KOH3433 INTERPERSONAL COMMUNICATION SKILLS/

KEMAHIRAN KOMUNIKASI INTERPERSONEL

EXERCISE 1 : INTERPERSONAL COMMUNICATION FAILURES

LECTURER : DR. SAIFUL NUJAIMI ABDUL RAHMAN

NAMA PELAJAR NO. MATRIKS

Wan Muhammad Aiman Amin bin Wan Mohd Amin 208929
Define, elaborate and provide examples for each of them :

EXERCISE 1: Interpersonal Communication Failures

(i) Inadequate information (ii) Information overload

EXERCISE 2 : Ideal Interpersonal Communication Climate

(ii) High Performance Goal (ii) Openness and Candor

EXERCISE 3 : Factors Influencing Perception

Reception - quality and ability (ii) Attention – selectivity and conscience

EXERCISE 4 : Words With Same Meanining Yet Having Different Connotation

Listening (ii) Hearing

EXERCISE 5 : Types Of Organizational Interpersonal Communication

Horizontal Communication (ii) Upward Communication

EXERCISE 6
Circumstances (ii) Choices

EXERCISE 7
Ego Conflict (ii) Easy Conflict
 EXERCISE 1

1.0 INTRODUCTION

Interpersonal communication refers to both verbal and non-verbal

communication, which includes body language, facial expressions, and tone. (Zamfira
 Parincu, 2022). Interpersonal communication is how two people communicate. They
share and exchange information or maybe express thoughts or feelings. This is done by
either face-to-face or through a medium, for example phone, email, or social media.

Interpersonal communication has an essential role in enhancing the quality of

relationships and strengthening the bond between people (Sethi & Seth, 2009), as it can
help you understand others, not simply what they say, but also how they see and perceive
things. 

A student smiles and greets her teacher with a ‘Good Morning’, a young boy
waves and says goodbye to her mother as he walk to the school gate, two friends
discussing their recent holidays over a cup of tea, an argument between a married couple
concerning the behaviour of their teenage son, or you sending a text message to your
brother; all these are examples of interpersonal communication.

However, in every communication process there will be failures. It is inevitable.

If either or both parties fail to fulfill their responsibilities and bring their biases into any
conversation, there will be a communication breakdown. If we understand the causes of
these failures we will also know how to prevent it.

2.0 INTERPERSONAL COMMUNICATION FAILURES

We made many mistakes every day, leading to multiple communication failures.

From misunderstandings to messing up things, and sometimes all the practice in the
world can’t save us from communication issues. There are several reasons why
interpersonal communication failure happened. Let us looks at two of them.

2.1 Inadequate information

According to Merriam Webster, inadequate means, not enough or not

good enough or insufficient. In a communication process, inadequate information
may mean information not shared, no information found on certain issue or thing,
or information not relayed to the respective person or department.
 On an individual level, employees feel disconnected without clear
direction from management, leading to low satisfaction, engagement, and
performance. How does this happen? These maybe some reasons why.

1. We are absolutely not truly listening

2. We frequently assume we know the message before the person finishes
3. We interrupt the speaker
4. We like to use “you” statements instead of “i” statements
5. We also let our emotions dictate our response
6. We fail to account for cultural differences in communication
7. We at times, misinterpreting the message
8. We tend to be indirect or subtle
9. We prefer to attack others’ character rather than behavior
10. Many of us always avoid difficult conversations
11. We are not complying with rules or requests

In a relationship, inadequate information can create an increase in conflict

and argumentative behavior, misunderstandings, individuals may start doing
things purposely to get on each other’s nerves or blaming each other for
everything. Whereas in an organization atmosphere, it will definitely create
misunderstandings, missed opportunities, departmental conflict, the dissemination
of misinformation, and mistrust. Employees might just feel frustrated. They might
not be motivated to work for such a company
or for such a manager who cannot
communicate important matters well.

How can we reduce these negative

effects? We should first learn to listen. Listen
attentively, with interest, and do not let our
emotion conquers. After listening and
analyzing the information, ask questions for
further understandings. Ask for clarification
and repeat any decision that was agreed. In an organization, we should add by
collecting necessary data and statistics, gather, provide and disseminate more
information, providing access to information, organizing data and insights and
interpreting data meaningfully.

