Reflection Journal paper on communication

            The learning is an essential part of studies, and one must always review and reflect on his/her learning during certain class or period of time in their educational institution. This is what I will try to do in this reflection journal that I will elaborate in brief that how much I learned in last 3 weeks of my studies, and which topics were more interesting and knowledgeable for me. It is a fact that we went through range of topics in these three weeks, and every week was full of information and knowledge. These three weeks were certainly a great learning curve for me in so many ways. I was able to learn about so many informative topics. Every chapter was full of topics, which are so crucial with regards to modern communication in 21^st century. I also learned about different communication theories and styles, which are crucial to adopt, if someone wants to pursue his/her career in the job industry. The communication skills are one of the important focuses of employers to hire skilled employees.

            It means that good interpersonal communication skills are gaining their importance with the passage of time. The need for communication skills is increasing with the passage of time. I did learn so many topics throughout these three weeks, but I would like to reflect on three most interesting and inspiring topics for me. One of the topics, which really took my attention, was ethics and communication. It was revealed in the first chapter that ethical dilemmas are often faced by the communication. It is a process, where someone may make a decision and communicate to his/her subordinates, which goes against few people, but it also has beneficial elements for others. It means an ethical issue is there because few employees are being disadvantaged without any particular reasons. If such decisions are being made and communicated to employees, then they certainly will have negative effects on employees, who have been disadvantaged without any logic. The role of communication becomes crucial in this regard and organization has to take some serious steps to make sure that ethical dilemma is mitigated as early as possible (Ukens, 2007)

            The other topic, which really sparked my interest, was nonverbal communication. I think we have always thought in general that communication is a verbal affair, where people talk to each other for communication purpose. But it was great to know about this wonderful idea that nonverbal communication also does exists, and with very extensive impact in the field of communication. The best thing about this topic was learning the difference between nonverbal communication and body language. It was interesting to learn that nonverbal communication is not as clear as verbal communication could be. There is lot of ambiguity associated with nonverbal communication. It may contradict with the verbal communication, because one cannot read mind of others, just by seeing their nonverbal actions. It is true that people can get right idea with the help of nonverbal communication, but fact of the matter is that they can also go totally wrong in making any considerable assumptions. Moreover, it was so informative to learn that nonverbal communication cannot be same in its meaning for different cultures; rather it would have some differences. For instance, the hand movements as well as nodding about certain things cannot be universal in nature due to cultural differences. In some parts of the world, nodding would be considered as a “No”, whereas in other parts the shake of the head may be considered a “Yes”. Moreover, the body structure, facial expressions are also important parts of nonverbal communication, and they can have different meanings in different situations (Eunson, 2015)

            The third most interesting and informative topic in my opinion was Interpersonal Communication. It was explained that interpersonal skills are most important in many professional as well as personal situations. The role of listening and hearing is crucial in interpersonal communication. The difference between listening and hearing was beautifully explained that involuntary physiological process is called hearing, whereas deliberate, psychological process is called listening. It means that just hearing a message is not good enough, if its true meaning is not understood with a deliberate intention. The communication is the most important task that 60 to 70% people do, once they are awake. It means that communication is a huge part of our daily social, personal as well as professional life. So, listening is more important than mere hearing, because listening allows persons to continue fruitful two way communication. But of someone is not listening carefully, then real purpose of communication would be lost. The other good thing about listening is that when party listens well, then they can certainly expect that they will also be listened well. So, these are three broad ideas, which helped me to learn so many things about communication in the 21^st century (Eunson, 2015)

 References of Reflection Journal paper on communication

Eunson, B. (2015). Communicating in the 21st Century (4th Edition ed.). John Wiley & Sons Australia, Limited.

Ukens, L. L. (2007). What Would You Do?, Leader's Guide: A Game of Ethical and Moral Dilemma. John Wiley & Sons.