Self-Reflection Analysis of Communication Style

This essay is a self-reflection analysis of communication style based on diagnostic tools related to communication. It includes a literature review and an action plan to improve communication skills. The essay focuses on nonverbal immediacy, tolerance for disagreement, and intercultural communication apprehension.

Effective buisness communication

Running Head: Essay
This essay is a self-reflection analysis of my communication style based on various areas such as
active listening, non- verbal, verbal communication, and assertiveness perception. I have used
five diagnostic tools related to communication to find out my score in each communication area.
The findings of such scores after using the diagnostic tools helped me to identify two key
communication issue area that can be effectively improved using the action plan. The two key
communication areas are public speaking anxiety, in exact terms, especially when presenting a
talk in a group of acquaintances and low tolerance for disagreement. This essay includes the
scores for each diagnostic which shows my understanding of the results of the diagnostic tools as
they apply to my personal situation (Moon, 2001). Moreover, this essay comprises of the
reflection on the interactions which I have had in past 12 months or 1 year that best matches the
issues to be addresses based on personal and professional interactions. Based on those
interactions, I can easily analyze the two key communication issues that requirement. This essay
also includes the literature review, which focuses on the key theories and concepts relevant to the
communication issues (Spacey, 2016).
Through this reflection process, I will fine tune the knowledge about the particular
communication issue to input my learning in the style. I will use various shifts gears, which will
help me transfer my insights in the future. I have gained experience and knowledge of practices
and activities that will make remarkable enjoyment and speed through distinct phases and will
assist me to improve my communication skills, sharpen my senses, and address the issues which
are natural. I will employ the activities to tackle the communication issues through various
activities which will be written in the action plan after the section of the literature review
(Furlich, 2016).
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To analyze my communication, I have used five distinct diagnostic tools to identify my reaction
in communication circumstances. The first tool I have used to analyze my communication style
was a Self-Perceived Communication Competence Scale which comprises of a set of simple
questionnaire which helps in analyzing the self-perceived communication competence with basic
communication circumstances that form the setting for meeting, public, dyad, group, an event,
statement, or idea, and in terms of which it can be fully understood and assessed by the receivers
such as friend, acquaintance and strangers (University of Birmingham, 2015). The second tool I
have used to analyze my communication style was a Nonverbal Immediacy Scale Self Report,
which measures the cues or behavior of the individual that signal positive feelings towards
another person in a particular event/situation/circumstances or meeting. The third tool I have
used was a Personal Report of Intercultural Communication Apprehension (PRICA) which has
been used to address communication apprehension in the intercultural context. The fourth tool
was the Talkaholic Scale which measures the compulsive communication. The last and the fifth
tool used by me was Talkaholic Scale, which is used to measure compulsive communication. In
the end, the scoring of each tool has helped me to analyze my communication style and the areas
in which I have to improve to communicate effectively (Teven, Richmond, & McCroskey,
1998). The self received communication competence scale measured my communication skills
through which I have determined a series of items which are related to communication,
competence and are presented to me as a subject for self assessment. I have willingly answered
all the questions with the truth factor. I have found self reflection method of analyzing the
communication skills as appropriate to direct myself the matters of the impact and my perception
in different circumstances where I have no reason to fear the negative consequences from any
answer. I have followed the approach which involves the communication where I need to
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respond effectively. Also, my behavior in performing the task has been measured on the scale
designed to reflect the factors of communicative competence (Birney, 2012).
After using the diagnostic tools, I have found through the Self-Perceived Communication
Competence Scale that I feel pretty much comfortable when I communicate with my friends and
a small group of acquaintances, but feel shy while presenting a talk to a group of strangers or a
large meeting of acquaintances. But, the overall result of the scale with a score of 85 shows that I
have high Self-Perceived Communication Competence. However, all the questions mentioned in
the tool of self received communication competence are not real and can be used as an
appropriate and legitimate research strategy. It helped me measuring the credibility,
apprehension, communication, and quality interpersonal attraction, and attitude change. This
scale has played a prominent role in determining my SPCC score on the basis of different
questions which is concerned with competence. I can say that this tool prominent as it will help
in making the decision concerning the communication made on the basis of self confidence
rather than actual competence (Carr, 2001).
