Nonverbal And Verbal Components Predict Student Communication Abilities

Analyzing Communication Abilities with Diagnostic Tools

Discuss about the Nonverbal and Verbal Components Predict Student.

Effective business communication has become a need of the hourfrom business perspectives among businessorganizations. The coordination between employees and employers along with a mutual relationship is extremely essential (Gibson, 2012). On the subject of particular business performances, employees need to plan a strategyto perform with great concentration. In order tostructure or design such strategies, employees are required to coordinate and cooperate with eachother in an adequate manner (Nayab, 2017). However, they cannot become able to structure or designeffective business planwithout effective business communication. In my workplace, I was required tocoordinate with othersby establishing communication with them.The essay is a self-reflection paper of communication skills relying upon the information obtained through five diagnostic tools that will be discussed here along with the two communication issues that will be revealed as a result of the diagnostic tools.

In order to improve my personal communication skills, I will need to resolve communication issues such as less willingness to listen to others andintolerance for disagreement.With the help of literature review, theoretical concepts related to communication issues will be identified. The self-reflection will provide me with the information that what can be done to deal with such communication related issues. Through action plan, I will be able to determine the duration it will take to improve my communication skills.

With the help of five diagnostic tools, I analyzed my communication abilities in varying situations. In this sequence, the first tool I utilized was the Self-Perceived Communication Competence (SPCC) Questionnaire which exhibits analysis of own communication competence while confronting excessive communication situations with a range of receivers. Personal Report of Communication Apprehension (PRCA)was the second tool which measures the feelings of individuals towards communication by examining the individual to considervarying communication situations and evaluating their behavior in such situations (Lockley, 2013). I utilizedPersonal Report of Public Speaking Anxiety (PRPSA) as the third tool which provides an evaluation of level of anxiety in an individual to public speaking. I was able to examine my orientation towards listening with the help of fourth tool which was the Willingness to Listen Diagnostic. Finally, Tolerance for Disagreement provided me with the information regarding how I could effectively tolerate disagreement and conflicting ideas which others consider to be correct (Kearney, 1979).

The assessment of my communication abilities with the help of these questionnaires provided me with accurate results through which, I realized my style and preferences for communication. Through SPCC, the results of the questionnaire revealed that I am more comfortable in communicating with the people I know and do not hesitate in talking with my relatives and friends while feel uncomfortable in front of unknowns and at public at large such as in meetings and gatherings ( UK Violence Intervention and Prevention Center, 2018). PRCA results revealed the similar aspect that I am a little bit apprehensive or hesitant when it comes to speaking in front of so many people or in meetings and public gatherings (Shahbaz, Khan, Khan, & Mustafa, 2016). The scores I achieved revealed that I exist in the category of people having moderate level of communication apprehension. The results and score of PRPSA demonstrated that I feel anxious while presenting myself in front of people which arein line with the other two diagnostic tools. The diagnosis of Willingness to Listen revealed that I usually am less willing to listen to others while in front of so many people I prefer to listen what I like and ignore everything else. The scores I obtained for tolerance for disagreement were also less which revealed that I am intolerant for disagreement (Spacey, 2017). All these results revealed my overall personality along with my communication style and preferences (Blood, Blood, Tellis, & Gabel, 2001).

Improvement of Personal Communication Skills

The scores obtained for willingness to listen and tolerance for disagreement are less in comparison to others (Teven, Richmond, & McCroskey, 1998). It is where I find myself lagging behind others and I need to improve these communication aspects and I feel that this improvement in my communication abilities will be beneficial for me in enhancing my performance at my workplace (Russ, 2013). The development of the ability to show willingness to listen to others would reduce my score on this aspect and my communication will become more effective as I would listen, analyze, and respond in certain specific situations in business environment. In context to tolerance for disagreement, I avoid disagreements and conflicts during interpersonal communication and make efforts to resolve issues arising in the workplace in a diplomatic manner (Richmond & McCroskey, 2001). However, I suppose that it is not at all appropriate to avoid disagreements and conflicts arising specifically in the process of decision making. It is extremely difficult to tackle such issues and finding an appropriate way to communicate in such an environment.

