reflective essay on organizational communication

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Effective Communication in the Workplace

Source: https://pixabay.com/vectors/social-media-connections-networking-3846597/ is in the Public Domain at Pixabay.com. Retrieved 07.05.2022.

Effective workplace communication helps maintain the quality of working relationships and positively affects employees' well-being. This article discusses the benefits of practicing effective communication in the workplace and provides strategies for workers and organizational leaders to improve communication effectiveness.

Workplace Communication Matters

Effective workplace communication benefits employees' job satisfaction, organizational productivity, and customer service (Adu-Oppong & Agyin-Birikorang, 2014). We summarized Bosworth's (2016) and Adu-Oppong and Agyin-Birikorang's (2014) works below related to the benefits of practicing effective communication in the workplace.

• Reduces work-related conflicts
• Enhances interpersonal relationships
• Increases workers' performance and supervisors' expectations
• Increases workforce productivity through constructive feedback
• Increases employee engagement and job satisfaction
• Builds organizational loyalty and trust
• Reduces employees' turnover rate
• Facilitates the proper utilization of resources
• Uncovers new employees' talents

Strategies to Improve Communication Effectiveness

Effective communication is a two-way process that requires both sender and receiver efforts. We summarized research works and guidelines for good communication in the workplace proposed by Cheney (2011), Keyton (2011), Tourish (2010), and Lunenburg (2010).

Sender's strategies for communication planning

• Clearly define the idea of your message before sharing it.
• Identify the purpose of the message (obtain information, initiate action, or change another person's attitude)
• Be aware of the physical and emotional environment in which you communicate your message. Consider the tone you want to use, the configuration of the space, and the context.
• Consult with others when you do not feel confident or comfortable communicating your message.
• Be mindful of the primary content of the message.
• Follow-up previous communications to verify the information.
• Communicate on time, avoid postponing hard conversations, and be consistent.
• Be aware that your actions support your messages and be coherent in your verbal and behavioral communication style.
• Be a good listener, even when you are the primary sender.

Receiver's strategies during a conversation

• Show interest and attitude to listen.
• Listen more than talk.
• Pay attention to the talker and the message, avoiding distractions.
• Be patient and allow the talker time to transmit the message.
• Be respectful and avoid interrupting a talker.
• Hold your temper. An angry person takes the wrong meaning from words
• Go easy on argument and criticism.
• Engage in the conversation by asking questions. This attitude helps develop key points and keep a fluid conversation.

Effective communication practices are essential for any successful team and organization. Organizational communication helps to disseminate important information to employees and builds relationships of trust and commitment.

Key points to improve communication in the workplace

• Set clear goals and expectations
• Ask clarifying questions
• Schedule regular one-on-one meetings
• Praise in public, criticize in private
• Assume positive intent
• Repeat important messages
• Raise your words, not your voice
• Hold town hall meetings and cross-functional check-ins.

Adu-Oppong, A. A., & Agyin-Birikorang, E. (2014). Communication in the Workplace: Guidelines for improving effectiveness.  Global journal of commerce & management perspective ,  3 (5), 208–213.

Bosworth, P. (2021, May 19). The power of good communication in the workplace . Leadership Choice. Retrieved May 18, 2022.

Cheney, G. (2011). Organizational communication in an age of globalization: Issues, reflections, practices . Waveland Press.

Keyton, J. (2011). Communication and organizational culture: A key to understanding work experience . Sage.

Tourish, D. (2010). Auditing organizational communication: A handbook of research, theory, and practice . Routledge

Lunenburg, F. C. (2010). Communication: The process, barriers, and improving effectiveness.  Schooling ,  1 (1), 1-10.

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The Journey to Mastery: How Self Reflection Can Improve Communication

Implement these best practices before and after both high-stakes and everyday communication to improve your effectiveness.

February 27, 2020

What does it mean to truly master communication? How can we speak and write for the most impact?

In this podcast episode of Think Fast, Talk Smart , Stanford Graduate School of Business lecturers JD Schramm and Matt Abrahams discuss how to use self-reflection for self-improvement. They also offer methods for preparing for a high stakes situation such as a pitch meeting or an everyday interaction like sending an email.

Think Fast, Talk Smart is a podcast produced by Stanford Graduate School of Business and hosted by Matt Abrahams. Each episode provides concrete, easy-to-implement tools and techniques to help you hone and enhance your communication.

Full Transcript

Matt Abrahams : With dedicated practice, self-reflection, along with a little guidance, we can all hone and improve our communication skills.

Today we will focus on the idea of communication mastery with my friend, colleague, and mentor, JD Schramm, who in addition to lecturing in Strategic Communication at Stanford’s Graduate School of Business, was recently named the Director of the King Global Leadership Program for the Knight-Hennessy Scholars Program at Stanford. Welcome, JD.

How do you define mastery?

JD Schramm : Well, thanks Matt, and thanks for having me here to have this conversation today. I love the definition of mastery that Dan Pink gives in his book Drive. Mastery is getting better and better at something that Matters. For you, for me, from any leaders that we have the privilege of working with, communication is something that matters. And you cannot reach perfection in communication. No matter how great the document is, how great the speech is, how concise the report is, you still could always make it just a little bit better. And so we look at mastery as being an aspiration, I get closer and closer and closer, but I never get to perfection. And that’s the premise of the book: how can I iterate over time and keep getting better and better and better, knowing that the goal is something I will never fully reach. And that’s part of the process, what we go through. If a leader can be self reflective, and recognize that the growth that they have had over a period of time, it is that process that is really exhilarating. And really encouraging much more than the product of that one talk, or that one deck, or that one letter.

Matt Abrahams : That notion of reflection, self-reflection that you mentioned, I think is so critical to success in any communication. But especially as we strive for mastery. I’m curious if you have any insights and thoughts about adjusting and adapting your communication to the needs of the people you’re speaking to.

JD Schramm : Two thoughts on that. One, I think it’s crucial that leaders deliver the message the audience needs to hear, more than the message the leader wants to share. And so I think to be effective as a leader, we’ve got to be very audience-centric in the way in which we design and deliver communication. And we have to be really careful. As we’re reading an audience, we could misinterpret something. We could get something wrong. So in the design of the communication, I have to really think about my audience a lot. In the delivery, I want to be sensitive to the audience. But I also wanna acknowledge I don’t have all the information. So, if I’m gonna invent or interpret what’s going on for somebody, interpret something that’s going to support me. And encouraged me, like their intent on what I’m saying, rather than assuming they’re bored by what I’m saying.

Matt Abrahams : I really liked that distinction of what you do going into the creation of the content being in service of the audience. But then in the moment of delivery, it’s a different perspective. I wanna get back to this notion of design, because we’ve talked a bit about designing messages for audiences. But one thing I appreciate so much about the work you do is you really spend time championing the establishment of what I’ll call a positive communication culture within an organization. Can you share a few examples that you think highlight best practices. Or perhaps practices to be avoided as people progress towards their own communication mastery?

