned communication models >>> models?

    9) I am here to learn and looking forward >>> I am here to learn and am looking
    forward

    In any case, I like your effort here, Heather, and I look forward to reading more from you.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Hi Brad,
    Thank you for your detailed comment. It really helps. I had my post editted according to your and others' advices. Love it much more when i read it again. It just flows better!!!

    I guess I have to be more cautious on using the correct words, verb tense and punctuation. For instant, in this sentence below :

    "For example, statistics show that in the past decade the divorce rate in the world has increased dramatically."

    "That" was used to rather than comma in order to link 2 indepentdant sentences together.And the verb "increase" was used in pp tense rather than past tense to fit in the context that divorce rate "in the past decade" has changed.

    Please let me know if you think there are any points that I could improve further on.:)

    ReplyDelete
  6. Hi Heather,
    Very interesting thoughts about communication!
    Especially about divorce rate has increased a lot. The problem may be that we can communicate with each other all the time, so you can never be alone.

    About the procrastination habit, I read this post during Wednesday, then I postponed the comment till today, just like you with e-mails.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Hey Heather,

    Great work on your blog. A lot of points covered.

    I like the transition you used from the second to the third paragraph. Really emphasizes the importance of communication from the very start.

    You were clear from the very start of your last para that you wanted to improve your internet communication. It gives a very clear picture to the reader and he knows what to expect from the next sentences.

    ReplyDelete