Interpersonal Communication

Dynamic Power Theory Whether we recognize it or not, power is present in all relationships. It could be symmetrical and equal in a friendship or unbalanced and complementary in a parent and child relationship. According to Reflect and Relate , the dynamic power theory is when "people with only moderate power are most likely to use controlling communication and people with high power feel little need to display it." This is because people with little power feel more threatened and more of the need to use it, whereas people with high power d feel less of a need to use it because they know they will get their way if needed.  At my workplace, the security department used to have a supervisor who had little power. His job was only to help with the schedule and make sure everyone was doing their job. He very often used controlling language and it made everyone uncomfortable and irritated. He even tried controlling my departments employees and that ended with backlash from coworkers...

 Workplace Relationships Every job involves workplace relationships, whether that be between an employee and a supervisor or employee and employee, ect. We all have different relationships with the people we work with, and each are expressed in many ways. According to Reflect and Relate , workplace relationships are defined as,"any affiliation you have with a professional peer, supervisor, subordinate, or mentor." These relationships have different dimensions that include status, intimacy, and choice. All jobs are ranked with positions of power and each relationship within the workplace has different levels of intimacy, which we choose to be a part of.  At my workplace, we have our captain or boss, then the lieutenant and Seargent, who are the security departments supervisors, and then the officers, who are the employees.  My relationship with my supervisor or boss may differ from my coworkers. With my boss, I act more professional and serious, whereas I might joke around...

 Communication Apprehension I experience high levels of communication apprehension on an everyday basis but could never put a name to it. According to Reflect and Relate , communication apprehension is the fear or anxiety associated with interaction, which keeps someone from being able to communicate cooperatively. In most interactions I feel discomfort while communicating with people, this can make it difficult for me to communicate effectively or how I would prefer. I tend to avoid social interactions because of this and makes it difficult for me to form relationships. I do not have many friendships; they only contain friends from work, and I never hang out with them outside of work.  According to Reflect and Relate , I can overcome this barrier by developing communication plans, defined as, "mental maps that describe exactly how communication encounters will unfold — prior to interacting in the situations or with the people or types of people that cause your apprehension."...

 Nonverbal Communication We communicate nonverbally every day and might not even realize it. According to Reflect and Relate , nonverbal communication is the intentional or unintentional transmission of meaning through an individual’s nonspoken physical and behavioral cues. Clothing, physical appearance, body language, eye contact, and facial expressions are all different ways we can communicate nonverbally. The unintentional transmission of meaning can be what others perceive from your nonverbal gesture that you did not mean anything by. The intentional transmission of meaning is when we communicate information to another people using nonverbal behaviors, such as sign language or emojis. Learning how to effectively understand nonverbal communication can help us in becoming a better communicator and to better understand the needs of the people we are communicating with, as well as help to determine the ways in which we should respond.   At work, I communicate nonverbally ...

 Sharing Emotions   We often share the majority of our emotional experiences with others. It can help reduce stress and calm us down by having someone to share it with. It can even uplift or cause us to catch others' emotions. Emotion-sharing is defined in Reflect & Relate as a way of communicating our emotions by talking about our emotional experiences with others. We share our emotions in many ways when communicating, such as body language, hand gestures, and facial expressions.   I share my emotions almost every day with my significant other, coworkers, or even a friend. At work, I often express my emotions with my go to coworker when something is bothering me, or I just feel the need to share. I often tend to regret when I emotion-share because I am wary about individuals using my sharing negatively, whether that's leverage or just to gossip about. I often have a bad habit of oversharing my emotions and experiences. Emotion-sharing can be a common way we...

 Listening Functions Everyone listens in different ways for different reasons, whether you are listening to a lecture to comprehend the information or music to appreciate, and we often do not even realize when we are doing so. The five common listening functions are described in Reflect & Relate as our purpose for listening that we experience daily: to comprehend, to discern, to analyze, to appreciate, and to support.  When communicating, I often listen to appreciate. For example, I simply enjoy when listening to music, closing my eyes and slightly nodding my head in appreciation, enjoying the beat, the craft, the voice, and the lyrics. I also listen to appreciate when I am communicating with my grandaddy. He often tells me very long stories about his life, and I am not so much paying attention to what he is saying but rather how he says it, how he smiles and laughs when he's telling a funny story, his unique way of communicating, and how overall it makes him happy when h...

 Perception of Others We perceive the world every day as a way to make sense of everything, and what we perceive is not always accurate, it is just our explanation of the information we are given. Perception is defined in Reflect & Relate as, "the process of selecting, organizing, and interpreting information for our senses.  When perceiving others, I commonly believe that their actions or communication is caused by situational factor rather than personality. My father is a main factor to why I have this mentality. He constantly reminds me not to write off someone as one thing when factors could be involved to why that individual is communicating in such a way. He often tells me that I might not have all the information to assume. I think this is why, in my daily life, I give people the benefit of the doubt when communicating, but this can also have a negative effect. Giving people the benefit of the doubt too much can lead to you making escuses for them, there has to be ...