Comm 291 Communications | Effective Assessment Answers

1. What factors (steps in the perception process and influences on perception) are influencing your perceptions of the other person in the scenario (Donnie)? Explain why. What factors may be influencing his perception of you? Explain why.

2. What common tendencies in perception may be occurring in this situation, on the part of . _ both participants (you and Donnie)? Explain why. 

3. What communication techniques can you use to check that your interpretation of the situation is correct? If you wish, write out what you would say to the other person. 

4. Conclude your report by recommending specific ways to ensure that you can communicate effectively to avoid misperceptions in this Situation or her similar work situations in the future. 

Introduction

Interpersonal communication is exchanging information between two or more people. It is the process of interaction between co-worker, superiors and subordinates in varying relational situation known as interpersonal communication at workplace. This interaction involves four components such as sender, message, channel and receiver (Trenholm & Jensen,2008). In this context, a case study reflecting the interpersonal communication of a competent professional and Donnie has been referred for analysing the report. For this purpose, various factors which influences the personal perception of competent professional has been explained. Apart from this, different communication techniques for checking the correctness of personal interpretation of the situation has been described and appropriate recommendations have also been provided to avoid the misperception.

Factors influences perception

Perception is a process of interpreting something, on the basis of what a person sees or hears in mind and use that information later to judge and give a verdict on situation, person, group etc. (Wood, 2015). However, the perception of people depends on the situation, mood and several other factors of the personal through which a situation belongs.

On the basis of given scenario, there are various factors which can influence perception of competent professional and Donnie’s behaviour in the following way-Expectation is the important which factor which influences the perception of people to a great extent. At this juncture, the expectation of competent professional towards the Donnie influences his perception because he always expected him to behave in certain manner like start shift with him and also sharing the responsibility. Donnie’s changed behaviour compared to competent professional’s expectation in terms of non-verbal attitude and coming late influences his perception. Owing to this, initially he perceived that Donnie is becoming careless or depended on him; however, as experienced person he may perceived that Donnie was facing some sort of personal issues which he can solve by using effective communication techniques with him.

Another factor including self-concept, mood and interest, workplace situation has significant impact on the Donnie’s perception. It may be influenced by his different interest of work or his mood which may changes his behaviour at workplace. However, the mood swings occur frequently in the young age which tends to shape their perception and influence behaviour of individual to a great extent (Lee & Brand, 2005).

Common tendency in perception

Perception tendency is the unique characteristics of each individual that how they tend to see the things on the basis of their background and mental state (Michotte, 2017). These are common perception tendencies which could be occurred in the given situation

• The initial common perception tendency can occur in this situation is that competent professional assumes Donnie is similar to him and vice versa. However, it has already been reflected in the case that he is quite responsible and passionate towards his works and believes in team play which he is assuming the same for Donnie because initially Donnie was well- disciplined and was sharing responsibility. At the same time, it may be possible that Donnie perceived that he is like him more casual in behaviour. This tendency of assuming each other similar may influences their perception (Journalism and communication, 2018).
  
  
• Attention to negative attributes-is the tendency of focusing on the negativity also influence the perception of individual. Here, competent professional might be paying attention on negative traits of Donnie whereas he may emphasize on his impatient behaviour with clients and another employee. However, Donnie might have perceived that competent professional is handling his part of work and it is not necessary to be one time every day. Apart from this, Donnie might be taking the responsible nature of competent professional as negative as it creates the workload.
  
  
• Higher expectations- This is the main tendency which can occurs between both the participants. Donnie expected that competent professional expected that collectively team will achieve the targets before the time whereas Donnie have perceived that his colleague is competent enough so it is not bad if he does arrive on time in the shifts. Also, his age and friendly nature might have increased his expectation towards the competent professional to accommodate his part of work for some time.

Communication technique to check perception

Communication technique is the ability to convey the information from one end to another. It could be done by verbally, nonverbally and written depending on the situation (Robles, 2012). In the given situation, both the parties are not on talking term so it increases the possibility of emergence of different perception. It requires right communication technique so as to check the correctness of interpreted situation for which two methods such as nonverbal and verbal communication can be used (McShane & Von Glinow 2013). With the use of these two methods, competent professional and Donnie can check their perception. However, the non-verbal communication may shape the wrong perception since the real situation remains hidden (Broadbent, 2013). On the contrary, verbal communication gives chances to get the view point of each party through which they can clarify regarding the situation under consideration. It consists of three basic elements including two possible interpretation, clarification and description.

To check the perception accurately it is must that competent professional’s communication timing is appropriate and he listen Donnie’s side carefully. For this purpose, competent professional would ensure that he talks to Donnie face to face after the working hours by using the verbal communication. It would be helpful in getting the information regarding the issues which are being faced by Donnie which caused significant change in his behaviour. It has also been evidenced in the case wherein competent professional asked Donnie regarding the need of verbal communication and issues which are faced related to his lateness and casual behaviour at workplace. For example, he might begin the talk in this manner “I noticed that you haven’t talking to me from some days; (hold for a while with disappointment facial expression) i am not sure that you have trouble with me or facing any issue related to your personal life”. It shows that verbal and non-verbal communication are combined to assess the views or exact issue of the Donnie. Another form of communication can be like this; “I understand that shifts timing is quite early and there is lot of work pressure, is this difficult for you to cope up with it or you are going through some sort of competitive issues, what is the problem are you facing?”. In this circumstance, the response of Donnie would be helpful in tracking the personal interpretation of competent professional.

Conclusion

 This report concludes that perception is the major factor of interpersonal communication in an organization. The employee relationships and workplace environment depend on how the receiver receiving the information and what would be his interpretation (Wester, 2009). It has also been concluded that the various factors including expectations, mood and interest also affect the perception shaping procedure of an individual. However, the use of different communication techniques including verbal and non-verbal validates the developed perception of the involved parties. The analysis reflects that both parties should use the appropriate degree of communication in order to clarify the facts and figures related to the issue under consideration. Also, the verbal communication should be used through which parties can help in avoid the misinterpretation. However, the perception development tendency should be positive rather negative.

References

Broadbent, D.E., 2013. Perception and communication. Elsevier.

Johnson, W., 2018. perception effects in the workplace. [Online]. Available at:< https://smallbusiness.chron.com/perception-effects-workplace-35172.html> [Accessed on 17 October 2018].

Jounalism and communication, 2018. Common Perceptual Tendencies. [Online]. Available at:<https://wecommunication.blogspot.com/2015/11/common-perceptual-tendencies.html>. [Accessed on 17 October 2018].

Lee, S. Y., & Brand, J. L. (2005). Effects of control over office workspace on perceptions of the work environment and work outcomes. Journal of environmental psychology, 25(3), 323-333.

McShane, S., & Von Glinow, M. (2013). Organizational Behavior. New York, New York: McGraw-Hill/Irwin.

Michotte, A. (2017). The perception of causality. Routledge.

Robles, M. M. (2012). Executive perceptions of the top 10 soft skills needed in today’s workplace. Business Communication Quarterly, 75(4), 453-465.

Trenholm, S., & Jensen, A. (2008). Interpersonal communication (pp. 10-12). New York: Oxford University Press.

Wester, M. (2009). Cause and consequences of crises: How perception can influence communication. Journal of Contingencies and Crisis Management, 17(2), 118-125.

Wood, J. T. (2015). Interpersonal communication: Everyday encounters. Nelson Education.