Verbal Communication Effectiveness – Perfect but Room for Improvement
The first psychometric test refers to the ability of effectiveness of the verbal communication. The result of this test refers that my communication skills are perfect and I have to improve my skills for more attaining effectiveness. I believe that it is important to listen to other’s idea and perception while working together as it enhances the effectiveness of the interpersonal relationship. I prefer to introduce my perception while communicating with others so that they can know about my views on a particular question. This psychometric test highlighted some of the challenges that I face. These challenged are to understand other person’s frame of reference and the purpose with which they are suggesting some aspects. In such cases, I have to give time top the person and listen to their point of view and it takes lot of time to accomplish the process. Another adversity that I face is that during challenging time, I start panicking and I take some time to calm. In those times, I cannot clearly express my disagreement if occurred any. However, I give critical feedback when necessary and accept critical feedback from others.
The second test highlighted my competency in communicating with strangers, acquaintances and friends. This test is known as Self-Perceived Communication Competence Scale (SPCC). I found that I am more comfortable in communicating my friends compared to group of strangers and acquaintances. My score for SPCC is 83.33 which according to the format refers that I am quite comfortable in talking in public. The SPCC score for friends is 90 in my case. So, I have to improve my communication skills when I am talking and sharing my concern to other people other than my friends. I also have to enhance my knowledge sharing skills while taking with strangers. Another aspect that I have highlighted about me is that I am more comfortable in talking in smaller group of people. However, the comfort level diminishes when I have to talk in large group even if with friends. This can be reflected through my SPCC score which is 66.66 and I have to work on my group meeting skills. I can communicate more easily with strangers when there are few numbers of strangers and this can be found from the SPCC score for stranger which is 86.66. The lowest score for SPCC is in ‘Dyad’. However, the score is 72.50 that reveal I have some issue in communicating with acquaintance but can be improved in future.
Self-Perceived Communication Competence Scale (SPCC) – Comfortable with Friends
The third psychometric test highlighted the ease of communication with audience while giving presentations. High score for this test reveals that a person is excellent in giving presentations and audience found the presentation time a fun and the content of the presentation is effective. However, mid-score highlighted a room for improvement and the impression on audience is neutral. There is a chance for them to forget about the content due to lack of effectiveness. I have scored 49 in this psychometric test which is mid-score. I have found that I think that my audience knows little about the topic and this is the reason I want to make the presentation staring from basic. This usually takes lot of time and less time for the main topic for the presentation. However, I always desire to make my presentation in pictorial form so that every audience can get the motive behind the presentation. However, I have to work hard on the approach of talking which is subtle and indirect. I also take longer than planned time to finish my presentation I have found that I have to make people convince what consequence that can face if they will not opt for the solution presented in the session. In this way, I can make my presentation more effective and people will remember the main key-idea for longer time.
The fourth psychometric test is Non-verbal Immediacy Scale-Self Report (NIS-S), which highlighted the behavior used to show positive feelings towards other people. This test also comprises of diverse items and hence is important for assessing one’s effectiveness of communication. My NPS-S score is 86 and this score highlighted that I am normally comfortable in expressing my feeling to others but it can be improved. I found some positive traits that are I avoid monotone or dull voice, I never look away from the people while talking and I do not lean towards people while communicating. However, some of the negative traits that can be overcome is frowning to others while talking, I became stiff when I talk to people, I maintain a distance with people when I talk with them. The traits of not touching people’s hands or arms, a smile on my face while communicating, looking directly to people’s eye while talking with them shows my professionalism and formal gesture in expressing my concern to others.
The last psychometric test shows the people skills that highlighted whether a person has leadership skills or have the traits to become a good team member. The low score in this case highlight that a person has more technical skills rather than people skills and this become a limitation in their career growth. However, high score in this test refers to the fact that the person is competent to solve conflicts and set example on others. My score in this test is 55 that show a mediocre result that represents that I love working with people. I also ensure that every people should meet their need. However, under pressure, my old habits can be an issue and restrict me from outperforming. I feel challenging when I have to compose my statement before the audience completed their speaking. Though, I do what is necessary to get ahead and do good rather than harm while resolving a matter of conflict. I prefer to work in a tem and resolve conflicts with others using a variety of problem solving tools and techniques. I found that I often go with other’s decisions and pay attention to people’s body language and this revels that I have to improve my leadership skills in order to get highlighted as an individual in front of others.
