Communication Skills in Business and Workplace

This assignment delves into the significance of effective communication skills in both business and professional environments. It examines diverse communication techniques, including verbal and nonverbal aspects, highlighting their impact on success in various workplaces. The analysis considers diverse factors influencing workplace communication, such as technology, cultural differences, and individual communication styles. Understanding these nuances is crucial for fostering clear, concise, and impactful communication.

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

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Table of Contents
1. Explanation of the Diagnostic Tools and Reflective Analysis....................................................2
2. Literature Review........................................................................................................................6
3. Action Plan................................................................................................................................13
References......................................................................................................................................16

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1. Explanation of the Diagnostic Tools and Reflective Analysis
Effective business communication is necessary for establishing the successful customer
and workers’ interactions. It is important for both the listener and the speaker to share the
responsibility of making the clarification of the message that is to be conveyed. According to
Bergener et al., (2012), effective communication process is not only about interaction, it depends
on the choice of words, body language, voice tone, and clarification of the messages. When I am
working with my co-workers, I need to make the rectification on developing the effective
communicational efficiency. It has been observed that people from different geographical
background present the different communicational attribute that create the diverse impact on the
situation. In this study, I have used five diagnostic tools to evaluate my communication skills
that I need to use at my workplace. The scores obtained from these diagnostic tests would help
me in understanding my area of improvement in order to develop efficient communicational
attributes. First, I have used self-perceived communication competence tool, which helped me in
understanding the underlying barriers that I might face in communicating with my co-workers at
the workplace. Second tool is self-perceived communication competence, which perceives the
different situation that I might experience while working with other people.
The diagnostic tool of intercultural communication apprehension presents the report of
the competency skills that I need to maintain while communicating with the people diverse in
cultural background and personal traits (Robles, 2012). I have observed that while
communicating with the people from different cultural background, I might have to deal with the
innumerable language barriers as well as the cultural barriers as well. While dealing with the
people from different cultural and linguistic values, I shall improve the competency skills to

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communicate in the cross-cultural situations. I can even utilize the non-verbal communication
process to communicate with the people from different cultural background. The non-verbal
communication deals with the various body languages, written communication, facial
expression, and signs (Royle & Laing, 2014). I have to be cautious about present these non-
verbal gestures as I need to clarify the message. The non-verbal communication is often
misinterpreted that can affect the corporate environment.
The self-perceived communication competence scale (SPCC) diagnostic tool provides
me the insights about my personality trait that is foreseen while I am working with my coworkers
at my workplace. The obtained scores from this diagnostic tool signify that I need to be more
competent to deal with the different uncertainties that may occur within the workplace. It is
notable that while working with the other employees from various cultures, I might have to face
the considerable challenges around. However, it is necessary to respond to the situation
accordingly. I need to bring the improvements in my communicational competency in such
situation. The maintenance of the flexibility is essential for me to discuss any crucial situation. I
can take the active participation in the group discussion. If my business managers want me to
take the participation in any group discussion, I take this opportunity to develop my
communicational efficiency. On the other hand, it is also noticeable that my public
communication is not much commendable. I need to develop the competency in interacting in
public and improve my performance during the group discussion process. In fact, the cultural and
lingual barriers signify the challenges that I may face at my workplace that would create the
obstacle in establishing a good rapport with the new colleagues.
Another diagnostic tool, Personal Report of Public Speaking Anxiety determines the
nervousness of a communicator during the delivery of the speech in a conference or in front of

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others (Novik & Podgórecki, 2015). It is noticeable that in a conference meeting, people perceive
different psychological values. When I become a speaker, I always concentrate on delivering the
speech in an effective way. While conducting this test, I have observed that I possess an effective
and active listening skill that helps in providing the remarkable speech. In the personal report of
public speaking anxiety, I scored average as I need some improvements in delivering speech. I
need to work on minimizing my nervousness while communicating in public.
The report obtained from non-verbal immediacy scale highlights that I face the several
recognizable challenges in maintaining the non-verbal communication with the other workers at
my workplace. Non-verbal communication needs to be skilled enough while maintaining the
interactive sessions with others. People from different cultural background face the negative
consequences as well (Mascle, 2013). Hence, when I deal with the people from different
geographical, cultural, and lingual background, it becomes quite difficult for me to cope with
situation. My body language, gestures, facial expression, and signs to develop an appropriate
non-verbal communication skill. The diagnostic tool used in talk-aholic scale, I have observed
that the assertive perception efficiency level in quite higher in me that helps me in staying
positive towards different situation. I need to calm myself down in occurrence of any
uncertainties and I have that ability since I have full control on my speech. I have the capability
of deciding when to use my words or when I need to keep myself quiet. Hence, I have scored
commendable level in this aspect.
As a speaker or the communicator, it is essential for me to present the equal competency
level while responding to others. The evaluation report of the self-perceived competence skills
reflects that I have scored 45 in acquaintance, 62 in Dyad, 56 in stranger, 50 in meeting, and 95
in friend. The report provides me the idea that I should not face any challenges while

