Diagnostic Tools For Evaluating Communication Skills: A Reflective Essay.

Self-Perceived Communication Competence Scale

Discuss about the Conditional Effect Of Network Diversity And Values.

The purpose of this paper is to provide detailed information about the five diagnostic tools used to evaluate the effectiveness of my communication skills. Moreover, this reflective paper will also discuss the results of these tools and the two issues of my communication skills with the help of practical examples. These issues are nervousness while communicating with strangers and Tolerance for Disagreement.  Furthermore, this paper contains a literature review which focuses on these two issues and an action plan. The action plan is developed with the focus on reducing the issues of the communication skills.                

I have used five diagnostic tools to gather information regarding the effectiveness of my communication skills in various situations. These are Self-Perceived Communication Competence Scale, Personal Report of Intercultural Communication Apprehension, Non-verbal Immediacy Scale Self Report, Talkaholic Scale and Tolerance for Disagreement Scale.  Each of this tools is designed to evaluate the effectiveness of the communication skills of a person.  Self-perceived Communication Competence Scale is designed to understand the communicative competence of a person in varying situations. According to this questionnaire, communication skills of a person varies from person to person and from situation to situation. Nonverbal Immediacy scale Self Report is defined as a reliable tool to measure nonverbal immediacy of a person. Personal Report of Intercultural Communication Apprehension id another reliable tool to evaluate the extent of apprehension of a person while interacting with people from other cultures. Talkaholic scale is a tool to measure the compulsiveness of communication of a person. It measures the ability of a person to talk or remain quiet in a particular situation.  Tolerance for Disagreement scale measures the extent to which a person can tolerate how others are disagreeing with their beliefs and opinions.

The first tool used by me for this purpose is the Self-Perceived Communication Competence Scale which is a questionnaire used to diagnose the communication competence of a person.  In this scale, 0 is assigned for complete incompetence and 100 for complete competence.  I have scored 100 while communicating with friends and 65 while communicating with strangers. According to the scores of this scale, I am most competent in communicating with a friend or a group of friends. However, I am most uncomfortable while interacting with a group of strangers or speaking in a public place. I agree with the results obtained from this questionnaire that I have some problems while communicating with strangers and speaking in meetings. I have given myself the total score of 84, which means there is room for improvement for my communication competency.  

Personal Report of Intercultural Communication Apprehension

The second tool used by me is Nonverbal Immediacy scale Self Report. Nonverbal immediacy is defined as behaviors which generate positive feelings towards another person.  This tool is used to describe how a person can behave while interacting with others.  According to this scale, I use my hands while interacting with people.  I learned that I try to maintain eye contact with others while talking to them.  According to the scores of this tool, I avoid touching others and using monotonous tone while interacting with strangers.  I have a calm body position while interacting with others, thus enabling me to communicate with others in an effective way. However, I have a tendency to move away when others touch me while interacting with me. Occasionally, I have a tendency to frown while communicating with people. However, I do not display any facial expression while talking to people.  I have scored 84 on this scale which means moderate immediacy score according to the scale.  

The third tool which I used to evaluate my communication skills is the Personal Report of Intercultural Communication Apprehension. According to the scores from this tool, I do not have any problem while communicating with people from other culture. I do not get nervous while communicating with people of other cultures.  I am able to communicate with people from different cultures, thus I agree with the results of this tool. I have obtained 38 in this scale, which means I have moderate communication apprehension while communicating with people from other cultures. The fourth toll used by me is the Talkaholic scale. This tool is developed to measure the compulsiveness of communication of a person.  According to this tool, I am not a talkaholic and I am able to control my communication according to the situation.  In rare cases, I talk in communication situations and sometimes I am compelled to remain quiet. In some situations, I have talked despite knowing that it would be beneficial for me to keep quiet. I have scored 19 on this scale, which means I need to improve my communication skills. I need to open up in situations where it would be best for me to speak. 

