Interpersonal Relationships - What's It is, How to Make Use of It and How to Improve Day by Day at Workplace ?
The important types of interpersonal relationship are
Friendship
Friendship is an unconditional interpersonal relationship where individuals enter into by their own sweet will and choice.Friendship is a relationship where there are no formalities and individuals enjoy each other’s presence.
Friendship can be between:
- Man and a woman
- Man and man
- Woman and woman
Love
An interpersonal relationship characterized by passion, intimacy, trust and respect is called love. Individuals in a romantic relationship are deeply attached to each other and share a special bond.
Platonic Relationship: A relationship between two individuals without any feelings or sexual desire for each other is called a platonic relationship. In such a relationship, a man and a woman are just friends and do not mix love with friendship.
Family Relationship
Individuals related by blood or marriage are said to form a family.
Professional Relationship (Work Relationship)
Individuals working together for the same organization are said to share a professional relationship. Individuals sharing a professional relationship are called colleagues. Colleagues may or may not like each other
Preparing for a job interview, working on a promotion, or customizing your resume or cover letter? These are some of the most sought-after interpersonal skills. Look for ways to weave some of these keywords into your application materials or conversation.
- Active listening
- Caring
- Collaboration
- Comforting
- Communication
- Conflict Management
- Consulting
- Constructive criticism
- Counseling
- Creative Thinker
- Customer service
- Developing rapport
- Diplomacy
- Diversity
- Encouraging
- Flexibility
- Group facilitating
- Helping others
- Humor
- Inquiry
- Inspiring trust
- Instructing
- Interviewing
- Leadership
- Mediating
- Mentoring
- Motivation
- Negotiation
- Networking
- Patience
- Persuasion
- Positive reinforcement
- Problem solving
- Relationship management
- Respect
- Responsibility
- Sensitivity
- Social skills
- Sympathy
- Teamwork
- Tolerance
3. Non-verbal communication:
Body language and facial expressions form a crucial form of interpersonal communication. As we often say, “Actions speak louder than words”, these forms of non-verbal communication also explain a lot about the students’ understanding, thoughts and comfort to engage in the classroom.
The Factors affecting interpersonal relationship are the following;
Compatibility
Two individuals in a relationship must be compatible with each other. There should be no scope of conflicts and misunderstandings in a relationship. Individuals from similar backgrounds and similar goals in life do extremely well in relationships.
People with different aims, attitudes, thought processes find it difficult to adjust and hence fail to carry the relationship to the next level.
Communication
Communication plays a pivotal role in all types of relationships whether it is personal or professional. Feelings must be expressed and reciprocated in relationships.
Individuals need to communicate with each other effectively for better understanding. Do not stay mum as it leads to problems and misunderstandings.
Two people in love must interact with each other on a regular basis through various modes of communication such as telephone, emails, letters .
Staying in touch is essential for the love to grow especially in long distance relationships where individuals can’t meet quite often.
In professional relationships as well, colleagues must communicate well for a better bonding. Sit with your co workers and discuss issues face to face to reach to a mutually acceptable solution.
The recipient must understand what the sender intends to communicate and vice a versa. Clarity of thoughts is essential in relationships.
Honesty
Be honest in relationships. Do not lie or hide things from your partner. Remember every problem has a solution. Think before you speak. Transparency is important in relationships.
Stay calm
Do not overreact on petty things in relationships. Stay calm. Be a little more adjusting. Be the first one to say “Sorry”. It will solve half of your problems.
Forgiving
An individual needs to be a little more forgiving in relationships. Do not drag issues unnecessarily. Fighting over small issues is foolish and makes the situation all the more worse.
Smile
As they say “Smile is a curve that makes everything staright.” Flash your smile more often. It works. Take care of your facial expressions while interacting with the other person.
Time
Time plays an important role in relationships. Individuals in love must spend adequate time to know each other better. Frustrations arise when people do not have time to meet or interact with each other. Don’t be too rigid.
A strong association between individuals sharing similar interest and goal is called as interpersonal relationship. It is important to have trustworthy colleagues around at the workplace.
One needs to know how to interact with fellow workers. Let us go through some interpersonal skills an individual needs to inculcate for a healthy relationship with coworkers.
