Conversation

Recorded Conversations

One of my communication assignments for this week was to observe conversations for two days and compare them with the things my class had learned about principles of conversation. The main principles of conversation, according to our text, are turn-taking, dialogue, immediacy (closeness) and flexibility. What I learned in looking for these things was pretty enlightening. First, I saw that there were two types of conversations going on around me. The first one was to convey information about work. These were pretty impersonal. The second conversations were obviously a need for comradeship. I saw dozens of times when we (almost everyone in the building) made up reasons to go to another person’s office and share something that was not purely work related. Below are some things I noted.

Work Conversations

• Sharing information about work or just gossiping.
• A lot of complaining accompanied any talk about work or management.
• There was a definite lack of communication at times. People assuming others knew something they hadn’t been told.
• The conversation was much more playful when a department manager wasn’t around.

• The more informal the conversation, the less the rules of etiquette were observed.
• There was more interrupting, over - talking, etc. in playful, argumentative conversations than in serious conversations.
• One could tell how long two people had known each other and the closeness of their relationship by their conversations.

In conclusion I would say that it is obvious that communication is a part of our need for companionship. Most of the conversation I saw happening was more about being together than just sharing information. It is obvious that we humans need each other. We were not meant to be alone.

Thoughtfully,

Sullivan Jones