I believe telegraphic model of communication is no longer applicable to 21st century and it is ineffective. Communication is like “multi-tasking”; when I am talking to someone, I am also receiving his response through verbal or non-verbal language simultaneously. Through his response which would determine whether the communication should continue or stop. Hence, effective communication is important to me as it allows me to convey my message accurately to the people around me. It also allows me to understand and be respectful to these different opinions.
I remembered when I was looking for a part time job on jobstreet.com; I was surprise that many of them listed 'Candidates with good communication skills' as one of their qualification requirement. In developed countries, such as Singapore, their economy is heavily depended on the service and financial sectors. Hence, able to communicate well is an important factor to succeed in these jobs. It is certainly that communication skills were considered more important than technical knowledge in any job category. These industries often require us to work as team, therefore effective communication skills are vital. It helps to reduce unnecessary tension or misunderstanding between colleagues and your management.
In addition, good non-verbal communication skills are an essential aspect of our daily lives. In the 21th century, it is almost impossible to get rid of non-verbal communication such as MSN, SMS and face book. The use of appropriate words in SMS is vital; otherwise it might lead to miscommunication between the parties. As a result, tension may arise and affect the friendship. Sometimes, these misunderstanding can only resolve when both parties meet face-to-face. However, misunderstanding can lead to serious consequences when unresolved. Therefore, think before you write or speak!
An interesting picture :) . Comunication vs Click !
Hello Michael!!
ReplyDeleteWithout a doubt, your blog post will win the most creative blog-post award - if Brad initiates such a scheme in the first place!! Your use of comics made your post attention-grabbing and causes people to become interested to read on.
I can especially relate to the your notion of the common pitfalls of non-verbal communication in the modern era of text messages. Due to the very nature of text messages being limited by length, we have to shorten our messages to fit - and in the process compromising on completeness and often completely eliminating all hints of tonal and emotional cues from properly constructed sentences better seen in e-mails for example.
Therefore i strongly applaud your call for your readers to "think before you write or speak". Specifically to go through the processes of choosing the correct channels of communication, and to properly encode the message such that it will be easily and accurately decoded by the recipient. In this case, choosing a good "codec" (pardon the use of the sound-encoding jargon) is of utmost importance to effective communication.
Ben,thanks for your wonderful comment. It is useful and I agree with your point of view ;I'm quite a creative person :)
ReplyDeleteHaha! That was a really fun read! Yes Mich I agree that this revolutionizing world is constantly changing the way communication works! Nonetheless, I realized you’ve written your blogpost in a manner that is quite hard for me to picture how effective communication is important for YOU. I really do wish to know how you want to effectively communicate and under what circumstances will they work for you! =) Plus, I think you’re really really creative and you’ve interpreted the task in such a special way! Really loved the read and I look forward to more exciting posts to come!
ReplyDeleteThanks jac. In my future posts, I will improve on the format and ensure that there is more linkage between pictures and the topic.
ReplyDeleteYou offer good advice in this post, Michael, when you say we need to think before we write or speak, and I really appreciate the cartoons you introduce to illustrate certain comm skills issues. But I agree with Jac when she writes that it is not easy for the reader to understand what areas you see as vital for your skills needs and development.
ReplyDeleteI also have a few thoughts on individual sentences, phrases and words:
a) Through his response which would determine whether the communication should continue or stop. >>> ??? sentence fragment/not a complete sentence
b) It also allows me to understand and be respectful to these different opinions. >>> Yes, but is it just "opinions" that you are being receptive to?
c) depended >>> dependent
d) able >>> the ability to
e) These industries often require us to work as team, therefore effective communication skills are vital. >>> These industries often require us to work as team; therefore, effective communication skills are vital.
f) It helps to reduce unnecessary tension or misunderstanding between colleagues and your management. >>> This focuses on the negative. An additional statement mentioning the manner by which effective comm skills facilitate good understanding might have been added here.
g) require us / your management >>> the problem here is illustrated by your two different pronouns.... Do you see how this lack of consistency is an issue?
h) MSN chat, Facebook, or any other channel in which you write is verbal, though they are not face-to-face. Nonverbal simply means the symbols shared are not WORDS, neither written nor spoken.
Thanks for your effort!
Brad, thanks for correcting my sentence structure errors. I am from a Chinese spoken family, English language is one of my weaker subject. I will keep improving my English through out my university course.
ReplyDeleteI see you have applied what we learnt in class about telegraphic model of communication being obsolete and how communication encompasses both verbal and non-verbal means.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you that employers are looking for people who can speak well and have self-confidence and motivation. This is important in making one “stand out from the pack”, which is the key to impressing the interviewer. I have a friend who got the job even though she did not do particularly well in her studies. She attributed it to her performance during the interview.
I would like to point out some issues. The introduction and ending of your post seems to be abrupt. I was reading the last paragraph and found it the most interesting when it ended. Although I understand what you are saying about the significance of non-verbal communication in the last paragraph, it appears too general and not personal enough. Perhaps, you can bring in one or two examples of how SMS or Facebook has brought about some form of miscommunication for you. This would also draw the link between non-verbal communication and its potential pitfalls more clearly.
Another suggestion to make the post more personal is you can mention the difficulties you face in communicating with others in English, since you come from a mandarin-speaking family. It could be in your daily life or when working with classmates.
Furthermore, there is an error in this sentence, “In developed countries, such as Singapore, their economy is heavily depended on the service and financial sectors”. It should be written as “their economies are heavily dependent...” Also, in the next sentence, it should be written as “it is certain that...” There are repetitions of some words such as “communicate” and “misunderstanding”. Perhaps you can substitute them with synonyms.
The diagram and cartoons add a new dimension to the blog. This is a good idea as both send the message of the importance of effective communication. By the way, I really like the animated fish on your blog.
Cheers!
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