Although there are several issues that can decrease the effectiveness of interpersonal communication, there are some tactics you can use to minimize these communication failures. A recent visit to a hotel created a perfect example of this communication opportunity between a customer and the hotel's front desk employee. First of all, the story of the confrontation between the customer and the hotel reception employee was clouded by expectations and assumptions. For example, the user booked a room using the hotel chain's national reservation center. This center, in turn, is obligated to provide the information to individual hotels so that the hotels can then honor reservations accordingly. Unfortunately in this example, the guest's request and approval for a king size bed was not transmitted from the reservation center to the hotel. As a result, the hotel employee did not have the information that the customer assumed he had received. This assumption resulted in a breakdown in communication between the hotel employee and the customer, which then created hostility on the part of the customer and defensiveness on the part of the employee. The hostility felt by the customer was partly due to past experiences with hotel employees and the negative outcomes of those experiences (Pfeiffer 12). These past experiences created a situation where the customer was not truly listening to what the employee was saying (Pfeiffer 13). Instead he just felt there was a problem ("just like last time"). The employee's defensiveness was due to his belief that this particular user had the same problem that previous users had: the user simply made a mistake with the reservation (DeVito 9). The employee also became defensive due to his rank in the situation and the differences in status between a luxury hotel guest and a hotel employee (Pfeiffer 14). He knew he had to be absolutely correct otherwise the customer would get a favorable outcome (“the customer is always right”), and this defensiveness did not allow him to listen fully and effectively (Pfeiffer 14). On the other hand, the customer's assumption that the employee had received the information created unclear information. If the customer had clarified and qualified the correct information, the message would have been clear and… middle of paper… employees began to negatively influence each other that day (Boyle IX). By avoiding the problems associated with miscommunication and following the rules of effective communication, the user and employee could have avoided a very bad situation and solved a problem in a fraction of the time. While “absolutely clear communication” (DeVito 15) may be impossible to achieve, absolutely efficient communication should be a realistic goal… if only so you can get to your vacation much faster! References Bolton, Robert (1979), People Skills, Simon & Schuster, New York.Boyle, Dr. William (1999), Connecting: How to Improve All Relationships, William Boyle and Associates, Illinois.DeVito, Joseph A. (2002) , The Interpersonal Communication Reader, Allyn & Bacon: A Pearson Education Company, New York. Pfeiffer, J.W. (1973), Conditions That Hinder Effective Communication, excerpted from the 1973 Annual Handbook for Group Facilitators, Pfeiffer and Company, California.