Challenges in Group Communication and Presentations
Thus, the two communication issue that I have found is that I feel nervous and uncomfortable while taking in a large group of people. I cannot express my ideas and concern especially when the group of people are strangers. I often more conscious about whether or not they will get my point of view rather than taking effort on enhancing my communication ability. I have to work on the communication skills at least with my acquaintance as I know them and it is easy to share my concern with them. I also have to improve my group discussion skills which will allow me to enhance my presentation skills in the future.
The second key communication issue is the inability of suggesting ideas when under pressure. I prefer to talk to other people and then take the most agreed upon solution to overcome the raised issue. I considered this as an issue as it restricts my ability to guide others during the challenging times. This trait thus also restricts me to become the leaders for the audience and direct them under pressure. However, talking with other members for taking solution is effective in some of the cases.
I am working in as a team lead and I have a good reaction in accomplishing the work load that is allocated to my team. I always suggest reliable solution to my members. However, I have to attend a group meeting with onsite members. We are working on their project quite a long time now and I know all the previous and current situation of the project details. However, I got nervous since I have not met them before. I was unable to express the details that they were asking and I started my presentation based on the facts that were known to them and small details on the work that my team has done.
The next situation illustrates my inability to suggest ideas and solutions under pressure. There was a situation raised in our organization when we have to face a technological issue regarding the outdate windows platform. All the new data files need new platform to run. During this time we cannot work properly. I had the pressure to allocate work to my team-members in order to complete the project work. I also had to answer all the mails send from the higher authorities. I become so nervous that I could not suggest the solution to change the windows platform or ask the managers to allocate budget for incorporating new machines. This could be done through an e-mail but during the time I felt pressurized and was unable to follow the most effective way to overcome the adversity. I could also highlight the exact issue and list down the new software and hardware that is not compatible with our existing platform. In this way, the managers can see my effort that I have given time in finding the exact issue and the reason behind why my team members could not work during the situation.
Non-verbal Immediacy Scale-Self Report (NIS-S) – Positive and Negative Traits
DeVito (2012) stated that in an organization there are people belong from diverse culture, tradition and background. They have different perception and have different technique to accomplish a work. Thus, Keyton et al. (2013) stated that thus effective communication plays an important role in overcoming the barrier of the cultural and traditional differences. Zhang and Venkatesh (2013) moreover highlighted that the greater is the communication in an office premise, the greater is the employee trust through sense of transparency. Communication also ensures the effective relationships between staff members as it prevents any employee to feel isolated and they can freely suggest new ideas for advancement. Communication also plays a crucial role when there are many departments within an organization and all departments are working on different aspects of a single project. Karanges et al. (2015) thus depict that in such case, effective communication diminishes the probability of redundant data from the project. This saves time and allocation of resources. This communication can be done through both verbal communication and non-verbal communication.
Bull and Brown (2012) stated that the term verbal communication refers the sharing of thoughts and perception through the medium of words. The sharing of items can be feelings, thoughts and memories. Mayfield et al. (2015) also highlighted that the importance of verbal communication helps an organization to keep the employees informed through recent activities directly. The effectiveness of verbal communication can be seen when they are asking for help and support. The verbal communication allows the person to get the feeling and sense of urgency (Awad & Alhashemi, 2012). Conrad and Newberry (2012) also affirms that verbal communication allow a person to express each other more creatively and the people can see their expression and easily get the emotion behind the said words. There are several types of verbal communications- speaking on the telephone, speaking face-to-face, giving a lecture or presentation, video-chat, leaving voice-mails and making announcement.
