Write a 2 pages paper on theme & introduction. Theme & Introduction Interpersonal communication has a profound impact on organizational performance and interaction between employees. The training and development program will aim to address interpersonal communication skills and ‘teach’ employees to use these skills at work.

Theme: How well do you know the people around you The aim of a day-long retreat is to create friendly and unofficial atmosphere and help employees to know each other better. Approach Training and development will involve games and workshops which improve interpersonal skills and knowledge of employees, and help them to overcome possible communication barriers. The theme “How well do you know the people around you’ will help to create a special context of communication because all communication is context bound. We can think of spatial, temporal, relational and sometimes organizational frameworks within which it is embedded. Employees will be divided into several families (mothers, fathers and children despite of their sex and age). The imagined place is a countryside. event – holidays, a picnic. ‘Plunged’ into this situation, the personal characteristics of the participants together with features of the shared situation act to shape the interaction that transpires and both may be influenced, to some extent, in consequence. Likewise, goals pursued are determined by personal and situational factors (Beebe, Masterson 2000).

This theme was selected for training program because many employees lack knowledge and practice of interpersonal communication. The goals people pursue are not always conscious, and indeed one feature of skilled performance is that behavior is often executed automatically. Once responses are learned they tend to become hard-wired or habitual. When employees know how to interact, they no longer have to think about actions such as how to start a talk and how to behave. Skilled behaviors must be interrelated, in that they are synchronized in order to achieve a particular goal. The main problem is that many employees know nothing about their colleagues, their families and habits which create additional communication barriers.

The main forms of training will involve games and exercises aimed to familiarize employees with their colleagues and developed interpersonal skills. For instance, during ‘observations’ game, the person watches others perform the skill, and also pays attention to other dimensions, such as the motivational orientation, values and performance standards of the actors, as well as how the repertoires used vary across target persons. The, he/she tries to explain his habits and actions. At the stage of emulation, the individual is able to execute a behavioral display to approximate that observed. The display is emulated but not replicated. For example, the style of praise used may be similar but the actual words used will differ.

This theme and approach were chosen because interaction is also co-determined by parameters of the situation within which individuals find themselves, including role demands and the rules that pertain. Each is personally unique, yet the respective roles offered by highly restricted situation mean that, regardless of the individuals involved, much the same sort of activity will be entered into by managers, on the one hand, and employees, on the other. Again, the implicit rules dictating how both parties should conduct themselves in these circumstances will, by condoning certain actions and condemning others, regulate the interaction that unfolds (McKay et al 1995).

A central premise of the retreat outlined is that, in interactive arrangements, participants are at one and the same time, in what they say and do, providing each other with information of relevance to decisions about the extent of goal attainment. Without such feedback, skilled interaction would be impossible but it can only be acted on if it is perceived. Personal perception, in particular, although inherently subjective, plays a pivotal role in interpersonal transactions.

References

1. Beebe, S.A. and Masterson, J.T. (2000) Communication in small groups: principles and practice (6th edn), New York: Longman.

2. McKay, M., Davis, M., Fanning, P. (1995) Messages: The Communication Skills Book. New Harbinger Publications. 2nd edn.