Positive and Negative Communication Styles in the Workplace

The Effects of  Positive and Negative  Communication in the Workplace

INTRODUCTION

The differences in communication among individuals in the workplace, in particular BETWEEN supervisors and coworkers, is a topic of interest for employeed individuals throughout the world. This pertains especially to individuals who are employeed in SPECIFIC departments within an organization, such as the Human Resources department. By recognizing different communication styles we can understand why conflict, favoritism, emotional stress and miscommunication occurs within organizations. This case study will be developed by using an interaction analysis and conducting research to understand how communication styles can affect the longevity of an individual's career. My goal for this mini literature review is to gain knowledge on positive and negative communication  and how we can influence corporations to understand personal differences on an unbias level, to create a healthy, more proactive working enviornment.

Major organizations around the world have become so large in size that their Human Resources department lacks proper communication skills  and creates emotional dissatisfaction to coworkers. In turn, this creates a hostile working enviornment, lack of productivity and motivation and problems moving up the corporate ladder. These problems are communication related and worthy of researching to see what techinques can be applied to create a satisfied worker and a more successful coporation.

By researching different communication styles, we can develop ideas on how to send and receive messages between individuals that is more effective for the overall good of the person and organization. For example, if a coworker has a funeral to attend for a family member and he/she asks management for the day off. If management is not understanding and states that the employee cannot attend, due to short term notice, that individual will be reluctant in performing quality work, which in turn causes conflict. On the other hand, if management understands the personal effects that the funeral has on the coworker and displays empathy, allowing he/she to go to the funeral, the coworker will be greatful for the time off and feel like they contribute significantly to the corporation. According to Miller's article (2007), effective communication facilitates personal growth and professional development. This research contributes to the growing body of literature exploring emotion and communication in the workplace by considering the workers in jobs that require “compassionate communication.”  Compassion is conceptualized as one form of emotional work (Miller, 2007).

This literature review will discuss how retaliation and hostility affect the underproduction of corporations and the emotional distress that subordinates and managers undergo due to lack of empathy and understanding. It will also concentrate on how positive communication, recognition, and compassion can create an overall happy, successful corporation. This study will help educate people as to how positive and negative communication affects people and what steps we need to take to communicate better.