The results of the Nonverbal Immediacy Scale show that I have low non verbal immediacy with
a score of 53. To be effective in communication, the non verbal immediacy score should lie in
between 83 to 112. After the Nonverbal Immediacy Scale, I have answered all the questions
mentioned in the third tool which measures the apprehension in intercultural context using
Personal Report of Intercultural Communication Apprehension (PRICA). The overall score of 15
shows that, I have low apprehension and I need to understand the different cultural paradigms to
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communicate effectively (Pribyl, Sakamoto, & Keaten, 2004). The scores in the factors like to
engage in a group discussion with people from different cultures make me nervous and my
thoughts become confused and jumbled when interacting with people from different cultures
shows that I need to work more on apprehension factor. The forth diagnostic tool, that is,
Talkaholic Scale proves that I am borderline talkaholic with a score of 33 (UNBC, 2011). The last
diagnostic tool, that is, Tolerance for Disagreement shows that I have moderate Tolerance for
Disagreement with a score of 41. I would like to improve this area and make it strong which will
provide me the ability to communicate with people or group of acquaintances with whom I
strongly disagree without experiencing emotions such as anger. This will provide me with a
value in the areas which are related to the ability such as leadership, diplomacy, debate,
international business, intercultural communication, etc. After the score of tolerance of moderate
Tolerance for Disagreement, I can comprehend that it reflects my personality trait which is
maintained by time across distinct situations and time and is not other-directed. I have also
determined that the tolerance for disagreement would help me to further manage the conflict
conceptualization by forecasting the negative affective interactions with substantive or
procedural disagreement (Kearney P. , 1979).
The professional interaction which I have had 3 months ago while I was presenting a demo of the
new product launched by our company to a group of people, I found that I look over or away
from others while talking to them and was trying to avoid eye contact while talking to people and
showing them the demo due to the lack of Nonverbal Immediacy. This was due to the fear or
anxiety I may have while showing a demo to the group of people. However, I was aware that this
will make an eye contact while providing the presentation receiver’s a sense of involvement in
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the presentation and assist to convey my goal or objectives on a personal level (Kearney V. ,
2017). I feel this has happened because, prior to present a demo, I was feeling less believable,
less authoritative, and less confident. This made the listeners transform from active participants
to passive receivers. The fear factor and shyness arose due to the feeling of insecurity of loosing
the prospective clients or presenting the demo to the people of different cultural paradigms which
accounted for a lack of eye contact. Thus, this is the issue I need to resolve to bring confidence
which will make our business grow and improve the capital (Grimsley, 2017).
The second example of the communication issue which I would like to share here is the tolerance
for disagreement. This has happened while I was representing the same product launch.
Although, I knew that the product we are launching in the market has nothing innovative and is a
copy of the other existing product with low price. I tried to convince the audience which brought
a disagreeing argument. Thus, I need to improve this communication skill to implement the
professional strategy and bring value with an ability in areas such as leadership. I would like to
learn more about the Cognitive dissonance which will help me to ignore evidence that runs
contrary to the opinion or beliefs of the audience or group of acquaintances. I believe that this
behavior is a sense of strain or pressure that outcomes from internal inconsistencies (Ellis, Pike,
& Carmon, 2016).
The non verbal communication provides the people with the capability to clarify the non verbal
competence. It is studied that nonverbal communication fosters the learning to the people.
According to Henley nonverbal communication is defined as how the body movements and
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postures of the people clarifies the things to other people while using the eye contact, gestures,
touching, facial expressions, voice fluctuations, etc. The non verbal communication comprises of
facial expressions, hand and arm motions, eye contact, moving around the people while
presenting them a presentation or in a meeting, voice fluctuations, etc. The nonverbal immediacy
represents the psychological and physical closeness of people with others (York, 2015).
It has been studied that the people with acting skills are more effective to the other roles and
behaviors that contribute to a positive learning process. The nonverbal immediacy shows a
prominent behavior of an individual that has a strong impact on various factors of motivation and
learning. It includes the physical and psychological closeness between the different people
through behavior. It is characterized by reducing physical and psychological distance in the
interaction of people with each other. The various nonverbal immediacy components are body
posture, eye contact, physical proximity, etc. proves that the smiling, generally, nonverbal
immediacy, which are highly related to effective learning. The eye contact is related to more
positive feelings and better liking among the people (Ozmen, 2010).