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communicating with the friends. The communication with the strangers is considerably low,
which specifies that I am not much flexible in maintaining the effective communication with
strangers. However, my communication in a group discussion is quite remarkable even though I
scored average in the meeting. It is thus necessary for me to concentrate on developing the
communication while I am communicating with the people from different background.
The result received from the intercultural communication apprehension sheet provides
the insights that I scored only 46, which is too average. It depicts that I maintain an average
competency level while communicating with the people from different cultural background. In a
cross-cultural environment, I experience the difficulties with the strangers. The lingual and
cultural barriers are quite difficult for me to cope with and due to such difficulties, I am forced
used my non-verbal communication skills. I need struggle while presenting my point of view as
they are unable to understand my language. The non-verbal skills are thus used for sending or
receiving the message. However, it is necessary for me to get accustomed with such uncertainties
since I am working within a workplace that is full of people from different cultural background.
The challenges are quite expected in such cases. The tension and nervousness is quite
recognizable while I communicate with the people from diverse culture. I need to improve my
competency level in such regards to make the considerable progress in my career.
The result shows that I have scored 95 in Personal report of Public Speaking Anxiety,
which is quite moderate. It clearly depicts that I need improvisation in making myself competent
enough in communicate much efficiently in different situation. I am working in a multinational
organization in which people from different background work together and perform the
organisational functionalities. Therefore, it is quite obvious that I need to communicate with
them with more efficiency by diminishing my nervousness and anxiety. The non verbal skill

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report, on the other hand, highlights my score of 85, which determines the higher efficiency level
in this aspect. While communicating with the people from diverse cultural background, I use the
remarkable non-verbal communication skills. I scored 25 in talkaholic scale, which indicates that
I am quite efficient as a communicator or performer. However, I have obtained the idea that I
need to get hold of my speech in accordance with the situation. It is essential to derive the idea
about the reaction and the method of keeping it in control.
The intercultural communication skills are not quite commendable in my case. The
effective intercultural communication helps people in generating the ability of interacting people
with diverse culture and lingual background. If the organization maintain the cultural diversity, it
would become easier for me to develop considerable intercultural communication ability. The
appropriate language use and communication process helps in developing the good performance
within a workplace. The nervousness and consciousness create the barriers in conveying my
messages that is quite considerable weakness. The ideas derived from the tests through these
diagnostic tools, I can come to conclusion that I need to make myself more efficient in dealing
with the people from diverse cultural and lingual background. While working together within the
workplace, it s necessary to develop effective communication to convey the important message. I
have the good listening skills that makes me understanding their perceive values. However,
making the clear and frequent approach in communicating with others would be required to
improve my professional and personal skills.
2. Literature Review
Conceptual Analysis of Inter-cultural Communication

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The development of the intercultural communication is essential in every aspect.
Especially, while working in a multinational corporation, people deal with many workers who
belong to the diverse cultural, geographical, and lingual background. An efficient employee
knows the method of establishing the effective communicational transparency with others that
would help in developing the productive work culture. According to Keyton et al., (2013), it is
essential for the employees to exchange the necessary views and thoughts while working
together in a workplace. The ineffective communication of an employee can affect the work
functionalities in a recognizable way (Quintanilla & Wahl, 2015). The effective intercultural
communication helps people in generating the ability of interacting people with diverse culture
and lingual background. If the organization maintain the cultural diversity, it would become
easier to develop considerable intercultural communication ability (Hildebrand, 2017). The
appropriate language use and communication process helps in developing the good performance
within a workplace. A multinational corporation consists of people from different cultural
background that have the clear impact on delivering the effective performance. In such regards, it
is essential to maintain the effective cross cultural communication to prevent the cultural and
lingual barriers.
Fleisher and Bensoussan (2015) implied that the interaction with the diverse cultural
background may affect the decision-making process within a workplace. People from different
cultural background perceive differently. Their psychological values are also quite different to
each other, which creates the challenges in developing the effective decision making suitable for
the business. it is quite difficult to decide upon one particular point of view since people perceive
things in a different manner. For example, some people agree upon setting any particular
priority, which is rejected by others. Cardon and Marshall (2015) exclaimed that the good

