Communicating Effectively

Communication is important when working with a project team. When I first read the assignment, I thought that the face-to-face communication would be the most effective. And from the reading, I have learned that most people think the same, because “telephone and email communication lacks important nonverbal cues to help us understand the message” (People Communicating, 2010). However, I think differently after reviewing all three modalities, and here is why.

I think that although face-to-face communication is effective because you can read body language, in this instance Jane is not very convincing in her approach. I understand that this scenario was prompted, but I feel that there was no conviction in what she was saying. Body language plays a role in communication (Types of Communication, 2012), and Jane’s body language in this passage is very blasé, and does not communicate to Mark the seriousness of the matter.

The voicemail had the same kind of tone and voice inflection. I did not hear the urgency in the voicemail, as it seems very nonchalant and nice. I don’t think that being nice is necessarily a bad thing, but being too nice leads to people not understanding the urgency in what you are saying. If I my deadline was threatened because of another individuals delay, I would make sure that he understood how important it was to me. She could have been a bit sterner in her voicemail.

As for the email, I think that this was the best approach to get this message across. When dealing with email, there is more room for interpretation, and in this instance I think that was probably a good thing. Another good thing is that an email can always be retrieved at a later time, which is not true at all of face-to-face conversations, and only partly true of voicemails. I have learned in my professional capacity, that there should always be a paper trail, or something you can track. You never know when things can come back to bite you, and definitely this could be one of those instances, so I truly think that the email was the best approach for this situation.

Through this exercise, I was able to gain a deeper perspective of the different modalities of communication. It helped me to see how each approach has its place and time. I truly think that communication is essential when working on a project team, but I think that the approach you take in communication is even more important. It was nice to see these in action, and the weekly resources also helped to convey the need for communication.



Resources

People Communicating (2010). Face to Face Communication, Retrieved From: http://www.people-communicating.com/face-to-face-communication.html

Types of Communication (2012) Communication through Body Language, Retrieved from: http://www.typesofcommunication.org/communication/nonverbal-communication/communication-through-body-language/