Effective Business Communication Report - Tools of Communication

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

1
EFFECTIVE BUSINESS COMMUNICATION
Introduction
The communication diagnostic tools are important for the purpose of understanding of
self-evaluation of communication style of particular individuals (Rosenberg & Chopra, 2015).
This essay would make use of five diagnostic tools that would help me to understand my own
individual communication style. There would be brief literature review based on gaps identified
in the personal communication process. The concluding part of the essay would discuss about a
strong action plan that would help me to improve my identified communication challenges.
Diagnostic Tools
The first diagnostic tool used was the “Big Five Personality Traits”, which is considered
as the analysis of the five individual personality parameters (Leutner et al., 2014). The five
personality traits include the conscientious, open to experience, extraversion, neuroticism and
others. I have scored low in openness in experience, which indicates the fact that I am
comfortable in known surroundings only. My score in openness in experience is 48%, which
implies that I am impulsive, disorganized and often addicted to different forms of addiction. My
score of 45% in extraversion implies that I am an introvert person and I am usually quiet,
reserved and deliberate when it comes to communicating with others. My score of 68% in the
parameter neuroticism, indicates that I am highly susceptible to negative emotions of fear,
sadness guilt and others. The results are shown below (Details given in Appendix 1).
Parameters My Score Degree
Open to experience 55% Low
Conscientious 48% Low
Extraversion 45% Low

2
EFFECTIVE BUSINESS COMMUNICATION
Neuroticism 68% High
Table: Big Five Personality Test Results
Source: Created by author
The second diagnostic tool used was the “Willingness to Listen Test”, which tests the
ability of listening well to the opinions and viewpoints of others in a professional setting
(Derwing & Munro, 2014). I have scored a low score of 5, which indicates that I have poor
listening skills (Details given in Appendix 2). I do not have the capability of practice active
listening and hence it creates communication barriers. The third tool used for the purpose of the
assignment is the “Personal Report of Communication Apprehension”, which is a measure of
fear or anxiety faced by an individual when interacting with other persons in a professional
environment (Neuliep, 2017). The communication apprehension is concerned with the fear of
anticipated or real interaction with other groups of people (especially with people of other ethnic,
religious or racial groups). I have scored 70 in this test (Details given in Appendix 3), which
implies that I have moderate level of communication apprehension. I am not scared to meet and
talk with people, neither I am too open to talk to them.
The fourth diagnostic tool is the “Assertiveness Questionnaires”, which tests the
behaviours of individuals and the assertive component in the behavior of the people (Warland,
McKellar & Diaz, 2014). In this test, my score was 56, which implies the fact that I am unable to
bring important concerns to public notice (Details given in Appendix 4). At times, I do feel self-
assured and hence I do not have issues if someone else knows that I disagree with them. The fifth

3
EFFECTIVE BUSINESS COMMUNICATION
diagnostic tool used for the purpose of this assignment is “Johari Window”, which is one of the
unique communication tools for understanding the self-awareness of the individuals and the level
of disclosure to other individuals (Saxena, 2015). There are four quadrants which are the open
area, blind area, hidden area and the unknown area. I have a small open area (façade) and a large
unknown area (Details given on Appendix 5). This implies that I have many characteristics
which are not known to me as well as they are not known to other also.
Two main issues in Communication
The above analysis helped me to identify two major communication challenges that I
have identified. I am introvert, which has been reflected by the test results of Big 5 personality
tests. I am unable to share my feelings with the outside world and hence I am unable to receive
adequate attention from others. I am unable to communicate my feelings well with the people
and hence I am often misunderstood or left out. I am also having poor listening skills, which is
detrimental for my professional life. I am unable to concentrate on a speech for a long time and
hence lose track of the same. I engage in passive listening skills, which often makes me land in
trouble, especially in tough corporate scenarios.
Reflection of two professional interactions
I realized that I actually possess the identified communication challenges as I have two
incidents in practical life. During my induction period, I was unable to mix with anyone and this
introvert attitude prevented me from making good professional contacts. I was not being able to
be a part of the group and hence I felt that I somewhere lacked the confidence of being a part of
the team and the organization at large. My introvert attitude has prevented me from getting