Second Assignment Interpersonal Reflection
During my internship at The Ritz – Carlton Millenia Singapore, an interpersonal communication problem had appeared between my colleague and I. At The Ritz – Carlton, we were required to escort every guest to the front office to check-in and after escorting we were required to return back and continue the process. I had a colleague who was laid back even when during the hotel’s peak period. This was largely due to the difference in upbringing and culture, causing a huge misunderstanding between us.
During the hotel’s peak period, he was leisurely strolling around despite the rest of us in the team rushing and working hard with the continuous stream of guest arrivals. When I realised he was being too carefree, I took the initiative to speak to him about his work ethics as I wanted to spare him the wrath of our manager if he caught on.
I signalled for him to come over to where I was so I could speak with him. I raised my voice a little when I spoke as the hotel lobby was very noisy due to the high number of guests. I pointed out his wrongdoings – leisurely strolling back to the main entrance to further escort our guests without any sense of urgency. After I was done, he stormed off angrily and complained to our manager, saying that my attitude to him was very rude. I was flabbergasted, as I thought that I had communicated well to him, trying to help him do the right thing. I believe what triggered him to behave that way was my choice of words. What could I have done better to prevent this incident from happening again?
Aylmer's Blog 
Hey aylmer,
I think I can understand your situation, as I’ve been in a similar situation once.
My tone of voice led to the other party to misunderstand my intentions, thinking that I was speaking to him to harm him.
I think what you should have done was to pull him to a corner, out of the crowd and speak to him then. That way, he won’t feel intimidated when you raise your voice and won’t feel bothered by the fact that there are people around watching you ‘humiliate’ him.
That’s all, have a great day ahead!
Best regards,
Lee Brandon
LikeLike
Hi Aylmer. I understand that your intentions were good. However, some people are not as receptive to feedback as you. They can become very defensive when they feel attacked. Perhaps he felt attacked by you, that was why his defence mechanism was to complaint to the manager about you. Probably if you had told him that in a better environment and with a different tone, that would have helped.
LikeLike
Hello Aylmer,
Sorry to hear about your terrible incident. I can definitely say that I have been in a similar situation before where my tone or volume may have led to a misunderstanding.
I would say that maybe you could have handled the situation better by not raising your voice even though the surrounding was rather noisy. I think it would be better if you were to walk over to him and talk to him nicely rather than signalling him to come over to you with a high volume.
Best Regards,
Ivan
LikeLike
Dear Aylmer,
The situation has been described well and the solution hints at some communication concepts. The concepts here are verbal and non-verbal communication as the peer posts also have pointed out. Good to know that you will continue to work on these skills.
LikeLike