Business Communication for Nonverbal Skills and Body Language

Question: Discuss about theBusiness Communication for Nonverbal Skills and Body Language. Answer: Effective communication According to many scholars, all the achievements made by organizations and companies have been made possible because of communication between people working in those organizations, companies, or firms. Without proper communication, very little can be realized whether it is in terms of development or good and harmonious relationship (Harrison, 2009). Therefore, effective communication is a key factor in the success of relationship and businesses. Consequently, I have been in a case where people I was communicating with perceived wrong information. As I was the team leader, I wanted my juniors to ensure that all the pending projects to be completed within one day. However, since this was linear communication, most of my juniors understood it differently, that is projects to be cleared in the next two days. Barriers to effective communication Barriers to effective communication are things that prevent effective communication between interested parties. Generally, during communication, the sender expects that the whole message is delivered to the receiver (Sole, 2009). However, because the message has to pass through some channels, distortion must occur. These distortions, will not allow the original message to be delivered to the receiver. Some barriers to communication are discussed as under: Noise This is one reason why original messages do not reach the receiver as expected. Noise as one of the potential barriers to communication is divided into two categories; the physical noise and psychological noise. Physical noise refers to physical distraction present in the environment during the time when communication is taking place. The noise may be coming from hooting vehicles, people shouting, excessive hotness, or cold. Consequently, the message may be distorted and will not be encoded properly. Therefore, physical noise can distort communication at any level, for instance, it can hinder communication at the sender, receiver, or at the channel. The second type of noise as a barrier to communication is called psychological noise. It is usually experienced when the sender or the receiver has some inbuilt psychological factors, for example, a sender may have problems in using vocabularies in translating the image into sound such that the receiver can understand it correctly (Battel l, 2006). In this case, the receiver may not get the meaning of the original content of information intended. Consequently, the receiver with a perceived mind may further distort the message by encoding it differently. Since the sender has wrongly interpreted the content of this message from the start, the receiver will also encode very different thing. Language barrier This is one of the most common barriers to effective communication as it is met frequently. It takes place from the fact that people may speak different languages including vernacular languages while others may not either understand nor speak a particular language (Potter, 2002). Consequently, as the sender communicates the message, the receiver may not understand the information, thus a hindrance to communication. Similarly, a language may be too hard for the receiver to understand and this may also lead to the wrong message decoded by the receiver (Help guide, 2016). In some cases, the sender may run short of appropriate language to express his or her information to the audience, therefore, he or she may decide to use a language that befits him or her and leave the rest to the receiver to understand and interpret. It is, therefore, important to choose a language that fits the audience so that misinterpretation of the information is prevented. Cultural differences Apart from noise and language barriers, effective communication may also be hindered by cultural differences. Culture in the social perspective refers to how people carry out themselves, their living styles, norms, and what they do to earn their living. In the world, there are different races, color, ethnic groups, which at any given time carry out their activities differently (Lavy, 2013). This leads to people speaking different languages, practice different cultures among others. Distance and channel The channel of communication is fundamental in ensuring that there is an effective communication between the sender and the receiver. A bad channel will automatically result in distortion of the information (Miller, Biggart, Newton, 2013). The information to be delivered must have done while choosing an appropriate channel for that particular message. Otherwise, if distance and channel were not put into consideration, there would be distortion on the original message Strategies that are used to overcome the barriers Talking to the appropriate audience I realized that because I did not directly pass my information to the responsible people, they had to receive different information from the one that was intended. I realized also that if I can reach my audience directly and physically, I would deliver my information directly without relying on other individuals to do it. The people who were used as channels in this were not affected directly, for instance, it was not their responsibility to complete the projects in time, so they took it less seriously. Choosing the right channel The information could have gone a wrong channel to reach the intended people. Therefore, to overcome the barriers, a sender should choose the right channel to convey the information. Some of these channels include writing or just talking to the people face-to-face. Face-to-face is always an effective means because the sender finds time to meet his or her audience physically and there is room for feedback as well (Nash, 2015). Use of a language that all the participants understand As discussed above, the language barrier is one factor that hinders effective communication. In the modern world, however, people are equipped with different languages, but it is important to ensure that the language being used to convey the message is one that everybody will understand so that they would be able to interpret and encode the correct information. References Help guide. (2016). Nonverbal Communication: Improving Your Nonverbal Skills and Reading Body Language. Helpguide.org. Retrieved 25 November 2016, from https://www.helpguide.org/articles/relationships/nonverbal-communication.htm Harrison, F. (2009). Effective communication. The Communication Guide 2(3), 12-17. Battell, C. (2006). Effective listening (1st ed.).Alexandria, Va.: ASTD Press. Sole, K. (2009). Making connections: Understanding interpersonal communications. Bridge point. Nash, E. (2015). International Education on Principles of Communication. New York: McGraw Hill. Lavy, I. (2013). Soft Skills An Important Key to Communication in the "Shift to a Service-Driven Economy" Era. International Journal of e-Education, e-Business, e-Management, and e-Learning. Miller, L., Biggart, A., and Newton, B. (2013). Basic Communication skills. International Journal of Training and Development, 17(3), pp.173-175. Potter, E. (2002). Improving Communication Skills and Employability in the 21st Century. Industrial and Labour Relations Review, 55(4), p.739