Reference no: EM132300133

A message can become misunderstood by a simple element that was not intended to change the message. The use of devices is quite common in order to keep up with the demands of society. As an example, I want to share an instance that miscommunication happened and it was all over a simple breakdown. A previous supervisor needed some information rather quickly and she reached out to a colleague during his lunch. This gentleman rarely took an actual break for lunch, but this day he did. There were actually several of us who left the office and had lunch at a local Japanese place 5 minutes away. While at lunch he received a text from our supervisor asking a question she needed a response right away. It was a simple question and a yes/no was all she needed. So to respond to her quickly, he responded with a “NO”. Since he was eating, he did not realize he sent the message in all caps. He thought he was being nice to even respond during his lunch. Upon return to the office, my supervisor acted a bit off. We all thought she was just having a day and let it go. Two days later she was still a bit off, so I asked her if she was okay. She began to vent that no one understands the pressure on her and that all she did the other day was ask a simple question to only be yelled at. I asked her to elaborate and she shared that our colleague yelled at her in the text because she bothered him at lunch. I told her I was there and he did not yell at her or was even really bothered about the text. She said then why would he send the message in caps. I had to let her know that he was in the middle of eating and simply was just trying to get back to her asap as she needed. I told her that he texted with his left hand for a fork was in his right. I was a simple accident. I then asked her why did she not mention something to him a couple days ago. So there was a breakdown for there was no follow-up and there was a misuse of capital letters. It was all a misunderstanding that caused unneeded conflict in the department.

Do you agree, why or why not?