Read the article and find the ways to solve the above-mentioned types of problems.

Date: 2015-10-07; view: 390.

Which of the given phrases are proper in a formal situation? Which are likely to be used in a conversation between friends? Colleagues? Which can be used to make friends to a stranger?

Try to respond the following phrases which make a good beginning to any kind of conversation.

1. Hi, how are you doing? - _______________________________.

2. How is your day going? - _______________________________.

3. It's a beautiful morning, isn't it? - ________________________.

4. We're sure having a busy day today. - _____________________.

5. Are you still working at that report? - _____________________.

6. I don't think we've met before. I'm Barry. - _________________.

7. Looks like it's going to rain. - ___________________________.

8. Your dog is so cute. What's his name? - ____________________.

9. What do you think about the presentation? - ________________.

10. I'm so impressed with your speech. - ______________________.

11. Any plans for the weekend? - ____________________________.

12. How was your holiday? - _______________________________.

13. It's a great match! - ___________________________________.

14. Long time no see! - ____________________________________.

15. It was an excellent workshop. I learned a lot. How about you? –

________________________________________________________.

6. Which barriers to successful communication can you think of? Describe possible difficulties related to the following aspects:

o Language

o Culture

o Manners

o Social status

o Education level

o Gender

o Stereotypes

o Intellectual and psychological issues

IDENTIFYING AND OVERCOMING COMMUNICATION BARRIERS

If you understand how emotional intelligence, communication, barriers, gender, and culture effect communication you will be able to experience more intimate relationships. To gain an understanding of how communication works effectively, a person must first understand some of the things that cause communication to be ineffective.

Gender and culture affect communication because people have different ways of expressing themselves. Between genders in the same culture there are differences that begin in how a person creates their self-concept. Men look for social comparisons where women value self-appraisals. Self-confidence is also formed differently between women and men. Men gain self-confidence with achievements wereas women gain it through connections with other people. These two major differences affect how the genders communicate with each other. Men are more driven by results and solving problems where women want to feel emotionally connected and worry less about the solutions.

An example of a gender driven misunderstanding might happen when a couple moves to a new location, as it might happen with a military family. When the couple first moves to their new home, the woman may not feel confident, might want someone to talk to, and be looking for ways to reach out to make new friends. If the husband is away and only able to be contacted by phone or e-mail, the wife might complain to him, hoping for empathy. The husband's reaction would most likely be to solve the problem, either by suggesting the wife talk to other wives in the unit or take a trip home so that she can socialize. In a case like this, the wife may become upset with the husband because he does not seem to understand that all she wanted was someone to listen to her.

Culture plays a similar role in communication. Cultural identity is made up of ethnicity, culture (the values, traditions, social and political relationships and worldview a group of people share), gender, age, beliefs, values and to what degree a person identifies with the culture they are brought up in. A belief that one's own culture is superior to all other cultures or a lack of interest in learning about other cultures can lead to barriers in communication that cannot be overcome without effort.

An example of cultural barriers can be seen between North American and Latin American cultures. For North Americans, the intimate space begins at a further distance than it does for the Latin American people. In a situation like this, a Latin American person might be perceived as making a sexual advance by a North American person because the North American person thinks that the Latin American person is standing too close to just be friendly. The Latin American person is probably not aware of the discomfort they are causing the North American person.

People also set up barriers for themselves which make it difficult to communicate with people who have different views or a different background. One barrier is ethnocentrism which is a belief that a single ethnicity and culture (usually the person's own) is superior to all other ethnicity and cultures. This barrier can make it so that people of two different cultures cannot communicate properly because the person that is ethnocentric does not want to understand the other person's culture which makes it difficult to have a common starting point for communication.

An example of ethnocentrism occurred before and during the holocaust. The German people were made to believe that German was the best ethnicity and no others should be tolerated. It may have started out as separating schools, taking away jobs, and other things that made life difficult for other people in the country, especially Jewish people, but it ended up turning into a slaughter of many innocent people.

