Matthew Christensen

Short Paper #1: What Went Wrong?

Steve Reiher
COMM 1010 Spring 2016
A few years back I was working for a landscaping company where we would
deliver and plant trees that were ordered by our clients. It was a busy day and we
had more deliveries to make so I approached my boss with the paperwork for the
next delivery. I asked him where the trees associated with this client were located
and he pointed to a few trees leaning against the fence. My co-workers and I loaded
up those trees, delivered them to the client, and planted them only to find out that
we had taken and planted the wrong trees.

1. My boss was the right person to approach about the delivery and therefor he
was the right person to send the message.
2. Communicator A (my boss) pointed at a group of trees against the fence
where both the correct trees and the incorrect trees were located. This
nonverbal que that he used by pointing at the fence was confusing because it
was not specific enough to help me identify the right trees.
3. The message was too short and was poorly formulated because once again it
was not specific enough and did not include much verbal communication.
4. The most effective channel was not chosen because verbal communication
would have been much more effective in helping me identify the right trees.
5. I was the receiver of this message and was the correct person to receive this
message but I did not receive it in the right way.
6. As the receiver of this communication I misunderstood the meaning of the
senders message. The trees that I thought he was pointing to were not the
ones that he was actually pointing towards.
7. The environment was a big factor in this breakdown of communication. It was
a very busy day and as a result both myself and my boss were tired,
frustrated, and in a hurry. My boss was talking with a client on the phone
which prevented him from giving me more detailed verbal instructions. On
my end I was in a hurry to finish the work so instead of waiting for my boss to
finish on the phone, I left without asking for more details.
8. As a receiver I did not provide effective feedback to ensure that I understood
the message I was being sent. I should have confirmed the name of species
of tree I was supposed to deliver and I should have waited for him to finish on
the phone so that he could send a clearer message.

9. Noise, both physical and physiological, had a big impact on our poor
communication. My boss had physical noise from the person he was speaking
with on the phone and we both had physiological noise from the stresses of
our busy day that prevented us from communicating better. We were more
focused on getting the job done than on getting it done properly.