JD Schramm : I love that question, Matt. So there’s a section in the book that is all about communicating from a particular perspective, or point of view, or orientation. And the groups that I chose to highlight in there, communicating as an LGBTQ leader, as a member of the gay community, I’ve done a lot of work in that. And so there’s a section on what’s distinct about being an out LGBT leader. There’s a section, honed especially from the work of Allison Kluger and Stephanie Solari on executive presence for women. And what are the best resources out there. What are some of the resources out there to avoid that are not what we would want. But in that section, I also have communicating as a military veteran. And through both the Ignite program here and the BreakLine program, we’ve been able to work with veterans. Who are going from a life of military service to a career in the civilian ranks. And many of the veterans who are in the Ignite program here were very generous with me as I wrote that and researched that. And came up with tips and stories about what that transition is like. And I don’t know that there are very many resources out there that look at that slice of communication, whether it’s somebody who’s been marginalized, or somebody who has had a distinct service experience. And how can I approach mastery when I’ve got this experience, which may be an asset or maybe a liability. But I just have to acknowledge that’s what I’m coming into the conversation with. And those stories were awesome to get to collect. And then to share back out to the men and women in the military who fed into that and have them respond to it. They were grateful to see something codified in one place.

Matt Abrahams : It’s exciting to me to know that your book not only will give general guidelines and advice, but also targets very specific experiences people have, and how they themselves then can work on their own personal mastery. Are there any specific tools and exercises you recommend people try as they journey towards communication mastery?

JD Schramm : There are several. Let me limit it to just two, and this again goes back to the concept of iteration, getting better and better at something. We include in the book and Kara Levy, who’s a communication coach here at the GSB was my co-author on this. We include a lot of examples of how to self-edit your writing. It is always useful for me to hand over an email or a report to somebody else to copy edit or be check for me. Does this hit the right tone? Is this the right level of detail for this audience? But how can I do that when I don’t have somebody to turn the document over to? Similarly, in the oral communication, being able to use our smartphones effectively to record our side of a conversation and analyze it later. To be able to hand our phone to somebody in a business meeting. And say, when I do my pitch to senior management, could you just subtly capture it on video. Or even just on audio that is completely unobtrusive in a meeting? Then I can go back. I can hear exactly what I said. I can look at the fillers. I can look at the uptalk. I can look at the long-winded sentences, or where did the questions come. And being able to use just simple tools like that in small ways, we get better and better at what we’re doing. It doesn’t have to be hiring a coach, and doing hours of rehearsal to get ready for a TED talk. It can literally be something as simple as reviewing a document after I’ve written it or audio recording a conversation that I had, and then analyzing my side of it.

Matt Abrahams : We end every one of these podcasts with three questions that I ask everybody and I’d love for you to share your answers to these three. So the first question is, if you were to capture the best communication advice you ever received as a five-to-seven-word presentation slide title, what would it be?

JD Schramm : You cannot not communicate. Regardless, I was trying to get into the five-to-seven range, so I added regardless.

No, no matter what I do, I communicate something. Whether I write an email and I sit back, and wait for a day. Whether I speak up in a meeting, or I remain silent. Whether I sigh, or I smile, you cannot not communicate. No matter what you do, you’re communicating something. So let’s take some ownership for the communication you want out there, rather than have it be just by default, what you’re doing.

Matt Abrahams : I liked how you turned a double negative into a positive bit of advice. That was cool.

Matt Abrahams : Who is a communicator that you admire, and why?

JD Schramm : I’ve gotta go to the queen, Oprah Winfrey. Her ability to tell stories that make a point, that draw you in. I’ve gotten to see her present in person twice. I spoke at a conference that she was one of the keynotes. And being able to hear her in person describe and inspire people to be their best selves. Hands down, I just think she is top of her game. And for the audience listening, I think her Golden Globe acceptance speech of the Lifetime Achievement Award two years ago. Brilliant storytelling, brilliant arc, great use of mantra, just across the board in everything she did, very effective.

Matt Abrahams : I 100% agree. That particular speech was phenomenal. Third question, what are the first three ingredients that go into a successful communication recipe?

JD Schramm : I’m going to fall back to something I teach in almost every class and every workshop, audience, intent and message. Mary Munter and Lynn Russell several years ago created the aim model. Who is your audience? I don’t know who I’m writing or speaking to. What is my intent? What do I want them to do with that after they receive it? And only once I know audience intent can I then create the message. The biggest mistake that leaders make today is they jump immediately to message without slowing down to think about who really needs to hear this. And when they hear it or read it, what’s the action I need them to take? So the three answers to me are audience, intent, and message.

Matt Abrahams : What a wonderful way to wrap up a conversation about mastery, and we all need to slow down. And think about in a very methodical, appropriate way, how we develop our communication skills written or spoken. And you’ve given us great insight In our conversation, and I and I hope everyone else looks forward to your book to give us even more information. Thank you so much for being an inspiration to me, and everybody else.

JD Schramm : Thank you, Matt. It was a privilege to get to be here. Thanks for doing the podcast.

For media inquiries, visit the Newsroom .

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February 14, 2020 How to Make Complex Ideas More Accessible In this podcast episode, we explore techniques for presenting complicated information so your audience can more easily understand.

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The Importance of Reflective Leadership in Business

• 05 Sep 2023

Effective leadership is essential to business success. As an organizational leader , you not only guide decision-making but create your company’s culture, retain its talent, and move it toward bigger, better things.

Your leadership style —the behavioral patterns consistent across your decision-making—influences your impact on your organization and team. One of the most beneficial styles to adopt is reflective leadership.

If you want to learn more about reflective leadership’s role in business, here’s an overview of its components, why it’s effective, and how to become a reflective leader.

Access your free e-book today.

What Is Reflective Leadership?

Reflective leadership involves self-awareness, introspection, and continuous learning and growth to make better decisions, enhance leadership skills , and improve team performance .

“Reflective leadership requires the continuous practice of reflection over time,” says Harvard Business School Professor Nien-hê Hsieh in the online course Leadership, Ethics, and Corporate Accountability . “This allows you to regularly examine and re-evaluate your decisions and responsibilities to practice, broaden, and deepen your skills, and to apply this knowledge when analyzing present situations.”

Reflective leadership also enables you to help your team grow.

“Reflective leadership is about helping others on your team or in your organization,” Hsieh says. “It’s about helping them develop their own skills in awareness, judgment, and action.”

In Leadership, Ethics, and Corporate Accountability , Hsieh delves into the reflective leadership model , a framework for conceptualizing your responsibilities as an ethical leader.

The model has four components:

• Awareness: Recognize your legal, economic, and ethical responsibilities to stakeholders.
• Judgment: Consider biases and shared concepts that influence your decision-making.
• Action: Act on your decisions in an accountable, consistent way.
• Reflection: Reflect on all three components throughout the process to learn from past experiences.

“The reflective leadership model involves not only reflection on business decisions but also continuous reflection on your own personal beliefs, goals, and commitments,” Hsieh says in the course. “These aspects of self are often significant influences on your decisions and internal guides when navigating difficult situations.”

The Importance of Reflective Leadership

Before diving into the importance of reflective leadership, it’s critical to note the pitfalls of being an inadequate leader.

According to recruitment services company Zippia , 79 percent of employees leave their companies because they don’t feel appreciated by leaders, and upwards of 69 percent believe they’d work harder if recognized. In addition, only 33 percent report feeling engaged in the workplace.

Companies also lack focus on leadership development. Zippia reports that 77 percent struggle to find and develop leaders, and only five percent implement leadership development at all levels.

Since reflective leadership focuses on continuously improving and developing, it’s one of the more effective leadership styles. By regularly reflecting on your beliefs and values and incorporating them into your actions, you can make ethical decisions and enable your company to be more purpose-driven .

“Along with responsibility, leadership brings opportunities,” Hsieh explains in Leadership, Ethics, and Corporate Accountability . “These include opportunities to make ethical decisions where someone else wouldn’t, to influence others to do the right thing, and to make a positive impact on the world.”

Reflective leadership also helps you build authentic, supportive relationships with team members and create a workplace of ethics and accountability .

