Post-Graduation Communication Course Admission

This assignment focuses on the process of applying to postgraduate courses in communication. It includes a detailed Gantt chart outlining key deadlines and activities, such as researching program options, gathering required documents, and submitting applications. The document also provides a list of references for further reading on various aspects of communication, including business, intercultural, and professional communication.

Running head: EFFECTIVE BUSINESS COMMUNICATION
Effective Business Communication
Name of the Student:
Name of the University:
Author’s Note:

2EFFECTIVE BUSINESS COMMUNICATION
Diagnosis and Reflection
The main purpose of this report is to identify and analyzes the outcomes of various
effective communication tools. The main objective is to see the findings of these communication
tools and to see their usages in the day to day work life. In particular, the emphasis has to be
given to those communication tools that will help to communicate for the business purposes.
These tools will help to detect the areas of strength, weakness and the area of improvement of the
researchers. This report helps to identify the interpersonal skill that is needed by them in order to
survive in any business organization (Evans et al., 2017). This report mainly deals with five
diagnostic tools that will guide the researcher in understanding the effectiveness of the
communication for business purposes.
In order to develop a proper understanding of my communication progress, I have made use
of five diagnostic tools. One of the most important and helpful parts of this effective
communication tools is that one needs to solve several questions. The results or the outcomes of
these questionnaires help to determine the kind of personality and the kind of confidence level
that the researchers possess. It is through the usage of these communication tools that the
researcher can form a clear idea about the strengths that they have and use them for their future
benefits in several professional grounds like meetings, dealing with the internal and the external
clients and several other such grounds. The five different communication tools that have been
used are as follows
 People Skills
 Verbal Communication
 Self-perceived communication competence (SPCC)

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 The Non-verbal Immediacy Scale Self-report (NIS-S)
 Presentation skills
Presentation Skills
These tests have really been very helpful as they helped me to determine the areas of my
strength and also the areas of my improvement. As I believe that self-analysis is one of the most
important ways that I should follow if I want to survive in the business organization. It really
helped me a lot to get an understanding of the different ways and patterns of communication that
is possessed by every individual. The Non-verbal Immediacy Scale-Self-analyses is considered
to be the most updated and clear communication assessment tool.
The people skills tools are generally the testimonials of how people behave and interact.
It basically talks about the soft skills that are needed for the business organizations. It not only
emphasizes on the personal attitude or the behavior of the person but also the way this behavior
is accepted by the other people (Tuna, Gulez, & Gungor, 2013). The main idea of this effective
communication tool is to help the researcher get an idea about his qualities of social interaction
particularly in case of a business organization. The main tenants or the outcomes of this tool are
 The ability to understand and comprehend that the other people are saying
 The ability to interact with others with proper respect
 The ability to work for building a proper communication and a good rapport with all the
coworkers
 The ability to build trust among the employees, initiate moderate behaviors, and being
less impulsive. This, in turn, will help in initiating agreeableness.

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SPCC is a tool that helps to determine the extent of the willingness of an individual to
communicate with others and his willingness towards initiating communication, particularly in
the business grounds. There are various kinds of people than a business person has to go
converse with. So, it is of utmost importance for an individual to know how much competition he
is in speaking with the different kinds of business clients or the stakeholders. There are
parameters like speaking with a friend, talking in a small meeting or speaking in a large meeting
or speaking in a group of strangers.
Presentation skills talk about the level of confidence that is present within an individual to
conduct the presentations or the seminars in any business meetings. So, it is of utmost
importance that the researcher undertakes this particular tool in order to understand the level of
confidence that one has. Delivering presentation in front of so many people can often be a great
challenge, especially for those people who have a little less confidence level than others
(McQuail & Windahl, 2015).
I have been greatly influenced by the results that I have received from the usage of the
communication tools. This has really helped me a lot in order to identify my areas of strength
and weakness. I will be now able to nurture my strengths to a greater extent so that I can use
them for my betterment. This is of immense help because this will really help me to work on my
weaknesses as well. Identifying the areas of strength and the areas of weaknesses are really very
helpful for the future days in my professional lives because it will help me to find out several
means of coming up with those areas of weakness (Gelles, & Haeupler, 2017).
The result that I have got from the analysis of the nonverbal immediacy self-report
shows that my positive feeling towards the people is high. This is because my score is 169 which

