The paper defines interpersonal communication in the introduction. Interpersonal communication refers to the transfer of information that occurs between two people. The communication can occur between a mother and her child, a boss, and his employee or a wife and her husband. It also attempts to explain the impact of culture on the interpersonal relationships. Culture may be one of the most critical factors impacting interpersonal communication in a very strong manner. The communicators usually perceive themselves in a certain light while and their objectives in a particular manner. It then goes further to explain the impact of listening on interpersonal relationships. The impact of listening on interpersonal communication extends to the social, class, and work contexts. In conclusion, it explains the impact of nonverbal communication on relationships. Nonverbal communication is made up of facial expressions, body language and the tone of voice that can all be misinterpreted. When they are misinterpreted, it may lead to conflicts in the relationship.
Interpersonal Communication
Introduction
Interpersonal communication refers to the transfer of information that occurs between two people. The communication can occur between a mother and her child, a boss, and his employee or a wife and her husband. There are four fundamental principles of the interpersonal communication the assumptions are that this type of communication is contextual, complicated, inescapable and irreversible. It means that interpersonal communication with other people cannot be avoided, has various complications, cannot be changed after the communication has taken place, and does not occur in isolation ( Gudykunst, Ting-Toomey, & Chua, 2008) . Even the basic forms of interpersonal communications such as a simple request may be sophisticated in nature. Furthermore, the interpersonal communicational may take place between more the 2 persons. I will seek to analyze the factors that affect interpersonal communication such as listening and culture and how nonverbal communication can affect the different relationships.
Delegate your assignment to our experts and they will do the rest.
Interpersonal communication is critical because it allows people to interact effectively and communicate appropriately with other people at home, school, and the workplace. It is the main reason why a majority of employers search for employees who can communicate effectively with customers, colleagues, and clients. So that interpersonal communication can be effective, it needs to address the key areas such as habit, emotions, personalities, and values of other people ( Berger & Calabrese, 2015) . The employee should also analyze the internal state of the individual they are attempting to communicate with. Furthermore, the people who are communicating should be positive and relaxed so that it can enhance their communication. Interpersonal communication is not a one-way traffic, and both parties should attempt to listen to the opinion of the other party ( McCroskey & Richmond, 2015) . I believe that the core reasons why people engage in interpersonal communication are to know more about the other person and for the development of relationships.
Culture and Interpersonal Communication
Culture affects the manner in which different people communicate and the techniques they use for communication. The differences emanate from the varying life experiences that people have depending on their cultural norms that impact the interpretation of information that is delivered by other people. An employee in the US may have varying perspectives from an employee in one of the undeveloped nations ( Hecht, 2008) . For example, the American may have complaints about social constraints and job pressures while the immigrant worker may be optimistic of the freedoms and opportunities that are provided by the work. The different opinions may make it difficult for the two employees to communicate effectively because their different cultures have an impact on their communication patterns.
A majority of the industrialized nations such as the US, Canada, Germany, and Britain often rely critically on electronic technology as their means of communication because it is readily available. However, in Japan, an ideal form of communication remains face to face despite their advancement in technology. In the US, the objectives of business communications are productivity, work setting, and efficiency. On the other hand, a majority of South American countries prefer work talk and small talk as their business communication setting ( Gudykunst, Ting-Toomey, & Chua, 2008) . They focus on building rapport while they carry out their business activities. Hence, culture becomes equipment that can be used to predict or understand human communication or behavior. Knowledge and recognition of the aspects of culture are fundamental while understanding business communications. The understanding of a certain cultural group allows a person to predict the behavior in certain situations. Therefore, culture it influences the people who are communicating and the process of communication. When people from various cultures work and communicate at the workplace or any other place, they perform the communication in an intercultural setting.
