Masking Communication

The article entitled, "Close Relationships Sometimes Mask Poor Communication" was about how people who are close to each other sometimes communicate as if they were strangers. It showed that strangers could sometimes understand the meaning and context of what one was conveying better than a close friend or spouse. The article was posted by HealthDay News on January 24, 2011 and was written by Randy Dotinga. The study was conducted with 24 married couples. The couples had their backs to each other and were saying phrases to each other that were not entirely clear. It was up to the spouse who was receiving the message to interpret what the other was saying. The article stated the couples thought they communicated better than they actually did.

After reading the article, I was surprised to find that spouses assumed that their counterparts would understand what they were trying to convey--just because they were married. I found the article interesting and made me wonder if I have assumed that the people I am communicating with would automatically understand the meaning of what I'm saying.

When I think about it, there have been many times that I have asked people to do something at work and they partially do the job because they thought that was all I asked them to do. There was a computer system that I needed one of my personnel to work on. I had asked them to do a simple filter cleaning, but they cleaned another system instead of the one originally intended. I assumed they knew which system I was referring to, but I realized that there were multiple computer systems in that area so he didn't know which one to clean. It seems simple, but the miscommunication resulted in the wrong job getting done.

A way that I can come back and ensure that I don't make the same mistakes again is to write down the jobs or assign the jobs in an email so that the people who work for me will have a better and clear understand of what I am assigning. In addition, I told my personnel that if they had any questions, they should ask when I'm assigning or repeat back to me what I have assigned so there are not any miscommunications. One of the things that I found to work was having them repeat back to me what I have assigned because it imprints in their mind what they are supposed to do. It also makes them less likely to forget what I have assigned.

In conclusion, the article made me realize that no matter how close we are with someone, we should ensure that our communication with each other is of the highest quality. This way, we can make sure that nothing gets misconstrued. It would potentially prevent a lot of unnecessary arguing.

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