Effective Business Communication Process: Identifying Communication Issues

Identifying Communication Issues

Discuss about the Effective Business Communication Process.

The diagnostic tools are used for the purpose of understanding the personal capability regarding the effectiveness of the communication process (Rosenberg and Chopra 2015). A set of five diagnostic tools have been used to analyze my personal communication style and detect my short comings as far as communication process is concerned. The five tools used in this process are- Johari Window, Assertive Questionnaire, Communication Style Questionnaire, Listening Test and Non-Verbal test.

I have identified the two communication issues based on my analysis- Moderate level of patience and passive aggressive behavior. The assertive questionnaire as well as communication style behavior shows that I display passive assertive behavior. My primary behavior type is passive. I put the wants, views as well as needs of another person before mine. There are instances when I cannot defend myself. There are also instances when I ignore my own needs completely. I go with the views of others or often feel too ashamed to place my own views. I often feel that I have no alternative and hence I feel awkward to put my own point. This often decreases my quality level and there is increase in the stress levels. This happened as I am often unable to place my own point before others. This often gives rise to less contribution in a group. People often presume that I am not able to contribute to a discussion or particular topic. There are also instances when others feel that I am not adding any value to the workplace. There are times when I seem to be confident as well as relaxed, but however, there are instances when I feel that I should speak up. I do not raise any matter when I feel something is wrong as it would cause me discomfort. I am passive and this makes me to praise others and not say good things about myself.

I also display aggressive behavior at times which is embedded in the passive aggressive behavior. I sometimes have the feeling that I am right in my approach and this prevents me from understanding the viewpoints of others. I often disrupt people when they are talking and I start to assume things on my own. I am over critical at times which often prevent me from communicating my feelings with others. In extreme cases, I often say sarcastic things, which acts as a barrier in the communication process. This is because other people may feel offended in the conversation and stop communicating with me. There are instances when people feel that I am disrespecting others as I display passive aggressive behavior. I display submissive behavior in my approach to others. There are instances when I put myself down and this is done by praising others. I often indirectly ensure that the wants, needs and preferences are conveyed to others and often underline the fact that these are more important than others.

Literature Review

I display moderate level of patience when dealing with others or dealing with particular situations. Patience is important in every sphere of life, be it personal or professional (Rosenberg and Chopra 2015). The active listening skills test displays that I possess average level of patience which is not good especially in professional environment. This is also not desirable when communicating with others. When I am communicating with others, there are instances when the conversation is not so interesting or the speaker is unable to draw my attention. During these times, I become impatient and lose my attention. In such cases, I am unable to sit quietly and wait for the conversation to become more exciting. If the other person is unable to arouse my interest or make some grammatical errors in their speech, then I am unable to focus on the discussion. I have certain degree of impatient behavior which also affects the personal as well as professional relationships. In personal life, I often act as impatient which makes me unable to communicate with others. Since I lose interest on the topic or the discussion, I prefer not to communicate with the concerned person. The lack of patient behavior causes a loss in the attention level, which acts as an obstacle in the communication process. There are instances when this can disrupt the communication flow. This often causes lack of harmony in the interpersonal relationships. This often happens when the people in the environment are not sure to fulfill our expectations.

There have been two professional instances when I have actually felt that I possess the above communication challenges. I attended national level conference during my professional tenure when I felt that I am becoming impatient when the speaker is unable to create interest me. The topic was good; however, the speaker didn’t have the ability to influence others and have a strong speech. This made me inattentive during the speech and I lose my interest in the topic. My mind started to wander around unnecessary subject and the reason behind this activity was my impatient behavior. In another instant, I participated in group discussion when I displayed my aggressive behavior. I was not able to prove my point and though I gave my view, it was not clear and the others were more dominant. I was unable to defend myself in the conversation and this prevented me from displaying my opinions clearly to others.

These two incidents make it more prominent that I have certain issues when communicating with others and need to develop the communication issues inherent in me. During the first instance, my communication issues caused inattentive behavior in me. I have moderate level of patience, which prevented me from getting the correct meaning of the speaker’s lecture. I also did not allow the speaker to express his ideas clearly. The speaker might make some important points when I became inattentive. This disrupted my capability to gather knowledge and hence this issue needs to be solved. In the second instance, I was unable to fare well in the group discussion due to my inadequate behavior. I was unable to present myself well which directly impacted my performance in the discussion.