- Stay positive at the workplace. Do not crib over small things. No individual on this earth is perfect. Do not always find mistakes in others.
- Respect your colleagues. It is unprofessional to misbehave with fellow workers.
- An employee must behave in an acceptable way at the workplace. Maintain the decorum of the workplace.
- Being rude to fellow workers spoils the relationship among employees.
- Remember the way you behave speaks a lot about your education, upbringing and family background.
- Be polite to everyone irrespective of his/her designation and income.
- An individual needs to have effective communication skills for a healthy interpersonal relationship at workplace.
- One must be careful about the pitch and tone of his voice. Never be too loud or too soft.
- Be cheerful at the workplace. Smile more often. It works.
- Make your fellow workers feel important. Show how much you care for them.
- Stand by your colleagues at the times of crisis. Lend a sympathetic ear to their troubles and help them whenever required.
- Who says you can’t have friends at the workplace? Wish your colleagues on their birthdays, anniversaries and important festivals. They would feel special.
- Be honest to others. It is better to be straight forward than spreading unnecessary rumours about someone.
- Be a patient listener. Listen to what the other person has to say. Understand the other person’s point of view as well before jumping to conclusions.
- Being trustworthy helps you gain confidence of fellow workers.
- An individual’s personal interest ought to take a backseat at workplace. Learn to keep a control on your emotions.
- Be a little more understanding and compromising to avoid unnecessary conflicts at the workplace.
- Be nice and kind to everyone. Make sure you are not labeled as “brat”. Be a source of inspiration for others.
- Behave as a thorough professional.
- You lessen your loneliness (DeVito pg. 196). When you feel like someone cares or loves you and is there to protect you, you feel less lonely.
- Gaining a self-knowledge and having the self esteem you need through contact with others helps you to see things through different perspectives. Placing yourself in different roles can strengthen the availability of so many relationships will help you to focus on viewing yourself and your relationship.
- Healthy interpersonal relationships also help enhance self-esteem and self-worth (DeVito pg. 196). Having that one friend or that one romantic partner will make you feel more worthy and more desirable. DeVito states that research shows that without interpersonal relationships, you are more likely to become depressed and by becoming depressed, interpersonal relationships can contribute to physical illness (DeVito pg, 197). Not only can you become depressed, but relationships can also contribute to high blood pressure, high cholesterol, obesity, smoking, or lack of physical exercise (DeVito pg. 197).
- With having those “good friends”, you’re able to maximize your pleasure and they help to minimize your pain. For example, when losing a job, your friends are supposed to make you feel less hurt when unexpected confrontations arrive. Friends are there to help and will make you feel better whether it be good news or bad news.
- The last advantage of interpersonal relationships, human contact is one of the best ways to secure the intellectual, physical and emotional stimulation that we all go through (DeVito pg. 197). DeVito also states that even having an imaginary friend is better than not having a friend at all.
The disadvantages of Interpersonal relationships are expressed through what most people would consider to be “disadvantages”.
- People conclude that close relationships puts pressure on you to reveal yourself and to expose your vulnerabilities (DeVito pg. 197). I find this to be true, especially with friendships because you can know and find out so much about a person and then as soon as the relationship deteriorates, the relationship may backfire and all of your personal information becomes a weakness that is used against you.
- Close relationships may increase your obligations towards others. This means that your time becomes their time as well. Not only your time is felt obligated but even possibly your financial obligations become shared and you may not be too excited about sharing your time or your finances.
- While building close relationships, other relationships you may have may start to feel abandon. I believe this to be true, especially if your building a romantic relationship that may require a lot more of your time and your friends are not as supportive or understanding. Your friendships can become abandoned. Relationships take a lot of both, time and energy, and you have to be willing to sacrifice which relationships are more important or even better, learn to balance the two different relationships to make sure everyone is happy.
- The closer your relationships, the more emotionally difficult they are to dissolve (DeVito pg. 197). It is whole lot harder to rid a relationship that you have put forth time, emotional strength, and even financial stability. This can cause depression or distress that some people dislike to face. The last disadvantage of having interpersonal relationships is that
- Your partner may break your heart (DeVito pg. 197). After all of the time and different things that you could possible put forth to make a relationship work, it could all backfire and against all pleas and promises your whole life could change. If you care a great deal, you’re likely to experience a great hurt; if you care less, the hurt will be less (DeVito pg. 197).