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is greater than 104. So as per the rule of this tool, if the score for the males is more than 104, it
signifies that they have a high nonverbal immediacy. This means that I have a good and positive
attitude towards people.
Verbal Communication is of utmost importance in case of any business meetings or any
other business scenario. My score in case of the verbal communication tool was 46. As per the
rules of this particular communication tool, individuals getting a score within the range of 20 to
50 are not really very comfortable with group work or with any kind of teamwork. So, after
getting this score, I realized that I am really very comfortable in doing those particular works that
I do on my own. However, I feel very hesitant when I have to seek some help or have to do some
kind of communication with any other co-workers or any other teammates. I often suffer from
the lack of proper confidence when there is the need for going and speaking to others. I often
have this feeling that I will not be able to narrate all the issue properly, or I might fumble in front
of the concerned person due to the lack of concentration. I found it to be quite true to my
personality. I have often faced this problem when I am asked to talk with any of my superiors
regarding any particular project issue. I often feel that I will fall into the negative impressions of
my superiors. Though I sometimes manage to talk to any subordinates I feel that perhaps I will
lose my calm and will behave rudely with the junior teammates. Thus, this indeed is one of the
most negative aspects because in the modern day scenario, having a proper communicative skill
is of utmost importance (Popp, Raneburger & Kaindl, 2013).
The score that I have got in peoples’ skill is 35 which fall within the range of 16 to 35
and it mainly shows that though I have a sound knowledge of the technical skills, I am not fully
utilizing it. So, I need to find out more strategies that will help me to properly collaborate and
understand the team and the organizational objectives. So, I need to find out proper ways I which

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I will be able to mingle with all my teammates. I have to be more open with all my teammates
and my superiors as well.
My score in the SPCC was 65.8. It was less than the 68 which shows that my rating. This
shows that my competency level is really low and I can very easily get distracted by other
people. I find this very much relevant to my own situation. So far in my professional life, I have
faced this problem very often. I often suffer from lack of proper confidence and have to be
guided by other people while carrying on my communication.
My score is 55 in the presentation skill tool. This shows that I have superior skills in
delivering proper presentations in front of all the people. The presentations that I deliver are very
interesting and it is well accepted by the people. I realize that if I am able to connect with the
audiences well, then I will always stay within their good books.
Thus, it is evident that the major areas of my weakness are verbal communication and
peoples skills. I have also faced these issues very recently in my professional fields. The first
incident took place when I was working as a team leader. I was naturally in charge of the overall
development of the teammates and I had to give a feedback to my manager regarding the
professional behaviors and the code of conduct of the teammates. I warned one of my teammates
to avoid late arrivals. I had given him several warnings but I was not very strict with him. I
realized that he was very casual and was not taking the warnings seriously. Still, I wanted to give
him some more chances before giving an escalation against him. The employee took undue
advantage of it and arrived very late on a very important business meeting. This had a huge
negative impact on the meeting and the company had to suffer a huge loss (PeleckienÄ &
Polajeva, 2016).

7EFFECTIVE BUSINESS COMMUNICATION
The second issue that I face is weak verbal communication. I am not really aware of the
impacts that my behavior can have on others. I faced this during one of my board meetings. I was
really in a bad mood that day and I was frustrated due to the work pressure. I somehow lost my
patience and busted on my subordinates. I initially thought that if I am really loud and rude with
my juniors then they will do the work efficiently. However, this had a very bad impact on the
morale of the teammates and they started becoming inefficient. They developed a negative
attitude towards me and stopped reaching out to be like before. They took me in a very wrong
way and misinterpreted me.
Literature review
One of the most severe issues that are faced by people is their inability to understand the
verbal language. It usually happens because these people are not really trained in this particular
aspect. I faced this problem when I was unable to interpret the growing anger and the distaste
that my teammates were developing against me when I was speaking with them in an angry tone.
The Burnlund model can of help in this particular aspect. This model says that the sender and
the receivers must be equally involved in the communication process when it happens. I was so
angry and out of my mind that time that I was not able to understand or comprehend what my
teammates were actually saying (Cardon, 2015). A very important aspect of the communication
is the speech act. So, it would have been wise for me, of at that time, I would have made it from
their comments that whatever I was saying was not being well accepted by them. On the other
hand, it was also expected from their end that they would make out from my speech that I was
not really in a good mood that time. Owing to my previous records and my usual behavior, they
must have been able to realize that whatever I was speaking was not intentional and it was only
because of my anger that I was behaving so rudely. I was also not aware that the way I am

