Introduction
One of the major problems facing organizations in the modern day business society is lack of proper communication within the organization. One of the reasons that can be attached to the problem is lack of the appropriate communication skills to address problems from different angles whenever they sprout. Most of the organizations hardly have good coordination of activities due to flaws in the communication approaches used. It, therefore, as a result, becomes imperative to explore the topic and unveil the hidden treasures in the use of the correct communication skills for the betterment of any organization, regardless of whether it is small or big. From the provisions of this reports, therefore, individuals in any range in the workplace should be aware of when and why to use certain aspects of communication and their respective impacts in the workplace. The purpose of this report is to explore communication in the perspective of interpersonal communication as well as persuasion to be in a position to answer the question why managers should make effective communication a priority.
The meaning of interpersonal communication
The most precise and concise definition if interpersonal communication is “communication between two or more people” and therefore as long as one is communicating with another person or people, that is interpersonal communication. Interpersonal communication has its distinguishing features. For instance, it is characterized by independent individuals whereby each and every one of them has his or her own “motivations, expectations, as well as interpretations of communication” (Purnine, 2016). Another distinguishing feature of this type of communication is that it is inherently rational, an implication that every sent message is meant for being understood. Interpersonal communication is also inescapable in the sense that people can’t stop speaking. The last unique feature of this type of communication is that it involves personal choice. Whatever that means is that one chooses how to communicate based on the fact that he is a rational individual.
Importance of interpersonal communication
Interpersonal communication is one of the types of communication that are very important, as evident from some of its major characteristics explored above. This type of communication is both advantageous to the speaker at an individual level as well as the workplace of the speaker. For instance, it enables an individual to be aware of their environment (Berger, 2016). From the scientific definition of environment as anything that surrounds a human being, this type of communication helped the speaker know the kind of the environment they are living in and thus easily adjust to the requirements. It also enables one acknowledge the feelings of others and create an interpersonal relationship with them. This is one of the most important functions of interpersonal communication as it enables one appreciate other people’s ideology hence live in peace. According to a research done by (Sparks, 2016), interpersonal communication helps one to “focus on positive outcomes of varied viewpoints, while nurturing professional growth.”
Effects of interpersonal communication in the workplace
There are, of, course several effects brought about by the use of interpersonal communication in the workplace. One of them is improved cohesion among the stakeholders. When they communicate, they share meaning and become closer together. It also brings about improved performance. Peace of mind and understanding is a motivation towards performance and as a result, therefore, the proper use of this type of communication brings about improved performance in the workplace (Kiesler, 2016). It also eases the attainment of strategic goals. Communication helps individuals working in an organization know the organizational goals and work towards achieving them. It is, therefore, an indisputable fact that interpersonal communication has a huge effect on the workplace.
Persuasion
Persuasion is communication aimed at “changing a person’s attitude or behavior toward some event, idea, object, or other people (s), by using written or spoken words to convey information, feelings, or reasoning, or a combination of them” (Delia, 2014) Persuasion involves an individual or group of individuals trying to persuade other people to buy their ideologies and embrace them. There are various ways of achieving persuasion. One can use the logical appeal, the pathos or the ethos appeal to convince people to buy their ideas. In few words, persuasion should be viewed as a strive for influencing people to reach a certain decision.
The importance of persuasion
Persuasion is one of the most important communication skills whose importance comes in a number of ways. For instance, it leads to the advancement of one’s career. Since persuasion is not a universal skill like other communication skills, people with high ability to convince are opted for in the job market since they are likely to bring several benefits to the organization. Managing to persuade the management also places the persuasion speaker better in the organization growing their likelihood of attaining a higher rank due to the rare treasure entrusted to them (McCroskey, 2017). This skill also improves sales. It is important to note that sales, whether concerning goods, ideas or services majorly depend on persuasion. It is those people with good convincing skills who manage to turn prospective buyers into opting for a particular commodity (Byrne, 2014). Having a high convincing power, therefore, improves the sales of a particular commodity hence bolstering the status of the producer or the seller. This skill is also important in training. In most of the times, individuals are not willing to attend seminars or meeting because they have a feeling that whatever is going to be spoken in that particular meeting doesn’t belong to them. This skill is imperative in the aspect in that the speaker begins by convincing the audience that what is being spoken is important and relevant to them. The skill also makes one unique and great since their ideas can be bought by anyone.
How to practice the art of persuasion
There are several ways that we can practice the art of persuasion. Firstly, creativity is key. We can practice this fundamental skill by being creative and devising new ways of convincing people every day. We don’t need to rely on the same persuading approach every day as it may become obsolete someday. Again, it is imperative to know the target audience. That enables the speaker to choose the most appropriate language to effectively persuade the audience (Burn, 2016). Therefore, it can be deduced that knowing one’s audience id one of the key pillars of persuasion. We can also practice this skill by the use of different appeals such as the ethos pathos and the logical appeal. We can convince people by appealing to their emotions, making them view us as credible sources of information based on our expertise or using logic to convince them.
Conclusion
The study has found that it is very critical to make the best use of communication in the workplace. If an organization turns to the best use of communication depending on the context and intention, it will definitely start prevailing. Interpersonal communication has been found to be quite important because it lays a pathway towards the achievement of the long-term strategic goals of any organization. It also brings about social cohesion within an organization as well as improved performance and productivity. Persuasion was found to be one of the best communication skills with several significances among them improved sales. After unveiling all that, the objective of the study was met and the question as to why managers should make effective communication a priority was answered.
Recommendations
After the exploration of all the above-discussed fields, it certainly evident that communication is key on every organization. How the communication is done is also important. It is therefore recommended that organizations embrace the art of interpersonal communication since it bears good fruits as far as the well-being of the organization is concerned. It is also recommended that persuasion is widely used by organizations to achieve their goals and improve the sales volume. This skill should also be used as a change management tool in any organization.
References
Berger, C., 2016. Some explorations in initial interaction and beyond: Toward a developmental theory of interpersonal communication. Human communication research, 76(7), pp. 44-65.
Burn, S., 2016. Increasing community recycling with persuasive communication and public commitment. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 6(78), pp. 45-67.
Byrne, R., 2014. Social expertise and the evolution of intellect in monkeys, apes, and humans. Machiavellian intelligence, 5(7), pp. 23-32.
Delia, J., 2014. The development of persuasive communication strategies in kindergarteners through twelfth?graders. Communications Monographs, 23(65), pp. 33-56.
Kiesler, D., 2016. Contemporary interpersonal theory and research. Personality, psychopathology, and psychotherapy, 78(76), pp. 67-84.
McCroskey, J., 2017. A summary of experimental research on the effects of evidence in persuasive communication. Quarterly Journal of Speech, 45(78), pp. 49-65.
Purnine, D., 2016. Interpersonal communication and sexual adjustment: the roles of understanding and agreement. Journal of consulting and clinical psychology, 5(6), pp. 54-66.
Sparks, B., 2016. Online travel reviews as persuasive communication: The effects of content type, source, and certification logos on consumer behavior. Tourism Management, 6(7), pp. 34-54.
