Analyzing Communication Skills Using Self-Perceived Communication Competence Scale And Other Diagnostic Tools

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Communication is the very important part of the lives of the people. This is because humans are social animals and they have to interact with each other in order to live in the society. Some have better communication skills while other may lack in the same. In order to make improvement in these communication skills, it is required to diagnose the same. There are various diagnostic tools that can be used to analyse the communication skills. Some of the diagnostic tools that are used in this report are self-perceived communication competence also known as SPCC, personal report of intercultural communication apprehension that is PRICA, non-verbal immediacy scale self-report (NISS), personal report of public speaking anxiety and talkoholic scale. This report also argues about some of the theoretical concepts reacted to the communication skills and their diagnostic tool along with the action plan that describes the activities that should be undertaken in order to improve the communication skills.

There are various tools that have been used for analysing my communication skills. The first tool that has been used is Self-perceived communication competence scale. This is the tool that helps in analysing the information about the competence of the individuals and this feeling at the time of various communication contexts (Bahadori & Hashemizadeh, 2018). The name suggests that it is not the measure of the actual competence but it is the measure for the perceived competence of the person. It may be possible that both are same but there may be differences. This tool is used so that I can analyse myself and my perception about my communication skills. As far as my score re considered, it has been analysed that I have scored the total of 72.91. As per the scoring scale, if the individual score more than 87 the he would be very competent while lower than 59 is perceived to have low competency of communication. As per my score, it can be identified that I fall under the mid value of the scoring. This suggests that I am competent but still have some scope of improvement.

The next tool that has been used is Personal report of intercultural communication apprehension. It has been analysed that this tool helps in analysing the anxiety and the fear that one can possess during the communication that involves the people with different cultural or ethnic group (Villarreal, 2017). This considers the aspect of intercultural communication which is very important to be analysed. I have used this tool so that I can judge my skills to communicate and interact with the people who belong to different culture. As far as my scoring is considered, it has been analysed that I have scored 49 in the test. This score means I am at the moderate level of communication apprehension in the case of making intercultural communication. It has been analysed that I am the one who feel uncomfortable with initiating conversation with the people from different cultural but try to look clam in front of them.

Literature Review

After using the above two tools, now the requirement is to test my nonverbal communication skills. It is the tool that results in providing the scores that leads to the degree of positivity that I show towards other people. Communication is not only verbal but also involves nonverbal gestures. These gestures also play a very important role in making effective communication. This tool uses 5 point scale to answer some of the questions that helps in analysing the type of nature and the gestures of the individuals. As far as the scoring of my test is considered, it has been analysed that I have scored 102. This is the score that again proves that I am the mediocre in this section. The scoring of different questions suggests that I use my gestures when I talk to people but it is not necessary in every situation. If the people are very close to me, the only I show all my gestures otherwise I talk to them without much closeness. Gestures are of different kinds and I usually show formal gestures with the stranger while show close and very frequent gestures in front of may close friends and family.

The next tool is personal report of public speaking anxiety. As the name suggests, it is the very effective tool in analysing the anxiety level of the individual for public speaking (Shahbaz, Khan, Khan & Mustafa, 2016). It has been analysed that it is the tool that I have used to identify my skills that allow me or that restrict me to speak in public. As far as the scores are considered, it has been analysed that I have scored 121 in this test. This suggests that I am at the moderate stage. I have realised after this test that I am the one who feels nervous when I have to speak in public but I also know how to control my emotions and nervousness on the stage. It has been analysed that I need to develop my confidence to speak in front of the stranger and other people because this is the most important part of communication. In later, I have to face many occasion where I have to speak in public and thus it is required to develop that confidence and remove that fear of public speaking.

The last tool that has been used was talkaholic scale. This is the scale that determines that how much an individual talk. An individual is observed to be talkative when he talks too much and the other person does not reply with equal intensity. It is a usual approach that if the person is talking more, he would be perceived very positive in nature. It is a qualitative study in which the way a person is talking and what the person is talking is very important. As far as my scoring is considered, it has been analysed that I have scored 22 which is very less. I am not that much talkative in nature. This makes it very difficult for me to convey my things to others. I am not an initiator and thus I wait for the other person to initiate the conversation. This may sometimes left me alone because I do not talk to people and does not make efforts in making relationships. I used to talk only when they initiate the conversation.

As far as all the tests and my scoring is considered, it has been analysed that I am lacking two of the main areas of communication that is confidence to speak in front of stranger and making intercultural communication. Both of these skills are very much required in order to have good communication and effective interaction with the people. Communication skills of the person can only be developed if he has the self-awareness of his weaknesses and I have gained the knowledge of my weaknesses.

