Communication Phenomena and its Relation to Interpersonunication
Communication is typicallyrtrayed by the act or basically the process of passing of information from one person to another using different forms of communication. Communication is very important in every aspect of life starting from the basic conversation, in education, political governance and mostly in trade and economic activities which are the backbone of every economy. Communication is useful in terms of passing of the information, relating to other people by passing of information from one person to another and also is used a primary source of persuasion. Therefore, without communication there are less things that can actually take place. Communication helps people to be more productive, have better control of their opinions and ideas, consistence and flow of the conversation and finally better response in accordance to the questions.
Therefore, the essence of this particular class is to explore more on the phenomena of communication using one or more examples. Also, the article will explain more on the aspect of interpersonal relationship and how it relates to the communication phenomena. The scientific study of communication can be easily be divided into three major divisions. Firstly, it is the communication studies. This specific division deals with human communication as its major concern. The other division is the Biosemiotics. Biosemiotics basically deals with communication between all the living organisms in general. Lastly, is the information theory which majors in the studies of storage, quantification and communication of information in general. All the three are basically the most effective divisions in the scientific study of communication. Therefore, from the above information, it is certain that communication is such a wide topic that needs a lot of emphasis to be understood. There is also the importance of having skills that will help understand how communication works and all the aspects that it.
- Interpersonal communication
In simple terms, interpersonal communication is the communication between one person and another or between a number of people. Interpersonal communication is also well known as face-to-face communication between people. For interpersonal communication to take place, then people should be present and active to take part in the communication. Verbal and non-verbal communication both important roles in interpersonal communication.
The ethnographic perspective of communication is the study of communication-based on cultural and social beliefs and practices. The ethnographic in communication was first introduced in 1962 by Dell Hymes. This aspect was initially known as the ethnography of speaking but it was broad into communication in 1964. There are two major purposes of this study. Firstly, the study aims at investigating the use of language in the context in different situations as a way of discerning patterns for proper speech activities. The other purpose is to take into consideration the framework of communication in the community and explore the unrestricted habits of communication in society.
Communication is, therefore, a combination of language and thought since the two works together. To communicate, there should be a common language for easy understanding between the participants and also people should think in order to have consistency throughout the conversation in accordance with the topic in question. The two communication phenomena are organizational communication and group communication. Organizational communication takes place in an organization for its benefits. The nature of such communication is professional since it takes place between the manager and the employees. Examples of such communication are meetings and discussions in the company. On the other hand, group communication is the type of conversation that is carried in a group or groups. The advantage of this group communication is that it can also take place on social media platforms like Facebook. Later in this paper, I will elaborate more on the relationship between these two phenomena and interpersonal communication.
The major purpose of teaching this class is to identify how the interpersonal relationship works with other aspects of communication. The main objectives of this particular class are to recognize the importance of interpersonal relationships and the different ways that can be used to improve interpersonal communication among people. Therefore, the main part of doing out the research on this particular paper is to explore communication theories and how they affect the existence of an effective and consistent communication. On the phenomena part, I will discuss the roles that the given phenomena play in ensuring that there is a sense of power, how the distance affects the communication, solidarity, and intimacy experienced during the communication process. also, I will the selected phenomena can affect an occurrence of any conflicts and breakdowns during a conversation. Interpersonal communication can be affected by a number of reasons that may make communication ineffective. Sometimes, the barriers to effective communication can affect interpersonal communication so badly that the parties don’t even get to understand the basic and major objectives and goals of their communication.
To have a better understanding of the aspect of interpersonal communication, there are a number of important issues that will be addressed in this particular paper.
There are a number of objectives of interpersonal communication. Firstly, it is to define culture and interpersonal communication. Identify all the effective skills that are important for the competence of interpersonal communication. The other important objective is to identify the challenges and barriers to intercultural communication. The other objective is to identify the impact of interpersonal communication in dealing with patients and ad the quality of health care services. Lastly, interpersonal communication is important in describing important strategies regarding the effectiveness of interpersonal communication to ensure the performance of intercultural work.
Culture simply means human creation also culture is an effectual part of the human environment. Therefore, interpersonal communication is an important part of our culture in ensuring that things are achieved effectively with no obstacles. To understand the importance of interpersonal communication in society is then important to identify the common cultural differences that are present in our culture. These differences are; perception of space, perception of time, verbal communication, nonverbal communication and fate, and personal responsibility. Therefore, interpersonal communication is very important in society since it ensures that there are social contact, social responsibility, and international relations and interactions. For nations around the world to interact well, then interpersonal communication must be in place. Communication is very important in ensuring that there are diplomatic relations among countries around the world. Therefore, to ensure that the world is at peace, there is the setting of diplomats from different that ensures that the individual countries are always at peace with each other.
