Interpersonal communication is one of the essential aspects of human beings, used in every area of communication. Over the years, communication has been centered on human-to-human interaction and animal to animal interaction. In some instances, non-verbal communication has been used to communicate with animals. However, the world is a changing environment, and each dawn brings new knowledge and technologies in communication. For instance, the methods in which information is conveyed have primarily advanced over the years, and it can only progress. From the traditional mails and telegrams and writing of letters, we can now use electronic mails, smartphones that even allow for visual communication across distance, and many other communication technologies are invented daily. However, essential factors are usually forgotten when it comes to interpersonal communication and modern technology in non-verbal communication. The paper seeks to evaluate the role of technology in interpersonal communication.
Julia (“Interpersonal communication everyday encounters Julia T. Wood – Google search,” n.d.) emphasizes the role of interpersonal communication in the modern-day world, not ignoring the crucial role that technology plays in changing how information is conveyed. Technology has affected interpersonal communication not only the social aspect, but also the business sector too. Business relies on effective communication to relay information, including giving and receiving reports, feedback, and issuing instructions and directives. Appropriate interpersonal communication channels are essential in communicating to customers, maintaining public relations, and winning business deals and prospects. Therefore, the role of technology in the achievement of these cannot be overlooked.
One scholarly journal by Pratt and Cakula (2021) discusses the role of technology in motivating staff. Technology has modified the way a message is conveyed to persons in an organization to improve their output. During the Corona Virus Pandemic, many companies across the globe have adopted the work-from-home policies. The role of modern technology in ensuring continuity of interpersonal communication in this era cannot be over-emphasized. The use of video conferencing apps such as zoom, skype, emo, and google meet has increased, which has been instrumental in ensuring a smooth shift from working from home to the office. Therefore, organizations have held virtual meetings, conducted interviews, and given their work progress reports. Companies have been able to run and conduct their affairs before using these technologies while still protecting employees from contracting coronavirus disease.
Another important technology that is quickly evolving in the workplace is integrating robots to work with humans in the workplace, which has been discussed by Shen et al. (2020). The technology aims at making human-robots co-workers who have to work together to accomplish required tasks. Creating some interpersonal relationship between the robots and humans is crucial in ensuring effective communication between the two; otherwise, the job cannot be done without communicating. Robot developers are incorporating both verbal and non-verbal human traits in robots to ensure effective communication. For instance, in a manufacturing company, noises may interrupt verbal communication, and verbal cues are used instead. Knowing when to give a node, raise a flag, raise a hand, stop a machine, go to the next step, and so on are essential interpersonal skills integrated with humans to enable them to co-work well with humans.
Another study evaluates the importance of modern technology in mass interpersonal communication, which is helpful in business co-operations (Jafari-Sadeghi, 2021). For instance, it is easier for a manager to broadcast information, both verbal and non-verbal, to all employees. However, the conveyed message will be very personal to the recipient. Technology allows businesses to convey information in a manner that makes everyone feel important to the organization, which has an overall effect of motivating the employees and, at the same time, conveying the intended message—uniformity in the way the message is also conveyed is crucial in ironing out misunderstandings. Besides, the information conveyed through the use of modern technology can be used as a future reference. Again, artificial intelligence (AI) in contemporary video and audio-conferencing applications directly transcribes speeches. Hence, there is no need to keep on taking notes in the meeting, which can always be referred to.
The above articles reveal the importance of investing in more technologies that enhance and support interpersonal communications. The articles further reveal that interpersonal communications are a broad topic whose dimensions continue to expand with more technologies evolving. They also show the importance of incorporating communication technologies in the modern world and adapting to these changes.
In my personal experience, technology plays an essential role in enhancing communication in business. I can attend meetings with my colleagues and listen to verbal communications. I can also read the non-verbal cues and interpret them. Non-verbal communication is possible as I can tell when someone agrees or disagrees with the message conveyed when someone wants to ask a question or is simply disinterested in the meeting or message.
In conclusion, the above articles are instrumental in addressing modern-day interpersonal communication in the business environment. Even with the work-from-home directive brought about by COVID-19, communications can still be carried on as usual due to the available technologies, which allow continuity of businesses despite the pandemic. Additionally, incorporating verbal and non-verbal traits in robots makes them better co-workers in the business place. Conveyance of messages has become easy and fast despite the geographical barriers due to applications that enable interpersonal communications. The journals’ lessons are helpful for businesses and can also be applied in one’s interpersonal relationships. It is conveniently easy to communicate personally through video calls and video conferencing to friends and family, despite geographical barriers.
Works Cited
Jafari-Sadeghi, Vahid, et al. “Exploring the impact of digital transformation on technology entrepreneurship and technological market expansion: The role of technology readiness, exploration and exploitation.” Journal of Business Research 124 (2021): 100-111.
Pratt, Madara, and Sarma Cakula. “Motivation in a Business Company Using Technology-Based Communication.” Artificial Intelligence in Industry 4.0: A Collection of Innovative Research Case-studies that are Reworking the Way We Look at Industry 4.0 Thanks to Artificial Intelligence (2021): 15-30.
Shen, Zhihao, Armagan Elibol, and Nak Young Chong. “Understanding nonverbal communication cues of human personality traits in human-robot interaction.” IEEE/CAA Journal of Automatica Sinica 7.6 (2020): 1465-1477.
Wood, Julia T. Interpersonal communication: Everyday encounters. Cengage Learning, 2015. Web.