8EFFECTIVE BUSINESS COMMUNICATION
speaking, my message will also be perceived by the receivers in the same way. As I was
speaking in an angry tone, it was also perceived by the receivers in a bad and a negative way.
This created a major problem between us. So, this model suggests that both the sender and the
receiver must be maintaining a book of codes. In order to avoid this problem, I will make sure
that I make this fact clear to all my teammates. I will tell them that whenever I get very angry I
might lose my self-control and will speak in this rough manner. So, it is also expected from their
end that they keep this thing in mind and do not comprehend my behavior in a negative manner
(Sadia et al., 2016).
The next problem that I have been facing is the inability to understand the motif or the
feedback of that employee who was always late in the office. I was not able to realize that the
employee would take the undue advantage of my good and polite behaviour with him. The
Interactive model says that often there are several barriers in the process of communication due
to the ethnic, graphics, cultural background of the receiver and the sender. It is also influenced
by the general experiences that one has gained in his or her life over the time period. Being born
and brought up in a very gentle and respectable family I have always been a very soft-spoken
person. This is also evident in my professional life as well. I do not really believe in being too
bossy over any of my employees. I do not try to make them do something by force. The same
happened in this case. Though I knew that this employee was constantly being late in the office I
kept on giving him several chances. I thought that perhaps he would be listening to my advice
and will obey me. However, nothing of that sort was really taking place as he was taking the
undue advantage of my down to earth nature. It was perhaps because the field of experience that
I had. I was mainly working as the team lead. As a result of which I always tried my level best to
interact with all my teammates very politely. This model also says that the communication must

9EFFECTIVE BUSINESS COMMUNICATION
always be a two way process. Owing to this, I must have waited for getting a proper concrete
response from this employee. In order to make him punctual, and to make him obey the office
ethics, It was also needed that from my end that I take on this matter to my senior authorities.
However I did not do so. I waited for the employee to understand his mistake on his own.
Though I did not get any effective feedback from him, I knew that the communication process
was incomplete and there was also a big communication gap between me and my senior
managers as well. Perhaps, there was also a communication gap between me and the employee.
It can also be that he was not really able to comprehend the message that I was communicating to
him. So, in order to overcome this problem, I will have to make sure that I also collect feedback
from the receiver regarding his or her comprehension of my message (Shwom & Snyder, 2015).
3. Action plan
In the previous section, I have identified two communication issues of mine. In this part, I
am going to make an action plan to address my communication issues. This action plan is for 6
months (24 weeks) and in this scheduled period; I will make better myself in communication. I
am weak in managing people and verbal communication is not strong, through this action plan, I
will definitely improve my communication.
a) Short courses
Communication is important in the workplace to communicate myself in front of others
and sharing my thought with people. I have been facing issues in verbal communication and my
people-management skill is not good. Short-communication courses can help me to improve my
communication skills. In Australia, CQUniversity provides short courses for the young
professionals and duration of the courses are two to three months. I have made up mind to do

