Background
Interpersonal communication is how people exchange words, feelings, and emotions using verbal or non-verbal means. It can be done in many ways, which include face-to-face, through facial expressions, in the form of a voice, body language, and gestures. An organization commonly uses interpersonal communication during client meetings, daily employee interactions, project discussions, and performance reviews. Thus, a person’s interpersonal communication ability is measured by evaluating how effectively they transfer messages. This study will evaluate how interpersonal communication is important in the business environment and how COVID-19 dynamics have changed it.
Importance of Interpersonal Communication in the Business Environment
Interpersonal communication is important in the workplace because it helps in problem-solving. Interpersonal communication is very important in any organization because it helps people to discuss problems (Lee et al., 2020). It gives them a chance to weigh the pros and cons become making the final decision. This helps to improve organizational performance because the decisions taken are carefully selected hence they will have a positive impact. For instance, brainstorming sessions heavily rely on interpersonal communication, allowing a lot of creativity in an organization.
The other benefit of interpersonal communication in a business environment is that it helps align business goals. When there is poor communication between employees in an organization, it can easily harm business (Lee et al., 2020). If managers cannot communicate clearly with their employees, they will likely become disconnected and frustrated by the business goals. Additionally, there will be confusion in roles as managers cannot give employees clear goals and directions for work. Thus, managers must enhance good online and offline communication to be effective and align the organizational goals with employees (Lee et al., 2020). In addition, they should be able to apply communication tools to align employees to organizational goals effectively.
Having effective interpersonal communications in the business environment helps in enhancing trust. A study by the American Psychological Association revealed that 25% of US employees do not trust their employers (Lee et al., 2020). When there is a lack of transparency and trust in an organization, it leads to poor workplace communication. Therefore, interpersonal communication is important in instilling trust because as the employees interact, they get to know each other more and gain more trust among themselves.
Interpersonal communication helps in forming and maintaining an organizational culture. When interpersonal communications are well executed in the workplace, they enable an organizational culture to thrive (Lee et al., 2020). Therefore, when employees get good interpersonal skills, they help make the organizational culture more lively and positive. However, if there are no good interpersonal relationships, confusion, negativity, and conflicts are very common in the business environment. These virtues ruin the work culture, and therefore it is important to have good interpersonal skills to maintain a positive organizational culture
How COVID-19 Changed Dynamics of Interpersonal Communication
Interpersonal communication dynamics have changed since the inception of COVID-19. The prospective measures adopted during COVID-19, such as wearing face masks, have helped mitigate the risks, but they pose risks to daily face-to-face communication. Face masks hinder interpersonal communication by covering facial expressions and muffling sounds. Facial expressions are essential in communication because they relay a person’s feelings and moods (Herrmann et al., 2021). The correct way of wearing the mask involves covering the nose and mouth, which muffles sound making it difficult to understand speech. In addition, face masks hinder the role of the lower part of the face, which is to provide facial expressions which express feelings and emotions. Thus, COVID-19 has adversely affected the use of facial expressions and caused muffling of vice due to the wearing of face masks.
The other impact of the pandemic on interpersonal communication is changing how people communicate. Technological advancement has greatly changed how people communicate, from face-to-face to online. People nowadays spend more time on social media applications such as Facebook, Skype, Instagram, and other platforms, which evolved during the COVID-19 pandemic (Chen, 2021). Thus, the COVID-19 pandemic has reduced face-to-face communications, significantly affecting people’s relationships in an organization. Digital media was significantly boosted by COVID-19 but cannot replace the interpersonal dynamics of physical interactions that strengthen relationships (Chen, 2021). Therefore, interpersonal communications have been negatively affected by COVID-19 through the adoption of digital media.
The COVID-19 pandemic has interrupted interpersonal communications in terms of teamwork. Due to the pandemic, many employees of different companies have resorted to working from home, significantly impacting their interpersonal communications (SkaĹ‚acka & Pajestka, 2021). Working from home has developed various communication challenges that have affected employees’ general performance. Professors have adopted online classes, doctors have taken Telehealth, and organizations have resorted to e-portals for work (Mheidly et al., 2020). This has led to the dissolving of many teams and forming of many new others with members who have never met physically before. This has led to poor team performance, high turnover rates, and wrong decisions (SkaĹ‚acka & Pajestka, 2021). Many of the team members do not know the personality of their colleagues, which creates a tense relationship between the team members. Besides, team members have had problems connecting to virtual platforms such as Skype and Zoom due to internet connectivity problems (Herrmann et al., 2021). Therefore, the COVID-19 pandemic has changed interpersonal dynamics at the organizational level by affecting how teamwork is conducted, negatively affecting their overall outcome.