If you want to adopt a reflective leadership style, here are the competencies to develop.

How to Become a Reflective Leader

Be self-reflective.

Self-reflection is at reflective leadership’s core. According to Leadership, Ethics, and Corporate Accountability , you can practice self-reflection by:

• Reviewing, analyzing, and evaluating your decisions—in the moment and over time.
• Continuously deepening your awareness and self-knowledge.
• Developing a general framework for judgment.
• Improving your capacity for action and leadership.

Leading with self-reflection won’t just help you learn from past experiences but also encourage and enable your team members to adopt reflective mentalities.

Identify Your Commitments

Knowing your commitments is also essential to effective leadership.

“It’s important to identify and define your own commitments,” Hsieh says in Leadership, Ethics, and Corporate Accountability , “both to set a baseline for what you will and won’t do and to evaluate and clarify your thoughts, opinions, and feelings when making decisions.”

To create that baseline, Hsieh recommends asking the following questions:

• What’s core to my identity?
• What lines or boundaries won’t I cross?
• What kind of life do I want to live?
• What kind of leader do I want to be?

By identifying your commitments, you can better guide yourself and your team.

Consider Your Accountability

Becoming a reflective leader also requires accountability to successfully execute on your values and implement them into action plans.

This refers to the reflective leadership model’s “action” step—putting your decisions into practice in a way that’s accountable and consistent with your responsibilities.

“When leading reflectively, straightforward action planning may not be enough,” Hsieh says in Leadership, Ethics, and Corporate Accountability . “An accountable leader will go beyond just answering ‘How will we do it?’ to ask ‘How can I do it accountably?’”

Reflective Leadership Training for Businesses

By incorporating your values into your leadership style, you can learn from your experiences on a deeper level and develop into a better leader.

One way to gain the skills and frameworks to succeed long term is by taking an online course, such as Leadership, Ethics, and Corporate Accountability . Through a dynamic, interactive learning experience, the course provides the opportunity to apply the reflective leadership model to real-world business ethics challenges.

Are you ready to become a reflective leader? Apply to Leadership, Ethics, and Corporate Accountability —one of our online leadership and management courses —and download our free e-book on effective leadership.

About the Author

Organizing Your Social Sciences Research Assignments

• Annotated Bibliography
• Analyzing a Scholarly Journal Article
• Group Presentations
• Dealing with Nervousness
• Using Visual Aids
• Grading Someone Else's Paper
• Types of Structured Group Activities
• Group Project Survival Skills
• Leading a Class Discussion
• Multiple Book Review Essay
• Reviewing Collected Works
• Writing a Case Analysis Paper
• Writing a Case Study
• About Informed Consent
• Writing Field Notes
• Writing a Policy Memo
• Writing a Reflective Paper
• Writing a Research Proposal
• Generative AI and Writing
• Acknowledgments

Reflective writing is a process of identifying, questioning, and critically evaluating course-based learning opportunities, integrated with your own observations, experiences, impressions, beliefs, assumptions, or biases, and which describes how this process stimulated new or creative understanding about the content of the course.

A reflective paper describes and explains in an introspective, first person narrative, your reactions and feelings about either a specific element of the class [e.g., a required reading; a film shown in class] or more generally how you experienced learning throughout the course. Reflective writing assignments can be in the form of a single paper, essays, portfolios, journals, diaries, or blogs. In some cases, your professor may include a reflective writing assignment as a way to obtain student feedback that helps improve the course, either in the moment or for when the class is taught again.

How to Write a Reflection Paper . Academic Skills, Trent University; Writing a Reflection Paper . Writing Center, Lewis University; Critical Reflection . Writing and Communication Centre, University of Waterloo; Tsingos-Lucas et al. "Using Reflective Writing as a Predictor of Academic Success in Different Assessment Formats." American Journal of Pharmaceutical Education 81 (2017): Article 8.

Benefits of Reflective Writing Assignments

As the term implies, a reflective paper involves looking inward at oneself in contemplating and bringing meaning to the relationship between course content and the acquisition of new knowledge . Educational research [Bolton, 2010; Ryan, 2011; Tsingos-Lucas et al., 2017] demonstrates that assigning reflective writing tasks enhances learning because it challenges students to confront their own assumptions, biases, and belief systems around what is being taught in class and, in so doing, stimulate student’s decisions, actions, attitudes, and understanding about themselves as learners and in relation to having mastery over their learning. Reflection assignments are also an opportunity to write in a first person narrative about elements of the course, such as the required readings, separate from the exegetic and analytical prose of academic research papers.

Reflection writing often serves multiple purposes simultaneously. In no particular order, here are some of reasons why professors assign reflection papers:

• Enhances learning from previous knowledge and experience in order to improve future decision-making and reasoning in practice . Reflective writing in the applied social sciences enhances decision-making skills and academic performance in ways that can inform professional practice. The act of reflective writing creates self-awareness and understanding of others. This is particularly important in clinical and service-oriented professional settings.
• Allows students to make sense of classroom content and overall learning experiences in relation to oneself, others, and the conditions that shaped the content and classroom experiences . Reflective writing places you within the course content in ways that can deepen your understanding of the material. Because reflective thinking can help reveal hidden biases, it can help you critically interrogate moments when you do not like or agree with discussions, readings, or other aspects of the course.
• Increases awareness of one’s cognitive abilities and the evidence for these attributes . Reflective writing can break down personal doubts about yourself as a learner and highlight specific abilities that may have been hidden or suppressed due to prior assumptions about the strength of your academic abilities [e.g., reading comprehension; problem-solving skills]. Reflective writing, therefore, can have a positive affective [i.e., emotional] impact on your sense of self-worth.
• Applying theoretical knowledge and frameworks to real experiences . Reflective writing can help build a bridge of relevancy between theoretical knowledge and the real world. In so doing, this form of writing can lead to a better understanding of underlying theories and their analytical properties applied to professional practice.
• Reveals shortcomings that the reader will identify . Evidence suggests that reflective writing can uncover your own shortcomings as a learner, thereby, creating opportunities to anticipate the responses of your professor may have about the quality of your coursework. This can be particularly productive if the reflective paper is written before final submission of an assignment.
• Helps students identify their tacit [a.k.a., implicit] knowledge and possible gaps in that knowledge . Tacit knowledge refers to ways of knowing rooted in lived experience, insight, and intuition rather than formal, codified, categorical, or explicit knowledge. In so doing, reflective writing can stimulate students to question their beliefs about a research problem or an element of the course content beyond positivist modes of understanding and representation.
• Encourages students to actively monitor their learning processes over a period of time . On-going reflective writing in journals or blogs, for example, can help you maintain or adapt learning strategies in other contexts. The regular, purposeful act of reflection can facilitate continuous deep thinking about the course content as it evolves and changes throughout the term. This, in turn, can increase your overall confidence as a learner.
• Relates a student’s personal experience to a wider perspective . Reflection papers can help you see the big picture associated with the content of a course by forcing you to think about the connections between scholarly content and your lived experiences outside of school. It can provide a macro-level understanding of one’s own experiences in relation to the specifics of what is being taught.
• If reflective writing is shared, students can exchange stories about their learning experiences, thereby, creating an opportunity to reevaluate their original assumptions or perspectives . In most cases, reflective writing is only viewed by your professor in order to ensure candid feedback from students. However, occasionally, reflective writing is shared and openly discussed in class. During these discussions, new or different perspectives and alternative approaches to solving problems can be generated that would otherwise be hidden. Sharing student's reflections can also reveal collective patterns of thought and emotions about a particular element of the course.

