Effective Business Communication: Diagnosis, Reflection, and Literature Review

Effective Business Communication

Running Head: Essay
Introduction: This reflective writing is an essay written after carrying out the analysis of my
communication skills on the basis of five communication diagnostic tools included in this
writing. This includes a focus on the two major issues in my communication style which have
been drawn on the basis of the results obtained from the various diagnostic tools. The two
major issues that I noticed in my communication style are the absence of confidence in my
public speaking skills and the low tolerance possessed my me for any disagreement
happening during the communication. This essay also includes a literature review which
focuses on the various concepts and theories of communication and the major communication
issues highlighted in them. By carrying out this reflection on my communication skills, I wish
to gain the knowledge and understanding of the actions that I can take and the habits that I
need to develop to overcome them. All these actions are included hindi action plan presented
in the essay which is followed by the literature review (Duffy & Gordon, 2004).
Diagnosis and reflection: The five diagnostic tools used by me for analysing my
communication style in various situations where I was the path of conversation form the basis
of this self reflective essay. The first tool that I used to analyse my communication style was
a self-perceived competence questionnaire. This question is an indicator of the
communication competence of a person by providing them with the number of situations and
an array of receivers. The person answering the question has to analyze their competence for
communication by choosing appropriate answer for the question included in it. The second
tool for the analysis of communication competence was a personal report. I prepared a
detailed report analysing my communication apprehension and understanding the feelings
that I have towards communication and conversations that I have (Benson, 2014). This is
done by asking another individual to carry out the analysis of my communication through
various situations and how they would behave in the same situation. The third tool adopted
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Running Head: Essay
by me was an analysis of the anxiety that are faced during public speaking. This was another
personal report which assesses the level of anxiety faced by me during any public speaking
events. And the fifth tool to analyse my communication competence was the tool that
measured my tolerance level for any disagreement. This tool measures my tolerance for any
disagreement or conflicting ideas presented buy another person during a conversation against
the idea that I believe to be true (Braga & Silva, 2010).
I believe that all the results that I obtained from this diagnostic tools what accurate since I
answer all the questions sincerely and with complete honesty. These tools help me in
recognising my communication style and understanding my strengths and weaknesses better.
The self-perceived communication competence questionnaire indicated that I have the most
comfortable conversations with my friends and when I am talking to a person individually. It
indicated that I face a little discomfort during public speaking and when converting in large
groups or during meetings. I believe that this was an accurate representation of my
communication style. The second tool of communication apprehension was the report that
further verified my apprehension towards public speaking. Although the overall score that I
achieved in this report was good, the apprehension during public speaking as reported by this
Diagnostic tool was quite apparent. According to the score received in this personal report, I
have a moderate level of apprehension during communication (Kalra, 2016). The public
speaking anxiety faced by me became even more prominent with the third diagnostic tool
analyzing the public speaking anxiety. This tool reported moderate anxiety when giving
presentations or speaking in meetings which is similar to the scores received through the
previous reports and diagnostic tools. My anxiety score for public speaking was 115 which is
fairly high considering I believe my communication skills to be good. The next Diagnostic
tool analyzed my willingness to listen and I got a score of 75 in this test. This indicates that
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Running Head: Essay
my willingness to listen is also moderate. The last Diagnostic tool analysing my tolerance for
disagreements also placed me at a moderate scale and I got a score of 45 in this (Rider,
Hinrichs, & Lown, 2006).
All these scores highlight that I get anxious during public speaking and my tolerance level for
this agreement also needs to improve. These are the two areas that I believe I lack in not just
because of the results obtained through the Diagnostic tools but also through my personal
reflection on my communication style. I am not very confrontational by nature and I tend to
avoid direct conflicts and disagreements. This might be the reason of my low tolerance for
disagreement in the conversation. However, as I enter the professional world, disagreements
and conflicts will it become a part of the everyday communication happening in the office
and in business. Therefore, I will have to work on this skill and learn to communicate during
disagreements and about the opinions that I believe do not match with mine. The day today
decision making in business and in the work environment will also require some tolerance for
this agreement and for the people holding the beliefs and opinions opposite to that of mine. In
these cases, it will become a challenge for me to communicate if I am not tolerant about the
disagreements (Poolsawad & Wudthayagorn, 2015).
The public speaking anxiety that I suffered from what's something that I had noticed in the
classroom as well. While giving the presentations and during the group discussion I am not
very eager to talk and I like to keep my opinions and thoughts with myself. I am fairly
talkative when it comes to one to one conversation but public speaking or speaking in
meetings and group discussion makes me anxious even if I have sufficient knowledge about
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