The following essay is a self-reflection observation of my communication abilities and competences, whereby the results have been generated on the basis of the precise information obtained from the five distinctive diagnostic tools which aids to evaluate the communication competences of individuals. The five significant tools are utilized in order to assess the level of my interpersonal communication skills with various individuals and at diverse situational circumstances. The analysis of the results attained has facilitated me to accurately comprehend the areas which have been consistently creating obstacles in the course of life and have thus been facing several issues related to those interactive areas. In addition to this, the essay will provide an inclusive literature review which will be casting light on fundamental theoretical concepts and aspects related to the communication issues the results of which have been evaluated through the diagnostic tools. As the two areas of communication have been drawing my attention recently I will require implementing productive ways to overcome these problems and further develop a SMART goal through an action plan that would assist me in establishing my goals in specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and time bound aspects.
The five diagnostic tools which are utilized to effectively assess the communication competence level reveal a range of scales by answering few questions related to daily activities. The five tools are namely Personal Report of Intercultural Communication Apprehension (PRICA), Self-Perceived Communication Competence Scale (SPCCS), Non-verbal Immediacy Scale Self Report (NIS-S), Talkaholic scale and Tolerance for Disagreement. The first tool known as the Personal Report of Intercultural Communication Apprehension (PRICA) is developed in order to assess the apprehension and anxiety level that individuals encounter while establishing any interactive sessions with others belonging to diverse cultural groups and communities (Neuliep & McCroskey, 1997). However this tool has been anticipated to generate improved data in comparison to the PRCA 24 concerning this particular communication perspective. This tool is essentially been used to assist people to gather an understanding of the way they interact with diverse individuals and to the extent to which individuals have developed the ideologies and beliefs of other cultural backgrounds. Self-Perceived Communication Competence Scale (SPCCS) is the next diagnostic instrument that has been developed to effectively attain information related to the competence level of the way people consider their abilities in the range of communication situational circumstances that engaging different types of receivers or listeners (McCroskey & McCroskey, 1988). However, this tool consists of 12 questions concerning varied situational circumstances. The scale aims to let the respondents understand their communication abilities. As individuals tend to be their own decision makers in relation to the communication level, it is their idea that is vital and not that of an outsider observer. The third instrument that is the Nonverbal Immediacy Scale Self Report (NIS-S) is regarded as the efficient measurable scale of nonverbal immediacy as a self-report (Richmond, McCroskey & Johnson, 2003). Nonverbal immediacy is related to the behavioural cues and indications that offer signals to the people who have been focusing on the positive sentiments and attitudes and vibes towards each other who have been engaged in the communication process. The Talkaholic scale is the next diagnostic instrument that assesses compulsive communication. It has been identified that some individuals get immense motivation to express their views and are known as highly enthusiast talkers and often encounter difficult situations to maintain their silence even when they are aware of the adverse repercussions they will experience (McCroskey & Richmond, 1993). High talkers or extroverts are often perceived as ineffective communicators or abusive talkers however recent qualitative studies have revealed that these individuals are viewed as expressive and reveal strong leadership skills (McCroskey & Richmond, 1995). The last tool called the Tolerance for Disagreement is designed in order to evaluate the extent to which individuals can show endurance or tolerance towards people in conflicting situations. This diagnostic scale has drawn its connection with factors related to argumentativeness (Teven, McCroskey & Richmond,1998). It has been noted that individuals possessing high level of argumentativeness have the tendency to have the ability to handle several disputes and can be confident negotiators. It has been considered that disputes or disagreements involved in interpersonal communication plays as a vital function of the tolerance of disagreement of the communicators.
Nonverbal Immediacy Scale Self Report (NIS-S) comprises a five point scale with over 20 questions concerning my cues and gestures while interacting with others. In this scale I have received a score which fall into the moderate category whereby people scoring greater than 104 are viewed as more capable of developing an effective communication ground by properly using gestures and cues when the situation demands and for the appropriate individuals. The respondents who obtain a score lower than 83 lacks certain areas of improvements and fail to indicate gestures or often demonstrate wrong or incorrect cues at inappropriate situations. As my scores are in the moderate category I realized that I would be requiring bringing improvements in this area in order to effectively use my gestures and develop successful communication process.
