This paper examines interpersonal communication through the lens of the process approach, arguing that communication is dynamic, transactional, and mutually influential. It discusses core characteristics of interpersonal communication, including its face-to-face context and dialogic form, before exploring how the process approach applies to goal-oriented group settings and negotiation scenarios. The paper further considers how participation in conversation develops communicative skills such as emotional intelligence and bargaining, concluding that understanding communication as a continuous process benefits both external outcomes and individual personal growth.
Interpersonal communication is one of the most important aspects of human life. It creates relationships, employment opportunities, and pleasant or unpleasant conditions. It is therefore important to take the appropriate approach to communication in order to optimize its beneficial effects and minimize possible misunderstanding.
Interpersonal communication has various defining characteristics. It generally occurs in face-to-face situations, without any mediating devices, apart from real-time communication tools such as the telephone. Such communication occurs in dialogic form — information and meaning are shared among the parties in the conversation. This is where the process approach becomes particularly useful.
Interpersonal communication is transactional in nature, with parties negotiating both content and meaning. The flow of this content and meaning is a process whereby participants influence each other. Although not all participants necessarily speak, the information exchanged is processed and contributes to the development of thought and opinion within the group involved.
Conversations are therefore reciprocal in their influence. Each participant influences the others and is, in turn, influenced by them. In interpersonal conversation among equal parties, this process occurs in a symbiotic and simultaneous way.
Taking a process approach is useful in a variety of situations. In a group setting, for example, parties may communicate regarding certain goals. These goals can be related to tangible objectives, action, social endeavors, emotional purposes, and so on. A process approach means that all parties in the conversation are open to the fact that communication is dynamic and influential. Each person is open to being influenced, as well as willing to influence the other parties.
When conversation participants have divergent goals, the process of conversation is aimed at reaching consensus. Such situations may arise in negotiations among business partners, marriage partners, families, political parties, and so on. Negotiation is a process that occurs for the purpose of reaching consensus.
When a process approach is taken to interpersonal communication, all parties enter the conversation with the purpose of influencing or being influenced. It is also understood that all parties bring specific goals, aspirations, fears, and expectations — whether or not these are directly related to the negotiation at hand. The process approach is therefore useful in working towards a common goal, for the benefit of both the group and the wider sphere of influence where decisions or consensus reached may have broader effects. Examples of such settings include political, educational, and family contexts.
"How communication builds emotional and negotiation skills"
The process approach to interpersonal communication means that desired conversation skills can be cultivated and enhanced by actively using them in the course of communication. Understanding the nature of interpersonal communication as a dynamic process can therefore be helpful on multiple levels — both the external level of influence and the internal level of personal development.
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