There are many ways to effectively communicate among and between members of a team or group of people working on an assignment or a project. I will look at the three most common means of communication, e-mail, voice-mail, and face-to-face and how these three means can affect the message being conveyed. After all, for effective communication to take place, people need to share the “right messages with the right people in a timely manner” in order to “influence one another’s attitudes, behaviors, and understanding” (Portny, Mantel, Meredith, Shafer, Sutton, and Kramer, 2008, p. 357).
First, let me focus on how my interpretation of a message can change from one form of communication to the next, being that the content of a message is the same from one to the next. For example, an e-mail is less personal and can only convey the facts of a situation and from a project team point of view one would have to rely on the hope that these people “are committed to the common goals and who depend on one another to do their jobs” (Portny, Mantel, Meredith, Shafer, Sutton, and Kramer, 2008, p. 301). In other words, the reader would need to subjectively interpret a sense of urgency, anger, impatience, etc. or is the e-mail just an informative piece of communication to be dealt with in due time. In a voice-mail, there are clues to the listener that will help them determine their interpretation of the message beyond the content as to the attitude of the sender. For example, in a voice-mail, the listener could key in on voice inflections as a clue to urgency, anger, impatience, etc. Finally, in a face-to-face communication, the parties can not only key in on voice inflection, but also facial expressions as additions to the content of a message.
Next, I would propose that whatever form of communication people on a “team” choose to use the sender must be clear on the intent of the message, whether it is in text, voice only, or face-to-face. I believe that if the intent of a message is strictly informative and there is no call for formality, then text should suffice. However, if the intent of a message is to convey more than content in a less informal manner and less aggressively voice-mail should suffice. Finally, if the intent of a message is to be more formal and a little more powerful (not necessarily confrontational), then face-to-face communication would be my choice, because of the ability to use something other than a vocalized message.
In conclusion, a message’s content can change with additional elements, like voice inflection and facial features to enhance the message content and to possibly bring about better results. The old adage of “it’s not what you say, it’s how you say it” rings true in this instance, because it may not be the content of a message a person keys in on.
Reference:
Portny, S., Mantel, S., Meredith, J., Shafer, S., & Sutton, M. (2008). Project management: Planning, scheduling, and controlling projects. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons.
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