You are to identify and explain the two issues from your diagnosis and reflection. You are to define the concepts, outline key models and or behaviours that need to be developed so as to demonstrate effective practice.
Communication is one of the most important aspect for successfully conducting business and management. Every professional should develop skills so that they can effectively communicate with all. This assignment will help in reflecting on my communication skills and will help to develop a literature review and action plan on the skills that I lack.
Diagnostic tools:
One of the most important diagnostic tools used by me for this assessment of communication skills is self-perceived communication competence scale point this scale usually gives 12 situations in which marks between 0 to 100 should be given to assess the situations. After providing marks in all the 12 situations, calculations were done to understand my skills in public speaking. Except talking with strangers and with friend, I got a moderate grade in public, meeting, group, dyad and acquaintances. Only in stranger and friend categories, I scored high marks. Therefore, I believe that in order to be an expert professional in business and management I need to develop my public speaking skills in public comma meeting, group, diet as well as quick acquaintances. Higher SPCC score indicates that I have a higher degree of self-perceived communication competence with basic communication context such as public, group, dyad, meetings as well as with receivers like strangers, acquaintances and friends (McCroskey & McCroskey, 1988). I scored moderate in most of the categories, therefore I believe that I have to develop my skills so that I can be a better speaker in both basic communication context as well as with receiver. However, among receivers I am already a good speaker with strangers and friends, therefore the main basic areas where I need development is speaking skills is public, meeting, group, dyad and acquaintances
The next diagnostic tool that has been used by me is called the personal report of intercultural communication apprehension. In this diagnostic tool, the skills of intercultural communication are mainly tested. Here fourteen situations are given where students have to provide marks for. The marks are usually given within 1 to 5 with 1 being strongly disagreeing to the situation and marks 5 being strongly agreeing to the situations. After the entire calculation, the marks are expected to be higher than 52. Those individuals who scored higher than 52 are considered to be having high intercultural communication apprehension. Those who are scoring below 32 are said to have a low intercultural communication apprehension (Neuliep & McCroskey, 1997). Those who scored between 32 and 52 are said to have a moderate level of intercultural communication apprehension. In this regard, I score 33 that fall into the category of moderate level of intercultural communication apprehension. However, my score is quite poor in the moderate group and it is more towards lower intercultural communication apprehension grades. Therefore, I believe that I am quite poor in apprehension different intercultural situations that are surrounding me. I believe that this will be a harmful in my future career where I may need to communicate with people from other cultural backgrounds in my professional field. Therefore, I believe that i have to work on my apprehensive power and develop my cultural competence so that i can succeed farther in life.
The next diagnostic tool that I have used is called the nonverbal immediacy scale self report. Nonverbal immediacy can be defined as the behaviour as well as the skills that signal positive feelings among different persons. 26 situations are given in this tool. Marks are provided in order to describe the ways by which some people behave while talking with others. A scale from 1 to 5 has to be provided with 1 being ‘never’ and 5 being ‘very’ often. The grades that are obtained are different in case of male and that of females. Since I am female, so I will be mainly judging the female score values. After the calculation, I noticed that my score is 94. 94 usually falls in the moderate level and high-level scores are above 112 and low-level scores are below 90. Therefore, I believe that I have moderate skills of interacting non verbally among different individuals during communication and I have to develop my skills so that I may reach the higher nonverbal immediacy scale. This would ensure a better scope of success in my future career.
The fourth diagnostic tool that I have used for this assignment is called the personal public speaking anxiety. This tool usually helps an individual to identify whether he has the habit of developing anxiety while conducting communication publicly (McCroskey, 1970). Here 34 situations are given for individuals where they have to provide marks for each of the situations. Marks from 1 to 5 can be given for a situation with mark 1 being ‘strongly disagree’ and mark 5 being ‘strongly agree’. After conducting the test, the calculation revealed a value of 89. 89 falls in the category of low as a value below 98 is considered low public speaking anxiety and a value above 131 falls into the category of high public speaking anxiety. A value between 98 and 131 is considered to be a moderate public speaking anxiety. Therefore, I scored really well in this tool because I got low public speaking anxiety that means I do not become nervous and anxious while talking with people publicly. I need to maintain that attribute, as this would be helpful for me in my future career.
