Communication Process Worksheet
Think about a misunderstanding you have experienced with another person at work, school, or in a health care environment. Write your answers in paragraph form.
1. Briefly describe the misunderstanding, including the setting and the people involved. The misunderstanding I experienced was at work, when communication was crossed between me and two other managers. One manager was told to tell me to do a certain project, and other manager had told me to get back to taking phone calls. I had told her that I’m not supposed to be on the phone, but Im doing a special project for another manager. The manager thought I was lying and she had to go talk to the other manager that had advised me of the special project. It was later found out that I was telling the truth, but the two managers weren’t working together with their communication on which agents should be doing what.
2. Complete the following table with information from your described misunderstanding.
Question | Answer | Who was the sender? | Manager 1 | Who was the receiver? | Me | What was the message? | The message was to start taking phone calls | What channel was used to send the message? | Face-to-face | What was the misunderstanding? | The misunderstanding was that manager 1 didn’t know that manager 2 had already told me to do a special project | How could you have avoided the misunderstanding? | The misunderstanding could have been avoided if the two managers could have communicated with each other |
3. The perception model in Ch. 2 of Communicating in the Workplace shows that prior knowledge and experiences combine with your psychological state to shape your subjective reality. What was your perception going into the situation? How did your perception of the misunderstanding affect the communication process? My perception was that this manager is stepping over another manager and trying to take me off of a special