Bolton, Gillie. Reflective Practice: Writing and Professional Development . London: Sage, 2010; Chang, Bo. "Reflection in Learning." Online Learning 23 (2019), 95-110; Cavilla, Derek. "The Effects of Student Reflection on Academic Performance and Motivation." Sage Open 7 (July-September 2017): 1–13; Culbert, Patrick. “Better Teaching? You Can Write On It “ Liberal Education (February 2022); McCabe, Gavin and Tobias Thejll-Madsen. The Reflection Toolkit . University of Edinburgh; The Purpose of Reflection . Introductory Composition at Purdue University; Practice-based and Reflective Learning . Study Advice Study Guides, University of Reading; Ryan, Mary. "Improving Reflective Writing in Higher Education: A Social Semiotic Perspective." Teaching in Higher Education 16 (2011): 99-111; Tsingos-Lucas et al. "Using Reflective Writing as a Predictor of Academic Success in Different Assessment Formats." American Journal of Pharmaceutical Education 81 (2017): Article 8; What Benefits Might Reflective Writing Have for My Students? Writing Across the Curriculum Clearinghouse; Rykkje, Linda. "The Tacit Care Knowledge in Reflective Writing: A Practical Wisdom." International Practice Development Journal 7 (September 2017): Article 5; Using Reflective Writing to Deepen Student Learning . Center for Writing, University of Minnesota.

How to Approach Writing a Reflection Paper

Thinking About Reflective Thinking

Educational theorists have developed numerous models of reflective thinking that your professor may use to frame a reflective writing assignment. These models can help you systematically interpret your learning experiences, thereby ensuring that you ask the right questions and have a clear understanding of what should be covered. A model can also represent the overall structure of a reflective paper. Each model establishes a different approach to reflection and will require you to think about your writing differently. If you are unclear how to fit your writing within a particular reflective model, seek clarification from your professor. There are generally two types of reflective writing assignments, each approached in slightly different ways.

1.  Reflective Thinking about Course Readings

This type of reflective writing focuses on thoughtfully thinking about the course readings that underpin how most students acquire new knowledge and understanding about the subject of a course. Reflecting on course readings is often assigned in freshmen-level, interdisciplinary courses where the required readings examine topics viewed from multiple perspectives and, as such, provide different ways of analyzing a topic, issue, event, or phenomenon. The purpose of reflective thinking about course readings in the social and behavioral sciences is to elicit your opinions, beliefs, and feelings about the research and its significance. This type of writing can provide an opportunity to break down key assumptions you may have and, in so doing, reveal potential biases in how you interpret the scholarship.

If you are assigned to reflect on course readings, consider the following methods of analysis as prompts that can help you get started :

• Examine carefully the main introductory elements of the reading, including the purpose of the study, the theoretical framework being used to test assumptions, and the research questions being addressed. Think about what ideas stood out to you. Why did they? Were these ideas new to you or familiar in some way based on your own lived experiences or prior knowledge?
• Develop your ideas around the readings by asking yourself, what do I know about this topic? Where does my existing knowledge about this topic come from? What are the observations or experiences in my life that influence my understanding of the topic? Do I agree or disagree with the main arguments, recommended course of actions, or conclusions made by the author(s)? Why do I feel this way and what is the basis of these feelings?
• Make connections between the text and your own beliefs, opinions, or feelings by considering questions like, how do the readings reinforce my existing ideas or assumptions? How the readings challenge these ideas or assumptions? How does this text help me to better understand this topic or research in ways that motivate me to learn more about this area of study?

2.  Reflective Thinking about Course Experiences

This type of reflective writing asks you to critically reflect on locating yourself at the conceptual intersection of theory and practice. The purpose of experiential reflection is to evaluate theories or disciplinary-based analytical models based on your introspective assessment of the relationship between hypothetical thinking and practical reality; it offers a way to consider how your own knowledge and skills fit within professional practice. This type of writing also provides an opportunity to evaluate your decisions and actions, as well as how you managed your subsequent successes and failures, within a specific theoretical framework. As a result, abstract concepts can crystallize and become more relevant to you when considered within your own experiences. This can help you formulate plans for self-improvement as you learn.

If you are assigned to reflect on your experiences, consider the following questions as prompts to help you get started :

• Contextualize your reflection in relation to the overarching purpose of the course by asking yourself, what did you hope to learn from this course? What were the learning objectives for the course and how did I fit within each of them? How did these goals relate to the main themes or concepts of the course?
• Analyze how you experienced the course by asking yourself, what did I learn from this experience? What did I learn about myself? About working in this area of research and study? About how the course relates to my place in society? What assumptions about the course were supported or refuted?
• Think introspectively about the ways you experienced learning during the course by asking yourself, did your learning experiences align with the goals or concepts of the course? Why or why do you not feel this way? What was successful and why do you believe this? What would you do differently and why is this important? How will you prepare for a future experience in this area of study?

NOTE: If you are assigned to write a journal or other type of on-going reflection exercise, a helpful approach is to reflect on your reflections by re-reading what you have already written. In other words, review your previous entries as a way to contextualize your feelings, opinions, or beliefs regarding your overall learning experiences. Over time, this can also help reveal hidden patterns or themes related to how you processed your learning experiences. Consider concluding your reflective journal with a summary of how you felt about your learning experiences at critical junctures throughout the course, then use these to write about how you grew as a student learner and how the act of reflecting helped you gain new understanding about the subject of the course and its content.

ANOTHER NOTE: Regardless of whether you write a reflection paper or a journal, do not focus your writing on the past. The act of reflection is intended to think introspectively about previous learning experiences. However, reflective thinking should document the ways in which you progressed in obtaining new insights and understandings about your growth as a learner that can be carried forward in subsequent coursework or in future professional practice. Your writing should reflect a furtherance of increasing personal autonomy and confidence gained from understanding more about yourself as a learner.

Structure and Writing Style

There are no strict academic rules for writing a reflective paper. Reflective writing may be assigned in any class taught in the social and behavioral sciences and, therefore, requirements for the assignment can vary depending on disciplinary-based models of inquiry and learning. The organization of content can also depend on what your professor wants you to write about or based on the type of reflective model used to frame the writing assignment. Despite these possible variations, below is a basic approach to organizing and writing a good reflective paper, followed by a list of problems to avoid.

Pre-flection

In most cases, it's helpful to begin by thinking about your learning experiences and outline what you want to focus on before you begin to write the paper. This can help you organize your thoughts around what was most important to you and what experiences [good or bad] had the most impact on your learning. As described by the University of Waterloo Writing and Communication Centre, preparing to write a reflective paper involves a process of self-analysis that can help organize your thoughts around significant moments of in-class knowledge discovery.

• Using a thesis statement as a guide, note what experiences or course content stood out to you , then place these within the context of your observations, reactions, feelings, and opinions. This will help you develop a rough outline of key moments during the course that reflect your growth as a learner. To identify these moments, pose these questions to yourself: What happened? What was my reaction? What were my expectations and how were they different from what transpired? What did I learn?
• Critically think about your learning experiences and the course content . This will help you develop a deeper, more nuanced understanding about why these moments were significant or relevant to you. Use the ideas you formulated during the first stage of reflecting to help you think through these moments from both an academic and personal perspective. From an academic perspective, contemplate how the experience enhanced your understanding of a concept, theory, or skill. Ask yourself, did the experience confirm my previous understanding or challenge it in some way. As a result, did this highlight strengths or gaps in your current knowledge? From a personal perspective, think introspectively about why these experiences mattered, if previous expectations or assumptions were confirmed or refuted, and if this surprised, confused, or unnerved you in some way.
• Analyze how these experiences and your reactions to them will shape your future thinking and behavior . Reflection implies looking back, but the most important act of reflective writing is considering how beliefs, assumptions, opinions, and feelings were transformed in ways that better prepare you as a learner in the future. Note how this reflective analysis can lead to actions you will take as a result of your experiences, what you will do differently, and how you will apply what you learned in other courses or in professional practice.

