Analyzing Communication Skills Using Diagnostic Tools: Literature Review And Action Plan

Five Diagnostic Tools for Analyzing Communication Skills

Communication is an important aspect in the business world and its success is dependent upon the skills during interaction with other people. This following essay focuses on the self-interpretation of the communication skills analysed through the five diagnostic tools and two communication issues. Therefore, the following essay deals with the literature review that is focused on key communication theories and concepts associated with the communication issues. Apart from communicational issues and skills required for interaction, required action plan is also discussed for the better understanding and importance of communication in business.

For the analysis of my communication skills in various situations, I have used five diagnostic tools. Self-Perceived Communication Competence Questionnaire was the first tool that is a measure of how people understand and analyze their communication competence when encountered with different communication situations interacting with receivers (Akkermans et al., 2013). Personal Report of Public Speaking Anxiety was the second tool that helps to determine the level of anxiety of an individual during public speaking (Batrinca et al., 2013). The third tool was the Personal Report of Communication Apprehension that measures the feelings of an individual towards communication where the person analyses his or her behaviour in diverse communication situations (Russ, 2012). Tolerance for Disagreement was the fourth tool that provide information regarding the tolerance level of an individual during disagreement and conflicting ideas that people believe it to be true (Kassing & Kava, 2013). Lastly, Willingness to Listen Diagnostic was the fifth tool that measures and examines one’s willingness to wards listening (Kaur, 2016).

The scales were in the form of questionnaires containing significant and relevant items that interpreted and helped me recognize my preferences in communication that were quite accurate.

This tool measures one’s communication apprehension comprising of 24 statements that are concerned with feelings when an individual communicate with other people. The scores are computed in four different communication contexts like meetings, group discussions, public speaking and interpersonal conversations and finally an overall communication apprehension score (CA) (Boyle et al., 2014). Scores obtained should be between 24 and 120 and any score in the four contexts above 18 indicates apprehension degree to some level. It can range from six to 30 in the four contexts. Scores obtained between 83 and 120 demonstrates high communication apprehension level, scores between 55 and 83 moderate apprehension level and 24 and 55 indicated low communication apprehension. . The results obtained from the Personal Report of Communication Apprehension were around 75 that are considered moderate communication apprehension level.

Results of Diagnostic Tools Analysis

This tool is used to measure the anxiety level of an individual during public speaking in the communication process. PRPSA is a very reliable tool that comprises of 34 elements that indicates anxiety level significant for an individual during public speaking. The results are obtained after the addition of scores obtained in 34 items (DiSanza & Legge, 2016). The scores should be between 34 and 170 and any score below or above this range limits indicates a mistake in computation of scores. The Personal Report of Public Speaking Anxiety (PRPSA) tool results were impressive where I scored 68 in the scale that is considered low. This illustrates that I have low level of anxiousness while speaking in public meetings or gatherings. I have confidence to speak to new people and address gatherings where I am able to drive attention towards me.

As literature suggests, listening is one of the most important skills where potential employers put emphasis on the listening in effective business communication. However, some people are poor listeners who are not willing to listen to others’ opinions and want to place their own ideas during a conversation. This is the reason poor listeners’ claims their ideas or views frequently considering them right. Therefore, this instrument was developed for measuring the willingness of an individual to listening that comprises of 24 statements that refers to listening skills (Blume, Baldwin & Ryan, 2013). A score above 85 indicates well as per this instrument ranging from 24 to 120. The scores above 89 indicates high willingness power of an individual in listening and scores below 59 indicates low listening skills followed by 59 and 89 scores indicating moderate level listening skills. The results obtained from Willingness to listen tool showed that I have less willingness to listen to others’ views and want to project my views most of the time during a conversation. I am not willing to listen to others’ opinions while talking to people in meetings and social gatherings. I am at conflict with others as I have less control to listen to others’ perspectives in large gatherings or talking in public.