Culture may be one of the most critical factors impacting interpersonal communication in a very strong manner. The communicators usually perceive themselves in a certain light while and their objectives in a certain manner. Often, the aspirations and views of a certain group are always at loggerheads with that of another leading to tension, suspicion or even conflicts. The collective opinion of the certain group is the vision through which the person perceives other groups ( Berger & Calabrese, 2015) . Glories, memories, promises, aspirations, and complaints of that particular group are imposed on the specific communicator who may accept the perspectives unconditionally. It may even go further and influence the decoding and encoding processes of messaging. Hence, I am certain that it is important for other people to have knowledge of various cultures so as to understand the coding processes because the interpretations may vary ( McCroskey & Richmond, 2015) . No matter how brief the communication may be, the cultural assumptions have a key role.
Intercultural communication has had an evolution to refer to all forms of communication that may emanate from people from different cultures. Intercultural communication is often associated with interracial communication and cross-cultural communication. Nevertheless, intercultural communication is the best term to refer to all scenarios where two or more communicators have different cultures ( Knapp, Vangelisti, & Caughlin, 2014) . It involves all the cultural variances that originate from varying ethnic or racial differences. When different cultures communicate, they bring together the different values, experiences, and knowledge in the intercultural communication. Also, negotiations in an intercultural setting may be quite frustrating because the two parties speak not only different languages but also hold different perspectives. People may come up with different conclusions despite the fact that they have similar reasoning and facts. A particular line of reasoning may be quite persuasive or effective in a certain culture but completely inefficient in another.
Listening and Interpersonal Communication
Understanding the listening process gives the fundamental reasons for listening. When it comes to academics, poor listening often results to poor grades. The impact of listening on interpersonal communication extends to the social, class, and work contexts. Hence, students and employees who have better listening skills tend to perform better than their counterparts with poor listening skills. Listening is critical to my personal, academic, and professional contexts. Inability to give conclusive feedback, poor listening skills and inadequate conciseness are some of the barriers to interpersonal communication in the professional context ( Knapp, Vangelisti, & Caughlin, 2014) . Despite the fact that our society rarely gives listening education, various studies have indicated that communication courses often offer crucial skills that are fundamental in the entry level jobs. Improvements and training in listening skills always pay off because employers prefer employees who have better communication skills and the employees who possess such traits are more likely to receive a raise or get a promotion.
Listening has strong impacts on our relationships and personal lives. Listening can make a different person feel better and improve their interpersonal communication. It may even open up a person’s ability to obtain new sources of information. When a person engages in empathetic listening, it can expand their social and self-awareness by learning and analyzing other individual’s experiences and allowing the person to understand different points of view ( Gudykunst, Ting-Toomey, & Chua, 2008) . Also, when they engage in emotional support as a form of empathetic listening, it can reduce stress in the relationship by improving their interpersonal communication. If the partners refrain from listening to one another, the status of the relationship may deteriorate. Therefore, listening is a skill is a process that can be learned and improved with adequate effort. When the listening skills are improved, it has great benefit on the civic, academic, personal and professional contexts.
Listening is a complex process of receiving some information, interpretation, remembering, evaluation, and response in the form of nonverbal and verbal messages. During the receiving phase, the individuals select and respond to the various stimuli depending on their salience. They then interpret the stimuli so that to extract meaning that is dependent on our short and long-term memories. The message is then analyzed for credibility, worthiness, completeness before the person gives a response in the form of nonverbal and verbal signs. Discriminative listening is a fundamental form of listening where a person utilizes it to analyze and put the focus on certain sounds ( Berger & Calabrese, 2015) . Informational listening is used to understand and store information. On the other hand, analytical listening is used in the analysis and comprehension of messages at different phases. Hence, all these forms of listening affect how we receive and analyze information, ultimately affecting interpersonal communication.
However, here are various barriers to listening during interpersonal communication such as taking part in more than one conversation. When a person is listening to the radio or television while attempting to have a conversation with another person may affect their communication. Another barrier is when the listener is not interested in the topic that is being discussed. Being easily distracted or losing focus during the conversation may affect the conversation. Also, having a closed mind, prejudice, or bias may affect the listening process because the individual may believe that their opinions or view are better or more correct than that of other people. It may also occur in the form of prejudgment when the listener believes that the other person does not possess the appropriate credentials or is not intelligent enough ( Gudykunst, Ting-Toomey, & Chua, 2008) . Preoccupation may also affect the listening process because the listener may have a lot on their mind hence affecting their listening and interpersonal relationships such as relationships.