Anderson consolidated the operational nonverbal immediacy with distinct nonverbal behavior
and resulted into the development of three instruments known as perception of immediacy scale,
generalized immediacy scale, and the behavioral in distance of immediacy scale. These scales
help in addressing the concerns related to establishing both objective and subjective measures as
well as establishing construct validity. The Gregersen studied that the association between the
people with anxiety and non verbal immediacy are clearly due to the different cultural paradigms
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which comes in terms of immediacy (Dalonges & Fried, 2016). Also, the non verbal immediately
was found to be higher than verbal immediacy and it gives more importance while giving
presentations as it may exist independently of verbal messages. The Nonverbal behavior of the
people includes the accent para-linguistic variables, and emotional tone. The work of Mehrabian
led to a search on nonverbal immediacy in different communication context, including sales
presentation, supervision, teaching and public speaking. In the public speaking, the non verbal
immediacy comprises of the intermediate behavior of the person and the audience perceptions of
persuasiveness, credibility, and Social ability (Sager, 2017).
The common characteristic of the human nature is due to the conflict between the people. That
is, agreements inevitably emerge when people interact and form association of the nature of
conflict. A plethora of research has been conducted by various proponents. However, these
researches have often lead to failure to describe the distinction between the conflict between
purposeful disagreements and the negative interpersonal results which often lead to positive
outcomes and better decisions (Maughan & Webb, 2001). The proponents suggest that the
disagreement, however, is common and is destructive, but can be made constructive. However,
whether the outcomes are destructive or communicative, it depends on the communication skills
possessed by the individuals and the sympathy and harmony between them. To identify or
measure the degree to which a person can tolerate the disagreements with other people and
believe what the individual suggest to be true, can be calculated through the diagnostic scale of
tolerance for disagreement which describe the conceptualization which is related to
argumentativeness. It is believed by the proponents that the individual with high
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argumentativeness are able to manage the disagreement with other people who have low
argumentativeness (Baby, 2016).
The social identity theory suggests that the person who get a sense of Self esteem and have a
sense of identity based upon their association in different groups, the people are motivated to
contribute to the group because of the self worth membership and a sense of belongingness in the
group. It has also been believed that the resilience is not a trait that individual must have. The
resilience comprises of actions, thoughts and behaviors that can be learned by the person and can
be developed in anyone. Therefore, the resilience is considered as a prominent function which
contributes to well being. It is properly employed in training, development, and learning, even
through self development (Watton, Collings, & Moon, 2001). The Mccroskey and Wheelers have
also provided the concept of tolerance for disagreement by explaining that the disagreement and
conflicts are not the same thing. The disagreement is considered as distinct of opinion, but does
not necessarily result in conflict, however, it triggers the conflict. There is a low degree of
associationship between the people when the disagreement triggers the conflict in the presence of
disagreement on any issue (Baby, 2016).
It has been argued by the Mccroskey that the people avoid entering into conflict and there is a
distinct in the extent to which people can tolerate disagreement. The Mccroskey argues that the
distinct in the individuals with high and low tolerance for disagreement by arguing that
individual with low tolerance for disagreement are highly prone to conflict while the individuals
with high tolerance for disagreement are resistant to conflict (Stephens, 2017).