Communication is the very important and the vital part of the daily routine. Every time, we have to interact and communicate with the other person. Communication does not involve speaking but it also involves a return from the other party whether in the form of active listening or in answering back (Baraldi, 2017). As communication is the part of daily routine thus it is required to have the effective communication skills so that the communication or the interaction could not leads to misunderstanding. Communication is not only required to be effective in daily life but at the professional level also, it is one of the best and the most important skill. As per the above analysing, the tow skills that I have to develop in order to brush up my communication are intercultural communication skills and confidence while speaking. Development of confidence helps in making conversations with the strangers as well as in public.

Confidence is one of the most important elements that fuel the effective communication. It has been analysed that if the person lacks the confidence, then he would not be able to communicate properly with the other person. Confidence is not the sill that can be learnt but it needs to be developed with practice, training and knowledge (Chaloupka-Risser & Füssl, 2017). When the person knows everything about the subject, he feels confident enough to talk about the same thus the first thing that needs to be considered for developing the confidence in communication is enhancing the knowledge part (Niles, Craske, Lieberman & Hur, 2015). As far as the communication is concerned, it is required by the individual to gain knowledge of the basics and common subjects that are being discussed in the social gatherings. This provides them a confidence to talk with others as they have the best knowledge of the topic (Choren, 2015). Other than knowledge, practice is also one of the most important strategies that help in developing confidence at the tie of communication. When any of the people speaks in with the acquaintances, they speak without any fear. This fear can be of getting insulted or getting judged, this is because when an individual speaks anything in front of anyone, the other person judge that individual. This judgement develops fear in the minds of the people and this reduces their confidence to speak (Dolan, R. (2016). Here, practice can help the individual to develop confidence.it is required to practice as when a person does anything on frequent basis then it becomes the habit and the fear disappears. This technique can be used by the individuals who have lack of confidence in communicating with each other. Practicing in front of public and try to surround with social gatherings helps the person to open up himself and get used to of communicating with the people. The last technique that can used to build confidence is trainings (Arnold & Boggs, 2015). There are many training courses of personality development available that can help in building confidence. These courses help the person to have better communication skills and turned them into a different personality that fuels their communication effectiveness. Building confidence and having effective communication does not mean that the person has to speak but listening is also one of the most important parts of communication (Kurtz, Draper & Silverman, 2017). Thus, the person should develop the confidence to listen carefully and efficiently to make the communication effective.

Another important aspect of communication is intercultural communication. Intercultural communication is making interactions across the culture and languages (Gould & Carson, 2008). When intercultural communication is considered, it does not mean that it’s about the person who speaks different languages but it’s about the people who belongs to different culture and have different values than one another. It has been analysed that our globe is becoming united in terms of communication and because of the technological advancement it is not difficult to interact with the people across the cultures.

Intercultural communication is the verbal and nonverbal communication between people from different cultural upbringings. If the term intercultural is considered, it has been analyzed that inert means between and cultural means from a particular culture (Reilly, Bavin, Bretherton, conway, Eadie, Cini,  ... & Wake, 2009). Occasionally, this is used to describe a single person trying to cooperate and communicate in a foreign environment but more often, it is a two-way road, where people from both cultures are trying to improve their communication.

Now, if an individual wants to learn about intercultural communication, it's important to understand what this is. But it's also important to understand what it isn't. Intercultural communication is targeted at allowing for optimistic and creative interaction. It does not mean to join a particular culture or it is not about becoming a member of another society. For making intercultural communication the person has to deal with the other culture and need not to adapt the same (Bambini, Washburn & Perkins,2009). Intercultural communication is also not simply language proficiency. Yes, communication requires the ability to understand language, but just think about how much of your communication with even your own friends is nonverbal: our body language, our attitudes, the rituals from hand-shaking to the stink eye (Ihtiyar & Ahmad, 2015). Some researchers estimate that up to 93% of all human communication is nonverbal, although according to recent studies, it's actually closer to 60%. Still, that means that more than half of communication is never spoken. So, intercultural communication is going to take a lot more than just learning a language (Louis & Zeger, 2008). Language is just a part of intercultural communication and sometimes it is not even necessary to learn the language but it is required to learn the gestures and the communication style.