The patience is one of the key attributes that need to be displayed by the individuals (Dumas and Sanchez-Burks 2015). It can be defined as the state of endurance in which the individuals are able to maintain their calm even during stressful situations. The patience factor deals with persevering when faced with any form of provocation. The patience of an individual helps an individual to act rationally even when there are times of distress (Seligman and Csikszentmihalyi 2014). The level of endurance which can be observed before negativity is termed as patience. The scientific perspectives of the cognitive neuroscience focus on the decision-making problem involving the choice of small reward or benefits for longer term (Santos and Rosati 2015). The individuals are said to favor short term rewards and give less importance to the long-term rewards. There are instances in which the individuals tend to display impatient behavior (Seligman and Csikszentmihalyi 2014). It is important to consider incorporating patience in the workplace. The patience is considered as important elements of success especially in professional environment (Tschannen-Moran 2014). The level of patience acts as a difference between the insufficient employees and proficient employee. This factor is important consideration for the supervisors who have to allocate tasks based on the patience level of his team members.

The psycho physiological study of patience relies on the parameters of patience which includes the effects and the nature of the same (Seligman and Csikszentmihalyi 2014). The psychologists consider patience as a character trait which gives interesting findings regarding the behavior of the human beings and their actions in an organizational scenario. As opined by (Wang 2016), there is difference between the level of patience and the various delay of impulse control, gratification. Patience is also considered to be synonymous with the open mindedness, self-regulation and persistence (Crawford Hofmeyr and Price 2015).

The passive aggressive behavior is concerned with the indirect expression of hostility, which can be displayed by various modes (Weingart et al. 2015). There can be various expression modes such as stubbornness, procrastination and any form of sullen behavior. This may be defined as the pervasive pattern of any kind of negative attitudes as well as passive resistance (Einarsen Aasland and Skogstad 2016). This type of behavior often induces malicious compliance and this affects the productivity of the employee. This kind of behavior often induces the fact that an individual is afraid to perform specific tasks in the fear that an unwanted outcome would be achieved (Weingart et al. 2015). This kind of behavior is said to be damaging the unity of the team and decrease the level of productivity.

It is important to deal with the negative traits concerning the passive aggressive behavior and moderate levels of patience (Leigh 2015). There are several behavioral skills that should be utilized to improve the interpersonal relationships. There are certain competencies I need to acquire some competencies which I need to develop in order to solve the communication issues. A positive behavior is important for emphasizing good behavior in the individuals. The power of positive influence is helpful in coping up with the negative communication issues (Leigh 2015). It is also advisable to to remain calm and try to refrain myself from making sarcastic comments. The behavior should be concentrated on making me clear in front of others. It is important to identify the characteristics of passive aggressive behavior such as overly critical, sarcasm, intentional inefficiency, problem escalation through inaction and others (Einarsen Aasland and Skogstad 2016). There may be other manifestations of such behavior such as deliberate actions for doing actions concerning with taking revenge, injustice, silent treatment and deriving satisfaction from the resulting anguish (Leigh 2015). It should make it sure that I am not over reacting. The act of intruding into the private spaces of others should be stopped. It is important to take note of the feelings of the other person. It is important to adopt a calm attitude and positive behavior towards life.

It is important to increase the patience level of the individuals. One should practice doing deep breaths and meditation is helpful for maintaining focus and concentration (Einarsen Aasland and Skogstad 2016). This would slow down the heart rate and would try to relax the body. The act of impatience may cause involuntary tension of the muscles (George 2014). Hence, it is important to manage the emotions. I personally have a choice to control my emotions. It is also important to practice active listening. This would make an individual attentive while attending lectures (Einarsen Aasland and Skogstad 2016). The act of empathetic listening also helps the individual to keep engaged while making conversations (Floyd 2014). It is important to understand that being impatient increases the uneasiness of the individuals, which increases their stress levels. The level of impatience may happen sometimes as some individuals are perfectionists and they like everything to be perfect.