Conflicts play an important role in spoiling relationship among employees at the workplace and must be controlled at the initial stages to expect the best out of individuals.
- For individuals, organization should always come first and all other personal interests must take a backseat. Fighting with fellow workers on petty issues is childish. Be professional. Do not take things to heart at the workplace as no one is working for himself or herself. You might not like someone else’s style of working but remember ultimately the organization must benefit out of it.
- An individual ought to respect his colleagues. Treat your fellow workers as members of your extended family. Ignoring minor issues helps in avoiding conflicts in interpersonal relationship. Try to understand your colleague’s point of view as well.
- Avoid lobbying at the workplace. An individual should keep his personal and professional life separate. Do not favour anyone just because you like the individual concerned or you know him personally.
At work, every employee irrespective of his family background and relation with the management needs to be treated as one. Ignoring or bad mouthing someone just because you do not like him is simply not acceptable. Such things give rise to unnecessary stress and eventually employees fight and spoil relationships amongst themselves. You need people around who can give you suggestions and help you when required. You can’t work alone.
- Remember there is a difference between being aggressive and rude. A sense of competition is essential among employees but make sure you adopt healthy means to prove yourself. Jealousy, backbiting, criticism, leg pulling give rise to disagreements among individuals and spoil their relationships.
- Think before you speak. Do not hurt anyone. There are several other ways to express your displeasure at work. Do not overreact at workplace. Stay calm and composed.
- Avoid being arrogant. Be polite to everyone. Greet people and do enquire about their well being. A simple smile goes a long way in managing conflicts and strengthening interpersonal relationships at workplace.
- Evaluate issues carefully. Do not jump to conclusions. It is always better to sort out differences amicably rather than fighting and spoiling relationships. Voice your concerns in an open platform and try to reach to a conclusion mutually acceptable to all. Do not always see your own personal interests
- Learn to control your emotions.
- Communicating effectively reduces the chances of errors and eventually manages conflicts amongst employees at the workplace.
Interpersonal relationship refers to a strong association among employees either working together in the same team or same organization.
Employees must get along well for a positive and healthy ambience at the workplace.
Let us go through some expert tips to improve interpersonal relationship at workplace.
- Do not treat office as your home. There is a certain way of behaving at the workplace. It is essential to be professional at work. Never misbehave with any of your colleagues.
- Legpulling, criticism, backbiting are a strict no no. It is better to avoid someone you don’t like rather than fighting or arguing with him/her.
- Your office colleagues can be your friends as well but one must know where to draw the line.
- Too much of friendship is harmful and spoils relationship among employees.
- An individual should not interfere in his colleague’s work. Superiors must formulate specific KRAs for all the employees and make sure job responsibilities do not overlap.
- Overlapping of job responsibility leads to employees interfering in each other’s tasks and eventually fighting over small issues.
- One should be concerned only with his work rather than trying to find out what the other employee is up to.
- Give space to your fellow workers. Giving space infact is essential in all relationships.
- Overhearing anyone else’s personal conversation is strictly unprofessional. An employee must not open envelopes, couriers or letters not meant for him.
- Such practices lead to severe displeasure among employees and eventually spoil relationships.
- Do not spread baseless rumours at workplace. Even if you know something about someone, learn to keep things to yourself.
- Discuss it with the individual concerned in private rather than publicizing the whole thing.
- Organization has nothing to do with anyone’s private matters.
- Pass on correct information to others. If your superior has asked you to share some information with any of your colleagues, make sure it is shared in its desired form.
- Data tampering and playing with information spoil relationships among colleagues and lead to confusions at the workplace.
- Do not share all your secrets with your co workers. You never know when they might misuse them.
- Even if you do, make sure you are doing it with someone you trust blindly.
- Leave your ego behind. Do not bring your personal tensions to work. Think before you speak.
- Making fun of colleagues is something which is not at all expected out of a professional.
- A team leader should not scold any of his team members in front of others. It might insult him/her. Call the individual concerned either to your cabin or conference room.