Effect of Nonverbal Communication on Relationships
Different emotions can be exhibited by a tilt of the head, a look, a smile or a sigh. Nonverbal communications go beyond expressing them when feeling an emotion are dependent on the type of interpretation that we assign to them. Nonverbal communication can create conflict in any relationship. Nonverbal communication is made up of facial expressions, body language and the tone of voice that can all be misinterpreted. When they are misinterpreted, it may lead to conflicts in the relationship ( Berger & Calabrese, 2015) . For instance, when a person shares a secret with a close friend and they frown, one may interpret it as a form of disapproval despite the fact that she might have been concentrating deeply. Also, when an employee folds their arms when talking to their employer, they might interpret as disapproval while the employee may have been feeling a bit cold. They may also cause discomfort around certain people if it was misinterpreted ( Baym, Zhang, & Lin, 2004) . For instance, if a friend’s voice appears sarcastic but they words are not, the other person may feel that their friend is making fun of them.
Nonverbal cues can be quite comforting. For example, when I give a warm smile when I am attempting to apologize or when I give a slight touch of the arm when I am sharing a difficult situation. A step forward or soft tones are other forms of verbal communication that are comforting and may increase the closeness of a couple because they complement the message that is being conveyed by the speaker. Also, nonverbal communication can be utilized to accent a message, therefore, enhancing the understanding. If a person is negotiating with a colleague and the colleague nods their head, it may mean that they may be on the right track ( Gudykunst, Ting-Toomey, & Chua, 2008) . Also, when a boss pounds the desk while they are speaking to an employee, it means that the employee should be taken the conversation very seriously. Also, when the significant other tells their partner that everything is okay, but they are frowning, or their voice is shaking, it would be important for the other partner to probe the situation further. Nonverbal communications cannot be easily faked therefore it is critical to analyze the facial expressions, body and the tone of the voice as they are communicating.
Conclusion
I have analysed the significance of interpersonal communication. A simple technique of defining interpersonal communication is comparing it with other types of communication. When such a technique is utilized, it allows the analysis of the people who are involved, their physical closeness, the sensory paths that are utilized, and the type of feedback that is utilized. It is different from other communication forms because fewer participants are included, and the people who are interacting are usually close to each other; the feedback is almost immediate, and many sensory paths are utilized ( Knapp, Vangelisti, & Caughlin, 2014) . Every person possesses different types of relationships with other people, and interpersonal communication accounts for all these types of communication because of the various types of cultures that are involved during the communication process. The core reason for engaging in an interpersonal relationship is to get information regarding the other person so that the interaction process can be more beneficial. The interaction allows the people to predict the actions of the people they are attempting to communicate with ( Baym, Zhang, & Lin, 2004) . The information can be obtained by observing their nonverbal gestures. However, the nonverbal cues can be misinterpreted or may be used to form closer bonds. Interpersonal communication can also be used to establish identities and the roles that are played in the various relationships that I am involved with. The study that I have conducted will allow me to improve my interpersonal skills.
References
Baym, N. K., Zhang, Y. B., & Lin, M. C. (2004). Social interactions across media interpersonal communication on the Internet, telephone and face-to-face. New Media & Society , 6 (3), 299-318.
Berger, C. R., & Calabrese, R. J. (2015). Some explorations in initial interaction and beyond: Toward a developmental theory of interpersonal communication. Human communication research , 1 (2), 99-112.
Gudykunst, W. B., Ting-Toomey, S., & Chua, E. (2008). Culture and interpersonal communication . Sage Publications, Inc.
Hecht, M. L. (2008). The conceptualization and measurement of interpersonal communication satisfaction. Human Communication Research , 4 (3), 253-264.
Knapp, M. L., Vangelisti, A. L., & Caughlin, J. P. (2014). Interpersonal Communication & Human Relationships . Pearson Higher Ed.
McCroskey, J. C., & Richmond, V. P. (2015). Fundamentals of human communication: An interpersonal perspective . Waveland PR Inc.