To know and recognize if the interpersonal communication is at best of its performance, then there are a number of indicators that show that. Such indicators are motivation, knowledge in terms of communication language and choice of thoughts, the skills involved like listening, speaking and empathy, attitudes self-awareness, and the attitudes of other people involved. For interpersonal communication to be effective, then people should be motivated towards the subject of the meeting or the conversation. For instance, in a company, the participants must first acknowledge the topic and be motivated to fully participate without any kind of hindrance of any kind. When there is proper motivation with the people, then it is very easy and effective to ensure that the flow of communication is observed and also the aim of the meeting is fulfilled. With interpersonal communication, there is the improvement of the attitudes between people as they communicate making it easy to observe respect among the people as they communicate. Different people react differently towards different topics making it hard sometimes to ensure that all the respect is observed at all times. With interpersonal communication, then there is an indicator of attitudes that different people have. With interpersonal communication, then people are able to have the ability to communicate with other people in the way that they earn their respect through their conversation. Therefore, it is for certain that interpersonal and intercultural communication works hand in hand in each and every aspect of the world of communication.
Intercultural communication is also an indicator of knowledge which can be displayed in terms of cultures and communication language. Communication is comprised of both languages and thought. A person takes time to think about what to say or communicate about and then uses language as the mechanism of explain or talking out the thought. Therefore, intercultural communication ensures that people use the perfect communication language and cultures. People come from different cultures and therefore it is not possible to always understand each and everything that involves the other culture. In order to ensure that there is mutual respect among the people as they communicate will help in ensuring that a person uses the right communication language according to a particular culture to ensure that he/she does not have to offend the other person. Another importance of having intercultural communication is to ensure that people are able to acquire different skills that help them in communicating with each other effectively. Such skills are listening, speaking, and empathy. When communicating, it is important to ensure that people have effective communication skills that them in communicating in a clear way that is easy for the other partner to understand.
Communication skills that are important and ensure that communication flows well are, listening, straight speaking, emotion control, stress management, and empathy. When people are communicating it is important for them to listen and speak with turns. A proper conversation is the one that has a participant that give each other a chance to speak as they listen and vice versa. For instance, in a company’s meeting, it cannot have all the people who are talking with no one listening. Therefore, each and every participant should be given their chance. Also, for a conversation to meet the objective of a particular meeting, then the people involved should have a chance to give out their ideas and opinions in order to have a strong conclusion and an effective decision at the end of the session. Also, communication skills like straight-talking in giving the direct point of a conversation without using too many words which also helps in saving time of the participants in communication. Stress management is also very important in intercultural communication. Emphasizing on a particular point helps a lot in making a person understand the information and the message that is been conveyed without struggling so much. Therefore, stress management is important in making interpersonal communication and intercultural communication to be easier to understand at any time. Another communication skill that is important in intercultural communication is emotion control. Different people react differently on different occasions making it hard to communicate effectively. Therefore, with intercultural communication, a person is able to control his/her emotions in order to fit and respond effectively in a group.
As discussed above, communication skills play a huge in interpersonal and intercultural communication respectively. Communication skills are essential allowing oneself and others in understanding information quickly and in an accurate way to ensure that there are no misinterpretations of any information that is outlined. With good written and verbal communication skills, people are also able to deliver the message in an effective and accurate way. Good communication skills are also important in ensuring that people are able to avoid frustrations while communicating and giving information. Therefore, with intercultural communication, people are able to have the most appropriate and effective communication ever making it easier in passing information. In business, communication skills help the organization in attaining the objectives of the company without so many challenges. Communication is the key to the success of any organization. Better communication helps in research and making better decisions that will help in improving the activities in a company. Also, with better communication, there is the assurance of making more money and improving the profits and revenue of the organization. Highly skilled communicators make more and more money. In any company, there is the need to have very effective and skilled communicators who are responsible for convincing people about the goods and services of the company and their benefits in consumption. A good and skilled communicator is always aware of the type of language to use when convincing a customer or other stakeholders in joining the company or taking part in the consumption and use of the company’s goods and services.
