The Importance Of Interpersonal Communication Skills In The Workplace

Definition of Interpersonal Communication Skills

Question:

Discuss about the Interpersonal Communication Skills.

Interpersonal communication skills may be defined as the skills which are used by different individuals when interacting with others. In the fields of business, the term interpersonal communication mainly refers to an individuals’ capability of getting along with others at the workplace at the same time of getting assignments and task done. Interpersonal communication skills are very important for the establishment or bonding as well as a relationship between the individuals and their colleagues. This often led to mutual exchange of ideas as well as different information and skills. Moreover such skills are also important for establishment for mutual respect as well as considerations of another individual’s opinions and input. Workplaces where individuals have proper interpersonal communication can ensure that a proper performance of duties is maintained with right management of tasks and also different completion of assignments. The following essay will mainly show the use of five important diagnostic tools to identify any two communication skills. This will be followed by a literature review on the communication issues. Proper action plans will be provided thereafter which will help me to overcome the two issues successfully.

The first tool that I have utilized for identifying my gaps in exhibiting proper communication skill is the Personal Report of Intercultural Communication Apprehension (PRICA). This tool is mainly helpful to describe the communication skill which is exhibited by me when I want to communicate and interact with people of different cultures.  This tool has 14 important questions which are usually answered with grading from 1 to 5 starting from strongly disagree to strongly agree. The marks which are obtained help an individual t be designated as low, high or moderate intercultural when scores are below 32, above 52 and between 32 and 52 respectively (Neulip & Mccroskey, 1997). From this tool, my score was 52 which stated that am highly intercultural. I have no biasness towards any culture and therefore all colleagues of other cultures are very comfortable with me. They enjoy my companionship as I appreciate their innovative thinking that their cultural preferences provide. I try to learn their language and provide importance to their inhibitions never being judgmental. Hence, this is a positive communication skill that I exhibit.

The next tool that I utilized is the Talkaholic scale which mainly states that how much an individual is compulsive communication. According to this tool, being in a compulsive communication does not mean that the individuals are engaged in taking matters which are not wanted to listen by us or in ineffective communication (McCrockesky & Richmond, 1993). Many researchers are of the opinion that individuals who talk more are positively accepted by their colleagues and supervisors as they seem to be more competent to them (McCrockesky & Richmond, 1995). They have 16 questions which need to be answered by providing a grade form 1 to 5 which range from strongly agree to strongly disagree. After following a particular formula, a score can be obtained which will allocate individuals to being very less talkaholic, borderline talkaholic and talkaholic with scores like 30, 30-39 and above 40 respectively. My score is high about 40 which show that I am truly compulsive talkaholic but I never engage into useless talk. I participate in both formal and informal interactions with colleagues which help me developing strong bonds with them. Moreover, my transparency and open mindedness is expressed by my interactions which are respected and loved by colleagues. As I talk with everyone in the team, I often is made the monitor by the mentor as he believe I am competent to lead a team with strong bonds. As I am talkaholic, I express my feeling in every case which reflects my inner self which makes me more competent and happy at workplace.

Why are Interpersonal Communication Skills Important in the Workplace?

The next tool that I have used for my assignment on reflection is the Self-Perceived Communication Competence Scale (SPCC). This tool mainly helps to help an individual understand his own competence while communicating in different situations with both known as well as unknown faces (McCrockesky & Mccrockesky, 1988). This tool has 12 important questions which the individual needs to answer from 0 to 100% o marks which will later be calculated by following particular formulas. I had not scored well and this reflects that I am not well competent in all situations of communication. I noticed that I am only confident and capable of effective communication when in small groups of friends and acquaintances. When such groups become large in number, I grow nervous and confused. My confidence all seems to lower down. Moreover I am not at all comfortable with taking in large public fronts and also with strangers. I cannot provide them effective feedback due to lack of confidence and high anxiety which makes me behave in such a way.

The next tool that can be helping me to provide more light on the previously identified communication issue is the Personal Report of Public Speaking Anxiety (PRPSA). This tool is extremely helpful is making an individual understand how competent they are in the public speaking domain making him know his anxiety level (MccRoskey, 1970). This tool mainly has 34 important questions which an individual needs to answer with marks from 1 to 5 with 1 being strongly disagree and 5 being strongly agree. With the help of the easy calculating formula, the score of an individual in this domain can be calculated. The score is regarded as high, low, moderate when marks are > 131, < 98 and 98-131 respectively. Form this tool; I understood that I tend to develop high levels of anxiety when I try to communicate with unknown people or new entrants in the office. I tend to stammer when I give presentations inform of new people due to development of anxiety and lowering down of confidence. This in turn affects my feedback giving as well as receiving skills and therefore others may develop negative feelings about me.