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After identifying the two key communication problems which need to be addressed, I have
created an action plan in the documented format initially for 3 months to handle these
communication competence issues. This action plan period can be decreased depending upon my
improvement after analyzing the scores on the diagnostic tools regularly. Firstly, I believe that to
keep me on track on my performance throughout the process and to determine what I have
completed and where I can use or employ my learned skills I will use the personal journal. This
personal journal will also help me in determining the areas where I have improved and what
other aspects I need to work on to overcome the issues. That is, after the period of three months,
this personal journal will act as a framework or tool to work on my future planning. Secondly, I
will hire a professional mentor for Improving my communication competency and to overcome
the issues of shyness, fear, anxiety, etc. I will also enroll myself in the British council online e-
learning to improve my communication competence. I have planned to enroll in British council
online e-learning after reading the online reviews of the people who gained the knowledge on
communication competence and have improved the four key areas like use of communication
strategies, coherence and cohesion, appropriacy and words and rules (Council, 2008). I believe
the role-play activities for speaking, and information gap along with the aforementioned 4 key
areas will help me to present myself in front of people with confidence while making proper eye
contact. This will also help me in improving my confidence level to communicate with the group
of people or strangers proactively. This enrollment will also provide me with the advice on how
to reduce communication apprehension and give presentations with confidence.
It has been studied that to improve athletes’ performance, strategies and mental practices have
been used by the people successfully. Thus, I will also employ the practices of mental activities
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and strategies to my action plan to overcome both the issues, that is, Nonverbal Immediacy and
the tolerance for disagreement.These activities will help me in creating a visualization in my
mind while comparing the past and present situations. I will memorize how I reacted in my past
situations and how I will react to reduce the stress level and feel anxious (Doyran, 2017).
I would also like to get the understanding and knowledge from the literature related to
interpersonal conflicts and communication apprehension. I will follow the way to improve the
non Nonverbal Immediacy mentioned in the youtube video (Williamson, 2015).
To improve the tolerance for disagreement, I will also follow the methods mentioned in the
journal articles like Tolerance for Disagreement: Interpersonal Conflict Reconceptualized,
written by Knutson and others. I will also read the article “It’s good to talk: Talk, disagreement
and tolerance” written by C.J. Pattie and others (Pattie & Johnston, 2007).
The other methods which I will chose is reading the books. I will read the book like
‘Communicating Your Competence’ which will help me to improve non-verbal and verbal
delivery, through the strategies for subtle shifts in body language, useful colloquialisms,
pronunciation exercises which are highly-focused with first-language-driven, useful
colloquialisms, and culturally known particular idea expression to communicate my valuable
ideas and competence. This will help me to improve career prospects. The other books I will
chose are “Managing Interpersonal Conflict (Interpersonal Communication Texts)” by Donohue
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(Amazon.com, 2017b), “Umm . . .: A Complete Guide to Public Speaking” by O'Loghlin
(Cengage Learning, 2017) and “Communication Apprehension, Avoidance, and Effectiveness”
by Richmond, Wrench and McCroskey (Amazon.com, 2017a), Furthermore, these books will
help me to improve the ability to transform communication style depending on the
communication circumstances. To gain more knowledge and reduce the public speaking anxiety,
I will participate in the public speaking. I will then give the demo presentations to my
colleagues/ friends or mutual friends to remove anxiety. Through their feedback, I will try to
improve the areas in which I will be lacking behind while preparing a proper structure of speech,
which will help me to monitor and gain more knowledge of how to prepare for the presentations
in an effective manner. The provided feedback will also make me aware of the nonverbal
communication and advise me on how to measure my competence. I will follow all the above
mentioned practices through the proper timeline of conducting the practices. I believe for any
action plan to be effective, feedback plays a prominent role, either the feedback is negative or
positive. This will help me to take prestige decisions which looking for the methods to make my
action plan even better. I will track my performance as per the activities listed in the Gantt chart
with respect to time (Burton, Quirke, Reichmann, & Peyton, 2009).
In conclusion, this essay a concise apprehension to five communication diagnostic tools which I
have used to identify the factors through self reflection which bring the communication issues.
Through the scoring of all the 5 diagnostic tools which I have used, it has been identified that the
two key issues on which I need to work are Nonverbal Immediacy and the tolerance for
disagreement. However, both these issues relate to the theories of disagreement in interpersonal
communication and communication apprehension. The communication apprehension has helped
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in solving the different types of communication apprehension to communicate well with the
public, which will help me in addressing both the Nonverbal Immediacy and the tolerance for
disagreement issues. Also, Interpersonal communication shares a wide area of literature review,
which will focus on improving the ability of communication competence. In the last, the action
plan considering various aspects of communication style and communication competence is
created based on the outcomes of the diagnostic tools and self reflection.
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