To reflect upon the willingness to listen, I would like to tell about an incident that occurred a year ago while I was working in an NGO as a senior consultant.Once we were all discussing on a serious issue related to the increasing number of crimes in a specific area. The opinion of all the members in the meeting was taken into consideration by the chairperson.  All the people put their points so am I but when it came to repeat the suggestions pointed out by all of the team members, I was not sure to put all the points together as I provided heed to the points only which were in my favor or matching with my opinion and all others who clashed with my personal opinion, I discarded them all from my mind. It was an awkward moment for all those whose opinions were not taken into consideration as well as a feeling of biasness on my part. However, I was not intentionally doing it but I heard only what I liked. Such a behavior develops conflict within the group members as well as I hurt the emotions of my colleagues every now and then because of less willingness to listen. It was an incident that left an imprint on my mindand I decided to improve my communication ability in this perspective (SkillsYouNeed.com, 2018).

Examples of Professional Interactions

Another example is of tolerance for disagreement is of another firm in which, I was working as the HR Manager. Being HR Manager, it was my responsibility to manage the human resources of the organization. I was given a task that did not belong to me by my senior manager. Moreover, it was not possible for me to do it as I had no knowledge about it. However, in order to avoid the arousal of arguments or conflict situation, I accomplished the task with a great difficulty taking the help of others but did not revert back to the manager that I was unable to do that task as it was not my cup of tea. It clearly shows how desperately I wished to avoid the argumentative situation that I avoided communicating with my manager on that regard. I tried to avoid probability of interpersonal conflict with my submissive behavior and did what my senior manager wished without any ifs and buts. Now, when I reflect upon the previous incident, I could have informed it to my manager that it was not under my job responsibilities and I did not have any knowledge about how to do it to prevent myself from such a difficult situation. As I thought earlier, it was not at all a matter of conflict and my manager would have understood the situation and could have relieved me from the responsibility (Knutson, 2001).

The feelings of anxiety in communicating in public gathering or at individual level are considered as Communication Apprehension (CA). According to McCroskey (1977), because of such negativity in communicating effectively, individuals scoring high on CA, resist themselves voluntarily from attending such gatherings, in which, they might have to engage themselves in verbal communication or should have speak in front of others (McCroskey, 1977). There are four types of CA in relation to anxiety i.e. trait, context, audience, and situation. Trait related anxiety refers to the type of anxiety among individuals because of which they avoid speaking in public assuming that they might be lacking in knowledge and experience to speak in front of so many people. However, they may develop this ability through practice and can become able to present themselves in public. Audience related anxiety refers to anxiousness among individuals in facing the audiences while performing in public and communicating in such situations. On the other hand, context related anxiety occurs among individuals due to uncertainty of the situation while situation related anxiety occurs due to the combination of various factors which include either or all of cultural, psychological as well as social factors (Rosenfeld, Grant III, & McCroskey, 1995). However, the communication ability is distinctly different from CA but both have strong negative association. With the decrease in the score of CA, individual’s ability to communicate effectively in public increases and they become able to overcome the emotions of anxiety and perform confidently in unfavorable situation as well.

Importance of Improving Communication Abilities

Public speaking is considered as a verbal communication which constitutes ofphysiological, psychological, linguistic as well as cultural factors. In this context, the public speaking competence is known to be as thefundamental of success in the professional fieldas well as the strategic skills that assists in gaining credibility, competitive edge and positive reputation in the organizational environment. The research conducted by Marinho, Medeiros, Gama, and Teixeira (2018) that several students possess fear of public speaking and majority of the students pursue certain specific types of training programs in order to improve the public speaking. The research also revealed that females in particular, do not prefer to participate in the public speaking and majority of female students have the anxiety or fear of public speaking which becomes a barrier in the process of communication (Marinho, Medeiros, Gama, & Teixeira, 2016).   