- Avoid comparisons among team members. The employees must be strictly judged according to their work and nothing else.
- Employees doing well should be suitably rewarded.
- Stay away from nasty politics: Do not try to harm anyone. It is absolutely okay to appreciate someone who has done something exceptionally well.
- Avoid being jealous. It will harm you in the long run. There should be healthy competition among the employees for a healthy environment at the workplace.
1. Teamwork: This skill is necessary for employees to participate in group activities and assignments. Proper coordination among employees is required for them to reach their goals. To be able to work well with people is a gift that goes a long way.
2. Empathy: Employees need to understand the feelings of others around them. Empathizing with people and understanding the situations of others, help them build stronger relations with people. In turn, employee's can get help or support from someone whenever they face any difficulty.
3. Leadership: Group activities require direction and confidence. Employees need to confidently participate and also be able to lead/direct their team members, to achieve their goals. This quality is only for the few, who can lead their teams on the path to success.
4. Patience: Patience is vital for employees to keep a track of their achievements. A lack of patience makes employees give up on their studies or tasks easily. So, every employees needs to learn how to be patient and focused.
5. Public speaking: Public speaking skill boost confidence and help employees connect with others. Various activities like group discussions, debates, recitations and spelling competitions can help improve public speaking skills
6. Lead with respect
Perhaps the most important way you can build a foundation for good relationships with others is to lead with respect. Assume that every person is doing their best. Especially at work, everyone wins when each person succeeds, so it’s worth giving others the benefit of the doubt.
7. Approach work with humor
You don’t have to crack jokes non-stop, but it’s a good idea to bring a little levity to your work.
8. Meet with a coach
It’s pretty challenging to embody strong interpersonal traits in a vacuum. Working with a coach provides a kind of sandbox where you can work through (and receive feedback on) your skills as you build them.
Respect is a crucial element of an individual's self-identity and interpersonal relationships.
In psychology, respect for individuals involves two significant ethical concerns:
- Individuals should be regarded as independent agents.
- Individuals with low autonomy should be entitled to protection.
Answer and Explanation:
Respect for individuals can be also referred to as regard, esteem, or admiration for others.
Psychologists state that respect is a self-reinforcing behavior. Treating people with respect implies:
- Displaying regard for other skills, abilities, and worth
- Valuing others' feelings and views even though their beliefs might be different
- Accepting individual differences and providing equal consideration for all
Do Apologize justified in interpersonal relationship?
Answer and Explanation:
Just like honesty, this one is tricky. Apologizing can be incredibly painful and often requires the courage to bring something heavy up on your own.
Despite the difficulty, becoming comfortable with apologizing helps reap major recognition in your relationship.
Owning up to your mistakes, big or small, show that you care enough about your interactions to mend things and acknowledge your own flaws.
Although it’s easier to blame others (and others may deserve to share the blame) it’s important to only own your role and opportunities for improvement.
If your apology contains excuses or highlights the actions of others, it will come across as insincere.
BusinessWeek, 29 April 1996, “The New Workplace.”
DeVito, Joseph A., The Interpersonal Communication Book, 11th ed. (Boston: Allyn & Bacon, 2005).This is a college textbook that is very comprehensive in detailing the underlying theories of interpersonal communication. Good section on cultural issues.
Frasch, Kristen B. “Casino Antes Up in English-Only Case,” Human Resource Executive Online, 2 October 2003, accessed 15 June 2007 at http://www.hreonline.com/HRE/story.jsp?storyId=4222078&query=english%20only
Hall, Edward T., Silent Language. (Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1959).
Hall, Edward T. and Mildred R. Hall, Hidden Differences: Doing Business With the Japanese. (Garden City, NY: Anchor Press/Doubleday, 1987).
Perhaps the most important way you can build a foundation for good relationships with others is to lead with respect. Assume that every person is doing their best. Especially at work, everyone wins when each person succeeds, so it’s worth giving others the benefit of the doubt.
ReplyDeleteTeamwork: This skill is necessary for employees to participate in group activities and assignments. Proper coordination among employees is required for them to reach their goals. To be able to work well with people is a gift that goes a long way.
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