You are in charge of a project and you have briefed your subordinates on
their tasks and information on the project. You think everyone is on the same
page and you are satisfied. And then suddenly something explodes.
Misunderstandings, disappointment, and feelings are hurt. And worse, you hear
about the annoyance and frustration third hand – a person complained about you
to another person and that other person told a friend. This friend spills it to you.
Interpersonal communication failure has taken place.

Referring to the case mentioned above, the information you relayed to

your subordinate may make sense to you, but there’s a big chance it does not
make sense to some of them. Even if you put things out in a way that you feel
100% crystal clear, there’s a chance that a few of them won’t understand the
information you shared.

If the person you explain things do not ask you for clarification and just
smile and nod, they will either do the job according to their understanding or skip
the things they do not comprehend. When the time comes to submit the work, it’s
either undone, incorrect or a whole mass of misunderstandings.

To prevent this, the best you can do is to ask them at the very beginning if
they have any questions or enquiries, and then check in after the project starts.
When you’re giving directions or information, use as few words as possible to
prevent misunderstandings. Being clear and to the point is always helpful, and
prevents some misunderstandings.

Let us look at the British Petroleum (BP) oil disaster. On April 20, 2010,
the Deepwater Horizon oil platform exploded in the Gulf of Mexico. The
resulting spill was deemed to be among history’s worst environmental disasters.
In addition to the damage inflicted on the planet, eleven workers died in the
explosion. Nearly five million barrels of crude oil entered the Gulf before the leak
created by the explosion was stopped. https://bryghtpath.com/deepwater-horizon-
case-study/

This case can be observed from many perspective of management and

communication even engineering process. However let us look at the inadequate
communication point of view. Among the key factors that contributed to the BP
oil disaster were “poor communications” and failure “to share important
information”.

In a report to President Obama by the National Commission on the BP

Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill and Offshore Drilling Offshore was stated that oil
drilling is a complex
work that employs state-
of-the art technology in
an extremely dynamic
environment. It involves
using a drilling rig to
penetrate the ocean floor,
and installing and
cementing pipe to secure
the wellbore (well hole).
The rig drills
progressively deeper until it reaches a depth where returns from the well can be
maximized. At that point, drilling stops, the well is cemented and capped, and the
rig is removed. The well owner returns later to collect the oil.

BP’s design team originally had planned to use a “long string” production
casing - a single continuous wall of steel between the wellhead on the seafloor,
and the oil and gas zone at the bottom of the well. But after encountering
cracking in the rock formation on the ocean floor on April 9, which limited the
 depth to which the rig would be able to drill, they were forced to reconsider.
https://appel.nasa.gov/2011/05/11/aa_4-4_acs_deepwater_horizon_lessons-html/

During the efforts to solve the issue, parts needed to amend the crack came
but it was not custom made for their equipment and so they will need 10 hours to
assemble them. After assembling, tests were done and the result was that it is
unstable.

After discussing the team found out that a similar test was done in
February and was not reported. Another test was done in on April 13 and the same
results were obtained – it was unstable. The personnel in charge did not report to
BP until April 26, 6 days after the mishap. Due to inadequate information from
one person has caused a big disaster.

BP management was not given the important information by  Halliburton

manager, Anthony Badalamenti, the contractor hired to cement each new
segment of the well into place and plug it. Halliburton Energy Services Inc.
(Halliburton) pleaded guilty to destroying evidence pertaining to the 2010
Deepwater Horizon disaster and was sentenced to the statutory maximum fine -
$1.1bn.
https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/halliburton-pleads-guilty-destruction-evidence-
connection-deepwater-horizon-disaster-and

2.2 Information Overload

Overload, on the
other hand, means an
excessive load or
amount of something, or
giving too much of
something to someone.
For example,
overloading students
with more information than they can retain. The term “information overload”
was coined by Bertram Gross, the Professor of Political Science at Hunter
College, in his 1964 work – The Managing of Organizations. However, it was
popularized by Alvin Toffler, the American writer and futurist, in his book
“Future Shock” in 1970.

Gross defined information overload as, “Information overload occurs

when the amount of input to a system exceeds its processing capacity. Decision
makers have fairly limited cognitive processing capacity. Consequently, when
information overload occurs, it is likely that a reduction in decision quality will
occur.”

