TÁMARA C. WALTERS

HRMN 302 Course Outcome 1:  Apply appropriate communication media and methods to various situational needs in organizational settings.

Communication is simply the process of transferring information from one party to the next.  More specifically, the course material described communication as the process of understanding meaning by perceiving and interpreting information and sharing the meaning with one or more people; this is interpersonal communication (McLean, 2013, p. 12).   At the same time, intrapersonal communication occurs when people communicate with themselves; this is also known as self-talk (McLean, 2013, p. 17).  In either case, McLean (2013) suggested that there are eight essential components of communication that play an important role in the overall process:

1. Source – the person who imagines, creates, and sends a message.
2. Message – the meaning that the source produces and conveys.
3. Channel – the vehicle by which messages travel from the source to the receiver.
4. Receiver – the person who gets the message from the source, analyzes and interprets the message, and draws a perception of the message.
5. Feedback – messages the receiver sends back to the source that exemplify their understanding of the message received.
6. Environment – the physical and psychological environment in which messages are sent and received.
7. Context – the environmental expectation drawn from the setting, scene, and the individuals who are communicating.
8. Interference – noises, distractions, and anything else that prevents or alters the source’s intended meaning from the receiver (pp.13-14).

All the while, there are a variety of methods, or channels, by which to communicate and more than one of those methods can be used at one time.  The different methods of communication include:

• Oral/Verbal communication – the use of language and words to share information; this method of communication is often the easiest to accurately convey and understand (McLean, 2013, p. 30).
• Nonverbal communication – the use of body movements (also known as kinesics), facial expressions, hand gestures, and body positions to share information; this method can be used along with verbal communication and/or on its own to convey meaning but it has proven to be the method that is most ambiguous and tends to need further interpretation (Dziak, 2015).
• Written communication – the use of books, e-mails, letters, memos, magazines, PowerPoint presentation, proposals, reports, text chats, the Internet, and other social media platforms that feature written content to share information.
• Visual aids – the use of charts, drawings, graphs, graphics, maps, pictures, and other visualizations to share information.

Overall, the course material helped me to understand the importance of choosing the appropriate channel by which to communicate depending upon an organization’s situational needs.  After all, the appropriate method for communicating efficiently depends upon the nature and purpose of the message, the timeliness of the delivery, and the needs of the target audience (Choosing the Right Communication Channel, n.d., para. 4).  For an example, one may be faced with the task of delivering negative news on behalf of their organization; this news can be delivered internally to the organization’s employees and stakeholders or externally to the public (McLean, 2013, p. 454).  In either case, the method of delivering the news would need to be carefully selected in order to counteract the potentially negative reactions to the news (McLean, 2013, p. 458).

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To demonstrate my mastery of this outcome from the perspective of delivering negative news, I used a discussion prompt from my Advanced Business Writing course to draft a hypothetical memo in response to my classmate’s proposal to implement a telecommuting policy.  In this scenario, I first considered that the memo needed to deliver a clear message that the proposal had been rejected.  I then considered the fact that I needed to ensure that the memo informed my classmate that the decision to reject the proposal was made only after thoroughly analyzing and considering the content of the proposal.  And finally, I considered the fact that, although the memo needed to be written clearly and concisely, I also needed to ensure that I maintained the trust of my classmate by being empathetic and optimistic in my message.

I determined that, although I could have chosen to communicate the negative news face-to-face, a memo was the best way to deliver the message.  Writing the memo allowed me to keep the message clear and concise and to deliver the negative news in a way that would allow my classmate to understand the message without feeling that her trust or legal rights were threatened (McLean, 2013, p. 454).  Using the memo format also provided me with the opportunity to keep a copy of all the correspondence with my classmate; this would help me to avoid any legal ramifications (McLean, 2013, p. 454).  And finally, I was also able to include an employee engagement survey as an attachment to my memo; this survey provided another opportunity to receive valuable feedback from my classmate.

To read the Negative News Memo, click the link Tamara Walters – Negative News Memo.

All the while, another way in which I demonstrated mastery of this course outcome was through my understanding of how oral communication plays a vital role in organizational and managerial success.  In week 5 of the course, we learned about the specific role that nonverbal communicated plays in the communication process.  Nonverbal communication was described as a continuous and fluid form of conveying meaning that is irreversible, oftentimes confusing, and cannot be retracted (McLean, 2013, p. 298).  Nonverbal communication also communicates emotional messages that reveal a person’s thought and feelings (McLean, 2013, p. 301).  All the while, these non-linguistic cues should be managed especially considering the fact that the way people respond to messages is most often based on their perception of what message has been communicated and how the message was communicated (McLean, 2013, p. 301).  This is why it is so important to ensure that due consideration is given to nonverbal cues and how they can be interpreted by an audience.

During week 5, we were asked to provide information about which nonverbal aspect of verbal communication we felt we should pay more attention to in the future.  We submitted out input in the form of a one-minute audio recording.  In my audio file, I explained that I would like to improve my use of kinesics, or body language by watching the reactions of my audience, by enlisting someone to offer feedback about my use of body movement when sharing information, and by video recording my presentation so that I could go back and scrutinize my own use of body language to ensure that the audience could perceive my intended meaning.

To listen to my audio discussion on how to improve the use of body movements in verbal communication, please click the link Nonverbal Communication – Tamara Walters.