The COVID-19 pandemic changed the dynamics of interpersonal communications within healthcare organizations. Dealing with emotions is essential in gaining information about a diagnosis and helps create trust (Herrmann et al., 2021). Non-verbal cues are shown through posture, tone, gesture, nods, and eye contact. For instance, empathy is important for better healthcare outcomes because; it enables healthcare professionals to communicate warmly with patients (Chen, 2021). Communication is important when communicating with families of patients in the intensive care unit. The relatives of the patient in the ICU are at a high risk of anxiety (79%), PTSS (59%), and depression at (70%) (Skałacka & Pajestka, 2021). Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, professionally communicating with their patients has been a challenge. Due to COVID-19, families have been exposed to greater sadness, fear, and anxiety because they could not get in close contact with the clinicians. The clinicians were unable to provide empathy to families and patients.
Healthcare professionals have resorted to using other methods to give information to the patient’s families, such as video calls, telephone, or email. They had difficulty compensating for these non-verbal cues with their voice, inflection, and pause (SkaĹ‚acka & Pajestka, 2021). Different Italian societies had to get together and release a book titled “How to communicate with families living in complete isolation (Herrmann et al., 2021).” They have to ensure that they communicate with patients effectively, which has proved difficult during the pandemic period. Although some of these regulations have been lifted, communication problems exist. This shows that the pandemic has impacted the dynamics of interpersonal communications by providing new ways of communicating with patients.
The isolation caused by the COVID-19 pandemic had effects on communication. According to a study by Skałacka & Pajestka (2021), the more people have less contact with others, the more they turn defensive in their communication. The COVID-19 pandemic required people to stay in isolation for some time which has changed how they communicate with others. When people become defensive in their communications, they are likely to cause a vicious spiral in which isolation can cause suspicion and can lead to further isolation (Herrmann et al., 2021). This implies that people no longer communicate freely because of the reinforced suspicion.
Interpersonal communications in an organization are essential as they help solve problems, help align employees with organizational goals, enhance trust and instill a company culture. However, COVID-19 changed the dynamics of interpersonal communications. The wearing of face masks has hindered the use of interpersonal communication. Facial expressions are a great source of information regarding the moods and feelings of an individual. People had to rely on the upper face to get nonverbal cues. In addition, the pandemic has impacted communication from traditional face-to-face communication to digital communication. However, digital media cannot replace interpersonal dynamics in physical interactions. Organizations have found teamwork difficult, leading to high turnover rates, misguided decisions, and poor performance. The healthcare system has been forced to change how they communicate emotions to their patient’s families due to isolation. Finally, people have become more defensive in their communication due to staying in isolation. This implies that COVID-19 has positively and negatively changed the dynamics of interpersonal communication.
References
Chen, S. (2021). Interpersonal communication instruction during COVID-19: Challenges and opportunities. Frontiers in Communication, 6(2). Web.
Herrmann, L., Nielsen, B. L., & Aguilar-Raab, C. (2021). The impact of covid-19 on interpersonal aspects in elementary school. Frontiers in Education, 6(4). Web.
Lee, S. P., Kee, D. M. H., Lee, P. S., Chin, W. S., Gan, H. M., Alghanim, B., & Kumar, B. (2020). Improving the Interpersonal Relationship among Employees in Nestle. Journal of the Community Development in Asia(JCDA), 3(1), 8–15. Web.
Mheidly, N., Fares, M. Y., Zalzale, H., & Fares, J. (2020). Effect of face masks on interpersonal communication during the COVID-19 pandemic. Frontiers in Public Health, 8(1). Web.
Skałacka, K., & Pajestka, G. (2021). Digital or in-person: The relationship between mode of interpersonal communication during the COVID-19 pandemic and mental health in older adults from 27 countries. Journal of Family Nursing, 27(4), 107484072110319. Web.