Phutela (2015) depict that non-verbal communication refer to sharing of thoughts through wordless clues. Finlay-de Monchy (2015) argued that in organization people prefer to use non-verbal communication for formal contact. This represents professionalism and allows people to work according to the directions. There are different types of non-verbal communication like facial expressions, where people express their emotions through their smile or frown. Eunson (2012) on the other hand argued that a person have to minutely understand the motive behind the expression otherwise other people can misunderstand the person. Non-verbal communication can also be done through gestures and Paralinguistics. Mishra et al. (2014) stated that gestures are the deliberate movements like waving, pointing and using fingers. On the other Paralinguistics refers to the factors like tone of voice, pitch and loudness of the tome while delivering the speech.
Importance of People Skills in the Workplace
The New Comb’s model of communication was first introduced by Theodore M Newcomb and this model is also known as “ABX” model of communication. It is stated that the main objective of this theory is t present the importance of communication in enhancing the social relationship. McQuail and Windahl (2015) moreover stated that this model also highlight the approach through which the social equilibrium within the social system can be maintained. The model of New Comb’s model of communication works in a triangular format that comprises of three important variables that are- A, B and X system. These three variables represent the following:-
- A refers to sender
- B refers to Receiver
- X refers to Matter of concern
Schmidt et al. (2012) depicted that according to this model, all the communications act as a means of sustaining relationship between people. The Receiver and the sender can directly communicate with each other. It is a two-way communication and thus double arrow is used in this case. However, the ideas perceived by Receiver and Sender are completely limited to themselves. Geweke (2012) on the other hand argued that the third variable that is X (topic) is based on the agreement between the first two variables. The variable A and B if satisfied with the topic then the communication between them maintains the equilibrium status. Bull and Brown (2012) depicted that if the communication among the sender and the receiver is not maintains an equilibrium, the flow of communication becomes troubled. Thus, in such cases, the sender can convince the receiver to agree on the topic. Otherwise, some amendments in the topic should have to be incorporated in order to establish equilibrium among the sender and the receiver in society.
This model is developed by Claude Elwood Shannon and Warren Weaver. In this model of communication there are some variables- sender, encoder, channel, decoder, receiver and noise. Al-Fedaghi (2012) stated that the sender acts as an information sources, the encoder act as an transmitter, the decoder as an receiver and lastly the variable reviver acts as the destination.
In Shannon and Weaver Model of Communication, the sender is the person, who has formulated the message and picks a suitable channel to transmit the message. Golob et al. (2013) highlighted that the encoder is the sender, who is liable to handle the machine and convert the message into binary form so that it can be easily transmitted through machines. The channel represents the medium used for sending the message. Moreover, Nwagbara and Reid (2013) depicted that the decoder is the machine that concerts the binary formed data into actual message that is actually send by the receiver. The receiver is the person, who got the message through machine and from the sender. Lastly, the noise refers to the physical disturbance that rose while transmitting the message (Geweke, 2012). This noise can be obtained through the environment and people.
According to this model, a sender sends the messages by encoding it can send the same through some technological medium. The technological channel can be a telephone or a telegraph. Baecker (2013) stated that it is the liability of the receiver to decode the message in an understandable form so that they can get the message sent to them. Dima et al. (2014) argued that in this case, if the receiver found any noise in the transmission medium that difficulty might raised in decoding the message and proper communication cannot be established. However, in this case problem in communication may arise due to some different reasons like technical problem that is what the problem in channel is and what are the possible causes for the problem. Cooren (2015) also highlighted about semantic problem that is does the receiver misinterpret the sent message from the sender and lastly, effectiveness problem that represents what impact does the message carry after sent to the receivers.
Stryker et al. (2012) depicted that very person behaves and act differently while they working as a team members or in a group. They then do not only have to manage their perception but also to align all the people’s perception regarding a certain topic. However, Sigmar et al. (2012) argued that this behavior can be both positive and negative. If a team has a positive dynamic it can be seen through the trust among the employees and the effective decision of the people that is develop through collaborative decisions. Anderson et al. (2015) furthermore stated that in a negative environment, people do not concentrate on their task and their behavior disrupts work.