10EFFECTIVE BUSINESS COMMUNICATION
Assertive Communication Course (3 months) and Adult Community Education Course (12
weeks). In addition, I am also thinking to join Active Listening Skills course. These courses are
helpful for the young professionals to improve the communication and upgrade the skills to
present themselves. Individuals who are above 15 can join these courses under CQUniversity. In
addition, I am thinking to continue Masters in Communication from CQUniversity and it is 2
years courses for full-time students. I can continue this course on part-time basis for four years as
this will help me to develop myself as competent professionals.
b) Reading plan
Books provide knowledge and confidence to the individuals. In order to improve
communication, I have made a reading plan for myself. I have made my mind that I will finish a
book within 15 days. I will read books by famous authors on communication. My reading plan
includes Marshall Rosenberg’s ‘A Language of Life’ and Chris Anderson’s TED Talks. In
addition, Emilia Hardman’s Active Listening is on my reading list and I will also read Brian
Tracy’s ‘The Power of Self-Confidence’. I will read these books at night before going to bed and
I have been doing these since my childhood.
c) Maintaining personal journal
I shall keep a journal to keep an account of my improvement as keeping a daily journal
helps to monitor the improvement of the action plan. In this journal, I will make a daily schedule
for ‘to-do’ list. Personal journal assists to improve the IQ of an individual and it can enhance the
mindfulness. It can enhance my EQ (Emotional Intelligence) and self-discipline as well.
d) Identification of mentor

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I will select a mentor for myself who can help me to sort out my mistake in
communication. I would like to have a mentor with whom I can discuss openly anything. In my
childhood, I went to English tuition to Sir Ronald Bailey. He taught us English and he used to
teach communicative English to the higher class students. I am going to make him as my mentor
as he has enough knowledge about communication and motivation to speak. He used to teach us
about personal-discipline. I am going to attend his classes on weekly basis and he has online
tutorial also where I can develop my knowledge.
e) Gantt chart
Set of
Activities
Week 1 Week 3 Week 6 Week 10 Week 16 Week 24
Making
reading plans
Maintaining a
personal
journal for
accounting
communication
development
Short courses
of
communication

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Selecting a
mentor
Using
communication
improvement
in daily life
Taking
admission in
Post-
graduation
courses on
communication
Table1: Gantt chart
(Source: Self-developed)

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References
Argenti, P. A. (2015). Corporate communication. McGraw-Hill Higher Education.
Cardon, P. (2015). Business communication: Developing leaders for a networked world.
McGraw-Hill Higher Education.
Chaney, L., & Martin, J. (2013). Intercultural business communication. Pearson Higher Ed.
DiSanza, J. R., & Legge, N. J. (2016). Business and professional communication: Plans,
processes, and performance. Pearson.
Evans, D. R., Hearn, M. T., Uhlemann, M. R., & Ivey, A. E. (2017). Essential interviewing: A
programmed approach to effective communication. Nelson Education.
Fleisher, C. S., & Bensoussan, B. E. (2015). Business and competitive analysis: effective
application of new and classic methods. FT Press.
Gelles, R., & Haeupler, B. (2017). Capacity of interactive communication over erasure channels
and channels with feedback. SIAM Journal on Computing, 46(4), 1449-1472.
Hampf, M., & Müller-Pohl, S. (Eds.). (2013). Global communication electric: business, news
and politics in the world of telegraphy. Campus Verlag.
McQuail, D., & Windahl, S. (2015). Communication models for the study of mass
communications. Routledge.
PeleckienÄ, V., & Polajeva, T. (2016). Towards sustainable entrepreneurship: role of nonverbal
communication in business negotiations. Entrepreneurship and Sustainability
Issues, 4(2), 228-239.

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Popp, R., Raneburger, D., & Kaindl, H. (2013). Tool support for automated multi-device GUI
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World. McGraw-Hill Higher Education.
Sadia, A., Salleh, B. M., Kadir, Z. A., & Sanif, S. (2016). The Relationship between
Organizational Communication and Employees Productivity with New Dimensions of
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Economies, 2(2), 93-100.
Shwom, B. G., & Snyder, L. G. (2015). Business communication: Polishing your professional
presence. Pearson.
Thill, J. V., & Bovée, C. L. (2013). Excellence in business communication. Pearson.
Tuna, G., Gulez, K., & Gungor, V. C. (2013). The effects of exploration strategies and
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