The fifth tool used by me to measure the effectiveness of my communication skills is the Tolerance for Disagreement scale.  It is designed to measure the extent to which a person can tolerate how other people disagree with their thoughts and beliefs. This concept is similar to the concept of argumentativeness. It is said that the people with high level of argumentativeness are more likely to disagree with other people.  Conflict in interpersonal communication is considered to be an important function of tolerance of disagreement of a person.  According to the scores of this tool, I do not like to involve in situations where there is a high level of disagreement.  I also have a tendency to change the topic of conversation to avoid any conflicts with other people. I do not enjoy arguing with people about the things of disagreement.  I concur with the results and I think that I am not a person who will enjoy participating in conflicts.  However, I think that disagreements can play a significant role in stimulating a conversation and will encourage me to communicate with other people.  I have scored 43 which is identified as a moderate TFD score. While using the Self-perceived Communication Competence Scale I have encountered the issue of not been able to talk to strangers or in a meeting. I have gathered information from the Tolerance for Disagreement Scale that I am not very comfortable in dealing disagreements and conflicts with others. To advance my professional career, I need to work on these issues and increase the effectiveness of my communication skills.

Nonverbal Immediacy scale Self Report

Reflecting on the inability to speak to strangers or in meetings, I would like to provide an example to explain this issue. Six months ago, I was working as a team leader in an Australian Information Technology organization. My team has the responsibility of developing a new project within the organization. During that time, I had the responsibility to brief them about the various specifications of the product. This team comprises of twelve members, two of them are close friends of mine.  I was able to interact with them with convenient ease, but not with the others. I was not able to interact with them on a one-on-one basis, in order to clarify their doubts and queries. I was not able to communicate my ideas clearly to my team, which means I am not an effective communicator. Due to my inability to speak with strangers, the performance of my team has suffered to a great extent.  I became very nervous while interacting with them, which concurs with the results of the diagnostic tool of Self-Perceived Communication Competence Scale.  I have understood that this issue can hamper my business performance to a great extent in the future as well.  I have understood that in order to increase the effectiveness of my communication skills, I need to work on my nervousness.   

According to the results of Tolerance for Disagreement, I have a moderate tolerance for disagreement with another person.  I would like to state another example to further demonstrate the issue I have encountered while working in the Australian Information Technology organization. This incident happened six months ago while developing a new product for the organization. As a team leader, I have presented my idea of a new product to them and asked them for their opinion.  Several of my team members have disagreed about some of the features of the product.  It has increased the level of conflict within the team.  I am not a type of person who wants to engage in conflicts in the workplace that easily. Therefore, I became nervous while dealing with conflicts within the workplace and tend to change the topic of conversation while having conflicts within the team. The level of conflict has also increased between the different team members working in the team. Due to my tendency to avoid conflict, I could not play a significant role in decreasing the level of conflict within the organization. Thus it affects my ability to communicate with my team members effectively and efficiently. During this time I have expressed a moderate level of tolerance for disagreement. 

Talkaholic scale

Reflecting on these two incidents, I have understood the strengths and weaknesses of my communication skills. I have understood that I need to overcome my nervousness in order to speak with strangers. Business communication plays a significant role in increasing the effectiveness of a business organization. Within an organization, a person has to interact with strangers on a daily basis. Therefore, I need to increase my ability to speak with strangers to increase the effectiveness of my business communication.  I also need to increase the level of tolerance of disagreement to develop my communication skills. I also need to work on my skills so that I can manage the conflict within the organization.

I have identified the communication issues which can create a significant problem while I am communicating with other problem.  These two issues are; inability to communicate with strangers and a moderate level of tolerance for disagreement. While I am working as a team leader in an Australian IT company, I have encountered both these problems. These problems have affected the efficiency of my business communication skills. Due to my nervousness, I was not able to communicate with strangers, although I have prepared myself mentally for it. Thus, I was unable to present my idea to the team which has created some confusion and doubts within the team.  I was not able to interact with them personally, which could have increased the efficiency of the team performance.  They are not able to clear their doubts and perform better due to my inability.  I was unable to focus on my responsibility as a team leader due to this issue.   