During the meeting where I had to discuss the business proposal with my colleagues, I got infuriated when they were objecting my proposal and suggesting amendments. I was not willing to listen to my co-workers and wanted to project my own idea in front of the gathering. Effective communicative skills is required that would help me to develop my listening skills during gatherings, meetings or one-to-one conversations.

Identification of Communication Issues and Action Plan

This tool measures the competency of an individual in various communication situations and types of recipients. Communication skills of an individual vary according to the situations, as one might be competent in one situation when compared to another. Twelve situations are present in the scale that indicates the communication competency of an individual in these situations (Croucher, 2013). The four situations are group, meeting, public and dyad in context to the receivers. I scored 89 that is considered well according to this tool in the friend and acquaintance situations that indicate that I am comfortable talking to my friends and acquaintance interactions. This was evident from the Self-Perceived Communication Competence results that showed that I am comfortable talking to known acquaintances and new people. Moreover, I also scored moderate in the public gatherings and meetings with a score of 68 and 72 indicating that I am quite comfortable while addressing public meetings. I scored low in the dyadic communication context, as it was evident that I lack interpersonal communication skills in one-to-one conversations.

This tool was developed to measure the degree to which a person can tolerate other individuals’ disagreeing with what the person believes it to be true. This tool is similar to argumentativeness level as people having high level are likely to encounter more disagreement as compared to people have low argumentativeness. High level of argumentativeness indicates conflict in the interpersonal skills while communicating with other people. The questionnaire comprises of elements that involves the feelings and orientations of the people indicating their reactions in each provided item (Mukherjee et al., 2013). The responses clearly reflect the degree of disagreement that is applicable to that person in the given items. The scores above 46 demonstrates high TFD level, scores below 32 indicate low level of TFD and finally scores between 32 and 46 indicate moderate levels of TFD. I also scored less in the tolerance for disagreement tool with a score of 40 (moderate) that indicates I have strong intolerance levels during a conversation and I am at conflict with others’ ideas.

During a crisis at my office, I was asked to investigate about the situations along with my colleague. After the investigation, we both presented our reports concerning the crisis in front of our manager. When we started discussing about our individual reports, I noticed that I was getting impatient and intolerant towards when my manager started analyzing my report critically. This made me realize that I get into argument when people reject my beliefs during a conversation.

Literature Review

After the analysis of the scores, it is quite evident that I face communication issues regarding the low tolerance for disagreement and Willingness to Listen. I have analyzed that I need to develop effective listening skills where I listen to others’ views and try to understand the points that they make. I also have strong disagreement towards others opinions that have a major impact on my communication skills while conversing with others. I lack low level of listening skills that make me a poor listener.

In the last 12 months, I had two professional interactions that helped me to overcome my two major communication issues of intolerance for disagreement and poor listening skills. The first interaction took place when I was interacting with my senior colleague regarding a business project. I had to interact with him regarding the proposal and budget of the project. I analysed that I acted calmly with him and overlooked the minor loopholes in his evaluation and that provided me an opportunity to develop my listening skills.

Another professional interaction was during my presentation that helped me to gain tolerance over my strong argumentative and disagreement nature. I had to give my presentation on a new business product and I realized that I had to be patient and listen to others’ opinions, as my views cannot be always right. Therefore, after the presentation my colleagues gave me positive feedback that I acted calmly and delivered a well presentation. This presentation helped me to gain tolerance over my disagreement and argumentative nature over my beliefs that I consider true.

Literature review

Effective communication is the backbone in every segment of the society that helps to establish relationships between people influencing decisions and bringing about change (O’Rourke, 2012). These skills are of utmost importance in the business world for the better organizational operation and productivity (Eisenberg, Goodall Jr & Trethewey, 2013). There is also motivational change among the employees when they interact better with others through interpersonal communication skills. These skills help employees to develop professional attitude during gathering and meetings accurately and clearly. As communication is a two-way process, poor skills can lead to failure in interaction among the individuals (Wirtz et al., 2016).