When there is good interpersonal and intercultural communication, it is then easy for the communicators to have higher self-esteem. Studies have shown that over the years the people who have good and effective communication skills are able to improve on their self-esteem whenever there are communicating. In the case of a company’s representation, it is important to give the presentation to a person who has good communication skills since such people informed and high self-esteem compared to people who have low esteem who are always anxious when presenting. Therefore, it is important to ensure that such people are always given the part in the presentation of the company’s works.
In society and our communities today, it is also very important to ensure that people acquire the best communication skills to ensure that there are peace and harmony in the presence of communication. In families, good communication skills are important in ensuring that there is unity among the family members. In entrepreneurship, entrepreneurs are able to have top traits that help their business to be successful. Communication is the key to the success of the business. When a person is in the business world, he/she should always be considerate of the tune of the language they use and also the way they communicate to the customers. It is certain that in business the customer is always right and therefore it is important for the business people to be calm and considerate whenever they are conversing with the customers to ensure that they don’t use words and poor communication skills that will offend and provoke them.
Effective communication skills are also important in that they play an important role in the development of leadership skills. A good leader is an outspoken leader. In the world today, it is not effective for people to have any leader who is scared and not bold to speak his/her mind. The only reason why people decide to choose a particular leader is because of their potential to represent the views and the concern of other people. Therefore, when people have proper and effective communication skills then it is very easy for them to develop and acquire leadership skills that are appropriate in leading other people. To be a leader means to be selfless and for a leader to be selfless, he/she must have the communication skills that in giving the needs of the people a priority.
There are a number of common threads that should be considered in intercultural communication. To understand that, a person needs to understand the model of intercultural communication competence. So much has changed in the world we are living in today compared to before. For instance, the traveling that used to take so many days today is just a matter of hours. The business dealings that were only confined to locally located economies are now spread and recognized all over the world. The world has now become one integrated small community where people can easily travel from one country to another. Also, people can send information miles away from where one is located. Therefore, intercultural communication has made the world a better place to live and an easy place to cope with the daily challenges that people in their daily lives. To understand the competence of intercultural communication is important to first understand that the communication itself is an intercultural context and therefore it is competent when it accomplishes the objectives of the actor in the manner that is appropriate. In this particular part of the study, context simply implies the function, place, function, and relationship (Spitzberg & Brunner, 1991). Communicative knowledge is important since it helps in increasing communicative competence. A person needs to have the best interaction functions.
The relevance of Interpersonal Communication to Mass Communication
For the longest time now, interpersonal communication has been recognized as an appropriate mediator in the world of mass communication from the media to the larger public population. Therefore, interpersonal communication is an important indicator in the world of mass communication and all media-related communications. According to the flow of communication, most people their opinions from the media and the opinion of the leaders. Media is an effective mechanism when it comes to the flow of information around the globe. According to a number of studies, it has also been proven that mass communication and interpersonal communication also plays an important role in the logic of their effectiveness. For instance, during elections and campaigns, leaders use their communication skills to persuade their followers into electing them while in turn they use and take advantage of different media houses that them in passing the information.
Despite all the importance and advantages that people benefit from the interactions between mass communication and interpersonal communication, there are questions that from the use of social networking networks like Facebook that primarily are achieved through the use of electronic devices. Such communication devices do not give proper access in terms of the facilitation of nonverbal communication.
Context of Interpersonal Communication
The term context simply refers to the environmental factors that always influences the outcomes or the working of communication in one way or another. These factors include place, time, gender, culture, environment as a whole, interest, and even the family relationships among people in the community. A single situation can always result in the involvement of a number of the above factors. A communication situation can not be affected by only one factor rather it will be affected by a number of factors as said earlier. For instance, in a family, interpersonal communication can be affected by the gender and the age of the family members and also the interests of every person represented in that particular family. Therefore, the context of interpersonal communication is expected to include all the active aspects of social channels and the situational milieu and all the linguistic backgrounds of the active participants in a conversation and the developmental stage and the maturity of the people participating in a conversation.
