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7.1: Relational Communication

  • Page ID
    247248
    • Victoria Newsom and Desiree Ann Montenegro
    • Olympic College and Cerritos College

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    Most of the communication in our lives occurs when we are sending messages back and forth with people we have some sort of relationship with. This relationship can be a romantic one, a friendship, part of a family, a workplace relationship, or even an acquaintanceship. Our communication in each of these situations is different, generally influenced by the different values we place on the relationships themselves.

    Relational Communication Studies

    We study the type of communication between people in situations like this as Relational Communication. Relational communication is a label that is used to reference both a variety of fields of study and a number of types of communication (Baxter & Montgomery, 1996; Guerrero, Andersen, & Afifi, 2011; Wilmot, 1995). The fields of relational communication include three we will focus on for this module: interpersonal communication, small group communication, and organizational communication.

    Studies in these areas combine approaches from the three research paradigms and perspectives. Research focuses on human expressiveness, the interpretation of messages within these contexts, everyday interactions and relational events. Because communication is a necessary part of relationships, these studies often look at the role of communication in relationship maintenance, conflict resolution, assertiveness, power dynamics, abusive situations, dating interactions, family dynamics, group and team building and maintenance, and workplace environments.

    Basic Elements of Interpersonal Communication shows the sender, receiver, message, and feedback loop via the transmission model
    Figure \(\PageIndex{1}\): "Basic Elements Interpersonal Communications" by Robert M. Thomas is in the Public Domain

    In this unit we will discuss how communication functions within and impacts our lives in multiple types of relationships. These studies investigate our daily lives and our daily communication interactions. This ranges from our relationships with intimate partners, family, and friends to our relationships with our workplace colleagues and the organizational cultures we work within. While the way we perform our identities varies in these different contexts, we understand and communicate based on the regard we grant to the individuals in these categories.

    References

    Baxter, L. A., & Montgomery, B. M. (1996). Relating: Dialogues and dialectics. New York: Guilford Press.

    Guerrero, L. K., Anderson, P. A., & Afifi, W. A. (2011). Close encounters: Communication in relationships. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

    Wilmot, W.W. (1995). Relational Communication. New York: McGraw-Hill.


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