The evaluation of the Tolerance for disagreement has revealed the results of my communication ability whereby I have received a score that fall into the moderate level of 32-46. Though I have the ability to tolerate certain form of disagreements or disputes with my opponents but at certain level I encounter difficulties in enduring certain disputes or repetitive deviations as a result I tend to lose self-regulation and arrive into strenuous situations. Thus I would be requiring certain approaches to enhance my communication competency to work effectively with my colleagues and associates.
The third significant diagnostic instrument known as the Talkaholic scale is used to evaluate a degree of compelling or the habitual way of interacting with other individuals to express their views or ideas and often oppose the listener with strict condemnation. Furthermore, Talkaholic scale exposes the situations where individuals comprising increased level of talking abilities or are highly vocal are perceived as unproductive or offensive speakers. However, the situation has shifted to view such social interactive entities as positive spokespersons and the ones who demonstrate immense leadership or supervising, managerial aptitudes. After evaluating this scale I have realized that the scores obtained by me in this area falls below the moderate category whereby the borderline has been stated as 30-39. I must note my habitual affinities over here which leads me to restrict my views or ideas to myself and not being sufficiently vocal to make others understand my position and role in that particular situation. My lack of ability to involve in certain social interactive sessions have resulted me to encounter various taxing circumstances at critical business situations in the presence of my superiors, acquaintances or clients creating a misinterpreted image of mine. Thus I need to enhance my abilities in this area in order to improve my communication skills as I often engage in several business communication situations at my workplace.
Through the evaluation of Personal Report of Intercultural Communication Apprehension (PRICA) it has been noted that the outcomes of my scores have fallen into the moderate category. The scale comprising of 14 questions have accurately produced by results ranging 32-52 indicating a moderate level of cross-cultural communication apprehension. The organization with whom I am engaged deals with global business operations and as a result often requires encountering individuals of diverse cultural backgrounds and who follow different business etiquettes. Thus I need to bring certain degree of developments by focusing on the correct precision of language and awareness of other cultures that would aid me gain the knowledge of multicultural abilities to improve the areas of intercultural competencies in order to attain successful reviews, achievements and immense importance in my workplace domain. To effectively execute any global business operations I must focus on these areas to amplify my scores from moderate to high and aim to gather awareness and encourage beliefs and ideologies of other cultures.
The last diagnostic instrument that is the Self-Perceived Communication Competence Scale (SPCC) has revealed my results whereby it has been shown that my level of ease while interacting with friends is high, in the case of presenting my views and opinions to an association of strangers has also revealed higher degree. However it has been noted that my level of communication abilities while conversing with acquaintances or my peers at workplace has been relatively low in comparison to the conversations taken place in dyad or in private. Thus it can be recognized that my communication competence while encountering my co-workers must be taken into consideration and thus requires bringing improvements to effectively develop a communication base at workplace. As the scale of the tool states a lower score of 62 SPCC as a matter of concern as higher degree of hesitation, uncertainty and lack of confidence results in greater degree of apprehension and complexities in my professional domain and can further create barriers to the path of my occupation. Therefore, it is immensely important for me to shed light on this area and develop my communication ability with my co-workers.
The analysis of the results derived from the significant diagnostic tools has assisted me to identify the two vital areas of my communication areas where I need to bring improvements to enhance my competency level of communication and further effectively show my performance in my professional domain. Self-Perceived Communication Competence Scale (SPCC) and Talkaholic are two most critical areas where I have scored low and thus require utmost attention to bring developments in my communicative skills.
A few weeks ago I have encountered a critical situation in my team whereby I had active contribution in the assignment along with two of my other team associates. However, during the project meeting my lack of ability to explicitly express my ideas have not only led me to lose my image but also aided my other team associates gather most of the acknowledgments and appreciation from the mentors for giving the presentation in an outstanding manner. In addition to this, my introvert characteristic often creates situations where the ones engaged in the conversation perceives me arrogant or develop the understanding related to my inability or lack of competence in specific areas. However, often I encounter certain degree of challenges while establishing any interactive session with my team associates as I tend to restrict my views or prefer not to show my inclination towards any critical situations arising from any dispute among my colleagues. Thus few of my workplace associates have started to perceive my recluse nature as apathetic or unconcerned and have revealed my lack of association with my acquaintances at work.
Being an introvert has recently led me to face a critical situation with my stakeholders and clients in a stakeholder meeting. In the investor meeting I was asked to take a direction for our new project and assess the recent sales growth of our company. Even though I have successfully explained the sales figures and growth percentage to the investors and my team associates, I showed great degree of hesitation and uncertainty when I was being interrogated with questions contingent to the areas of the project. This has created an upsetting situation and further received severe criticism from my supervisors.
