The Importance Of Communication In The Workplace

912 Words2 Pages

Communication is essential to a productive and harmonious workplace environment. We are always communicating whether verbally or with through body language. According to our text, “…Individuals spend nearly 70 percent of their waking hours communicating” Robbins & Judge (2009). aGood use of a reference-but check the need for a page or paragraph (if an online source) number in direct quotes.
Quote from website – use paragraph number According to, “…” (Smith, 2000, para. 4).
Work Experience Throughout my life I have had quite a few jobs. Often times many of the issues that would arise, was the result of a break or lack of communication. I have always been a proponent of open and diverse methods of communication …show more content…

Ironically, it seems that now that we have so many methods to communicate with an associate, either via email, instant messenger, Skype, text or telephone, one would think that communication has become more effective. Despite all of these resources, communication throughout many organizations is the perhaps no more advanced than before use of this tools. In a previous company where I worked, we relied so much on tools to communicate that many employees avoided face to face communication altogether. It was odd to have an employee pass me in the hall, just to return to their desk and send me an email asking a question that could have happened face-to-face. Many of the members on my team would send an Instant Messenger notification to another employee, rather than taking a few steps to engage in a face to face conversation. It appears that the tools have caused many of us to develop a type of avoidance personality. Many of the meetings I sat in, employees would remain busy typing on their laptops rather than engage in the purpose of the …show more content…

This includes email, text messages, networking software, Web logs, and video conferencing (Robbins & Judge, 2009). This is why it is so important that mental models are established within workplace environments. These types of work teams will allow each team member to be converse and come to a common understanding of what is expected for a particular task or project. Electronic communication lacks the personal piece and can lead to the misinterpretation of messages due to an implied or inserted undertone of a written message. One limitation mentioned by Robbins & Judge (2009) is communicating negative messages. In many cases, a quick reply when angry can cause snowball effect very quickly. I remember an incident a work where a conversation via email became hostile between two coworkers. The email replies continued to be sent back to back. Unfortunately, profanities became directed towards another employee and the sender was unsuccessful in recalling the message before everyone listed in the email could view it. Consequently, this caused a really great employee to suffer a suspension which ultimately ended in termination. As mentioned by Soylu (2011). “employees who have exploitative or abusive managers are more likely to learn bullying behaviours from their managers via social learning, and in turn, bully their peers or subordinates.” aGood use

Open Document