Situational Milieu can be basically be defined as the combination of the physical and social environments under which a particular situation took place. For instance, places like supermarket check places, classrooms, military conflicts can be considered as good examples of the situational milieu. On the other hand, weather, physical location, and season are also good examples of milieus. Therefore, in order to understand what is the meaning of a particular communication, then context is one of the major factors that should be considered at the primary level. Interpersonal communication is therefore affected by internal and external noise. External noise is the kind of noise that affects communication but from the outside factors. On the other hand, internal noise also affects interpersonal communication but from internal factors. Therefore, internal noise is a description of the cognitive factors of interference in the transaction of interpersonal communication. Channels of communication are other factors that affect the effectiveness of interpersonal communication. As stated earlier in the study, interpersonal communication is the face to face communication and therefore its effectiveness can be easily affected by the channel that is used. The channels of communication can either be asynchronous or synchronous. Synchronous communication is the type of communication channel that usually takes place in real-time. In this case, real-time means face to face communication or direct communication through a telephone. In this case, all the present participants are active in that one person listens and the other one speaks and vice versa, and immediate feedback are given. Asynchronous communication channels, on the other hand, that the information can be sent and received at different times. For instance, in the case of e-mails, the sender can send information at a particular time but the receiver might take long before seeing the information and even more time before replying.
The other aspect of the context of interpersonal communication is cultural and linguistics backgrounds. As we know from the studies and different researches, linguistic is defined as the study of languages. The concept of the study of languages can be divided into three sections. The form of the language, the meaning of the language, and finally the function or rather the context of the language. In terms of the form of language, it simply means the words that are used in the language, the sounds, and how the choice of different words is used to make sentences. Meaning is the other concept that simply concentrates on the significance and the importance of words and sentences that have been put together by human beings. Lastly, context or rather a function means tries to interpret words and sentences that have been said as a way of understanding why the person is communicating in a certain way.
The cultural background comprises the human concept that is made up of the customs, beliefs, attitudes, and values of different groups and origins of the people. Culture is a very crucial and effective mechanism in communication since it helps in the transmission of complex ideas, situations, and feelings during the process of communication. Therefore, it can be ascertained in a clear way that the more differences there are among the communicating parties the more differences there will be in the communication styles. Therefore, before engaging in communication or taking part in a conversation it is very important for a person to first know and understand the backgrounds of the other participant for easy communication and understanding of information. Also, it is equally important to understand the economic and political stand of the people before making a decision to encode a particular message. Therefore, it doesn’t matter if communication is verbal or nonverbal but either way, it is vulnerable to be affected by different types of social and cultural effects. These factors are the religion, social organization, cultural history of a person, language used, and finally the value which can be separated between cultural and personal values.
It is normal for communication to occur between people from different cultures in the verbal and nonverbal forms. The cultural histories and different cultures affect people from different communities. People come from different communities that develop their own ways of communicating and the choices of words to use. Beliefs and prshould of different people from the different background also verbal communication in a wider way. On the other hand, nonverbal communication is affected most by eye contact and the roles they play in different cultures and groups of people. For instance, touching as a form of greetings is seen as a taboo in some communities while in others especially the western nations it is normal. Therefore, the simplest way of ensuring that such controllable factors do not affect the effectiveness of communication, then it is important for people to acknowledge and understand such cultural differences and come up with ways that ensure that those factors don’t affect communication rather improves on it. Since the development of communication skills is not a process that stops at some time rather it happens throughout the life of a person, then people should always recognize the fact that they have a chance to improve and make interpersonal communication more and more effective with every day. It is certacreate the majority of language development mostly takes place during the early childhood and infancy stage for most people.
Theories in Interpersonal Communication
There are a number of theories in interpersonal communication as will be discussed in this particular section. The first theory is the uncertainty and reduction theory. This particular theory was developack in 1975. The theory is well recognized as the socio-psychological perspective. Therefore, the uncertainty reduc,tion theory simply addresses the process of the most effective ways to gain knowledge about other people. According to the studies of this theory, it is certain that people have difficulty with proper certainty on communication. In order for the people to improve on their certainty level and their behaviors while interacting with other people, they are then motivated into seeking information about other people prior to the interaction.
This particular theory also tries to argue that in the case of strangers, there are a number of steps that should be taking to ensure that the level of uncertainty among them is minimized to the lowest point. The idea of if they like each other or not is also a matter that shouldd be a major concern to ensure that the information flows well. People usually make plans of achieving their goals and meeting their set objectives mostly through the use of communication. Therefore, in some situations, people will become more concerned and vigilant about the information they are getting and also the information that is available at their disposal. Therefore, it is important for an individual to be concerned about what other people are thinking and their objectives and try to communicate in a way that will help motivate them. When a person goes through a reduction in the certainty level at any point, then the initial plan or objective there is the loss of confidence making a person make some contingency plans at the end of the day. According to this theory of uncertainty, it also explains that when there are very high levels of uncertainty, then people creates distances between them making it hard for interpersonal communication to take place. Therefore, it is very important for people to observe the uncertainty levels as they communicate to ensure that they don’t create more and more distances in their communication.