Another issue I have faced while working in the organization is my moderate ability to tolerate disagreement. During that time, I have presented my idea for a new product for the organization.  Several of the team members have some suggestions which could lead to the development of better quality products. Due to the disagreement of opinions, conflicts and tension have generated in the workplace. As I am not a person, who wanted to participate in a conflict, have always tried to change the subject. I was able to express a moderate level of tolerance for disagreement in the workplace.  I need to work on these issues to achieve effectiveness and efficiency of my business communication skills.  I need to increase my ability to speak with strangers as well develop my level of tolerance for disagreement from moderate to high.            

Tolerance for Disagreement scale

I have identified the key issues of my communication skills by using Self-Perceived Communication Competence Scale and Tolerance for Disagreement Scale. According to Wood, (2015), SPCC scale is designed to measure the level of self-perceived communication competence. It was developed to evaluate how a person measures their own communication competency in a variety of communication contexts and receivers (Brownell, 2015). This scale allows the user to define their own communication competence, and focus is given on their self-perception (Cooren, 2016). The scale has high alpha reliability and it also has strong predictive and face validity.  In the words of Moore, (2017), the communication competency varies from person to person and situation to situation.  The scale presents a plethora of situations to understand the self-perception of a person regarding their communication competency (Kerbrat-Orecchioni, 2016). According to the results of this study, I am most comfortable while communicating with friends. I can interact with them on a personal level. However, I am unable to interact with strangers with the same level of confidence.  In the business world, communication plays a significant role to increase the efficiency and effectiveness of the business organization (Shahbaz et al., 2016). In a business organization, professionals have to interact with strangers on a daily basis.

Business organizations can solve a number of issues with the help of effective business communication.  It is defined as a problem-solving activity, by which the business organizations identify and solve the problems related to the business processes of an organization (Grosz, 2017).  A person can present himself with the help of effective communication skill. In case a person is unable to communicate with strangers, he may not get the chance to express his or her ideas to the right person. He may not be able to understand the needs of others due to his nervousness to talk to strangers.  According to Shahbaz et al., (2016), speaking with strangers is considered to be an absolute necessity in a business organization. Another important process which occurs within a business organization is the process of speaking in meetings (Knapp et al., 2014). In the words of Petry, (2016), a person can be nervous before speaking to the strangers due to lack of experience or any prior knowledge. However, it can be easily overcome with the help of proper training and practice. Training and practice will also help a person to overcome their nervousness with regards to public speaking too.  These two factors play a significant role in developing the professional career of a person. Improving these skills will allow a person to increase their credibility within the organization (Keyton, 2015). Interpersonal communication affects the efficiency of business operation within the organization.  It also plays a significant role in the decision-making process within the organization. As per Shi et al., (2015), if a person is able to overcome his nervousness, he may be able to influence the decision. Anxiety and nervousness can have a serious implication on the communication competency of a person.

Results of Diagnostic Tools

According to McCroskey, (2015), communication apprehension is defined as the level of anxiety associated with communication activity of a person with another person. There are four types of communication apprehension; context anxiety, trait anxiety, audience anxiety and situation anxiety (Hargie, 2016).  These apprehensions can have a significant effect on the interpersonal communication within the organization. I have identified another issue in my communication skills while using the diagnostic tool of Tolerance for Disagreement Scale. The scale is designed to measure the degree to which a person can tolerate another person who has different opinions (Berger, 2016). I have shown a moderate level of tolerance for disagreement while I was working in the Australian IT firm. In the opinions of McCroskey et al., (2014), tolerance for disagreement is defined as the process of engaging in a communication with a person who has different thoughts about a particular thing. It is considered to be a vital component of an organizational setting. In the words of Neuliep, (2017), disagreements can occur within an organization due to a variety of reasons.  Some people with high argumentativeness have the tendency to deal with disagreement than others to a varying extent (Petrovici & Dobrescu, 2014). The nature of disagreement can depend on the situation and the people participating in the disagreement (Certo, 2018). 