Contemporary business leaders have gained the knowledge and understanding of sustaining workers and further increase the competitive advantage of the company (Hall, Covarrubias & Kirschbaum, 2017). Recent observations reveal that various factors of effective business communication such as increased rate of frequency, firmness and accuracy, performance appraisal and sufficiency of knowledge related to organizational policies as well as regulations have effectively been associated with factors related to the emotions of joy, satisfaction, contentment within the organization as well as employee performance and retention (Brun & Cooper, 2016). A well-established association with co-workers has been found in the perceived organizational performance and organizational performance (Egan, 2013). Open communication with workplace peers has been proved to be one of the most significant business achievements factors to several modern business and management principles related to job contentment and decision making procedures among the team members (Goleman, 2017). However, effective communication among team members or colleagues can facilitate the distribution of information and knowledge thus establishing constructive communication work ambience that supports an achievable management system and is significantly associated to effective decision making procedures (Kim & De Dear, 2013). Furthermore, a positive influence of open communication and indulging in team work is found in team collaboration whereby unambiguous communication aids to enhance the participation level of the team associates during strategic planning and further develops the vertical flow of information within the organization to the higher-ranking decision makers who aim to initiate organizational transformation as well as progress (Aghababaei & Arji, 2014).. Effective communication with colleagues has aided the distribution of ideas and exchange of knowledge. For instance, unconstructive communication often create ineffective and ambiguous situation at work and declined level of communication certainty is often associated to high rate disparaging effects arising from conflict and disagreements (Scheibe & Zacher, 2013). Successful development of communication with workplace peers aids to gather proper comprehensive understanding and awareness of team members. It is significant for employees to engage in proper interactive sessions in order to bring resolutions to the issues arising while working together in an organization (Oerlemans & Bakker, 2013). It has been note that employees who engage in effective communication aim to conquer certain stereotypical situations and misinterpretations to perform in a productive manner. It must be noted that a successful communicative process is dependable of individuals therefore by aiming to create well-established communication which foster respect to the workplace peers (Garvey,2014). Furthermore, taking individualistic role and responsibility to develop constructive communication indicates high level of certainty and inclination to develop behavioural transformation and communication choices in order to promote team collaboration. Several studies have demonstrated that valuable and successful communicators gain satisfactory knowledge to supervise and observe the responses of co-workers and further circumvent factors related to defensiveness (Austin & Pinkleton, 2015). Furthermore, it has been identified that establishing personal level of interaction along with marinating professional decorum and ethics can further facilitate in enhancing relationships within the organization (Chuang, 2013).
It has perceived by several recent theorists that individuals who reflect high level of extraversion are regarded as sociable and explicitly expressive individuals who further reveal best competencies to show leadership and supervision. However, it has been perceived that individuals who show high talkative characteristic abilities tend to be sociable, expressive and explicitly vocal as essential personality characteristic which are required in order to excel with effective leadership and managerial abilities (Marsick & Watkins, 2015). It has been identified that employees with high level of extraversion often reveal possibilities to be genial, demonstrative, friendly and expressive. However, on the other hand, employees who show low degree of inclination towards factors related to social interaction, communication and fail to encourage positive perceptions and ideas of others. High extraversion is regarded as a significant asset for employees whose jobs necessitates increased rate of social interaction and social development. Furthermore, employees with low level of social interactive abilities may nevertheless be extremely successful and efficient specifically when their roles and responsibilities do not entail much social competencies (Osborn, 2015). Introverts tend to reveal indifferent or submissive approach which fails to achieve greater degree of success and contentment towards the organization or the job responsibility. In the era of global business domain, organizations encourage activities which are rapid paced and do not comprise any form of uncertainty or indecisiveness (Salas et al., 2015). Organizations encourage ideas and views which will convert into an effective business venture that have been presented impressionably to effectively influence the investors and clients of the enterprise (Cullen?Lester et al., 2016). Individuals who reveal high rate of extraversion possess a greater comfort level surrounding large associations in comparison to the introverts who tend to remain shy and often fail to put their opinions and reviews at demanding situations (Shujaat, Manzoor & Seyd, 2014). Individuals possessing high level of extraversion are often perceived as action people who prefer to work with teams and encourage team building while conducting any projects which would be competitively advantageous to the organizations (French & Kottke, 2013). Companies can produce beneficial outcomes by engaging individuals with low level of introversion who further give active participation in conflicting situations or disputes. It must be noted that specific organizational roles and responsibilities require high level of communicative nature and effective distribution of information (Tang, Wang & Norman, 2013). As extroverts show increase level of social inclination they can put their productivity with motivating team members and elevate organizational performance. Individuals demonstrating high level of extraversion can facilitate greater degree of development and change within the organizational structure (Schillemans & Robinson, 2015). However, often extroverts are viewed as abusive or ineffective speaker recent business observations have explained the way modern and advanced organizations have been encouraging expressive and socially interactive beings in their business operations.
