Perception and Communication

Perception and Communication

Perception is a procedure whereby individuals arrange and are aware of things around them due to their senses. It includes both the recognition of environmental stimuli and activity in the way they act to these stimuli. Hammond (2011) defines perception as the process by which the brain arranges and interprets information taken in through senses or creativity of our imagination. Perception also involves the five senses which are hear, taste, smell, touch and sight. There are many reasons that influence our perception such as the interest in something or the sound of something. In a work place it can be important for many reasons, it can have an impact on decision making such as through selection or promotion.

Personal experience

When I first attended university, I felt nervous going into the first class as I did not know anyone and would not know how they would react to me. Before I meet anyone new, I am usually very content and I tend to sit back to observe how they would act before trying to make new friends. In the first lecture, I saw a few people talking and my initial thoughts was that they seemed to be a nuisance and that they had a big ego. They did not take things as seriously as I thought they would and I also had the idea that they was trying to take control of the class. My initial judgement came because they seemed to be fairly loud and talkative. Appearance wise, they did not seem to be my sort of friends and therefore, I did feel I wanted to make friends with them, this can be classified as stereotyping. However, my initial thoughts was completely wrong after a while and my thoughts are completely different to what they first was. This is because they started talking to me and I got along with them fine. They were extremely friendly and invited me to socialise with them. When it came to the first assignment they were also hard working, which I did not expect. So my initial perception was incorrect as they are now my best friends at this university. To avoid making this judgement again, I will give people the chance to talk to me and will not avoid anyone, I will also not judge them on appearance or attitude.

Communication

Communication is a vital factor in life. It is where two people exchange and share information, this could be new information to one individual or just ones opinion. Foss (2008) defines communication as a state where a source transmits a message to a receiver. Having effective communication is can reduce perception problems, not just in a work place of in society too. This is because better communication can reduce conflict. In a working environment, communication is needed for high productivity and for employees to know what is going on in the company. Especially if it is group work. It is stated that more than 70% of a workers time will be communicating. 

University

There can be many ways Buckinghamshire new university can help improve communications with students using the recommendations from the article "how to improve staff communication." One way is to have a shared purpose between lecturers and students. Students need to understand the importance of communication, this is because if they are struggling but do not communicate with the lecturer, they can not share a vision of how the organisation can improve the individual. Students will be needed to help improve the organisation as a whole. Lecturers are like leaders and also need to realise the importance of communication in order to share there vision of what students are working towards.  In some lecturers, surveys and questionnaires have been filled from students, to have their opinion on what the year has been like. This is an effective way of communicating. Having a shared purpose also means that employees can understand goal they are working towards and employee communication is vital to generate a engaged workforce, that is committed to working towards an objective. 

Another to improve communication to "keep the personal touch." This is because students can value face to face communication with lectures highly. The idea of this is for lecturers to have the conviction and ability to hold a two way conversation so communication is effective. This will help universities because students can become in contact with lecturers regularly and easily. The university could also improve as students can express their opinions. This type of communication can be referred to as an all channels network show below. The opposite to a two way conversation is Handy's role culture. This can be referred to as a "top down" communication style. Handys role culture has been referred to as a greek temple, as shown below. Walker (2011) describes role culture as the role or job description that is more vital the individual in the job. The top of temple is where the more important decisions are made. The pillars are the functional units of an organisation which follow orders from the top of the temple. When an organisation is changing, this culture will be insecure as change will be difficult in these types of organisations. Grint (2005) claims that role cultures are usually found in bureaucracies.

The final way to improve universities communication with students recommended from the article will be to engage the people. The CIPD here has identified three strong ways of employee engagement. These ways are "having the opportunity to feed your views upwards; feeling well informed about what is happening in your organisation; and believing your manager is committed to the organisation." These ways can improve communication betweens students and lecturers because students can make their opinion clear straight to the lecturers or senior lecturers. A student expressing there views is key because it can help improve results which would improve the organisation as a whole. With students knowing what is happening in an organisation, there can be a development of trust as nothing is hidden from them, therefore communication will be effective and students feel more comfortable communicating with the university. The last one can be related to a lecture, where a lecturer is committed to teaching. From a students point of view, knowing that a lecturer is committed and wanting to teach someone, relates very well to the student, therefore communication between them is likely to improve.

Overall I feel that perception and communication is most vital for an organisation to work well. This is because the better communication is between employees and managers and students and lecturers, the better the organisation will be. They two groups of people can share the thoughts in order to improve the organisation. I think that the university has done well with communicating with students as I have been informed about most problems that come up. I can also happily come up to a lecturer without hesitation. I do not believe that lecturers have been stereotypical and perceived others as different even though they may be a certain gender or race.

Bibliography

Grint, K. (2005) The Sociology Of Work: Introduction. 2nd ed. Cambridge: Polity Press.

Hammond, J. (2011) Branding Your Business. London: Kogan Page.

Littlejohn, W.S. and Foss, K.A. (2008) Theories of Human Communication. 9th ed. Belmont, CA: Kogan Page.

Walker, A. (2011) Organizational Behaviour In Construction. 1st ed.