Communication in Relationships

In every social setting people must establish relationships that are meant to bind them together so that they can co-exist peacefully. These relationships are dependent on the interpersonal skills that are possessed by the people involved in the community. On the other hand therelationships are necessary because no man is an island. This is because one may require assistance from somebody else as long as they live within the same social circle.

Interpersonal communication is vital at social level because it enables us to obtain information from other people. Alternatively we can also provide information to other people by having conversations with them. Communication here can be carried out by speaking or using gestures but what matters the most is conveying information. Interpersonal communication should not be undermined because it happens to fulfill a particular purpose.

Purposes of Interpersonal Communication

Interpersonal communication is meant to serve various purposes and thus it’s important for the communicating parties to have a defined reason of communicating because if they are not focused they may not achieve their goals. For instance if you were to make inquiries from a friend but when you meet him/her you start talking about other things that you had not planned to talk about you may forget to ask about the information that you so much required from him/her.

The first purpose of communication is to acquire information about the people we are interested in. We usually struggle to learn more about the people we wish to interact with through dialogues that are meant to provide more information about them. Besides that, one can learn about someone by using someone else to make enquiries on their behalf. It would be irrelevant to establish relationships with people that we hardly know.

Communication therefore ensures that we know who they really are because we are able to learn what pleases them and vice versa. Failure to learn qualities of the people around us could result in failed relationships because we can offend our subject of interest by doing the things that they don’t like.On the other hand when we understand their taste we are able to cultivate good relationships because we are ahead of the game. For instance if you established a relationship with someone without knowing whether they take alcohol and later ask that person to join you for a few drinks at your local bar, that will be the end of your relationship with that person because he/she will start avoiding your company. However the procedure of extracting information must remain discreet which means that the other person should not find out that we are trying to learn more about him/her.