According to the stud of this theory, uncertainty can be reduced in three effective ways. Firstly, are the passive strategies. Passive strategies involve the observation of a particular person. With the passive strategies it is very easy for a person to observe a person and learn a few things about them even before engaging in any conversation with them. At least by so doing it is a bit easier for the person to be able to come up with effective mechanisms that will help reduce the levels of uncertainty. The second way that can be used in reducing the level of uncertainty are active strategies. Active strategies are when a person decides to ask other people questions that will help them know more about them before engaging in any conversation. Also, by the use of active strategies, people are able to seek information about other people before having a direct conversation with them. The last aspect that is important in the reduction of the uncertainty levels are interactive strategies. In this case, interactive strategies involve the asking of questions and self-disclosure. In this case, a person asking the respondent some questions on specific things as a way of knowing them better before engaging in any communication. Therefore, from the information above, it is certain that uncertainty reduction theory is mostly applicable to the initial interaction context. Schoolers and other professionals have therefore taken a step forward and extended the framework of uncertainty theory with other theories like motivated information management and uncertainty management. With the help of the two extended theories, it is very easy for people to learn on different and effective mechanisms that helps them in reducing the uncertainty levels during the communication process.
The second theory is the social exchange theory. This particular theory unlike the uncertainty theory it is categorized under the symbolic interaction perspective. The theory helps in predicting, explaining and describing whenever an individual reveal or gives out certain information that is related to them. The theory also has a great connection with the Thibaut and Kelly (1959) interdependence theory. The interdependence theory states that in the process of unfolding the social-exchange aspects among people, there is an effect on the relationship growth and development between people that are active in a particular conversation. Therefore, the social exchange theory goes ahead and explains that the main and effective mechanism to enhance interpersonal communication is by have a way of satisfying the personal interest of the both parties. According to the social exchange theory, then it is the human nature to work hard towards maximization of rewards and minimization of costs using all the applicable means. Therefore, according to the theory, it is important to understand that human interaction is a common aspect when it comes to economic transactions.
The other important theory that is worth knowing and appreciating in the study of interpersonal communication is symbolic interaction. The symbolic interaction basically relies on the shared information between interactions people have with others since the theory is an aspect that is closely related to the socio-cultural perspective. The primary purpose of the theory of symbolic interaction is to focus on the ways that people forms meaning and structure through the different interactions in the society. It is a clear aspect that people are always motivated to act in ways that are basically based on the meaning and reasonings that they assign to different individuals, things, places and events. Therefore, according to symbolic interaction, it is certain that the world consists of social objects that are well named and determined and also have convinced socially meanings. In the theory of symbolic interaction, there are three major concepts that are important in the working of this theory. These are society, self and mind. The society in this case implies the social acts that involves the initial gestures of an individual and the response to that particular gesture from the other person and the final result in the conversation. Self on the other hand emphasizes on the self-image that usually comes from the interaction that a person has with other people. Lastly, it is the mind. The mind implies the ability to use significant symbols that ensure that thinking is possible. From the information provided above, it is certain that people need to have knowledge on how to make interpersonal communication effective as a simple way of avoiding uncertainty in the information given and also avoiding instances of misinterpretation of information during any form of conversation.
Role of communication theory in Ethnography and Cultural Analysis
Communication theory is the branch that deals with the effective knowledge that is concerned with the methods and principles that are appropriate in conveying a particular message of information (Poutianinen & Gerlander, 2009). Therefore, communication theory plays a huge role when it comes to cultural analysis and ethnography. As said earlier, the ethnography in interpersonal mainly deals with cultural and social beliefs and practices in communication. To clearly understand this part, it is important to discuss on the different models that are used in communication. Firstly, it is the linear model. Linear model of communication only works in one direction. In this model, the sender encodes the message and sends it to the receiver who decodes it using one way. Secondly, it is the interactional communication model. This type of communication usually works in bidirectional way. Using the interactional model, the participants sends and receive messages in a continuous way and both of them are involved in encoding and decoding of the information. The last model of communication is the transactional model that assumes that the messages are sent in simultaneous ways.
The other important part is on the elements or components of communication. There are about eight elements of communication that for communication to be effective, then it must have the sender, the receiver, the message, feedback, the channel or medium of communication and finally the entropic elements both in the negative and positive form.