The last diagnostic tool that I have used for my assessment is the talkaholic skill communication tool. This can be defined as the scale that helps in measuring compulsive communication attribute of individuals. Some people are usually seen to talk more in comparison to their colleagues or friends. They are verbal and had great difficulty in being quiet in presence of other people. However, this should never be taken as a negative factor until they are irritating, disrespecting or speaking something that are not wanted at the situation. Recent researches are of the opinion that people who talk more can express their positive traits and so they are more positively evaluated by others (McCrosky & Richmond 1993). They are often expected to be seen as leader, as being more competent, and more positive from a variety of other person perception variables. Therefore, an individual should be expressing their views as much as required to express their concerns, suggestions or ideas and feedback (McCrsokey & Richmond, 1995). The tool consists of 16 situations where students have to provide marks from 1 to 5. Mark 1 usually refers to strongly disagreeing to situations and mark 5 refers to strongly agreeing to the situations. After the calculation, I was quite shocked to see the result. I got a score of 20 that usually falls into the category of low grade. As it suggests, I find myself in situations where it becomes difficult for me to speak even when speaking clearly is advantageous and essential for me. The mark between 30 and 39 are called borderline talkaholics and they are able to control the talking most of the time and are able to speak whenever needed. However, I need to develop my skills to be included in the high grade to be compulsive communicators so that I can be successful leader in the future.
From the entire analysis of the different aspects of my communication skill, I noticed that there are two important aspect of my communication style that I need to change. The first is my intercultural communication skill. I become quite apprehensive while communicating with members of other cultures and this poor performance is proved by the diagnostic test I took with the personal report of intercultural communication apprehension test called PRICA. This nervousness and anxiety I have developed is mainly due to my inappropriate communication skills. My communication is not culturally appropriate and hence I believe that I need to work on this attribute. Often in the global organisation, this attribute is extremely necessary and therefore, I have to take initiatives to develop my intercultural communication skills. Secondly, I believe I am not quite open-minded while communication with others, I am introvert in nature and therefore often fail to express my concerns as well as my suggestions. In the talkaholic communication skill scale, I achieved very poor grade that in turn reflects my introvert nature. In many cases in professional lives, I need to express my view, concerns, and suggestions and have to develop good rapport with others. These are essential attributes and I need to develop them so that I can achieve the opportunity of leading people. In the Self Perceived communication competency test, I also scored moderate where it reflected that I am not comfortable in speaking publicly in groups and meetings. Therefore, these skills also need to be developed.
A presentation was to be given to clients who had come to our organisation in order to finalize a deal on the products that our organisation will be providing to their offices. Our organisation mainly sells electronic products to large companies. My immediate manager asked me to prepare myself along with a colleague of mine. Both of us had to impress the organisations to sell our products so that they become happy and buy our products. I had taken huge amount of time for researching their preferences and developing my presentation according to that. I had also researched and prepared my speech in a proper way which would impress the people. My colleague has also worked with me so that we both can make our organisation successful in selling the equipments to the other organisation. However, on the final day when I was giving the presentation, all of a sudden I became very nervous by seeing the large number of officials who has come from the other organisation. I tried to condemn my nervousness and tried to speak well. However, when I was practicing the presentation with my friends I was not at all nervous. This proves that I was not comfortable in speaking publicly in large groups or in meetings. Moreover, my introvert nature was revealed when I was not being able to express myself completely in order to impress the officials. I had to go overboard and had to use my speaking skills to sell the products. However, I was introvert and could not speak more than what was asked by those officials. However, my friend was quite expressive and he held the officials with his strong communication skills and confidence engaging all the limelight for him. This situation clarified that I am not competent to be called a compulsive speaker. This was proved by the way by which talkaholic tool stated my low grades and I understood that I have to be a compulsive talker in order to gain success.
In another instance, I was to attend a meeting with my boss to a Japanese firm where they were asking us to provide them a good deal with electronic products. However, I had known earlier that Japanese are very strict about their business formalities and do not like any breach of their business rules. These had made me quite nervous and I could not properly communicate with the Japanese people there by maintaining proper cross-cultural skills. I was totally not aware of their greeting styles and therefore I communicated with them stating hello and shaking hands. This was not like by them as they usually nod their head down to greet people or accept their greetings. The Japanese officials felt disrespected and my boss for this activity criticized me. Moreover, I could not also communicate with them effectively because I become quite nervous of speaking with officials of a different cultural background and therefore I could not express my expertise in my subject. Although my boss managed the situation, he told me that I have to be culturally competent in order to gain success in life. All this taught me that there are many aspects of communication that I need to develop in my placement years so that I can emerge as an expert professional.