Another barrier that closely relates to ethnocentrism is discrimination which is when a person tries to exclude or distance themselves from people in other groups. Discrimination goes further than ethnocentrism because the person is not willing to interact with people outside their group which can be gender, race, or sexual orientation.

Discrimination happens every day for many reasons. Sometimes the discrimination comes from skin color and other times from what a person is wearing. Women that are out with their parents and children and look younger than they are might be discriminated against because people think they are teen mothers. The discrimination makes it so that the young looking mother is not given a chance to say, “I am 25.” The discrimination can be something as simple as being glared at to not being waited on in a restaurant because the server does not feel they deserve service.

Stereotyping is often a barrier that can fuel the discrimination because it oversimplifies views of another group of people. An example of stereotyping would be the view that all African Americans steal televisions because the person saw one case on the news where an African American stole a television from an electronics store. A stereotype like this one can hurt communication because the person is likely to treat any African American they meet as if they are criminals. Another stereotype that can harm communication would be the belief that all Chinese people are extremely smart. This might seem like a good stereotype to have, but it can make a Chinese person who is not a genius feel like an outcast and avoid getting into situations where their intelligence will be tested.

Negative stereotyping can lead to prejudice and discrimination. Prejudice is a negative view of a culture based off little experience. The example that “all African Americans steal TV's” demonstrates how this works. If a person believes that all African Americans steal, they are going to have a negative view of the culture which is going to make them avoid interaction with African American people.

All of the barriers to communication can be reflected in what a person says and how they say it, especially stereotyping, discrimination, and ethnocentrism, but also culture and gender. For culture, the demeanor of the person may show discomfort. The person most likely did not vocalize their discomfort, but their posture, expressions, choice of words, and vocal tones may give away their discomfort. This may lead to a shortened conversation or two people focusing more on what is not going well in the conversation than what is actually being said.

Between genders, the body language, tones, and choice of words may also lead to communication breakdowns. When the woman becomes upset that a man is not showing empathy toward them and not saying the right things, she may back away, make faces, or use different tones and words than she normally would if she was satisfied with the conversation. The man may notice the unhappiness with the conversation and try to fix it or might start to feel like this is a cycle he cannot break.

CHARACTERISTICS THAT HELP OVERCOME COMMUNICATION BARRIERS

A solution to the barriers is emotional intelligence which can be mastered and lead to better relationships. Emotional intelligence is the ability to understand others and work with them. There are five characteristics of emotional intelligence. Being self-aware is the most important. It is the ability to distance oneself from their emotions so that they can look at the emotion without becoming overwhelmed or reacting to it too quickly. This piece of intelligence would help a person who is struggling with stereotyping.

The second characteristic is the ability to manage emotions which means expressing them in a way that is appropriate for the setting. Once a person has become aware of the emotion, they can come up with a way to handle the emotion. The person who gets nervous around African Americans may be able to walk away for a minute to collect themselves and then act as they should.

The third characteristic is the ability to motivate oneself which is setting a goal and reaching it. For the person who is nervous around African Americans, the goal may be to sit at the table and hold normal conversation with the dinner guests.

The fourth intelligence is recognizing emotions in others which is called empathy. The best way to do this is to listen to what people are really saying and trying to understand it by observing their body language along with their actual language.

Body language plays a part in improving a person's emotional intelligence. A person who fears African Americans may be able to sit through a dinner and talk nice, but might look as though they are ready to run out of the room if a butter knife is picked up the wrong way.

The fifth characteristic is the ability to handle relationships. The person needs to recognize their own needs as well as the needs of the other person. They need to find a balance where both sets of needs are met as fully as possible.

With an understanding of how barriers, culture, gender, and emotional intelligence effect communication, a person is more able to communicate effectively and have fulfilling relationships. If these things are ignored, communication breaks down and a person can become isolated.