In the past decade, the students of the interpersonal communication could have urges from other people and investigators to explore more on the natural communication regarding the social life (Steve, 1991). The ethnography is explained as a cyclical investigative process that helps in understanding the natural and social way of the interpersonal communication. According to the sociocultural model, ethnography has been determined and designed into reading in theoretical focus and cultural interpretive (Carbaugh, 1991; Philipsen, 1977, 1989). The description of the process involves three important phases which are pre field work, field work and post field work. The pre field work phase basically involve the readings about the ethnographic theory and all the methods that are involved in that as a way of conceptualizing communication as a sociocultural life.
On the other end, field work phase is involved in the readings about specific intellectual challenges that the any ethnographer would find interesting. Such problems are address terms, speech terms, emotional expression and symbolizing personhood. Lastly, the post-field work phase emphasizes on the readings about the diverse local patterns of communication used in the ethnographic research (Philipsen, 1997). From the above-mentioned phases, it will be important to know and address the characteristics of communication from this vintage point of view.
Communication theory is very important when it comes to ethnography and cultural analysis. For the last few decades, interpersonal students around the globe have been urging investigators and schoolers to put more emphasizes on the socially situated events and scenes in the society as a way of clearing on the exploration of the natural communication of the social life today (Carburg &Sally, 2018). When the term social is used to characterize on the general approach of the interpersonal communication, then the aspect in this case is based using the distinctive approach. Some of the common connotations of the social aspect are hearing and speaking. Therefore, for any form of communication to be accomplished, then the two social aspects of hearing and speaking should be present (Stewart & Philipsen, 1985). Another important aspect in this section is the adequately ambulatory theory of communication. This particular theory emphasizes if people would stand firm with their personal ideas and opinions, then the societies will equally stand firm with their cultural foundations. People are meant to keep the cultures and beliefs of their particular societies in existence no matter what. Therefore, for the cultural forms of communication and other beliefs in a particular community to continue being in existence, then the people in that particular community should be ready and willing to stand firm with their own personal opinions and ideas.
Ethnography is recognized as a cyclical investigative process by a number of studies and schoolers. According to the social cultural aspect, there is the suggestion of designing and reading the ethnography purely as a theoretical focus, cultural interpretive, comparative and a descriptive aspect of research (Carbaugh, 1991; Philipsen, 1977, 1989). However, despite the determination, it is very difficult to conduct and design the requirements of the research into the desired model. The aim of this particular section of the study is to give a description of various tasks that go deep into the ethnographic research and situations that shows why ethnography is regarded as cyclical. The common description is the process that brings out the different phases to explain the working of the model. These general phases are pre-field work, field work and post-field work. The first phase, the pre-field work talks about the readings of ethnographic theory and the specific methods that helps in the orientation of different investigators in regard to conceptualizing communication in the social life (Poutiainen & Gerlander, 2009). Communication can therefore be said to be an important part in the running of the social life. People in different communities depends on the forms of communication that are present to ensure that everything goes as planned and according to the expectations of the people.
The second phase is the filed work at the present level. At this phase, the major concerns involve the readings about specific intellectual problems that are experienced in the ethnography field and which the model finds to be interesting. Such problems are face-work, expression of emotions, talking terms, development of relations, address terms, symbolization of personhood and narrative. This particular phase of the ethnography model helps in dealing with the interpersonal concepts of communication. For instance, a person is well known by the simple way that they give out their narratives. The language used and the thoughts of a person helps in determining the kind of a person one is. The acts of speech are also displayed well when it comes to interpersonal communication making people present in a conversation to be cautious of whatever they will say in a conversation. Another aspect in the expression of emotions. During a conversation different people have their own ways of controlling their emotions. Some people would prefer to hide their emotions and just be quite while others will show their emotions by reacting in different ways like walking away from the conversation or talking back to the other people. Therefore, it is very important for people to understand that ethnography plays vital roles in ensuring that people get to know how to communicate effectively in interpersonal communication (Carbaugh, 2013). The other important aspect in this phase is the turn taking. People should learn how to let other speak as they listen. As said earlier, speaking and talking are the basic components of communication and there is no way all the people in group can speak at the same time neither can they all be listening while no one is speaking. Therefore, turn taking is a crucial aspect in interpersonal communication. People should always consider speaking when it is their turn and also listen while others are talking. The other important aspect in the field work phase is the relational development or rather interaction. Therefore, relational development is the when people are determined to show their closeness, intimacy and interdependence with other people. Interpersonal communication helps people in opening up to other people around them. Therefore, interpersonal communication is the sole key to interaction development. Interaction development is made up of several stages. These stages are initiating stage, experimenting, intensifying stage and finally the bonding stage.