Communication Issues: Inability to Suggest Ideas and Discomfort in Large Groups
Troth et al. (2012) stated that a lead of the team should have to communicate with their member in a friendly manner. This leader needs to follow a contingent leadership style. Bonaccio et al. (2016) depicted that based on the situation the leaders have to suggest ways to their subordinates. Taken for instance, during normal times, the leader should encourage every individual to utilize their knowledge base to accomplish their work and then find the most effective working approach and them implement it in the organization. On the other hand, in case of crisis, the leader has to direct their team-members and guide them with the actual suitable solution so that maximum effectiveness can be obtained.
Olson and Olson (2012) stated that these factors can drive the result to either positive or negative. Positive group dynamic can be attained if all the team members possess a single perception and then share their views on enhancing the performance of the entire team. However, adversity may arise due to blocking nature of some people. Some of the natures are aggression and this makes them disagree on every decision taken by others. Thill and Bovée (2013) also stated that ‘negator’ are the group, who are critical to other’s idea. Some people acts like ‘withdrawer’ and have the tendency to not to participate in any kind of group discussion and lastly the ‘recognition seeker’, that means the group members always try to dominate the situation and give less chance to others.
Dima et al. (2014) highlighted that it is also important for the team members to have a positive attitude and a nature to evaluate everything critically. Eunson (2012) on the other hand argued that evaluation apprehension occurs only a group of people feel that they are being judged by other harshly and this is the main reason that they do not share their opinion to other and cannot enhance their team dynamics.
The main two problems that are identified through the report is inability to speak and communicate in a group and take effective decisions under pressure. Thus, the identified problem can be resolved though undertaking specific short courses, attending advanced post graduate communication courses, maintaining personal journals and giving regular psychometric tests after a fixed interval of time.
|
Factors to improve |
Intended Actions |
Benefits of the outcome |
Timeframe |
|
Communication in a group |
Enrolled in short courses like ‘learning to be more approachable”, “dynamic public speaking”, “effective communication- writing and presentation”, “successful negotiations”, “computer communications” and “speechwriting, slides and delivery”. |
This will help to assess the communication skills and the improvement in the communication ability. Regular assessments in these courses also illustrate the improvement of the skills. |
1st and 2nd Month |
|
Attending different types of psychometric test and giving them at a regular interval of time to check the progress of the communication skills. |
This will help a person to assess their own ability and also evaluate the same test after attending the course. |
3-4th Month |
|
|
Taking feedback from the seniors and management to assess the effectiveness of the communications |
This will help a person to get the direction for future improvement so that they can communicate in the group more effectively. |
5th– 6th Month |
|
|
Decision making ability (especially for under pressure) |
Attend all the university decision making ability courses. |
Teachers and mentors will help course attendees to evaluate their competencies in taking decisions. |
1st and 2nd Month |
|
Communicate with different types of people both in office, college and in public. |
This will help a person to know the thinking of other people. Thus, a person can understand the perception of other people and suggest decisions based on their point of view. |
3-4th Month |
|
|
Giving assessment for situational exams for evaluating the effectiveness of the decision taken under any situations |
This will help a person to regular monitor their progress in making decisions, The situational test allow people to face different type of situation and condition and the outcome of the situational exams illustrates the improvement and effectiveness of the decisions taken. |
5th– 6th Month |
Table: Action Plan for improving the communication skills
(Source: Created by Author)
Thus, it can note that, attending courses for improving the group communication skills and decisions making ability. The mentors are well aware of the factors that can help a person to communicate easily with the group members. These mentors also help in conducting different situation both positive and negative. These situations are effective in evaluating the efficiency of the decision taken by a person. The mentors can give constructive feedback to the course attendees based on their results so that people can improve their decisions skills. The success of the course can be measured through the result of the assessment and of required then the course can be extended. Regular assessment of the phychometric tst also allows the person to evaluet the progress and takes additional step to overcome the found adversities. The result can be listed down for every week and the effectiveness of the assessment can be monitored regularly.
Reference List
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