Miscommunications in the Workplace
Miscommunication in the Workplace
Communication is a two-way street. Making assumptions and drawing conclusions based on only one frame of reference will usually fail and cause miscommunication between the parties involved. This can be because of differences of gender, culture, age or even education levels. Changing the fundamental way in which a person thinks or feels can lead to better communications between the parties involved. "Due to the rapid changes brought about by globalization it is vital to understand that we react to our environment, its teachings and its belief systems. A lack of understanding of our most cherished and deeply held values can lead to considerable stress and feelings of anger. We must be especially sensitive toward the areas of religion, racial equality, moral behavior, privacy, justice and fair play"(Swaenpoel, 2005).
Ever gone into work and found that several coworkers are in a panic over the promotion of someone from outside of the office to a position of authority? They wonder why everyone is so upset. When talking with coworkers, it is discovered that two of them had applied for the position of supervisor. These coworkers feel that they were passed over for the promotion. The manager, we will use the name Mr. Smith, did not speak to the candidates that applied for the promotion and did not interview them before making the decision and the announcement of the new person coming in.
From the example above, can it be determined why the workers were upset? The manager, Mr. Smith, did not inform the office candidates of the decision to hire someone from outside before making the formal announcement, which caused hard feelings from the two inside candidates. This can lead to the new supervisor having problems getting the office staff to accept them and causing their authority to be questioned. How could this have been stopped before it got started? The manager, Mr. Smith, could have spoken to the inside candidates to
Communication is a two-way street. Making assumptions and drawing conclusions based on only one frame of reference will usually fail and cause miscommunication between the parties involved. This can be because of differences of gender, culture, age or even education levels. Changing the fundamental way in which a person thinks or feels can lead to better communications between the parties involved. "Due to the rapid changes brought about by globalization it is vital to understand that we react to our environment, its teachings and its belief systems. A lack of understanding of our most cherished and deeply held values can lead to considerable stress and feelings of anger. We must be especially sensitive toward the areas of religion, racial equality, moral behavior, privacy, justice and fair play"(Swaenpoel, 2005).
Ever gone into work and found that several coworkers are in a panic over the promotion of someone from outside of the office to a position of authority? They wonder why everyone is so upset. When talking with coworkers, it is discovered that two of them had applied for the position of supervisor. These coworkers feel that they were passed over for the promotion. The manager, we will use the name Mr. Smith, did not speak to the candidates that applied for the promotion and did not interview them before making the decision and the announcement of the new person coming in.
From the example above, can it be determined why the workers were upset? The manager, Mr. Smith, did not inform the office candidates of the decision to hire someone from outside before making the formal announcement, which caused hard feelings from the two inside candidates. This can lead to the new supervisor having problems getting the office staff to accept them and causing their authority to be questioned. How could this have been stopped before it got started? The manager, Mr. Smith, could have spoken to the inside candidates to
References: (1) Adkins, Ben. (07/28/05) The secret word for workplace relations is R-E-S-P-E-C-T. In Fort Worth Business Press Vol. 18 Issue 30, p38-38 1/4p. Retrieved June 29, 2006 from EBSCO HOST Research Databases. (2) Green, Thad B. (1999) Handling Conflicts. Journal of Workplace Learning Vol. 11, Issue 1. Retrieved July 8, 2006 from ProQuest (3) Lehman, Carol M., & Taylor, G. Stephen. (June 1994)A role-playing exercise for analyzing intercultural communication. In Bulletin of the Association for Business Communication, 57, p23(10). Retrieved June 30, 2006, from InfoTrac OneFile via Thomson Gale: http://find.galegroup.com/itx/infomark.do?&contentSet=IAC-Documents&type=retrieve&tabID=T002&prodId=ITOF&docId=A15638067&source=gale&userGroupName=uphoenixcustom&version=1.0 (4) Swaenpoel, Stefan, (2005) Bridge Over Troubled Water. The Success Series: Cross-Cultural Communications. Retrieved Online July 11, 2006 from www.swanepoel.com/articles/archives/success-series/bridgeoverwater2005.htm (5) Wiio, Osmo, (March 20, 2006) www.businesswest.com , Management A Workplace Hazard: Communications in an article by Ann Latham.