According to Angouri, (2012) the tolerance for disagreement is a circumstantial dependent concept where one disagrees depending upon the opponent who disagrees like friends, acquaintances, colleagues and strangers via face-to-face or online conversation. The participants’ background, designation and communication styles greatly influence the formation of disagreement. This is personality trait that is maintained by people across situation and time that measures the tolerance for disagreement. It also measures the conflicting ideas that a person experience in their communication contexts (Grunig, 2013).

Conclusion

The theory encompassing the interpersonal communication regarding conflict and disagreement is unambiguous as many components affects situation when a discussion evolves and ignites disagreement. Four major factors affect the conflict or disagreement at the workplaces like emotions, listening, verbal and non-verbal communication that influence how employees perceive their seniors (Bylund, Peterson & Cameron, 2012). In such cases, effective communication skills are required that help people to overcome their conflicting or disagreement nature and adjust to others’ communication styles. When managers communicate in a way they are connected with the employees, it enhances team efficacy and help people to win over their conflicting nature (Stacks & Salwen, 2014).

In a similar manner, listening skills are also important in effective communication as it measures the ability of an individual to listen to others and it is largely affected by the external stimulus in a subconscious mind (Brownell, 2015). When a person demonstrates active listening skills, they are able to provide better feedback to the speaker on what they heard from the speaker. Good listening skills make a person more productive as they have better understanding of the tasks assigned to them (Worthington & Bodie, 2017). They gain an insight to understand what the management expects from them. This also helps to build a strong rapport with the colleagues and seniors boosting confidence as they have better ability to listen to instructions (McCroskey, 2015). However, not all people intend to listen well while making a conversation. When people listen well, they are able to understand and break down the scope for miscommunication. Listening is often confused with hearing; however, both the components are different. Hearing is regarded as physical ability while listening is considered a skill. Listening is an active process that helps one to be engaged in the conversation process being considered as “active listening” (Conrad & Newberry, 2012).

Therefore, the above discussion depicts that tolerance for disagreement and active listening skills are important and key to effective communication in business and so one need to develop the skills that are discussed in the next section. This will help me to perform better at the organization and contribute to the success and productivity of the business.

Action Plan

After the identification of the communication issues, I have to develop an action plan for the next six months that will help me to overcome these communication issues. Action plan will definitely be helpful and as part of it, I will be following the below mentioned activities for the next six months to overcome the communication issues.

Undertaking Short Courses: The crash courses are helpful that would improve my active listening skills. In the course duration, I will attend classes and constantly seek feedback during and after the completion of the course. Soft skills course is helpful that would help me to make a self-assessment in the form of questionnaires. I will be able to track my progress, as I would be able to track the scores that I would get in the self-assessment questionnaire. Another way to track my progress is through direct observation. I will attend social gatherings, meetings and seminars on my week-off days. Yoga classes and meditation would also be helpful in inculcating peacefulness and positive communication.

Plan For Conceptual Knowledge: Apart from practical knowledge, theoretical framework is also important in overcoming communication issues. It discusses the characteristics, needs and objectives of communication process (Argenti, 2015).

Long-Duration Communication Courses: This plan is also effective as it provides great opportunity to gain communication skills over a long period. These courses offer proper education and training on how to work effectively in an organization and are available at pocket-friendly prices.  Moreover, these courses offer night classes that are advantageous for me as I can work during the day and attend these classes during nighttimes.

Maintenance of Journals: This plan is also advantageous as it gives an opportunity to be engaged in processional meetings via interactions, presentations and aid in overcoming the complex communication issues. These interactions are very beneficial as it enhances one’s skills, behaviour and knowledge in their personal and professional life. When these interactions are maintained in books, diaries and journals, it can be used for future references or carrying out any future research.

Identification of Mentor: Mentors have better understanding, experience and profound knowledge in subject matter who can guide one in every situation. This is the last activity in my action plan, as it would help me to overcome both my communication issues of tolerance for disagreement and poor listening skills. A mentor would help to shape and build my professional career by providing me ample support and guidance through genuine commitment. They have firm determination, experience and profound knowledge on effective communication skills and in overcoming the communication issues of tolerance of disagreement or conflict and poor listening skills.  