Taking into consideration, the self-perceived communication, the opinion of Croucher, Rahmani, Sakkinen, and Hample (2016) is that individuals make choices on the basis of their perceived communication competence; however, it is prejudiced by their fear or willingness regarding communication. The competency in communication varies with varying cultures as well as depends upon belief of individuals on their ability to communicate in an adequate manner. McCroskey & McCroskey (1988) provided SPCC instrument, which is a 12-item scale to measure SPCC. It has also been found that there is a strong positive correlation between SPCC and Willingness to Communicate, while strong negative correlation between SPCC and Communication Apprehension (McCroskey & McCroskey, 1988).

The development of competency in public speaking is a prerequisite in business environment. In order to be successful in professional life as well as to establish creditability and to communicate fluently in public, the competence in public speaking is essential. In organizational establishment, the level of CA determines the interpersonal workplace relationships and effectiveness of individual as a performer. It has been found that individuals with prominent level of CA are less probably includes others in the process of decision making. In addition, they do not prefer to conduct collective communication with their subordinates (Shodganga , 2010). Thus, communication apprehension influences the actions of the individuals to a greater extent and it is extremely essential to lower down the score for CA in order to reduce its negative impact upon the professional competence of the individuals at workplace.

Taking into consideration, the tolerance for disagreement, it depends upon situation to situation that the individual disagrees with a particular situation or the person such as disagreement with a colleague whether he/she is correct or not (Teven, McCroskey, & Richmond, 2009). Furthermore, individual might disagree with the mode of communicating things such as might agree or disagree with online or face-to-face communicating modes. There are various other factors that determine the development of disagreement among people such as their backgrounds, position in the organization, or style of communication (Angour, 2012). There are four interpersonal communication factors that affect the emergence of probability of disagreement or conflict at workplace which can occur through verbal and non-verbal communication, emotions in listening and communication.  In general, there are five communication styles and they are assertive, aggressive, passive-aggressive, submissive, and manipulative (Newton, 2018).

De Vries, Bakker-Pieper, and Oostenveld (2010) identified various factors that influence verbal communication styles and they are expressiveness, preciseness, supportiveness, verbal aggressiveness, assuredness and argumentativeness. Particularly in business context, these factors direct the ways employees observe their managers (DeVries, Bakker-Pieper, & Oostenveld, 2010). In an organizational context, knowledge sharing and level of commitment among the employees are greatly affected by the communication style of the managers. Almost all the organizations prefer effective communication as an essential skill among their managers and it is directly associated with the efficiency of the team as well as enhances the opportunities of promotion for the managers. It has also been found that while communicating in various types of situations, the needs and priorities of the audiences should be taken into consideration and communication style should be adjusted in accordance to it (Hartman & McCambridge, 2011). The positive non-verbal communication such as nonverbal immediacy, which refers to the expressions smiling or nodding while listening or talking,  might avoid disagreement because of its impact of carryingpositive signals as well as attitudes. The emotions are considered to be as the other component of interpersonal communication which influences the occurrence of disagreement in the situations of negotiation (Wilson & Locker, 2008). The individuals expressing disappointment or anxiety during interpersonal communication might persuade the opponents to agree to their opinion (Milolo, Šimovic, Milkovic, Bezic, & Vlashaj, 2014). The ability of an individual to listen to others is also a component of interpersonal communication and it depends upon varying ability of individuals to listen as well as to which extent, individuals allow external stimulus to influence listening within their subconscious mind (Martinson, 2005).

With the help of diagnostic tools and reflection along with exploring relevant literature in-depth, I have identified that the communication issues which, I am facing are in the category of willingness to listen and tolerance for disagreement. I have scored less in both of them as well and both of these require serious improvement in order to improve my communication effectiveness as well as for my personal development and in enhancing my workplace performance through enhanced communicating skills (Liu, 2016). In order to be successful in achieving these communication traits, I have developed an action plan for myself for the purpose of overcoming these hurdles in my way within next six months. First of all, I will have to prepare a framework in order to keep me on track regarding what I have accomplished as well as where further progress is required. After the completion of period of six months, through structured framework, I will be able to identify the areas, where I have improved and where I need to work on to improvise. It will help me in planning for the future as well.