Basic Structure and Writing Style

Reflective Background and Context

The first part of your reflection paper should briefly provide background and context in relation to the content or experiences that stood out to you. Highlight the settings, summarize the key readings, or narrate the experiences in relation to the course objectives. Provide background that sets the stage for your reflection. You do not need to go into great detail, but you should provide enough information for the reader to understand what sources of learning you are writing about [e.g., course readings, field experience, guest lecture, class discussions] and why they were important. This section should end with an explanatory thesis statement that expresses the central ideas of your paper and what you want the readers to know, believe, or understand after they finish reading your paper.

Reflective Interpretation

Drawing from your reflective analysis, this is where you can be personal, critical, and creative in expressing how you felt about the course content and learning experiences and how they influenced or altered your feelings, beliefs, assumptions, or biases about the subject of the course. This section is also where you explore the meaning of these experiences in the context of the course and how you gained an awareness of the connections between these moments and your own prior knowledge.

Guided by your thesis statement, a helpful approach is to interpret your learning throughout the course with a series of specific examples drawn from the course content and your learning experiences. These examples should be arranged in sequential order that illustrate your growth as a learner. Reflecting on each example can be done by: 1)  introducing a theme or moment that was meaningful to you, 2) describing your previous position about the learning moment and what you thought about it, 3) explaining how your perspective was challenged and/or changed and why, and 4) introspectively stating your current or new feelings, opinions, or beliefs about that experience in class.

It is important to include specific examples drawn from the course and placed within the context of your assumptions, thoughts, opinions, and feelings. A reflective narrative without specific examples does not provide an effective way for the reader to understand the relationship between the course content and how you grew as a learner.

Reflective Conclusions

The conclusion of your reflective paper should provide a summary of your thoughts, feelings, or opinions regarding what you learned about yourself as a result of taking the course. Here are several ways you can frame your conclusions based on the examples you interpreted and reflected on what they meant to you. Each example would need to be tied to the basic theme [thesis statement] of your reflective background section.

• Your reflective conclusions can be described in relation to any expectations you had before taking the class [e.g., “I expected the readings to not be relevant to my own experiences growing up in a rural community, but the research actually helped me see that the challenges of developing my identity as a child of immigrants was not that unusual...”].
• Your reflective conclusions can explain how what you learned about yourself will change your actions in the future [e.g., “During a discussion in class about the challenges of helping homeless people, I realized that many of these people hate living on the street but lack the ability to see a way out. This made me realize that I wanted to take more classes in psychology...”].
• Your reflective conclusions can describe major insights you experienced a critical junctures during the course and how these moments enhanced how you see yourself as a student learner [e.g., "The guest speaker from the Head Start program made me realize why I wanted to pursue a career in elementary education..."].
• Your reflective conclusions can reconfigure or reframe how you will approach professional practice and your understanding of your future career aspirations [e.g.,, "The course changed my perceptions about seeking a career in business finance because it made me realize I want to be more engaged in customer service..."]
• Your reflective conclusions can explore any learning you derived from the act of reflecting itself [e.g., “Reflecting on the course readings that described how minority students perceive campus activities helped me identify my own biases about the benefits of those activities in acclimating to campus life...”].

NOTE: The length of a reflective paper in the social sciences is usually less than a traditional research paper. However, don’t assume that writing a reflective paper is easier than writing a research paper. A well-conceived critical reflection paper often requires as much time and effort as a research paper because you must purposeful engage in thinking about your learning in ways that you may not be comfortable with or used to. This is particular true while preparing to write because reflective papers are not as structured as a traditional research paper and, therefore, you have to think deliberately about how you want to organize the paper and what elements of the course you want to reflect upon.

ANOTHER NOTE: Do not limit yourself to using only text in reflecting on your learning. If you believe it would be helpful, consider using creative modes of thought or expression such as, illustrations, photographs, or material objects that reflects an experience related to the subject of the course that was important to you [e.g., like a ticket stub to a renowned speaker on campus]. Whatever non-textual element you include, be sure to describe the object's relevance to your personal relationship to the course content.

Problems to Avoid

A reflective paper is not a “mind dump” . Reflective papers document your personal and emotional experiences and, therefore, they do not conform to rigid structures, or schema, to organize information. However, the paper should not be a disjointed, stream-of-consciousness narrative. Reflective papers are still academic pieces of writing that require organized thought, that use academic language and tone , and that apply intellectually-driven critical thinking to the course content and your learning experiences and their significance.

A reflective paper is not a research paper . If you are asked to reflect on a course reading, the reflection will obviously include some description of the research. However, the goal of reflective writing is not to present extraneous ideas to the reader or to "educate" them about the course. The goal is to share a story about your relationship with the learning objectives of the course. Therefore, unlike research papers, you are expected to write from a first person point of view which includes an introspective examination of your own opinions, feelings, and personal assumptions.

A reflection paper is not a book review . Descriptions of the course readings using your own words is not a reflective paper. Reflective writing should focus on how you understood the implications of and were challenged by the course in relation to your own lived experiences or personal assumptions, combined with explanations of how you grew as a student learner based on this internal dialogue. Remember that you are the central object of the paper, not the research materials.

A reflective paper is not an all-inclusive meditation. Do not try to cover everything. The scope of your paper should be well-defined and limited to your specific opinions, feelings, and beliefs about what you determine to be the most significant content of the course and in relation to the learning that took place. Reflections should be detailed enough to covey what you think is important, but your thoughts should be expressed concisely and coherently [as is true for any academic writing assignment].

Critical Reflection . Writing and Communication Centre, University of Waterloo; Critical Reflection: Journals, Opinions, & Reactions . University Writing Center, Texas A&M University; Connor-Greene, Patricia A. “Making Connections: Evaluating the Effectiveness of Journal Writing in Enhancing Student Learning.” Teaching of Psychology 27 (2000): 44-46; Good vs. Bad Reflection Papers , Franklin University; Dyment, Janet E. and Timothy S. O’Connell. "The Quality of Reflection in Student Journals: A Review of Limiting and Enabling Factors." Innovative Higher Education 35 (2010): 233-244: How to Write a Reflection Paper . Academic Skills, Trent University; Amelia TaraJane House. Reflection Paper . Cordia Harrington Center for Excellence, University of Arkansas; Ramlal, Alana, and Désirée S. Augustin. “Engaging Students in Reflective Writing: An Action Research Project.” Educational Action Research 28 (2020): 518-533; Writing a Reflection Paper . Writing Center, Lewis University; McGuire, Lisa, Kathy Lay, and Jon Peters. “Pedagogy of Reflective Writing in Professional Education.” Journal of the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (2009): 93-107; Critical Reflection . Writing and Communication Centre, University of Waterloo; How Do I Write Reflectively? Academic Skills Toolkit, University of New South Wales Sydney; Reflective Writing . Skills@Library. University of Leeds; Walling, Anne, Johanna Shapiro, and Terry Ast. “What Makes a Good Reflective Paper?” Family Medicine 45 (2013): 7-12; Williams, Kate, Mary Woolliams, and Jane Spiro. Reflective Writing . 2nd edition. London: Red Globe Press, 2020; Yeh, Hui-Chin, Shih-hsien Yang, Jo Shan Fu, and Yen-Chen Shih. “Developing College Students’ Critical Thinking through Reflective Writing.” Higher Education Research and Development (2022): 1-16.