I believe that my action plan provides the best way to evaluate my progress during and after the completion of six months. I will be able to deliver better presentations at my workplace and gain control over my tolerance for disagreement and conflicting nature. I will be able to listen to others’ opinions calmly and receive positive feedback from them. I also believe that communication learning is a continuous process and interpersonal communication skills should be practiced whenever opportunity is given.

From the above discussion, it can be concluded that effective communication is an integral part of business world and professional interactions. The staff meetings, project discussions, employee performance, meetings, reviews and informal chats require effective communication skills to be demonstrated at every level. However, people face communication issues like poor listening skills or intolerance for disagreement or conflict that affect the communication process. The paper demonstrated the vitality of diagnostic tools for the self-assessment in communication skills, scope for improvement and required action plan for overcoming the identified barriers. The literature review illustrated the objectives, skills and processes involved in communication along with action plan comprising of activities and courses for the development of communication skills over the six months.

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References

Akkermans, J., Brenninkmeijer, V., Huibers, M., & Blonk, R. W. (2013). Competencies for the contemporary career: Development and preliminary validation of the Career Competencies Questionnaire. Journal of Career Development, 40(3), 245-267.

Angouri, J. (2012). Managing disagreement in problem solving meeting talk. Journal of Pragmatics, 44(12), 1565-1579.

Argenti, P. A. (2015). Corporate communication. McGraw-Hill Higher Education.

Batrinca, L., Stratou, G., Shapiro, A., Morency, L. P., & Scherer, S. (2013, August). Cicero-towards a multimodal virtual audience platform for public speaking training. In International Workshop on Intelligent Virtual Agents (pp. 116-128). Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg.

Blume, B. D., Baldwin, T. T., & Ryan, K. C. (2013). Communication apprehension: A barrier to students’ leadership, adaptability, and multicultural appreciation. Academy of Management Learning & Education, 12(2), 158-172.

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

Bylund, C. L., Peterson, E. B., & Cameron, K. A. (2012). A practitioner’s guide to interpersonal communication theory: An overview and exploration of selected theories. Patient Education and Counseling, 87(3), 261-267.

Conrad, D., & Newberry, R. (2012). Identification and instruction of important business communication skills for graduate business education. Journal of Education for Business, 87(2), 112-120.

Croucher, S. M. (2013). Communication apprehension, self-perceived communication competence, and willingness to communicate: A French analysis. Journal of International and Intercultural Communication, 6(4), 298-316.

Eisenberg, E. M., Goodall Jr, H. L., & Trethewey, A. (2013). Organizational communication: Balancing creativity and constraint. Macmillan Higher Education.

Grunig, J. E. (Ed.). (2013). Excellence in public relations and communication management. Routledge.

Kassing, J. W., & Kava, W. (2013). Assessing disagreement expressed to management: Development of the upward dissent scale. Communication Research Reports, 30(1), 46-56.

Kaur, M. (2016). Communication Skills in Business. Indian Journal of Applied Research, 6(1).

McCroskey, J. C. (2015). Introduction to rhetorical communication. Routledge.

Mukherjee, A., Venkataraman, V., Liu, B., & Meraz, S. (2013, January). Public Dialogue: Analysis of Tolerance in Online Discussions. In ACL (1) (pp. 1680-1690).

O’Rourke, J. S. (2012). Management communication. Pearson Higher Ed.

Russ, T. L. (2012). The relationship between communication apprehension and learning preferences in an organizational setting. The Journal of Business Communication (1973), 49(4), 312-331.

Stacks, D. W., & Salwen, M. B. (Eds.). (2014). An integrated approach to communication theory and research. Routledge.

Wirtz, B. W., Pistoia, A., Ullrich, S., & Göttel, V. (2016). Business models: Origin, development and future research perspectives. Long Range Planning, 49(1), 36-54.

Worthington, D. L., & Bodie, G. D. (2017). The sourcebook of listening research: Methodology and measures. John Wiley & Sons.

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