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performance of an organization depends on the efficient and remarkable communication skills
that creates the transparency in conveying messages. In such cases, when the difficulties emerge
in establishing the verbal communication, the non-verbal communication can be utilized. Non-
verbal communication can be developed if there is the proper maintenance of the transparency
level (Eggenberger, Heimerl & Bennett, 2013). Presenting the concerns through facial
expression, written communications, and helpful signs can develop an efficient non-verbal
communication. On the contrary, Deepa and Seth (2013) argued that the intercultural
communication is beneficial for the business organizations. It has been observed that during the
intercultural communication process, people present the different views and perceive values.
These different views create the innovative performance efficiency, which can turn out to be
much beneficial and profitable for the organization. In fact, this cultural diversity would
contribute to the accomplishment of the business goals in a significant manner (Daim et al.,
2012). In addition to this, the intercultural communication develops the personal attributes of the
associated people that drive the organization towards success.
Necessity of Self-Perceived Communication
The self-perceived communication determines the reaction of the individual under the
diverse nature of the organisational situations. It is noticeable that the organizations usually
experience diverse situations and the employees need to face every uncertainty. The occurrence
of the crisis situation sometimes affects the mental state of the mental state of the employees (De
Grez, Valcke & Roozen, 2012). Employees often go through the pressurized situation for
maintaining the appropriate balance in performing the organisational functionalities. They even
need to attend the group discussion, meetings and communication programs with friends,
strangers, and many other people. The effective communicational transparency helps an

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individual to maintain the diverse work culture within a workplace. It is sometimes noticed that
if the individual feels uncomfortable in communicating with the people belong to different
cultural background; it may lead to negative circumstances.
However, the study sheds lights on the self-perceived communication, which imply that it
is necessary to develop the effective communicational transparency even in the situation of the
emergency (Brink & Costigan, 2015). Especially, in a multinational corporation, the
communicational transparency helps in delivering the productive solution for accomplishing the
business goals. During a group discussion, the intercultural communication process becomes
easier. In a group discussion, a individual needs to communicate with a number of strangers.
This communication is quite effective in understanding different perceptive values, point of
views, and the cultural attributes. The focus should be provided on the flow of communication,
which would benefit the situation at that very moment. Baruah (2012) suggested that while
dealing with the corporate environment, an individual must be prepared for every situation. The
effective intercultural communication helps people in generating the ability of interacting people
with diverse culture and lingual background. If the organization maintain the cultural diversity, it
would become easier to develop considerable intercultural communication ability. The
appropriate language use and communication process helps in developing the good performance
within a workplace. They need to attend meetings, take active participation in a group
discussion, and contribute to the training session. In such sequences, they need to be more skilled
to convey their messages and receive the messages from the other end. While working under a
multinational corporation, people meet others who belong to different cultural, geographical, and
lingual background. It is necessary for an individual to develop an efficient communication skill,
be it verbal or non-verbal, to determine the productive approach in the business dealings. Getting

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accustomed with diverse situation strengthens the competency level of an individual in both
professional and personal life.
Effectiveness of effective communication in an organization
According to De Grez, Valcke annd Roozen (2012), it is important for both the listener
and the speaker to share the responsibility of making the clarification of the message that is to be
conveyed. The maintenance of the proper communication transparency creates the significant
atmosphere within a workplace and as a result, it determines the productive benefits. It has been
observed that people from different geographical background present the different
communicational attribute that create the diverse impact on the situation. Effective business
communication is necessary for establishing the successful customer and workers’ interactions. It
is important for both the listener and the speaker to share the responsibility of making the
clarification of the message that is to be conveyed (Cardon & Marshall, 2015). It is necessary for
me to get accustomed with such uncertainties since people are working within a workplace that
is full of people from different cultural background. The challenges are quite expected in such
cases. If any organization maintains the effective communicational transparency, it would reflect
on the collective decision-making process.
When the employees need to deal with the people from diverse cultural background, it
would generate the ideas about the different corporate cultures. These diverse perceive values
can be utilized to bring more innovations in the business functionalities. Moreover, this
intercultural communication helps in making progress in the personal and professional attributes
of the individuals. Taking the active participation in a group discussion creates the opportunity to
know people from different cultures and judge their perceive values. The effective intercultural