The next tool that I have used for reflecting on my interpersonal communication is the Willingness to Listen Diagnostic tool. Listening skill is one of the most important skill in business domains as it has the capacity to reduce miscommunication, increase success rate of a work, development of proper business procedure, develop trust among employees and others. A person who listens properly can avoid repetition or overlapping of similar work thereby increasing the betterment of team performance (Richmond & Hickson, 2001). The speakers feels satisfied and development of result results. There are 24 important questions which the individuals need to answer with grading system from 1 to 5 with 1 being strongly disagree and 5 being strongly agree. With the help of the formula, I obtained the score and noticed that it is below 59 which showed that I have low willingness to listen. Scores above 89 shows high willingness. Lack of listening skills has many harsh impacts on the performance both at an individual level and also at team levels and organizational level which may affect my career. Hence I need to work on this skill.

Diagnostic Tool 1: Personal Report of Intercultural Communication Apprehension (PRICA)

From the entire discussion, I have identified that I have two communication issues. The first issue is that I often tend to become anxious when in need to speak in big groups of friends and acquaintances. I also lose confidence and become nervous when I talk with unknown people or on a large platform of audience I cannot provide them with proper feedback due to complexes where I feel I may be judged or criticized. The next issue that I have identified is my impatient listening skills and also my unwillingness to listen completely to that of the speaker. I tend to cut down the speaker half way die to my impatience. I also become unwilling to listen to him completely before making remarks where speaker feels disrespected and disappointed.

I had a negative experience during my internship months. I was assigned to a group of 5 individuals. While planning, the individuals assign a particular part of chapters to each of the individuals. I was absent the nest day and therefore a team member came to me to make me understand the alterations which were done to the plan when I was absent. However, I was too impatient and cut her short in the middle stating that I had understood. She felt disappointed. However I mistakenly repeated another team members work which I was not supposed to do according to the modified plan. Not only in scored less but was criticized by my team mates.

Another negative incident took place when I was assigned the task to give presentation to a new set of clients to sell the products. As I had to face new set of people whom I did not now, I got anxious and lost all my confidence even although I prepared thoroughly the night before. I continuously stammered and fumbled which made my presentation less attractive and I also tended to become nervous and could not answer their query although I knew all of them. My mentor criticized me for losing the deal and instructed me to work on my communication skill of receiving and giving feedback skill and also to talk with others with both confidence and smartness.

Researchers like Brownell (2015) are of the opinion that listening skills enable individuals to acquire proper information and facts which help them to take right decisions which are benefiting for the organization. Not only success in business and increased productivity, proper listening skills also enable development of trust. This is because, if an individual is trusted with a particular projects and details are mentioned with him and if he fails to deliver them due to impatient listening; it might lead to loss of trust. Moreover improper listening skills can result in loss of reputation of a company (Wood, 2015). If customers asking for a product gets repeatedly wrong product due to improper listening skills of customer care services, it harms the reputation of the company. Moreover it also helps in motivating employees when managers listen to their employees attentively without passing remarks or by cutting them short.. This make the employees feel that the managers are sincerely interested and that they are respected. Proper listening skills also make the employees develop trust in each other by development of strong bonds. Researchers like Kaner (2014) are of the opinion that active listening only can take place when the listener focuses his full attention on the speaker’s statements. He should never interrupt the speaker and should remain non-judgmental. He should show genuine interests in the speakers. Moreover many other researchers are also of the opinions that the listener should also provide attention to what the speaker wants to intend and thereby read non verbal cues. Body language as well as facial expressions should be studied also while listening (Rosenberg & Chopra, 2015). Moreover the listener should also show proper body language which would invite posture and verbal comments occasionally to make the conversation interesting. Researchers like Nancarrow et al. (2013) are of the opinion that proper listening skills can modify disruptive situations into an opportunity which can be utilized for growth. By this he meant that of a dissatisfied co worker or customer is properly hard, it will calm down the situation, decrease the negative feelings in them, maintain calmness and help in problem solving. This will in turn increase interpersonal boning and will help developing commitment and trust (Keytone et al., 2013)

