Effective Business Communication Competence and Contexts

Question: Discuss about the Effective Business Communication Competence and Contexts. Answer: Introduction: The aim of the study is to carry out a self reflection study on the understanding of personal capability. In order to understand this particular perspective, a number of reflective analysis tools will be taken into consideration. On the basis of the findings, the major areas will be addressed where improvements shall be required. The paper will also discuss certain approaches that should be taken into consideration for the sake of improving the drawbacks faced in the communication process. Diagnosis and reflection For self evaluation, a number of diagnostic tools have been used for the sake of evaluating about self. These Diagnostic tools are: Johari Window, Communications Style Questionnaire, Assertiveness Questionnaires, Quinn Management Questionnaire, the ESCI (Emotional Intelligence). The Johari Window helped to understand the relationship with own self and with others. With the analysis, I have been able to know that I live in the open arena and I am quite aware of the other people or peers who are associated with me. With the Communications Style Questionnaire, I have understood that I stay comfortable with others I do not get angry on others and always try to agree with others and value their opinion. I am a good listener and I respect everyones opinion. In addition to this, I feel guilty at times if I find myself ripped in some kind of issues. However, I have also observed that I find it difficult to maintain eye contact with others. The Self assessment assertiveness questionnaire has helped me to analyze my behavior with others. From the analysis, I have understood that I am much determined towards my work and I take decision on understanding the situation very thoroughly. In this respect, I would like to mention that I always consider the opinion of others. I personally believe that any person can come up with better approaches and ideas and in a competitive market condition, innovative ideas often come up with better results. Therefore, I personally feel that it is much competent to understand the perspectives of others and then jotting down to a particular conclusion. The Quinn Management Questionnaire test has helped me to understand my competences and how well I can apply certain things in my practical life to improve my capability of communicating with others. This particular test has helped me to understand my leadership and managerial value as well. From the test, it has been understood that I believe in setting rules and regulations before coming up to certain conclusion. This clearly states that I value others perspective and always try to focus on achieving a collective result by undertaking others point of view as well. Professional experience: If a situation related to professional confrontation is considered, I would like to share a small incident. Once I went for an interview for an internship purpose, I had faced certain issues related to communication with the seniors with whom I had a discussion. The person with whom I had the conversation was from another origin. It is for the same reason the interaction with them was not very comfortable because I had some issues in understanding the accent of the person on the other side. Another incident I would like to share is when I went to attend a seminar once. The topic of discussion of the seminar was very interesting and it was the reason, I went to join the seminar. However, I faced certain difficulties at the time of communicating. I paid great attention on the seminar but somehow failed to get response from the other end. There remained certain lagging in terms of gaining feedbacks. These incidents have made it clearer that I had certain communication issues related to language barrier and gaining feedback. Lastly, the ESCI (Emotional Intelligence) has helped me to create a self awareness and self management. I have understood the importance of self awareness as well as social awareness in order to work in a competitive work environment. With the test, it has been evaluated that I can work as a team because very less conflict occurs with me when I work as a team member. In this respect, I would like to say that I have an ability to manage and guide people as well. Two communication issues identified are: From the analysis done using the various diagnostic tools and personal interactions with others, I have been able to identify two major areas where I need improvement in order to improve my communication with others. Language barriers: I have understood that I lack certain qualities when it comes to understand others language. In fact, I have noticed that at times it becomes difficult for me to understand English language as well because of the difference in the accent and the way of delivering speech. I think, this particular issue will create problem for me in future because the recent market situation is global, almost every company has been expanding and moving out to become global. Therefore, there remained a great chance of the fact that there will be requirement of understanding language and accents of others. Lack of gaining feedbacks: Another important thing that has been understood is that in order to gain better result in the communication process, it is important to gain feedbacks. However, every time it might not become possible to gain feedbacks but without proper feedbacks, the communication process is not completely fulfilled. Therefore, I think I should improve my skills in order to gain better feedbacks. Concept of interpersonal communication: As stated by Harzing and Pudelko, (2014), interpersonal communication is the means by which people exchange their feelings or information by both verbally and non-verbally. The concept of interpersonal communication is related to self disclosure and other approaches that are used by people to reach one another. The key concepts of the interpersonal theories are to explain the behavior of people and the relationship between the success and the failure of the communication process. Owing to this particular concept, Brannen, Piekkari and Tietze, (2014) have revealed a number of concepts that are directly related to the interaction of people. Strategies: There are a number of active, passive and interactive strategies that people use or learn to approach other people. In the view point of OSullivan and Carr, (2017), passive strategy is to observe people from a distance before approaching the person. On the other hand, asking information about the person from others is known as active strategy. The interactive strategy is to directly reach to the person and to initiate the conversation. Self disclosure: Danziger, (2013) stated that self disclosure fosters trust and ultimately brings people together. Interpersonal communication gains momentum when one discloses information to the other person. Same commented that when information is passed on to other, it helps to reveal information that might include certain sensitive and private information as well (Berwick Chomsky, 2015). If the person feels comfortable then there remains chance of increased intimacy between two persons. Stages: Stages explain the way how relationship develop or evolve from time to time between two persons. As evident that after an initial encounter, the relationship progresses to an experimental stage where the information is exchanged between two persons. As commented by Lane, (2016) that if the initial stages are successful, there remains a chance of long lasting relationship. The Relational Dialectics Theory: Any kind of tension in the relationship that