Freddie's Story: The Impact of Negative Communication - Essay Sample

Introduction

Communication is the conveyance of information from one individual to another, either verbally or non-verbally. It involves the ability to understand both written and spoken words and the ability to arrange them to pass information (Bach & Grant, 2015). It permits people to access knowledge, draw conclusions, understanding, and complicated relationships. Negative communication is the style of communicating information unnecessarily or harshly.

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From Freddie's story, there is a portrayal of passive-aggressive communication through the conversation between Freddie, the nurse, and the doctor assigned to him. Passive-aggressive communication is a style in which an individual appears uninvolved by the surface but is acting out of anger behind the seen way. People with this problem always demonstrate resistance to requests or demands from other individuals, including the family members, by expressing sullenness or acting stubborn. This kind of behavior is usually evident when an individual keeps on making excuses by not accepting the fact that they have been annoyed or refusing to open up whenever they are faced with any circumstance. Upbringing, situational characteristics, as well as taking the smooth rod to avoid physical confrontation, are the leading causes of the behavior.

Ideally, dealing with these characters may be a challenge because it is not easy to predict how to react to any confrontation. Therefore, it is advisable to recognize such behaviors as the refusal to communicate, procrastination, withdrawal, and backhanded compliments to address the situation in a civilized manner without provocation.

Avoidance of direct communication is shown in the conversation in which the patient is not opening up regarding his illness. Even though there is a communication from the patient, the invention of compliance is well shown in the way that the patient tends to agree with most of the discoveries from his doctors. It thus makes it difficult to diagnose the real problem, and this act affects the communication between them.

The expression of passive-aggressive communication is through the hiding of anger that Freddie shows. At the beginning of their conversation, the dialogue tends to be of mutual agreement from all the parties until Freddie showed his passion by shouting to the nurse leading to the breakdown of communication between them. Dodging the problem, making excuses, and playing the victim are some of the passive-aggressive communication traits presented in the conversation.

Passive Aggressive Communication Concerning Communication Skills

Communication skills are the abilities used when conveying, receiving, and interpreting information. They are essential factors that allow for understanding and responding to the data. (Bach & Grant, 2015). Passive-aggressive communication has an impact on the utilization of these skills when contact occurs between the individuals. The interrelation between passive-aggressive communication and commutation skills affects the interpretation of the information in the following methods.

Active Listening. It involves paying attention to the person who is speaking to you. It brings suitable regard between individuals because of the care and respect of each other. Passive-aggressive behavior creates disruption; hence, leading to a misunderstanding of the information communicated.

Empathy. This is the ability to understand and share the emotions of others. By understanding how other people feel towards something will help an individual learn how to respond without hurting their sentiments (Lawrence, Perrin & Kiernan, 2015). An individual with passive-aggressive behavior will act with no respect for the other person's emotions, which will create communication break down between the individuals involved.

Respect. This involves knowing when to initiate communication and response as well the aspects involves timing to ensure the flow of dialogue regarding asking questions and reactions from both parties involved in the conversation

Confidence. Includes physical appearance such as maintaining eye contact, sitting up straight with shoulders open, early preparation so that the information you want to pass is polished. Someone with the passive-aggressive behavior tends to be within the case scenario and not sure of what to be said and how it should be said, which ends up bringing miscommunication of the information.

Clarity and concision. This is the ability to speak briefly. It involves adjusting your speaking voice so that the communication is audible from all corners of the interested parties. Ideal communication can be a problem with passive-aggressive communication because this can lead to an individual shouting with intentions of speaking audible or speaking softly, which leads to a misunderstanding of the information.

Giving and receiving back. Strong communication accepts critical feedback and provides productive input to others. Feedback, answers questions and offers solutions to the problem at hand. With the passive-aggressive behavior, the individual tends not to give full details or provide the needed information to conclude the pending issue or topic.

Friendliness. This entails characteristics such as honesty and kindness, which often foster trust and understanding between individuals. This skill is essential because the parties involved in the communication are free and open to each other and can easily ask questions for better understanding. Therefore, with the passive-aggressive behavior act, there will be mistrust between the communicators to miscommunication or misunderstanding, hence no passage of information.

Communication Theories

Communication theories are the primary factors involved in communication. They consist of the sender, message, and receiver, and can take the form of an individual and the perceived environment through a message in the form of signs, symbols, and thoughts (Wood, 2000). Communication theories aim at illustrating the models of communication that explain the movement of information among human beings. These theories are significant in conversation because they help people understand and organize their communication experiences, broaden their knowledge of human interaction, predict, and control their discussion and also help them challenge the current social and cultural realities. Communication theories include the following.

The intrapersonal. This theory explains how an individual processes the information and creates its meaning. It involves the ability to induce people's mental states through their thoughts, desires, beliefs, and intentions, and the capability to interpret what they say. Make sense of their traits and predicts what they may intend to do. Passive-aggressive behavior may lead to rush judgment towards someone's behavior and passing of information as far as this theory is concerned.

Interpersonal theory. This theory explains how the interaction of two individuals influence their behavior as far as communication is concerned. It involves the comfortability that comes with the new information and the earlier one. It leads to seeking the alleviation or accommodation of further details. Therefore, with the passive-aggressive behavior individual remains in the unstable state of the decision until the passage of new information.

Group theory. This theory explains how a group of people together make sense of and act upon the information. It involves identifying yourself with the group cohesion and solidarity. Though the theory integrates these individuals, the passive-aggressive behavior will tend to differ due to the nature of how they absorb some information leading to miscommunication of a group.

The organizational theory. This theory argues that organizations have their own valued culture as a system of meanings. The culture helps in conveying the information to the targeted individuals. For that reason, the passive-aggressive behavior may not agree with the culture of the organization, leading to misunderstanding or miscommunication of the information.

The public. This theory explains how media influence the list of any public information, it dictates to the public what to think about, how to think about and what to do concerning the information provided. The unsettled mind will view the data differently and act differently about it, which leads to an improper understanding of particular details by different individuals involved.

Professional Literature

Professional literature deals with problems of a particular study such as advertisement, magazines, nursing, and other professions. Communication is essential in any professional field, and therefore it should be maintained for proper operation (Bedell & Lennox, 2017). It includes oral communication, written communication, and non-verbal communication. Passive-aggressive behavior affects professional communication in a number of ways. To begin with, the behavior can lead to misunderstanding. With poor communication, it is quite easy to misunderstand information, which may in turn influence the performance of employees. Secondly, passive-aggressive behavior can result in underdeveloped communication skills. Overall, this includes cultivating rapport, observation, and listening; therefore, with passive-aggressive behavior, an individual is unable to implement such qualities, leading to a breakdown of communication. Poor communication can also kill the morale of the workers. Inappropriate conveyance of information may lead to making mistakes that lead to low confidence of professionals in a particular area. Therefore, proper communication is essential for professionals to conduct their responsibilities.

Passive-aggressive communication has a direct negative impact on how people feel about themselves and towards others. It hinders communication among individuals leading to misinformation. And therefore, it is advisable to acquire practical communication skills for the proper conveyance of information to avoid any misunderstanding or mistakes that can be generated through misinformation.

References

Bach, S., & Grant, A. (2015). Communication and interpersonal skills in nursing. Learning Matters.

Bedell, J. R., & Lennox, S. S. (2017). Handbook for communication and problem-solving skills training: A cognitive-behavioral approach. John Wiley & Sons.

Lawrence, J., Perrin, C., & Kiernan, E. (2015). Building professional nursing communication skills. Cambridge University Press.

Wood, J. T. (2000). Communication theories in action: An introduction. Wadsworth Publishing Company.