Writing Tip

Focus on Reflecting, Not on Describing

Minimal time and effort should be spent describing the course content you are asked to reflect upon. The purpose of a reflection assignment is to introspectively contemplate your reactions to and feeling about an element of the course. D eflecting the focus away from your own feelings by concentrating on describing the course content can happen particularly if "talking about yourself" [i.e., reflecting] makes you uncomfortable or it is intimidating. However, the intent of reflective writing is to overcome these inhibitions so as to maximize the benefits of introspectively assessing your learning experiences. Keep in mind that, if it is relevant, your feelings of discomfort could be a part of how you critically reflect on any challenges you had during the course [e.g., you realize this discomfort inhibited your willingness to ask questions during class, it fed into your propensity to procrastinate, or it made it difficult participating in groups].

Writing a Reflection Paper . Writing Center, Lewis University; Reflection Paper . Cordia Harrington Center for Excellence, University of Arkansas.

Another Writing Tip

Helpful Videos about Reflective Writing

These two short videos succinctly describe how to approach a reflective writing assignment. They are produced by the Academic Skills department at the University of Melbourne and the Skills Team of the University of Hull, respectively.

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Managing Organizational Communication

Overview The Importance of a Comprehensive Communication Strategy Building a Communication Strategy Audience Vehicles and Approaches Types of Messages Legal Issues

Communication is a vital management component to any organization. Whether the purpose is to update employees on new policies, to prepare for a weather disaster, to ensure safety throughout the organization or to listen to the attitudes of employees, effective communication is an integral issue in effective management. To be successful, organizations should have comprehensive policies and strategies for communicating with their constituencies, employees and stakeholders as well as with the community at large.

The following communication topics are discussed in this toolkit:

• The impact of effective and ineffective communication on the organization and its employees.
• How to build an effective communication strategy.
• The various constituencies affected by the communicated information.
• Measuring results.
• How to select the appropriate audience for each type of message.
• The types of communication methods used in organizations.

The Importance of a Comprehensive Communication Strategy

Most HR professionals and organizational leaders agree that linking corporate communication to business strategy is essential to effective and consistent business operations. With a formal and comprehensive communication strategy, organizations can ensure that they:

• Communicate consistent messages.
• Establish a recognizable employment brand.
• Deliver messages from the top that are congruent with the organization's mission, vision and culture.

The impact of effective communication

Effective communication may contribute to organizational success in many ways. It:

• Builds employee morale, satisfaction and engagement.
• Helps employees understand terms and conditions of their employment and drives their commitment and loyalty.
• Educates employees on the merits of remaining union-free (if that is the organization's goal).
• Gives employees a voice—an increasingly meaningful component of improving employees' satisfaction with their employer.
• Helps to lessen the chances for misunderstandings and potentially reduces grievances and lawsuits.
• Improves processes and procedures and ultimately creates greater efficiencies and reduces costs.

The impact of ineffective communication

Ineffective communication may increase the chances for misunderstandings, damage relationships, break trust, and increase anger and hostility. Ineffective communication may stem from poorly aligned strategy, a failure to execute the strategy, use of the wrong communication vehicle, bad timing, and even nuances such as word choice or tone of voice. See  The Cost of Poor Communications and The 7 Deadliest Communication Sins .

Two-way communication

HR professionals may initially think of communication mainly in the context of delivering messages to employees about business issues, policies and procedures, but two-way communication plays an essential role in a comprehensive communication strategy. Listening to employee issues and concerns builds loyalty and drives improved productivity. Organizational leaders can learn through listening about issues or concerns before they become formal grievances or lawsuits. They can also discover potential employee relations issues and learn about attitudes toward terms and conditions of employment. See  Three Steps to Turn Up Your Listening Skills and Open and Transparent Communication .

Building a Communication Strategy

To develop a communication strategy, employers should begin by linking communication to the strategic plan, including the organization's mission, vision and values; its strategic goals and objectives; and its employment brand.

Effective communication strategies:

• Safeguard credibility to establish loyalty and build trust.
• Maintain consistency to establish a strong employment brand.
• Listen to employees and to members of the leadership team.
• Seek input from all constituencies.
• Provide feedback.
• Prepare managers in their roles as organizational leaders.

A communication strategy includes the following elements:

• Highly effective strategies that are often top-down, with senior management setting the tone for a cascading series of messages.
• A budget that allows for the use of various types of communication vehicles depending on the message to be delivered and any unique issues associated with it.
• A process by which leaders evaluate any particular situation driving the need to communicate and from which key messages will emerge.
• A method for generating feedback and using it to shape follow-up messages.
• A customized delivery approach with communication materials that are easy to understand.

Constituencies

Everyone in the organization has a role to play in communication:

• The CEO and senior managers are ultimately responsible for setting the tone and establishing organizational culture. Key leaders should be coached on their role in ensuring effective companywide communication.
• The HR professional and communication leader also have critical roles, especially in challenging economic environments.
• Managers are responsible for daily communication with their employees and for relating to their peers and colleagues.
• All employees have a responsibility to voice concerns and issues, provide feedback, and listen effectively.

Communication training may encompass any number of topics, including:

• Company communication policies.
• Effective writing and presentation skills.
• Train-the-trainer initiatives.

A strong training component will not only equip leaders to communicate effectively with their teams and other organizational leaders, it will also help them understand the appropriate communication channels and protocols.

Responding to employee issues

There is no better way to cause resentment among employees than to ask them for feedback and then fail to act in response to their concerns. Honest, constructive feedback from employees starts with trust and the understanding that employees can voice their concerns without fear of retaliation. See  Employee Engagement Surveys: Why Do Workers Distrust Them?

Dealing with external media

External communications—including public and community relations—may also be a part of an organization's communication strategy. HR professionals, in conjunction with public relations professionals and top management, should develop formal policies and procedures for dealing with external media.

Measuring results

While organizations generally agree that measuring and quantifying results of communication plans are beneficial, this goal is difficult to accomplish. Given the elusive nature of communication data, determining a cost-benefit ratio, for example, may be challenging. Did the organization fare better because of the manner in which it communicated crucial information about a merger or acquisition? Was the impact of a reduction in force on morale mitigated by the way in which employees were told?

Despite the difficulty of doing so, organizations should strive to collect qualitative and quantitative information to evaluate their efforts:

• Qualitative data may include anecdotal evidence that employees' attitudes were improved after the handling of an emergency situation or that focus group information supported the strategy for communicating benefits changes to employees.
• Quantitative data may include measures such as turnover rates, productivity rates and employee satisfaction benchmarks, as well as use of employee service center options.

See  Measuring the ROI of Employee Engagement .

Identifying audience issues is a key task in ensuring effectiveness in any communication strategy. What is the ideal audience for a particular communication? The audience may include everyone who influences or is influenced by the information being shared. For the most effective communication, audience size must also be appropriate given the information being shared and whether interaction will be permitted. If organizations anticipate that employees will have a number of questions regarding a new and unique benefit offering or a new procedure, for example, audience size should be limited so that questions can be adequately addressed.

Communicating "up"

While much of a communication strategy is focused on imparting information to employees, another central component is permitting employees to have a voice with members of senior management. Having a voice is a critical employee relations issue that affects satisfaction and engagement. See  7 Tips to Increase Employee Engagement Without Spending a Dime and Communicating with Two Ears and One Mouth .