The identification of the communication issues help in the preparation of action plan which would help in the rectification of the same. It would help in increasing the knowledge, skills and expertise of the individuals. The following action plan should be followed for making an attempt to address the communication issues-

• Maintaining personal journals which would record the instances of my impatient behavior and passive aggressive behavior.
• Enrollment in short courses which would help to improve my interpersonal relationships
• Practicing deep breathing and meditation
• Enroll in professional behavioral courses which would address my communication challenges.
• Extensive study of online journal and recent development in the field of communication
• Practice assertive communication when communicating with others
• Seek professional help from either expert counsellor or HR personnel
• Reinforcement of good behavior
• Practice concentration exercise which decrease the instances of impatient behavior.
• Ignoring the distractions and concentrate on the topic
• Jot down personal undesirable traits
• Record the aggressive or impatient behavior and analyze the disturbing trends

PLAN	1st month	2nd month	3rd month	4th month	5th month	6th month
Maintaining personal journals
Enrollment in short courses
Practicing deep breathing
Enroll in professional behavioral courses
Study of online journal
Practice assertive communication
Seek professional help
Reinforcement of good behavior
Practice concentration exercise
Ignoring the distractions
Jot down personal undesirable traits
Record the aggressive/impatient behavior

Fig: Timelines for implementing action plan

Source: Created by author

The successful completion of the action plan should be measured against various attributes. A thorough self-evaluation must be done which shows the actual progress. The communication tools which was used to analyze the behaviors such as Johari Window, Assertiveness test and others should be repeated. The re-taking of the tests would help me to analyze the actual self-development. The feedback of others should be obtained which would help them to give me crucial insights regarding my communication process. The gradual effect of the meditation should be analyzed. It is important to analyze the “before” behavior and the “after” behavior of the individuals. I should also check the collaboration level with my fellow co-workers. This would help me to understand my behavior with the rest of the people.

It is important to take feedback from my seniors regarding the improvement in the communication style. It is also advisable to take part in specific activities in which I displayed negative communication styles in the past. This would give me an actual idea of my communication improvement especially in terms of patience and passive aggressive behavior.

References

Crawford, V., Hofmeyr, K. and Price, G., 2015. The relationship between personality and the capacity to think strategically. South African Journal of Labour Relations, 39(1), pp.131-154.

Dumas, T.L. and Sanchez-Burks, J., 2015. The professional, the personal, and the ideal worker: Pressures and objectives shaping the boundary between life domains. The Academy of Management Annals, 9(1), pp.803-843.

Einarsen, S., Aasland, M.S. and Skogstad, A., 2016. the nature and outcomes of destructive leadership behavior in Organizations. Risky Business: Psychological, Physical and Financial Costs of High Risk Behavior in Organizations, p.323.

Floyd, K., 2014. Empathic listening as an expression of interpersonal affection. International Journal of Listening, 28(1), pp.1-12.

George, M., 2014. You Can Relax and Overcome Stress: Change Your Thinking, Change Your Life. Watkins Media Limited.

Leigh, H., 2015. The Patient’s Personality, Personality Types, Traits, and Disorders in the CL Setting. In Handbook of Consultation-Liaison Psychiatry (pp. 345-366). Springer International Publishing.

Rosenberg, M. and Chopra, D., 2015. Nonviolent Communication: A Language of Life: Life-Changing Tools for Healthy Relationships. PuddleDancer Press.

Santos, L.R. and Rosati, A.G., 2015. The evolutionary roots of human decision making. Annual review of psychology, 66, pp.321-347.

Seligman, M.E. and Csikszentmihalyi, M., 2014. Positive psychology: An introduction (pp. 279-298). Springer Netherlands.

Tschannen-Moran, M., 2014. Trust matters: Leadership for successful schools. John Wiley & Sons.

Wang, A., 2016. Patience Moderates the Class Cleavage in Demand for Redistribution.

Weingart, L.R., Behfar, K.J., Bendersky, C., Todorova, G. and Jehn, K.A., 2015. The directness and oppositional intensity of conflict expression. Academy of Management Review, 40(2), pp.235-262.