Information overload is
something not just employers are
facing, but it’s becoming a problem
in people’s everyday lives as well.
When you’re dealing with too much
information, it impacts your ability
to make decisions and remain
productive, but with a constant
barrage of emails, communication,
social media and more, it’s difficult
to avoid. When you try to consume too much data at one time, your brain may
become overwhelmed by all the information. For example, if you tried to read a
book while listening to music and watching television, you may experience
information overload. Why do this situation occurs? Some of the causes are;

 Huge volumes of new information being constantly created

 Pressure to create and compete in information provision – leading to a
quantity over quality effect in many cases

 The simplicity of creating, duplicating and sharing of information online

  The increase in channels to receive information by; radio, television, print
media, websites, e-mail, mobile telephony, RSS feeds, etc.

 High volumes of conflicting, contradictory and plain old inaccurate

information

 No simple methodologies for quickly processing, comparing and evaluating

information sources

For example, an organization with over 2,000 employees changes the

policies in the employee handbook. To spread awareness as quickly as possible,
the Human Resource Department send several mass emails explaining the new
sections. Every associate, regardless of their department or rank, receives all the
messages about the changes, making it hard to identify which modifications affect
their positions. After learning about the confusion, the organization entrusts
managers to instruct their individual teams on how to proceed with the new
handbook. Employees better understand the policies and the information do not
make them feel overwhelmed anymore.

We can always try to avoid this situation by keeping things simple,

relevant and clear. This will make it easier for the receiver to understand and
digest. We should also provide supporting information which must be easily
accessible. We must also present information from both sides of the coin so it is
balanced for the receiver to make any decisions if needed. It is also important to
make it clear for the receiver to know what is to be done with the information and
what action to be taken. Finally, if the receiver were to complete a task, make sure
all the necessary information is available.

By avoiding information overload we will be able to reduce stress and

exhaustion and in fact increase productivity, develop mental clarity, more focus,
improve our quality of decisions, and most importantly, communicate more
clearly.

The next example is what is happening in Malaysia right now. With the
15th General Election around the corner information are all over the place. Fake
 and accurate information are difficult to detect. Today’s news media environment
provides citizens with an abundance of political information (van Aelst et al.,
2017). From a democracy theory perspective, citizens should be well informed
about current political issues to make informed choices (Aalberg & Curran,
2012). In referendums, voters are often more volatile, and their voting choices are
often influenced by short-term political factors and based less on party affiliation
than during elections (Leduc, 2002; Marcinkowski & Donk, 2012). Thus,
referendums can be accompanied by high-intensity campaigns with high amounts
of media coverage (Kriesi, 2005).
While news media coverage is key for an informed voting choice, the
question arises as to whether the sheer amount of election or referendum news
coverage also has negative effects on news users’ information behavior and
opinion formation. Several studies have shown that news overload causes news
avoidance (A. M. Lee et al., 2019; Song et al., 2017).
Political information overload is crushing our souls. Some people now
believe that certain friends, family members, co-workers and neighbours are their
mortal enemies just because they have a different political viewpoint.

CONCLUSION

The success of interpersonal communication depends on the correctness of the perception

of the message coded by the speaker. The message decoded in the wrong way leads to a
communicative failure, either complete or partial incomprehension of the expression by the
speaker. And as a result the speaker’s communicative intention is not understood. A few
solutions suggested above may assist us in decreasing the ‘damage’ and mend the
communication failures.
BIBLIOGRAPHY

1. Zamfira Parincu (2022) Interpersonal Communication: Definition, Examples, & Skills. The

Berkeley Well-Being Institute, LLC
https://www.berkeleywellbeing.com/interpersonal-communication.html

2. Sethi, D., & Seth, M. (2009) Interpersonal communication: Lifeblood of an organization.

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3. Shakirova, Safina & Akhunzianova (2018) Communicative Failures and Their Causes as a
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4. Academy Case Study: The Deepwater Horizon Accident Lessons for NASA
May 11, 2011
https://appel.nasa.gov/2011/05/11/aa_4-4_acs_deepwater_horizon_lessons-html/
5. Gross, Bertram M. (1964) The Managing of Organizations: The Administrative Struggle. p.
856
6. Van Aelst et al. (2017) Political Communication in a High-Choice Media Environment: A
Challenge for Democracy? Annals of the International Communication Association 41(1)
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8. Marcinkowski & Donk, (2012) The Deliberative Quality of Referendum Coverage in Direct
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9. Kriesi, (2005) Direct Democratic Choice: The Swiss Experience. Lexington Books