With the spreading of the trend of globalisation, most organisations are trying their best to hit the global market to ensure higher productivity and get a wider range of consumers. Therefore researchers are of the opinion that today’s managers need to possess a precise understanding of the important traits of intercultural communication (Jandt, 2017). It is important for every business professionals to proactively engage in culturally competent communication skills and thereby make necessary adjustments to address the current needs of increasingly diverse workforce. An important concept of cultural intelligence is extremely important for business professionals (Patternotte et al., 2016). This is the capability of the professionals to relate and thereby work effectively and successfully in different culturally diverse situations. Recent researchers are of the opinion that this capability goes beyond the need of cultural awareness and cultural sensitivity for accomplishing objectives in culturally diverse situations. It consists of four important elements- One of this is the cultural intelligence drive, which is the level of interest, persistence and confidence that are important during multicultural interaction (Kealey, 2015). The second step of the cycle is the cultural intelligence knowledge. This knowledge helps an individual to understand how different cultures are different and similar. The third in the cycle is the cultural intelligence strategy that helps the individual to develop awareness and capability to plan for multicultural interactions. The fourth part that contributes to the cycle is the cultural intelligence action that is the ability of the individual to adapt when they are relating and working in different multicultural contexts. These four aspects, when followed properly by individuals can guide them properly and help them in overcoming barriers and developing cultural intelligence to handle complex multicultural issues. Besides developing cultural awareness, it is extremely important for the individuals to acknowledge the differences that exist between different cultures (Koester & Luistig, 2015). One should always discourage behaviour that would make people of other cultures excluded or unwanted. It is important for business professionals to encourage people to share their views, ideas, and favourite foods. They should also have the knowledge that how gift exchanges like reciprocity, obligations and symbolisms vary among cultures and these should be acknowledged. One should accept differences and be culturally self aware of the biasness and stereotypes they have for other though proper self-reflection. They should observe and research local customs of different cultures. Business techniques and style of conducting business, managing workplace, leadership and management vary from nation to nation and people can develop proper ideas though Hofstede’s theory (Yue & Ning, 2015). They should communicate accordingly with different nations in order to maintain harmony and successful business relationships. Cultural sensitivity is one the ability by which individuals can shower respect not only among their diverse teams but also to opposite organisations that are culturally different. This is one of the most important attribute of globalisation. Researchers are of the opinion that employees who accept the differences as well as adapt their behaviours and working styles to suit the styles of another culture get better results. Those individuals, who adopt the aspects of another culture into their own, thereby enrich their own cultural identity and develop the ability to successfully communicate and handle any situations successfully. Keeping an open mind at all times, admiring and respecting other cultures and recognising own biasness helps to ensure effective communication (Samovar et al., 2015). Moreover knowing how cultures and customs vary from person to person, practicing and reflecting on intercultural communication skills and being aware of the cultures surrounding one ensure success at workplace.
An individual can only develop good presentation skills and public speaking skills when he can acquire proper organising attribute and self-confidence. Public speaking skills and good presentation skills help an individual to express his views, suggestions and concerns with a wide set of audience and are important attributes that confirm a future leader. Leaders need to have proper public speaking skills that have the power to influence and inspire a wide number of followers or subordinates at the same time. Researchers are of the opinion that individuals who become successful in developing proper organising skills often presents them well and build high self esteem (Brink & Costigan, 2015) . This self-esteem gives rise to confidence to overcome barriers, motivate, and influence followers or clients to achieve success. Researchers state that the individual who is giving presentation is the person whom the audience is concentrating. Therefore, every gesture of the person starting from his body language, speech and overall mannerisms matter to make the audience motivated or business clients impressed to achieve the goals successful (Dolan, 2017). Care should be taken that very gesture, movement or facial expression reflects personality. However, it becomes extremely important for the individual giving presentation to feel comfortable because only then he would be able to perform his best. At the same time, such a confident individual can thereby influence and motivate people and thereby lead them for meeting organisational goals. Therefore, good presentation giving skills can be associated with an important trait of leadership. Present day researchers suggest that individuals should not be introvert but rather be more vocal about their concerns, suggestions, ideas and conclusions. Effective feedback giving and receiving is one of the best ways of being a compulsive speaker that is now taken to be appositive trait among researchers (McDougall & Holden, 2017). Individuals who can provide proper feedback and can communicate well with employees or with higher officials can maintain harmony at workplace by developing proper rapport with everyone and helping individuals to work beyond their capacities. It helps in building high performance teamwork and can inspire and motivate members largely. Employees feel valued and cared for through effective feedback sharing and giving. Constructive feedback from such an individual can ensure improvement of performance. Besides, feedback is also seen as an effective tool for continued learning (Shauki & Benzieb, 2016)