Geographically dispersed audience

Organizations may have multi-unit operations with a variety of worksites within a city, state or country, or even globally. The more geographically dispersed and the more interdependent these groups are in their need to work together to solve problems, the greater the challenges are to the communication strategy. See  How to Use Technology to Support Remote Teams and Communicating with Diverse Audiences .

Diversity and global issues

Audiences for organizational communication may embody many dimensions of diversity: age, disability, ethnicity/national origin, gender and race, for example. Diverse audiences may have different perceptions and expectations when giving or receiving information, and these differences should be considered when developing messages to a broad audience. See  Cross-Cultural Sensitivity and Communication .

Vehicles and Approaches

One of the major challenges in developing and executing communication plans is to select the best vehicles for delivering any given message to and from employees. With so many choices, such as face-to-face communication, electronic media, meetings, printed materials and webinars, the decision becomes quite complex. Is the communication best suited for an electronic message via e-mail or for a face-to-face meeting? Should communication be mailed to the home address of the employee if family members are affected by the news, such as in a benefits update, or is it best communicated in a meeting conducted on work time?

New forms of electronic media raise additional questions. With social media opportunities available to any individual, HR professionals may need to consider not only strategies to tap into this medium but also policies for employees using this medium to communicate among themselves. See  Texts and E-Mails vs. Oral Communication at Work: Which Is Best? and Study: Tech Miscommunications May Erode Employee Engagement .

When selecting the best communication vehicle, organizational leaders should consider:

• Timing. The timing of the information may be imperative, such as in emergency situations.
• Location. Employees' location may affect this selection. Are all employees in one building, at multiple sites or situated globally? Do they work virtually?
• Message. Another issue that affects the decision is the sensitivity of the information. For layoff or termination information, most professionals agree that face-to-face meetings trump any other means of communication, but some issues may make these meetings impossible due to the geographic location of the employees, the number of employees affected and other factors.

Organizational leaders have many options, including the following, when selecting a communication vehicle.

The employee handbook is used to communicate standard operating procedures, guidelines and policies. The handbook is also used to communicate the organization's mission, vision and values, helping to establish an organizational culture and employment brand. While most employee handbooks traditionally have been produced in print format, more organizations are moving toward an electronic format, allowing for easy updating, documentation and review, especially when all employees have access to computers. See  SHRM Employee Handbook Builder .

Newsletters

Newsletters are used to communicate new information about the organization, its products and services, and its employees. Newsletters may be in print or electronic format and may be sent to the employee as well as to his or her family, especially when the news directly affects family members. Newsletters may be published on a regular basis (weekly, monthly, quarterly) or whenever the organization has news to report.

Town hall meetings

Town hall meetings are an option to gather employees together to share news, celebrate successes or communicate companywide information that affects all employees. These meetings are most effective when employees are physically located in one geographic area, but for some critical meetings, employees may be brought to one central location. Alternatively, town hall meetings may be held in various locations when employees are widely dispersed geographically or may be held electronically via webinars or teleconferences.

Electronic communication is a fast and easy way to reach many employees at once. It may be best used when information is urgent, such as in emergencies. E-mail communication presents some difficulties because tone of voice and inflection are absent, making an ironic or sarcastic remark appear rude or harsh, which may not be the intended message.

Face-to-face meetings

Face-to-face meetings with employees are one of the best ways to relay sensitive information. During layoffs or restructurings or when handling employee performance issues, face-to-face communication is generally preferred.

The telephone is another way to communicate information to employees. Whether it is used in the traditional sense when face-to-face communication is not physically possible or in more state-of-the-art communication via webinars or voice mail blasts, the telephone is a staple in communication vehicles.

Surveys/polls

Two-way communication is vital to any effective communication strategy, and developing formal tactics to listen to employees is essential. Employers can elicit fast feedback through surveys and polls about specific issues (like a new benefit or policy) or general concerns.

Storytelling creates a picture through words so that the message becomes memorable. Organizational leaders are beginning to understand how storytelling can be used as a powerful business tool to impart company culture, to create an employment brand, and to build trust and loyalty among employees.

Social media

Many individuals regularly use social media sites like Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook, not only for recreational purposes but as a business communication tool. Social media can help recruiters source top talent, help salespeople identify potential contacts and allow employees to keep in touch with their leaders. HR professionals should ensure that company policies are updated so that social media is used appropriately in the workplace. 

Messaging apps

Messaging applications such as Jabber and Slack and chatbots that interact with applicants and employees through automation may be the future of workplace communication. The next generation of workers prefer chat and messaging apps over traditional e-mail. 

Virtual team meetings

Organizations may have employees located across the city or across the globe and may need to rely on virtual team meetings to get work done. Setting expectations and establishing protocols are vital steps in ensuring that communication will be effective. Since written communication, whether in print or in electronic format, can hide tone of voice, inflection and other nuances of communication, many work teams rely on videoconferences and Internet-based technologies to make virtual meetings more productive.

The "grapevine"

One of the most used and undermanaged tools for employee communication is the proverbial grapevine. Watercooler discussions are still a mechanism for employees to hear the latest news unfiltered by management, and they continue to be a source for employees in learning the inside story. Employers must be mindful that whatever formal communication strategy is used, the grapevine still exists and will be tapped by employees at all levels. The grapevine should not be discounted when considering the best tool to listen to and learn about employee issues.

Types of Messages

The type of message sent is a major factor in choosing the appropriate communication channel.

Standard operating procedures

There are many ways to communicate policies and procedures—staff meetings, employee orientation sessions and one-on-one coaching, for example—but employee handbooks are still the best way to deliver a consistent message to all employees with respect to standard operating procedures.

General business updates

General organizational updates may be communicated through newsletters, e-mails or town hall meetings or in small group huddles.

Bankruptcy, downsizing and restructuring

Employers should use several different communication means to announce and update employees when an organization faces bankruptcy, a restructuring or a downsizing. Whether in regular briefings by top leaders—through voice mail blasts, e-mail alerts or town hall meetings—or in departmental or group meetings, the employer needs to keep employees apprised of whatever information may be necessary to keep the organization running smoothly. See  Layoffs Require Communication, Compassion and Compliance .

Benefits changes

Communication regarding employee benefits may greatly affect employees' perceptions of the value of their compensation package and, moreover, the value of their employment with an organization. Accordingly, benefits communications should be planned carefully using means appropriate to the circumstances: printed messages, virtual or face-to-face meetings, one-on-one briefings, and so on. Major benefits changes—such as a new carrier or new options—require a more comprehensive approach than the one used for routine updates. See  Make Your Benefits Website a Year-Round Hub

Emergencies

Emergencies—such as those caused by weather, violent employee behaviors, natural catastrophes or terrorists—require quick and effective communication to ensure the health and safety of employees and their families. A comprehensive disaster plan, complete with communication strategies and standard policies for dealing with emergencies, should be a requirement for all organizations. See  Managing Through Emergency and Disaster .

Merger or acquisition

Communication issues with mergers and acquisitions are a high priority for HR professionals. HR professionals must consider how to communicate new benefits plans, new operating procedures, a new company culture, revised organizational charts and myriad other issues during mergers and acquisitions.

Outsourcing

Organizations may find that some business functions are handled better through outsourcing. Communication is vital to explain the change and the rationale to employees, as well as in developing new strategies for communicating with the outsourced vendor.