The last phase is the post-field work which simply involves the readings about the diverse local patterns of communication withing the ethnographic research that helps in reflecting different aspects (Philipsen, 1977). Firstly, there is the weak commitment in the linear process of the ethnography. In this particular phase, the research is conceptualized in a way that it helps in proving the cyclical form of the ethnographic process in relation to the interpersonal communication.
To understand more on the role of communication theory in the ethnography and cultural analysis, it will be important to first understand all the four phases that theorize interpersonal communication withing the ethnography. The first phase basically involves the orientation of communication (Carbaugh, 2013). The main question that is to be answered in this particular section is the ground of assumptions of a person’s view. Communication orientation plays an important part in ensuring that people get to understand the primary purpose of the speech as a channel to communicate a given message across and to other people. Therefore, for interpersonal communication to be effective, then it is important to understand how orientation works and also understand the purpose of communication even before engaging in it. The second phase theorize the communication activities in different kinds of the communication phenomena. In this particular phase, it is certain that theoretical concern or attention moves from being simple to more comprehensive conceptual of the communication in the first phase. It is important for people to be informed and also know that it is possible for communication concepts to be harder as one goes through the phases.
The third phase is basically the most celebrated phase in ethnography (Philipsen, 1977). In this case, the theory involves the formulation of the general communication ways in regard to specific patterns in communication that are within the socially situated community. theorizing in this stage primarily involves the formulation of a contextual bound, interpretation of communication and sensitive cultural description. This phase is important since people have different ways of creating and interpreting communication. The final phase is the phase of theorizing that involves the direct evaluation of the general theory of communication or rather the general orientation of communication (Carbaugh & Hastings, 1992). This phase is mostly dependent on what has been discovered in the field. To have the best outcome, one is motivated into improving on the general way of looking at the important aspects of communication in the community. To have a clear understanding of the above four phases, then they can be summarized in easier way as follows. The first phase involves the basic orientation of communication. Here, there are the use of vocabularies, assumptions and characters of subsequent communication. The second phase is the activity theory. This theory is basically about the general theory of specific communication activity and the dimensions of activities. The third phase is the situated phase which is basically about the communication practices that are socially situated. The last phase is the evaluation theory which is all about evaluation of relationships between the situated theory and the basic orientation from the first phase and modification of the theory where changes are necessary (Carbaugh, 2013).
- Communication Phenomena
As pointed out earlier, the major communication phenomena that I will discuss in this particular paper are group communication and organizational communication. Both the two phenomena are very important in the aspect of interpersonal communication. The two have a relation to interpersonal relationship. The article on the cross-cultural comparisons of communication Phenomena by Donal Carbaugh helps in understanding how different types of communication phenomena relates to the interpersonal communication. Pure communication involves the use of particular strategies that encourages on to have an open way of expressing their feelings and thoughts. Communication also conveys respect and acceptance among people. On the other hand, interpersonal relationships refer to the social and emotional interactions between a person and other individuals in the in the same environment. Interpersonal relationships are also guided by factors like love, business interactions and solidarity within the conversations of the involved parties.
Therefore, different communicative phenomena are used in different cultural systems in the society. The paper focuses on the uses of important aspects like the performance of speech, interpretation of silence and regulation of talk in a group of people (Carbaugh, 2013). The other important part is on the theories of different communications phenomena. In the interpretation of silence for instance, a person can choose to talk or to remain silent. The main question here is what is message is usually when conveyed when a person decides to remain silent.
The other aspect is on the regulation of talk. Here, the major question is on the effective ways that people uses to regulate their talk in a group. Mostly, non-verbal cues and interactions interactional sequences are primarily used in the regulation of talk. Regulation of talks among people differs from one person to another (Philips). The regulation of talk is the perfect way that helps in ensuring that a conversation flows well without any challenges (Carbaugh, 1990). Some people in a group are more talkative than others and therefore having the regulation of talk helps a lot in giving all the participants a chance to participate positively in the conversation. Regulating talk is also very important in enhancing respect and peaceful co-existence among the people in a group.
Lastly, it is the performance of speech. The study of speech is based on two aspects. The first aspect is the primary distinction between the propositional content of an utterance which is basically involves the prediction and references of the speech (Carbaugh, 1990). The other aspect is on the force of the utterance which is typically the illocutionary force. Therefore, before the performance of any kind of speech, it is important for the people involved in a group to know and understand on the importance of the above-mentioned aspects.