Skills that need to be developed for better communication |
specific |
Measurable |
attainable |
relevant |
timeframe |
Development of proper inter-cultural communication skills |
In order to develop cultural awareness, I have to research about different cultures on the internet. Internet has large number of websites that gives details about different cultures. I can follow them to develop my cultural knowledge. I can also access different journals where I will get information as well as recommendations of different researchers about how to develop intercultural skills for better communication |
With gradual reading of websites, I will be able to gather information that I will apply at my workplace. I can measure my advancement by the effectivity by which I will be handling the intercultural issues. The more I read journal, I will develop an efficiency that will help me to communicate effectively with my own diverse team. I will take feedback from them so that I can understand how well I am developing in these criteria. |
The goal is easily attainable as researching over the different internet sources and finding journals from the internet will not be difficult for me. I can do them in my free time without hampering my academics and professional life. |
These initiatives taken are relevant, as they will be helping in getting direct knowledge of different cultures. The journals will be helping in getting information about how different organisations had helped in implementing intercultural skills among the different members. All these would help me to get an idea about how to develop myself for the skills (Yue & Ning, 2015). |
This would require for about 3 to 4 months |
Development of proper public speaking skills as well as different developing myself as a better speaker |
I would be joining workshops where I will be taking help of my mentor to develop my presentation skills. The demo classes, which will be conducted there would help me to develop my presentation skills. I will be made to know about the skills I lack and hence I will be guided to overcome them. |
The workshop will take a number of tests which where grades will be given, from the grades; I will be able to understand how well I am fairing in developing the skills. Moreover, I will also request for feedback from my mentor which will also help me understand how well I am advancing towards betterment |
The workshop will be in my community and therefore I can easily attend it without spending any time in conveyance. I am planning to take classes on weekends so that my academic as well as professional lives are not disrupted |
The mentors of workshops are highly skilled in teaching individuals about communication strategies and therefore seeking help form them is relevant (Tsang, 2017) |
I would be requiring 5 to 6 months |
References:
Brink, K. E., & Costigan, R. D. (2015). Oral communication skills: Are the priorities of the workplace and AACSB-accredited business programs aligned?. Academy of Management Learning & Education, 14(2), 205-221.
Dolan, R. (2017). Effective presentation skills. FEMS microbiology letters, 364(24), fnx235.
Jandt, F. E. (2017). An introduction to intercultural communication: Identities in a global community. Sage Publications.
Kealey, D. J. (2015). Some strengths and weaknesses of 25 years of Research on Intercultural Communication Competence: Personal Reflections. International Journal of Intercultural Relations, 48, 14-16.
Koester, J., & Lustig, M. W. (2015). Intercultural communication competence: Theory, measurement, and application. International Journal of Intercultural Relations, 48, 20-21.
McCroskey, J. C. (1970). Measures of communication?bound anxiety.
McCroskey, J. C., & McCroskey, L. L. (1988). Self?report as an approach to measuring communication competence.
McCroskey, J. C., & Richmond, V. P. (1993). Identifying compulsive communicators: The talkaholic scale. Communication Research Reports, 10(2), 107-114.
McCroskey, J. C., & Richmond, V. P. (1995). Correlates of compulsive communication: Quantitative and qualitative characteristics. Communication Quarterly, 43(1), 39-52.
McDougall, J., & Holden, H. (2017). The silence about oral presentation skills in distance and online education: new perspectives from an Australian university preparatory programme. Open Learning: The Journal of Open, Distance and e-Learning, 32(2), 163-176.
Neuliep, J. W., & McCroskey, J. C. (1997). The development of intercultural and interethnic communication apprehension scales. Communication Research Reports, 14(2), 145-156.
Paternotte, E., Scheele, F., van Rossum, T. R., Seeleman, M. C., Scherpbier, A. J. J. A., & van Dulmen, A. M. (2016). How do medical specialists value their own intercultural communication behaviour? A reflective practice study. BMC medical education, 16(1), 222.
Samovar, L. A., Porter, R. E., McDaniel, E. R., & Roy, C. S. (2015). Communication between cultures. Nelson Education.
Shauki, E. R., & Benzieb, H. (2016). Enhancing Students Oral Presentation Skills: Observation Based on Undergraduate Accounting Students. Asia Pacific Journal of Accounting and Finance.
Tsang, A. (2017). Positive effects of a programme on oral presentation skills: high-and low-proficient learners’ self-evaluations and perspectives. Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education, 1-12.
Yue, J., & Ning, P. (2015). The cultivation of critical thinking skills in intercultural communication course. Cross-Cultural Communication, 11(3), 47.
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