Legal Issues

Some communications come with legal constraints and/or guidelines that impact the message being delivered or how the employer delivers the information. For example, employers may face charges of unfair labor practices as a result of how it communicates to employees the company's desire to remain union-free. See  Union Communication Guidance: TIPS and FOE .

Employers may also be limited in discussing employees' personal information; even in circumstances where there are no legal restrictions, employers are cautioned against breaching employee privacy in many circumstances.

Should employers announce or post employee birthdays?

Does the HIPAA Privacy Rule prohibit employer announcements of births, employee hospitalizations or family medical emergencies to other employees?

When Giving References, How Truthful Can You Be?

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Impact of Culture on Communication Reflective Essay

• To find inspiration for your paper and overcome writer’s block
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The importance of culture in the success of the communication process cannot be underestimated. This is emphasized in the reflective essay below.

Introduction

Impact of culture on communication, key points of intercultural communication, personal experience, lessons learned from the experience.

Communication is an essential part of the daily life of every individual. Without proper communication, our ideas and views cannot be informed to others.

Usually, communication starts when there is a need to convey a message to another. It refers to the process of exchanging ideas and facts from one person to the next. “Communication may be defined as the process by which an individual (or group of individuals) transmits information about ideas, feelings and intentions to another person (or group of persons)” (Pennington, 2002, p.12).

Different factors influence the communication process. Some of them are culture, language…etc. Cultural differences of the people in a group/team affect effective communication among them both positively and negatively. This paper dwells on this aspect and describes the importance of culture in communication using a descriptive approach.

The culture has a significant influence on the communication process. The cultural differences can create conflicts and misunderstanding between parties involved in the communication process (Monippally, 2001, p.45). Culture’ has often been defined in simplistic terms as life-style of people of a community.

But culture means much more; it encompasses various attitudinal and behavioral dimensions such as values, beliefs, expectations, norms, etc. All these make culture a complex thing to understand and has drawn the attention of researchers to study the various dimensions of culture and its impact on the people living within that culture.

Within a culture there may be various sub-cultures on the basis of ethnic groups, religious groups, professions, etc., and differences exist among them. Many studies by behavioral scientists prove that all the people who belong to a particular culture have similarity in their thinking and behavior.

Culture differs from one group to another and these differences can affect the level of trust and openness in communication that one can achieve with people of other cultures. Therefore the cultural difference should be properly understood in order to ensure an effective communication.

We can communicate effectively in a cross-cultural context if we understand how one culture differs from another and on what basis. The commonly known cultural differences are;

a. Contextual: Cultural contexts have a major influence on the way people interpret messages. High-context cultures like Taiwan or South Korea rely more on non-verbal communication than verbal communication; wheras low-context culture like the US or Germany, rely more on verbal communication than non-verbal communication.

b. Social Differences: Social behavior is another distinguishing factor among cultures.

c. Non-Verbal Differences: It is very important to understand the differences in the meanings which non-verbal communication conveys in the context of diversified cultures. The simplest hand gesture may signify different meaning from one culture to another.

My personal experience in a cricket match, in which I got the chance to lead the state team, helped me to understand the role of proper communication in the achievement of objectives.

As I understood the concepts like culture, communication it would be easy for me to analyze how these concepts are relevant in personal experiences. Hofstede’s Cultural Dimension will be useful for studying the impact of culture on communication. According to him, the culture of the people who are only cautious of themselves (I-conscious) would be different from the culture of people who care for others too (We -conscious).

And also the differential consideration by the society to men and women, the approach of people in the lower strata of the society towards the social difference and the attitude of people to avoid uncertainty depict the culture of the people. Here in my personal experience the cultural difference related to the individualism-collectivism is present.

It was a Sunday when the final match of the tournament was going to be played. My team was one of the finalists. I was the captain of the team and the team members consist of players from the different localities of the state. For both the team, the match was crucial as it was the problem of image and status.

More over it was a national level tournament. Our team batted first and scored a defendable total. But when the opposite team started batting, unfortunately our fielders started loosing the catches sand missing the fields. I knew that the communication is not becoming effective as there are players of different culture. Some players are not taking into consideration my words as a captain of the team.

A good captain means a good leader. To be a good leader one must of some essential qualities including proper communication skill. Especially when leading a team of different culture the captain should be well versed in cross-cultural communication; otherwise success would be a question mark. That was happened in my case.

I treated this captaincy also as just like the captaincy of my local team in which I know everyone and there are no much cultural differences. However, things were not like that and really paid value for negligence from my part and we lost the match. The reasons were lack of proper communication between team members, lack of coordination…etc.

One problem that I noticed during the match was that when a team member achieves any good performance, the way of appreciation was different by different team members as they are from different parts of the state. Everyone tried to implement their own culture resulting in total problem in the team.

If these all possible difficulties had been discussed before the match no problems might have arisen. The communication between the members of the team is essential for the success of the team. If I would have understood this before the commencement of mach I could have designed strategies accordingly and the cultural barriers could have been overcome, thereby increasing the chance of victory.

Now I have deep understanding of the concepts like communication, culture, cross cultural communication, team work…etc. Also the lessons learned from my previous experience would I think help me in future. In case if I am getting chance to lead the same team again, I will design the strategy by considering the cultural differences.

If team members feel that their personal interests are protected by the captain and co-members they perform their level best to bring the success. For creating such feeling a proper communication has a significant role to play.

In future I will not be repeating the mistake I explained earlier in my personal experience and I would be giving enough consideration for the difference culture of the individuals I deal with. In order to be a good communicator one must be a good listener. If a person does not have the mind to listen what others say, he is not going to succeed. In my future I will consider all these things in mind.

Communication without considering the cultural difference may not give expected result in majority of the cases. To communicate effectively with people of other culture, understanding their culture is very important. Understanding their culture removes the attitudinal and behavioral barriers in communication. Without understanding the culture, communication can lead to misunderstanding.

Monippally, m. Matthukutty. Business Communication Strategies. Tata McGraw-Hill, 2001.

Pennington, C. Donald. The social psychology of behavior in small groups. Psychology Press, 2002.

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Home — Essay Samples — Education — Class Reflection — What I Learned in Communication Class: a Reflection

What I Learned in Communication Class: a Reflection

• Categories: Class Reflection Communication Skills

About this sample

Words: 632 |

Published: Mar 18, 2021

Words: 632 | Page: 1 | 4 min read

Works Cited

• Peterson, C. M., & Ray, M. N. (2019). Communication Skills for Success: Student Workbook. McGraw-Hill Education.
• Beebe, S. A., Beebe, S. J., & Ivy, D. K. (2018). Communication: Principles for a Lifetime. Pearson.
• Sole, K. (2017). Making Connections: Understanding Interpersonal Communication. Oxford University Press.
• DeVito, J. A. (2016). The Interpersonal Communication Book. Pearson.
• Guerrero, L. K., Anderson, P. A., & Afifi, W. A. (2019). Nonverbal Communication in Close Relationships. Routledge.
• Floyd, K. (2019). Interpersonal Communication: The Whole Story. McGraw-Hill Education.
• Pearson, J. C., & Nelson, P. L. (2017). An Introduction to Human Communication : Understanding and Sharing. Oxford University Press.
• O'Hair, D., Wiemann, M., Mullin, D. I., & Teven, J. (2017). Real Communication. Bedford/St. Martin's.
• Miller, K. (2019). Organizational Communication: Approaches and Processes. Cengage Learning.
• Guffey, M. E., Loewy, D., & Almonte, R. (2019). Business Communication: Process and Product. Cengage Learning.

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