results in either connection or separateness in the interpersonal relationship falls under the relational dialectic theory. As argued by Dragojevic and Giles, (2014), that theorists believe that self disclosure can fight with the need for the privacy and that the conflicts between two persons. Same revealed that there always remain desires for secrecy for the sake of keeping things private. The concept of language barrier: As stated by Arnold and Boggs, (2015), language is an essential element for any kind of communication. Even people with speech impairments can communicate with each other using various signs and symbols. However, difficulties occur when there arise situations where two persons find it difficult to communicate with each other because of any kind of language barrier to communication. In the view point of Wood, (2015), language barrier is the most common cause of the creation of misunderstanding and misinterpretation among people. Using or not using such words that are not easily understandable by others creates language barriers. Moreover, it makes the communication ineffective and prevents the message from being conveyed to other person. One of the major reasons behind language or communication barrier occurs when two people speak two different languages. In case if the language is understandable to others, their dialects and accents might not match. This will ultimately create a gap between the communication process and act as a barrier. In this respect, Hybels, (2014) commented that sometimes people have to confront certain jargons and other technical words as well that remain non-understandable and the barriers are not diluted. Hybels, (2014) also revealed that language barrier is becoming progressively more challenging because of the heterogeneity of different ethnic origins and various primary languages. Moreover, individuals who lack the understanding of the English language hinder the communication to a large extent. The feedback communication: As stated by Amati and Hannawa, (2014), receivers of messages are not merely the passive absorbers of messages, but they are more likely to receive the message and respond them. This particular response from the receivers end is called the feedback. The effectiveness of a communication process largely depends on the feedbacks received by the person. Amati and Hannawa, (2014) commented that if the audience is not able to get a proper response of the message delivered then the complete communication process might not be as fruitful as expected. Therefore, there should always remain the chance of providing or receiving a feedback from the end of both the parties. In order to maintain an open climate for communication, feedbacks are important (Pennycook, 2014). Importance of getting feedback: As stated by Rudick and Golsan, (2014), as much as work is important, it is important to provide and get feedback as well. An effective and constructive feedback helps to focus on the process of communication and therefore, result in effective communication. In order to develop interpersonal skills and improve the skills of communication, it is important get feedback from the person with whom the communication takes place. In this respect, West and Turner, (2013) have come up with certain suggestions that would help to develop certain skills and personalities that help to gain better feedbacks from others. These are: Feedback should be based on behavior and not personality: Comments should be made only on the behavior of the person and not on the personality of the person. There should not be any kind of discussion based on the personality or intelligence of the people. Feedback should describe the impact of the behavior: Baxter and Norwood, (2015) stated that one cannot say how it feels or affect others, but it is the person himself who can state how it feels or put impact on a person. Therefore, the intention of the person should have control over the emotion and the intension of the other person. Feedback should be specific and timely: It has to be understood that it is not something feasible to please or offend someone by giving feedback after a long time. It might happen that the complete scenario has been wash away from the mind of the recipient (Piekkari, Welch Welch, 2014). Therefore, it is likely to say things at the very moment when the communication takes place. In addition to this, the feedback should be as specific as possible that will help both the sender and the recipient to understand the issue. Conclusion: The paper highlighted the importance of inter personal communication and its importance in both professional and personal life. It has to be understood that communication is the most important part of life and any kind of life activity cannot be done without proper communication. If there remain any issues, it falls under the responsibility of the person to overcome those issues. With the detailed analysis undertaken to understand the stand point and to evaluate the problems and the issues faced during the communication process, it has to be said that improvements have to be made to improve the interpersonal communication by the means of removing language barrier and by the means of developing personality that feedbacks can be gained easily. For the same purpose, an action plan can be made here. To remove language barrier: Factors Analysis S- Specific It is very important to remove the language barrier to increase communication with others. In order to do so, I shall enroll in some courses where I will learn how to communicate with others and how to approach people who do not share a common language. M- Measurable The improvement can be easily measured if I feel comfortable among others who belong to different culture or share different language. A- Achievable The objective is easily available if good effort is made on the learning process and focus is made on gaining better knowledge about others. R- Relevant The objective is relevant because by the means of enrolling in a course or activity, I shall be able to improve my capability and understanding on the particular issue. T- Timely In order to achieve this particular objective, a time span of 6 months will be required. To find out better ways for gaining feedbacks Factors Analysis S- Specific As it has been widely evident that in order to come up with a better communication result, it is important to gain feedbacks from others. It has been found that one has to improve their skills to get proper feedback. Therefore, I shall consider devoting my time on improving the skills. The skills can be improved if I start reading about the various means of improving my capability of understanding others. M- Measurable The objective can be measured easily when I shall understand that I am gaining proper feedbacks from others. A- Achievable The target can be easily achieved if proper attention is made on the learning process because it is a behavioral approach that can be molded by the means of regular practices. R- Relevant The objective is very relevant because the communication process cannot be completed without gaining a proper response. Therefore, working on this particular issue is important. T- Timely I think it will take about 8-10 months to achieve this particular target. The theories and the applications that have been used for the sake of understanding the importance of inter personal communication has helped to understand the issues and how effectively these issues can be overcome. By the end of the discussion, it can be said that if the action plans are followed in a proper way, there still remain the options that issues can be overcome easily. 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