“Man is by nature a social animal.” – Aristotle, a Greek philosopher.
This quotation means that human
cannot live alone and he must have interaction with and communicate to others
in the society. One of the most common problems in the society nowadays is
conflict and it is often originated from misunderstandings. Therefore, to solve
this problem, people should develop and practice effective communication.
Effective communication is the
communication that receivers understand messages from senders precisely and
clearly. The lack of such skill could lead to misunderstanding among one
another and, in the end, a conflict.
For example, there was once when
my friend argued with me because of an ambiguous message. We planned to go out on
Saturday, and she had sent a message which read “meet me at 3”. On Saturday, I
came to the meeting place at 3pm and found nobody. Later, I found out that she
was back at her home angrily saying that I was late for 6 hours. I was very
confused because she told me to meet at 3 but not at 9. After a few minutes, I
realized that she used Thai timing system which 7am, 8am and 9am are 1 o’clock,
2 o’clock and 3 o’clock respectively.
Supposed that I had asked “Does 3 mean 3pm or 9am?” and that she had not assumed that I understood her
perfectly we would have not misunderstood. Instead of becoming angry at each other at home, we would have had fun
traveling on Saturday, only if, we had communicated effectively.
From my own experience, I learnt
that effective communication is very important as it can help people live
together more peacefully. To develop this skill, we must eliminate barriers, such as, our own assumptions, ambiguous words and so on.
What about you? How do you
find effective communication crucial? Moreover, do you share the same opinion that
effective communication can reduce conflict?
Visit my Facebook.