Developing the intercultural communication is also very important in order to make the communication effective. The MNC’s all over needs to communicate and interact with the peel from different culture in order to conduct their businesses in the foreign country. Thus, developing intercultural communications is very important (King & Witt, 2009). In order to develop intercultural communication, it is very much required to know about the other culture and the have respect for the same. If the people of different culture do not have the value and the knowledge about each other’s culture than it they won’t be able to communicate properly with each other (Turner, Iliffe, Downs, Wilcock, Bryans, Levin, ... & O'carroll, 2004). This is because of the differences in their communication styles. The people with different cultural background have different styles to communicate. Some people greet by just nodding the head while some say hello or any other word to greet the other person. Even the similar gestures have different meanings for different culture people.

Many authors have discussed and suggested various strategies to improve the intercultural communication skills. Respect is one of the aspect that is every important when the intercultural communication or the conversation takes place (Hirsh-Pasek, Adamson, Bakeman, Owen, Golinkoff,  Pace, ... & Suma, 2015). If the person does not respect the other person and his culture then the intercultural communication cannot be made successful. It is required to understand that with different culture comes different experiences and thus an individual needs to realise and embrace this idea of differences in experiences and respect the knowledge of other person. It is required to be realising that the other person is not wrong but he is just different. The individuals should learn from the experiences of others and respect is the only key to grasp the other culture successfully (Huang, Howie, McCarthy, Memari, Walter, Min, ... & Al Turki, 2015). This leads to the development of another requirement to make the intercultural communication effective and that is open mindedness. Author suggests that one of the best ways to improve the intercultural communication skills is to operate the things with open minds (Dai & Chen, 2014). If the individual wants to communicate well with those from other cultures, he actually has to learn about them and their differences. A sincere open mindedness results in enhanced grasping power and this also allow the individual to respect to have space to learn the new things (Martin, 2015).

Adaptation is argued as another strategy that can help the individuals to accept the new culture and communicate with the other people. For understanding this strategy, it is required to understand the concept of culture shock. What happens when a human or an individual’s resist the changes of culture? When a person wants to a place with different culture and language, there are several phases that the individuals may face (Neuliep, 2017). At first, the individuals find it very interesting to know about the new culture and function quite smoothly. But gradually, signs of resistance may appear. The resistance may be from the people if they try to integrate with the new culture thoroughly and if the individual is very much attached to his own culture and not open at all. This integration requires the individual to modify the central behaviour and values in such a way so that new values can be integrated with them (Koester & Lustig, 2015).

It has been analysed that most of the intercultural communication can be seen in business as well as in social lives these days. The efforts to make the communication successful should be out in by the parties who are communicating with each other. The eagerness to learn about the business and about the values is very necessary in order to make the things better in intercultural communication. In business environment, it is required to understand the importance of other culture (Kim, 2015). When the business meetings are conducted with the international client, the host company has to make efforts in making the meetings successful (Ruben, 2015). This requires them to prepare as per the culture and the communication style of the client county. This is because there can be different meanings for similar works and this may affect the meetings and the business deals. As far as the relation between the employees and the manager is considered, it is required by the management of the company to develop the working environment that is fair and equal for all the employees irrespective of the differences in their culture. The companies should celebrate all the festivals so that the employees from every culture feel the part of the company and not feel neglected (Samovar, Porter, McDaniel & Roy, 2014).

In totality, it can be concluded that intercultural communication has been observed n day to day lives these days and thus it is required to develop the strategies that can support this communication to be more effective (Lieberman & Gamst, 2015). The individuals have to open their mind and welcome the new experiences and the culture and should understand the importance of the same. Respect is found to be the key skills because respecting other’s culture can help in making the intercultural communication easy (Chi & Suthers, 2015). Along with understanding the other culture, it is required to have full knowledge of the own culture. This is because the individual can only realise the differences if they have proper knowledge of their own culture.

As the weak points in the communication skills are analysed, it has been concluded that I have to develop confidence to speak in front of strangers and public speaking and anther is manage effective intercultural communication. The literature discuses about various aspects that can be included in making an action plan. Following is the action plan that needs to be followed in order to develop those weak points in communication learning so that I can improve my skills of communication.This is the plan which is prepared with a view to determine the plans and time period for implementing the selected activities of organizations.  All the details of task which are to be implemented have been divided into the interval of the months and their specified break up actions.

Conclusion:

It has been conclude from the report that communication is the very important part of daily lives and thus developing the various communication skills is very important. Various tools to analyse the communication skills have been used such as self-perceived communication competence also known as SPCC, personal report of intercultural communication apprehension that is PRICA, non-verbal immediacy scale self-report (NISS), personal report of public speaking anxiety and talkoholic scale. These tools are known as the diagnostic tools and provide the results that I have to develop the skills like confidence and intercultural skills to be more effective in my communication. Various strategies have been suggested by different authors and an action plan is developed for developing the communication skills.

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