In the words of Koester & Lustig, (2015), the concept of tolerance of disagreement is much disputed and it depends on person to person or situation to situation.  This concept plays a significant role in the interpersonal communication within the organization (Alberts et al., 2015). Disagreement can either occur in a face to face basis or via online mode. The background of the participants plays a significant role in the development of disagreement within the organization. There are several factors which can give rise to conflict in the workplace, like verbal communication, non-verbal communication, listening etc. An employee of an organization can disagree with the ideas of their manager. They can provide valuable input which allows the organization to increase their effectiveness and efficiency (Lane, 2016). However, in case a manager does not listen to the ideas of their employees, it can lead to development to conflict within the organization. According to Liu, (2015), the behavior of the manager towards their employees can also play a significant role in the development of conflict in the workplace. The communication style used by the managers plays a significant role in defining how an employee perceives their employees (Sabanci et al., 2018).  Disagreement between the between the manager and the employees of the organization can negatively affect the performance of the organization. Increase in the level of conflict can have a serious effect on the employee commitment of the organization (Shockley-Zalabak, 2014).

Communication Issues

According to Bloom et al., (2015), tolerance for disagreement in the workplace can be improved with the help of employing right communication channels. Both the managers and the employees of the organization can play a significant part in improving the tolerance for disagreement in the workplace.  The manager can listen to the ideas of their employees and communicate with them in a positive way. With the help of these methods, they will be able to avoid conflicts in the workplace. The managers can communicate clearly to avoid development of conflict in the workplace. In the words of Burgoon et al., (2016), they can also avoid the conflict within the workplace by employing a positive attitude in the workplace. With the help of these methods, the employees and the manager can increase the level of tolerance within the workplace without raising any conflict (Manning, 2014).

Agreeing with the results of the diagnostic tools. I think I need to improve my communication skills in order to advance my professional career. I have been able to identify my two weaknesses with the help of the diagnostic tools.  These issues are; inability to speak to strangers or in public places and a moderate level of tolerance for disagreement.  I have created an action plan to overcome this challenges in my communication skills, within six months. In order to improve my communication skills, I have decided to join a communication course.  This communication course will allow me to improve my skills and advance my professional career. With the help of these courses, I have seen improvements in my communication skills. I have started to maintain a journal to keep track of the success of these processes.  These short courses allow me to decrease the level of nervousness while speaking to strangers or while speaking to the public.  It allows me to enhance my communication style and increase its effectiveness.  It allows me to express my opinions in front of others in a confident manner.  These courses have also allowed me to increase my level of tolerance for disagreement from medium to high.

I have also entered a post-graduation course to increase the effectiveness of my communication skills. I have received proper lessons and training to increase the efficiency of my communication skills within the workplace. With the help of these training, I am able to understand the importance of effective business communication within the workplace.  Both these courses have allowed me to understand the impacts of my behavior on others and helped to improve my communication skills.  I have read many inspirational books to further increase my knowledge in this field.  These courses help me to understand what kind of issues can arise within the organization and how it can be solved with the help of interpersonal communication.  With the help of these courses, I am able to increase my professional skills within the organization.  These courses and books have helped me to develop interpersonal skills, which has helped me to increase my credibility in the workplace. I have been able to decrease the level of issues in my communication skills with the help of these courses.  The journal allows me to reflect on my progress after the end of six months.  With the help of these courses, I am able to decrease the issues of my communication skills to a great extent.  It also helped me to increase my credibility within the organization and develop my professional career in the organization.  These courses will allow me to develop my communication skills to a significant extent.

Action Plan

Conclusion

The paper reflects on the information gathered with the help of five diagnostic tools to evaluate the issues of my communication skills. With the help of these tools, I have been able to identify two issues in my communication skills.  These issues are nervousness while speaking with strangers and a moderate level of tolerance to disagreement. With the help of literature review, this paper concludes that these two issues play a significant role in the interpersonal communication within the organization. Moreover, it also concludes that these issues can be removed by engaging in short courses to develop my skills. Furthermore, this paper also contains an action plan which can contain a detailed timeline in which the issues in my communication skills is reduced.

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