Effective Business Communication Assignment ( EBC )

Effective Business
Communication
Reflective Essay
25-Jan-18
(Student Details: )

Effective Business Communication
Reflective essays are such essays which helps the writer in examining the experience
which they face in their life. Once these experiences are attained, the writer details about these
experiences in order to explore the manner in which they change, in terms of their growth and
development from the experiences faced by them. When it comes to communication, they are
deemed as an important element in the life of any person and are used to state what the person
feels or are going through. Communication is crucial not in the business life of a person, but also
in their daily life in context of their social and personal interactions, and their written
communication, along with the communications they undertake through their body language or
the gestures used by them. Through the self reflection, the individual could learn about the skills
which they have, the way they channel their emotions and also the other features for which the
reflection is adopted. This particular self reflection or the reflective essay is based upon
analysing the communications skills held by the writer and would also approach a first person
approach. This would help in getting clarity on the different skills which the writer has and more
importantly would highlight the skills which the writer lacks. The analysis would depend on the
aspects like assertive perceptions, verbal communications, active listening, and the like. For the
purpose of undertaking this reflective analysis, the writer would be making use of the five
distinctive diagnostic tools which had been approved by the tutor and would highlight different
aspects of the personality of the writer. In order to gain detailed learning on the shortfalls which
the person has, and more particularly the manner in which these shortfalls can be given away
with, a thorough review of the established literature would be undertaken. This would help the
writer in creating an action plan for the next six months, where certain activities and events
would be planned, in order for the writer to improve upon their identified shortfalls based on the
conducted literature review.
For the purpose of analysing the communication skills which I have and which I faced
based on the diversified situations, and as indicated in the introduction portion, I have made use
of five diagnostic tools. In this regard, the first tool was Self-Perceived Communication
Competence Scale, herein after referred to as SPCC. This tool helps in showing the manner of
the competence of an individual in their communication is analysed by them, based on the
different scenarios in which they had to use communication and with the presence of a number of
receivers or audiences (McCroskey & McCroskey, 1998). The second tool used for the purpose
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Effective Business Communication
of this assignment was one related to the previous one and this was Personal Report of
Intercultural Communication Apprehension, herein after referred to as PRICA. This tool helps in
understanding the feelings which an individual holds when they have to communicate with an
individual belonging from diversified backgrounds. This includes the manner in which such
individual behaves when they come face to face with an individual from diversified backgrounds
(Neuliep & McCroskey, 1997).
The third tool I used was also related to the theme of this discussion and this was
Personal Report of Public Speaking Anxiety, herein referred to as PRPSA. This tool was
developed to calculate the communication apprehension and is quite reliable where the entire
focus is over the public speaking anxiety. This is a useful tool for the purpose of measuring the
public speaking anxiety; though, it proves to be inadequate when it comes to measuring of the
broader communication apprehension construct (McCroskey, 1970). The fourth tool I used was
the Talkaholic Scale. This tool is helpful for the purpose of measuring the compulsive
communication habit and also shows the competence of a person based on their nature as being
either a talkative person or being a person who talks very less (McCroskey & Richmond, 1995).
The last tool I used was Nonverbal Immediacy Scale-Self Report, herein after referred to as NIS-
S. This tool helps in highlighting the propinquity of a person regarding the communication. This
tool also highlights the person being positive or not, in their use of the non verbal immediate
behaviour undertaken with other people (Richmond, McCroskey & Johnson, 2003).
In order to use these diagnostic tools, I had to read the questions put in these tools in
detail and clearly, and then give the best possible scoring for the specific questions which were
asked. In doing so, I had to adopt an honest approach and this is what I did. Once this was done,
I was able to get a better understanding on the communication style I follow and also my
preferences in this context. In the use of SPCC, I got a score of 77.9, which neither put me in
high ratings of SPCC nor in the lower ratings of SPCC. This does leave a lot of scope open for
improvement for me as there is a need for me to improve upon my communications, irrespective
of the group I interact with; whether it is stranger or dyad. The next tool I used was PRICA
where I got a score of 24 which shows that I feel very comfortable when I have to deal with such
individuals who have a different background from mine, in terms of culture and ethnicity.
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Effective Business Communication
The third tool I used was PRPSA, where I got a moderate score of 100. This shows that
when it comes to public speaking anxiety, I neither excel at it, nor am I horrible at it. This is
aligned with the scores I got for SPCC and both of these tools in combination show that I lack
public speaking confidence and become conscious when I have to communicate with the
individuals who are not known to me. The fourth tool I used Talkaholic Scale I which I got a
score of 31. This puts me in the borderline talkaholics range. This was a contradiction from the
scores I got in SPCC, PRPSA, and for the variance in these scores, I would be finding the
relevant answers from the literature review. The last tool I used was NIS-S, where I got an
overall score of 85. This again puts me in a moderate category and shows that I made an average
use of the non verbal communications. From these tools, two prominent areas of improvement
for me can be identified, and both of these are related to the communication apprehensions.
These two are the communication apprehensions and the fear of speaking in public. These are the
two areas of improvement which I have to work upon in order to have a better future. Both of
these areas are interacted, but are based on the markings given on two tools, i.e., SPCC and
PRSPA.
The weaknesses or the areas of improvement which I have can be demonstrated through
two small examples which took place in my professional life. Nearly eight months back, I was
working in a local cafe and had to deal with a number of customers from all walks of life. When
I was new at this job, and had to work as a pastry chef. But for gaining an understanding on how
each function works, I was asked to work as a server for two days. On the very first day as a
server, I had to serve a customer. However, I felt very uneasy while dealing with this customer
and started missing my words and talking very fast. I did manage to serve the customers, but
unlike my habit of talking a lot, I could not indulge in a verbal communication with them.
Though, during my tenure as a pastry chef, I was easily able to communicate with people who I
had been working with. Though, till this day, I find it difficult to indulge in conversations with
new people and even in approaching new people.
There is one more professional interaction, which is almost embarrassing for me to admit.
As a part of my training experience, I was helping in the local community program. As a
volunteer, I was asked to getting to different people and getting the forms filled where the
different viewpoints of the individuals had to be asked about. The first problem I faced in this
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