Secondly, I will take assistance from the mentor who will guide me on each and every step towards improvisation. An expert mentor will direct and manage the overall process and I will become able to overcome the communication issues related to less willingness to listen to others and to be patient enough to listen and understand others. The mentor will make the overall process highly effective and progressive towards improvising my communication skills. I will take the assistance and coaching ofa highly expert coach Mr. Alex who is a certified coach and has an experience of several years as a professional coach and has provided assistance to number of people regarding various communication issues. I will have to do only one thing that is, to join the 4 week training program being provided by the coach in which, he will train me how to control my emotions and how to give heed to others and presenting myself with confidence in collaboration with others. He will train me to work on team building and considering everyone equal and significant particularly in the process of decision making.

According to Cocks, Moulton, Luu, and Cil (2014),    mental practices and strategies have been used successfully to improve performance of individuals based upon which, I will integrate mental practices as well as strategies within my action plan in order to improve my ability to listen to others and provide them equal heed during discussions or meetings. It will develop healthy relationships with the team members and will enhance the overall performance of the organization and personal development as well. It will reduce stress level as interpersonal conflicts between me and team members will be resolved when I will provide them equal consideration and include their opinions in the process of decision making.

 In addition, it has been found that audio visual aids are considered to be as the best suitable teaching options available to all those who are willing to enhance their vocabulary as well as communication skills. Relying on this view I will include certain specific books to my reading room which will include “Communication Apprehension, Avoidance, and Effectiveness” by Richmond, Wrench and McCroskey (2017) and “Managing Interpersonal Conflict (Interpersonal Communication Texts)” by Donohue (2017). I will learn how to behave properly with others and particularly with subordinates so that they could not consider me bias and have faith on me.

Furthermore, attending training sessions for development of interpersonal communication skills will also be beneficial. I will search for the best suitable training programs I order to improve my communication and professional skills so as to perform effectively and accurately at the workplace. Through such a course for effective communication abilities, first of all, I will become able to change my communication style in accordance with the situation to communicate as varying situation demands varying types of communication styles and modifying accordingly in the ways of communication is considered as communicating abilities and skills. Such abilities and skills are highly desired in the managers in the organization as they have to deal with variety of complicated situations on daily basis and have to resolve the issues with such effective communication abilities and skills. They have to change their communication every now and then just to be fair and equal for all, which is why, at one time where they seems to be submissive, they might be aggressive at the other time in order to take charge of the situation.  Such flexibility in communication abilities is either inherited or gained through training programs related to communication efficiency.  In order to resolve the issue of tolerance for disagreement, I will develop confidence in myself to tackle every situation without hesitating to take required action. To achieve this, I will have to attend the training sessions for raising my confidence level so that instead of being submissive all the time, I utilize different types of communication styles in accordance with the communication situation. I should learn how to keep my point in front of everyone else as well as how to listen to everyone else before concluding my point during meetings, discussions or any other types of public gathering.

Conclusion

After the completion of six months, I will review the action plan that has been developed by me and evaluate my progress on that basis. I will assess the progress attained by me by presenting myself in meetings and discussions and observe myself as how I deal with others and how I tackle the situations. The feedback received after meetings and discussions will provide me with the position I stand on i.e. whether I gained something or I have to continue making further improvements in my communication effectiveness. However, it is my belief that learning continues throughout life and to communicate with people from varying cultures, backgrounds, positions, and educational level provides us with new opportunities to learn how to communicate with them all in an effective manner. Therefore, interpersonal communication skills are required to be practiced whenever the opportunity is given in the personal as well as professional environment because communication is the best gift which humans have been provided with and how much complicated the situation is, it can be solved by effective communication abilities and skills.

With the help of five diagnostic tools, I was informed about my communication issues. I found that I lag behind in the area of willingness to listen and tolerance for disagreement. With exploring relevant literatures regarding the theoretical and comprehensive point of view of number of proficient researchers and authors, I realized that almost all types of communication inefficiencies can be overcome by proper training and development programs. To overcome these communication issues, I prepared an action plan following which, I will be able to enhance my communication abilities and skills and will be able to enhance overall performance at my workplace.

References

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