December 9, 2013
Communication Style Case Study “Communication is an ongoing, complex ever-changing process between two or more individuals to convey a message” (Hansten & Jackson, 2009). Effective communication in the healthcare field is an essential piece to delivering competent client care. Effective communication is not only needed to relay the importance of instructions and tasks to our peers in the treatment team, but to provide respect to our coworkers and create a positive working environment. Communication styles are important and can contribute or hinder the process of maintaining effective communication in the workplace. This paper aims to analyze the communication styles in four different communication scenarios.
Scenario One There are two communication style used in scenario one. The Registered Nurse (RN) engaged in aggressive communication whereas the assistive personnel (AP) engaged in passive communication. Aggressive behavior and communication is hostile in intent and is usually communicated through talking at people and not with people. The aggressive communication was used when the RN belittled the AP with an upraised tone, and inappropriate comments such as,” you are only the aide”, and “we don’t expect you to think, just to do what we tell you to do.” (Hansten & Jackson, 2009). According to Hansten & Jackson (2009), this communication style successfully suppresses ideas and feedback from others and creates a tension filled relationship (p. 281). This communication style inflicts a tone of supremacy, statements which direct blame, and labeling. These negative communications often times can cause the other person to feel humiliated, angry and hurt. The AP was experiencing feelings of anger and resentment and these feelings elicited a response of revenge in this scenario. The AP in this scenario has shown a passive style of communication because he feels it is necessary to keep his job. Passive behavior is often not