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communication helps people in generating the ability of interacting people with diverse culture
and lingual background. If the organization maintain the cultural diversity, it would become
easier for me to develop considerable intercultural communication ability. The appropriate
language use and communication process helps in developing the good performance within a
workplace. Effective business communication is necessary for establishing the successful
customer and workers’ interactions (Mascle, 2013). It is important for both the listener and the
speaker to share the responsibility of making the clarification of the message that is to be
conveyed. It is necessary for me to get accustomed with such uncertainties since people are
working within a workplace that is full of people from different cultural background.
Communication Model
The communication process depends on the systematic and sequential steps. The
communication model introduced by Laswelle also consists of five stages, such as who says
what, the channels, to whom, and with what effects. It is essential for an individual to utilize the
appropriate channel to communicate with the people. Delivering the messages in a proper way is
important as the receiver needs to decode the messages. The communication becomes successful
when the receiver can present the concern against the message received from the other end.

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Figure 1: Communication Model of Lasswelle
(Source: Wintergerst & McVeigh, 2014)
The model depicts that the receiver would present the positive feedbacks if the sender succeeds
in sending the appropriate message. Due to the cultural and lingual barriers, often the individuals
fail to transmit the message in an effective way. A multinational corporation consists of people
from different cultural background that have the clear impact on delivering the effective
performance (Jam, 2017). In such regards, it is essential to maintain the effective cross cultural
communication to prevent the cultural and lingual barriers. The model also describes that the

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receiver requires encoding the messages in an effective way, which would depend on a particular
channel of communication. The business manages even experience the crucial scenario when
they attend meeting with people who belong to different culture and lingual background (Wilton,
2012). In many cases, it has been observed that the business managers use the translator as the
medium of communication with the diverse people. The helpful training session and use of the
multilingual flexibility would be effective enough in overcoming such situation.
Gap in the Literature
The literature study provides the insightful ideas about the necessity of developing
effective business communication. In spite of providing the extensive information regarding the
individual attitude towards communicating with the people from diverse culture, the study fails
to recognize the specific issues faced by the organizations. Moreover, the literature does not even
provide the idea about the appropriate channels that can be utilized to make the improvisations in
the communicational aspects. In addition to this, it has been noticed that the study lacks the in-
depth analysis of overcoming these language barriers. Hence, it can be stated that in spite of
developing the elaborated discussion, the literature study is quite limited.
3. Action Plan
The action plan determines the establishment of the systematic steps to mitigate the
issues identified in the competency level of developing an effective business communication.
The following table would provide the idea about the areas of improvements and completing the
activities within the stipulated time.

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Activities Start Date End Date Duration
1. Presenting the proposal to human resource
management for training and mitigating the
communication gap
01/09/2018 06/0918 6
2. Identification of the training needs and
objectives
07/09/2018 08/09/2018 2
3. Selecting the people who need such training 09/09/2018 10/09/2018 10
4. Development of the communication tool to
communicate with the trainer
11/09/2018 15/09/2018 4
5. Collection of the information by obtaining
the feedback from the trainer
16/09/2018 23/11/2018 8
6. Analysis of the Data 24/09/2018 30/09/2018 7
7. Evaluating the information received from
the training program
03/10/2018 10/11/2018 7
Table 1: Action Plan
(Source: Created by the Author)
The action plan suggests that the organization needs to focus on developing a training
program at the initial stage. Firstly, the human resource management needs to receive the
concern conveyed by the individual regarding the training needs. Accordingly, the objectives and
aims of the training would be developed. It is essential to recognize the individual who needs
such training session due to the difficulties faced during the intercultural communication process.

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The human resource management is responsible to utilize the necessary tools and resources
essential for this training and development program. In current situation, the technological
advancements have been contributing towards developing the effective workplace
communication. The use of the technological devices would also be helpful in this training
program. The information collected from this training session would be analyzed in an
appropriate way to recognize the gaps and limitations. Finally, understanding and gathering the
feedback would measure the progress of this training session. The effective feedback would help
me in generating more courage to perform in a better way by developing effective
communicational transparency within the workplace.

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