Diagnostic Tool 2: Talkaholic Scale

Confidence and attitude in public speaking plays an important role in public speaking. Each and every individual needs to be confident and create an everlasting impression on the audience or the listeners to make his objectives work. It is extremely important for the individual to develop self belief which is significant for the other to believe in the individual (Fiesler, Meckel & Ranzizni, 2015). Nervousness only indicate that either the individuals or lying or are not aware of the intentions. Many researchers again suggest that there is a very fine line between confident and over confident and employees should be careful to maintain that. Overreacting or using face accents are not important but showing the real self with proper attitudes helpful for the organization is respected. Confidence reflects in the way one carries himself or herself. Problems such a fear or stage nervousness may disappear if individuals can successfully develop confidence in themselves confidence will only develop when an individual can rightly use his positive aspects in dominating the audience rather than exposing the weak points (Thill & Bovee, 2013). Convincing clients are not easier but to some extent it might become easy if the individuals are confident enough to convince others and make them listen with attention. Some of the ways has been recommended by researchers to exhibit confidence for better output. These are developing a stable and clear voice tone which should be free from whispers as well as stammering as it conveys self assurance (Lyons & Kurron, 2014). People should also listen to others attentively to gain ideas about different things and expand their knowledge. Speaking from the heart without any attacks or threats is important. Individuals should prepare themselves with confidence in a way where they can use humor, express gratitude, apologize when wrong and acknowledge others so that a proper communication can be maintained.

The action plan that needs to be developed should have smart objectives. By the term smart objectives it means that the objectives should be specific, measurable, attainable, relevant and timely. The first goal should be development of listening skills and the second goal would be development of confidence while public speaking and reduction of anxiety. For this specific goal, I should engage myself in communication workshops where experts would advice and help me to develop my listening skill and give me strategies to become confident. Moreover, I should also try to participate in the student discussion forum sessions so that I can gather confidence gradually and develop as a speaker. Here I will face new students and as a result, debates will help me to reduce my anxiety and develop confidence. Thirdly, I also need to go through several journal articles which I can obtain form our digital library and use them as evidences for personal development of communication skills. Moreover I also need to practice inform of the mirror to develop my body language skills (Miller & Barbour, 2014). The goals are measurable. The development I make in my listening skills and conversation skills would be reflected form the tasks that are assigned to me. The responses that I will get from the audience or colleague will help me to develop an idea about how I am fairing in the task. The goal should be attainable. I can allot the workshops in accordance to my university time so that they do not clash. Moreover the strategies which are selected are also not costly and therefore can be easily carried out. Therefore they are not difficult to follow but are attainable. Moreover they are also relevant as all the strategies will help us to polish our communication skills effectively a total of six months will be required for the results to occur.

References:

Brownell, J. (2015). Listening: Attitudes, principles, and skills. Routledge.

Fieseler, C., Meckel, M., & Ranzini, G. (2015). Professional personae?How organizational identification shapes online identity in the workplace. Journal of Computer?Mediated Communication, 20(2), 153-170.

Kaner, S. (2014). Facilitator’s guide to participatory decision-making. John Wiley & Sons.

Keyton, J., Caputo, J. M., Ford, E. A., Fu, R., Leibowitz, S. A., Liu, T., … & Wu, C. (2013). Investigating verbal workplace communication behaviors. The Journal of Business Communication (1973), 50(2), 152-169.

Lyons, S., & Kuron, L. (2014). Generational differences in the workplace: A review of the evidence and directions for future research. Journal of Organizational Behavior Management, 35(S1).

McCroskey, J. C. (1970) . Measures of communication-bound anxiety. Speech Monographs, 37, 269-277.

McCroskey, J. C., & McCroskey, L. L. (1988). Self-report as an approach to measuring communication competence. Communication Research Reports, 5, 108-11.

McCroskey, J. C., & Richmond, V. P. (1993). Identifying compulsive communicators: The talkaholic scale. Communication Research Reports, 11, 39-52.

McCroskey, J. C., & Richmond, V. P. (1995). Correlates of compulsive communication: Quantitative and qualitative characteristics. Communication Quarterly, 43, 39-52.

Miller, K., & Barbour, J. (2014). Organizational communication: Approaches and processes. Nelson Education.

Nancarrow, S. A., Booth, A., Ariss, S., Smith, T., Enderby, P., & Roots, A. (2013). Ten principles of good interdisciplinary team work. Human resources for Health, 11(1), 19.

Neuliep, J. W., & McCroskey, J. C. (1997). The development of intercultural and interethnic communication apprehension scales. Communication Research Reports, 14, 385-398.

Richmond, V. P., & Hickson, M. III. (2001). Going public: A practical guide to public talk. Boston, MA: Allyn & Bacon.

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

Thill, J. V., & Bovée, C. L. (2013). Excellence in business communication. Pearson.

Wood, J. T. (2015). Interpersonal communication: Everyday encounters. Nelson Education.