Communication Breakdown
Introduction
Communication is the major vice through which human beings interact with each other. It is said that no man is an island and social interaction with others is therefore an essential basic need that every human being desires. Communication therefore provides a platform for social interaction, whether written or spoken. However, there arise some situations in various life scenarios that can lead to a breakdown in communication and consequently lead to some major consequences as will be evidenced by my own personal experience described below.
Being a student in a community college, I am always in constant interaction with many people including my fellow students. I recently witnessed an instance of communication breakdown .I usually attend a psychology class every semester and this one was no different. Although it is not my major, I find it essential that I acquire some psychological skills before I graduate. The population of the class is relatively small, about 35 students. However, the entire class recently went through a communication breakdown experience that was indeed very funny to a certain extent.
Our professor is one of the oldest chaps around the college and throughout the years, he has been notorious for handing down short deadline assignment on a regular basis that are supposed to be done and submitted to him. These assignments form an essential part of the grade that one gets in the final grade of the course.
Some few weeks ago on 15 February, our distinguished professor did not attend class as usual. We waited for around twenty minutes but he never showed up. Instead, it was our class representative who came and gave us information about the situation, He told us that the professor was held up in a meeting and could not therefore avail himself. He had however sent one of his usual assignments that were supposed to be done and submitted on the 16th.The assignment was to discuss an entire topic of psychology and submit a typed hand copy of 20 pages! I could not believe what he was saying.
How was I supposed to study, analyze and type 20 whole pages in one night? I had no choice whatsoever since the class representative had also stated that the assignment would make up 40% of the final term grade.
That night I did not have an ounce of sleep as I spent the entire night doing the work, which I managed to complete by 7.30 a.m. I had many morning classes, I spent the better part of the sessions sleeping through, and my classmates could not understand what had been doing the entire night. I on my part could also not understand what they was not also feeling sleeping since I assumed that they also spent the night typing.
When I attended the psychology class later in the day and attempted to hand in my assignment, everyone stared at me in astonishment. I could not believe it when I was informed that it was not due until the 16th of the next month! I on part had been the subject of communication breakdown where I did not decipher the information passed correctly and did not even seek clarification. I improperly assumed that the deadline was on 16th of that month which was the next day. The result of the breakdown in communication was that I had wasted an entire night and had slept through most of my classes for that day.
Surely, this life changing experience made me question my communication skills and has stimulated me to find ways of averting a similar situation in the future. I have learnt that breakdown in communication can have devastating effects on the person or persons involved and therefore all available ways of averting such situations should be employed. I have found out that the best way to do this is to ensure that one really understands what is being communicated and seek communication where something is not very clear.