With the thorough evaluation of the five diagnostic tools and an explicitly provided literature review, an action plan must be developed that would guide me to improve the communication areas I lack associated with the Talkaholic skills and my level of communication with my workplace peers. The set goals which have been aimed to be accomplished must be developed in SMART way:
The set goals need to be specific. For bringing development to the areas of my communication level while establishing a conversation ground with my workplace associates I will be exchanging feedbacks and opinions from my supervisors and co-workers and also enrol myself in leadership training workshops to enhance my skills in these areas. Furthermore, to enhance the areas of communication where I reveal immense rate of recluse, indecisiveness and shyness is while conversing to clients, peers and business associates. In this case, I would be gaining my knowledge my reading success journals and undergo one to one sessions with my mentor to learn from experiences. The goal is measurable. The effective exchange of feedbacks and sincere reviews from colleagues would aid to understand my progress and further help to know my position in my team. Reading journals and undergoing workshops would further facilitate the level of my understanding to overcome shyness and complexities while conversing with workplace associates. Acknowledging sincere and honest feedbacks of my peers would help to analyse my capabilities and the transformations which I have been undergoing in that duration. In addition to this, attending leadership training sessions and motivational classes would also provide me with effective supervision and knowledge of my self-abilities and identify my level of aptitude of things which are achievable to me. The goal is attainable as through the rapid pace of internet would help me to gather various success and achievement journals, blogs as well as videos. These resources thus can easily be attainable without any additional expenditures and costs and go through those at my convenience from my smart phones. Furthermore, attending leadership development workshops would help to engage with various people who would help me to develop my social interactive abilities. The goal is relevant. The goals have utmost significance as attending the leadership workshop sessions would provide me with opportunities and scopes to interact with strangers with whom I can engage into a short and constructive conversation that would help me to gain greater level of confidence in several social situations. As I will be connecting with several people at my workplace and encounter clients as well as other business associates across the world my receptive and approachable nature would be taken into consideration. Furthermore, collecting relevant and vital success journals and articles would help me to overcome my shy and withdrawn characteristics. The set timeframe for the goals will be six months.
The above discussion demonstrates that effective communication process in business. As a result, it is highly important to improve the areas where I lack competencies among my workplace associates.
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Activity |
May’18 |
Jun’18 |
Jul-18 |
Aug-18 |
Sep-18 |
Oct-18 |
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Leadership sessions |
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Reading Success Journals |
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Sincere feedbacks and reviews from supervisors |
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Private conversation with supervisor |
References
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Austin, E. W., & Pinkleton, B. E. (2015). Strategic public relations management: Planning and managing effective communication campaigns (Vol. 10). Routledge.
Brun, J., & Cooper, C. (2016). Missing pieces: 7 ways to improve employee well-being and organizational effectiveness. Springer.
Chuang, S. F. (2013). Essential skills for leadership effectiveness in diverse workplace development.
Cullen?Lester, K. L., Leroy, H., Gerbasi, A., & Nishii, L. (2016). Energy’s role in the extraversion (dis) advantage: How energy ties and task conflict help clarify the relationship between extraversion and proactive performance. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 37(7), 1003-1022.
Egan, G. (2013). The skilled helper: A problem-management and opportunity-development approach to helping. Cengage Learning.
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Marsick, V., & Watkins, K. (2015). Informal and incidental learning in the workplace (Routledge revivals). Routledge.
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Oerlemans, W. G., & Bakker, A. B. (2013). Capturing the moment in the workplace: Two methods to study momentary subjective well-being. In Advances in positive organizational psychology (pp. 329-346). Emerald Group Publishing Limited.
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