Therefore, communication phenomena are very important in all the present fields of communicato tion. Communication phenomena are crucial in communication studies, crisis communication, environmental communication, cognitive analysis, health communication, conversation analysis ato interpersonal communication. (Carbaugh, 1990). It is certain that communication is a wide filed that is also very vital in the running of different economic, social and political aspects. With proper communication, people are able to pass information across the community to other people. In the world of business, people could not be able to have any kind of success in their businesses without communicationhelp them share ideas and opinions and as a way of reaching a partiinr decision that have benefits to the business and community as a whole.
- Interaction between the Communication Phenomena at the Interpersonal level
The purpose of this particular section is to determine on how the communication phenomena plays roles in the relational dynamics. This part will be divided into two parts; the positivand the negative part. On the positive side, there are relational dynamics like solidarity, sense of power and intimacy. With communication phenomena and interpersonal relations, a person is assured of cquiring aspects like power (Poutianen & Gerlander, 2009). When a person can talk and be listen by a group of people, then he/she has that sense of power within. Also, group and organizational communications as the major communication phenomena discussed earlier, they help a lot in bring solidarity in the group or the company. When people sit together and have a conversation, there is the aspect of sharing of information among the people participants which brings solidarity to the group.
On the negative side, communication phenomena can bring such negative dynamics like conflicts and breakdowns in communication. In most cases, people may in a group or a meeting in a company may not be able to reach on a certain agreement making them resulting into a conflict and finally forgetting the main agenda of the conversation. Also, when there are no proper regulations of talk, the people in a group may not get to understand each other since the people who are more talkative will have all the chance to themselves (Carbaugh & Hastings, 1992). Having no proper ways of the interpretation of speech, then there is the high probability of an occurrence of a breakdown.
Therefore, it is important to appreciate the fact that communication phenomena have both the negative side and the positive side. Knowing that, people will be able to differentiate the effective communication phenomena from those that challenge their communication process. communication phenomena are very important in the study of intercultural and interpersonal communication. Interpersonal communication has proven to be a backbone to so many aspects in the world today. Therefore, people should always find effective ways that will help improve on the interpersonal communication.
Conclusion
In conclusion, interpersonal communication is the key to easy understanding of the message that people try to convey and pass to other people. On the other hand, communication as a whole concept is the key to development, peace, harmony and stability in the countries today. With communication, people are able to make decisions that will help benefit them and other people around them. In the education sector, communication is used as a mechanism to enlighten other people using the knowledge and the thoughts of other people. Professionals in the education sector especially the higher education uses their knowledge to inform students in different educational fields in the society so that they can continue the legacy in the future. Interpersonal communication on its own ensures that people in the society are in the position to relate well and openly with each other for the sake of their development. Interpersonal communication as it has been said earlier in the study, it plays a vital role in helping people to have the perfect orientation of communication forms and speeches.
With the proper and effective communication skills, people are also able to make interpersonal communication effective. Communication skills like listening and speaking are very important since they ensure that there is turn taking during any conversation. It is not possible for all the people in a certain group to be talking at once all of them without giving each other a chance to also engage in the conversation. Therefore, with the communication theories that have been studied above, it is certain that people need the knowledge to understand when to speak and when to listen. Also, from the study above, people can use the knowledge they gain from the different phases of ethnography to help them in the orientation of communication practices in the community.
On the part of the intercultural communication, people should have the know how of making the right choices of the use of language, ways of controlling one’s emotions and choice of the communicating speeches and forms. Intercultural communication therefore plays a vital role in ensuring that people first think before they speak to avoid offending anyone during the communication process. also, with the help of intercultural communication people have the knowledge to understand and appreciate the fact that people come from different backgrounds and that their privacy and the way of doing this should be respected. For instance, in some communities, it is not normal for people to greet as touching while the same aspect is normal in other communities. Therefore, people should always respect that without making other feel like outcasts.
References
Carbaugh, D. O. N. A. L. (1990). Cross-cultural comparisons of communication phenomena. Cultural communication and intercultural contact, 291-302.
Carbaugh, D., & Hastings, S. O. (1992). A role for communication theory in ethnography and cultural analysis. Communication Theory, 2(2), 156-165.
Carbaugh, D. (Ed.). (2013). Cultural communication and intercultural contact. Routledge.
Poutiainen, S., & Gerlander, M. (2009). Cultural dialectics in Finnish advising relationships. In Speech culture in Finland(pp. 85-116). University Press of America.