BUSN20017 - Effective Business Communication: A Self-Reflection Essay

This essay is a self-reflection on the author's business communication skills, utilizing five diagnostic tools to identify areas for improvement. The author focuses on two key issues: low confidence in public speaking and high anxiety when interacting with people from different cultural backgrounds. The essay includes a literature review exploring relevant concepts and theories related to these communication challenges. It also reflects on two professional incidents that highlighted these weaknesses. Based on the analysis, the author concludes that communication development is necessary and outlines an action plan to address these issues. The essay emphasizes the importance of delivery, confidence, and knowledge in effective public speaking, as well as strategies for managing anxiety and improving intercultural communication.

Business communication
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DIAGNOSIS AND REFLECTION
Communication is among one of the many vital skills in life, therefore, an effort taken to
developing one's skills in communication is not a waste of time but a great investment that we all
should bank all our resources and time on. Communication actually benefits someone in all
aspects of their lives be it professional wise, even in all sorts of social gathering (Scullion et
al,2011)
Communication challenges are however inevitable we all o have various spots of
weaknesses and strengths in our communication. This writes up is actually a self-examination
one and its purposes to uncover some of the challenges that I have in my communication in
various communication situations (Thill & Bovée,2006). Basically there are five diagnostic tools
that I am going to employ in this and they are; Self-perceived tool on communication
competence scale commonly referred to as (SPCC), this is was intentionally designed to get vital
and necessary data primarily on how competent individuals behave in a wide range of
communication and information scenarios due to distinct respondents and receivers , Nonverbal
immediacy scale self-report(NIS-S) this has been of recent the most effective and efficient
method of measure of non-verbal communication (Teven ,2010). its reliability always estimates
around 90, Personal report intercultural communication apprehension (PRICA) this tool basically
measures the number of fear people tend to experience when communicating and also relates
properly with other persons from various ethnicity and cultural groups, The Talkaholic scale,
simply measures an individual's tendency to over-communicate which in most cases is usually
self-perceived. The last one is tolerance involved disagreement tool, this scale is purposely
designed to check the level at which individuals at some point tolerate one another. This occurs

when having a disagreement with people during a conversation more so what that individual
believes in (Ting-Toomey & Chung,2005).
The results eventually came out, well I won't say that I was shocked because the
questionnaires kind of at some point bring out the so I would call naked truth about my
communication strengths and weaknesses (Jandt, 2017).The self-perceived communication
competence scale had it that I am somehow shy and not confident when an I am speaking in
public, my confidence level is however much higher when communicating to small groups of
people and is at its peak when having one on one communication with my friends and family. In
public SPCC indicate that I had a score of 49 which is a very low mark, in small groups, it
indicated that I had a score of 69 which is an averagely fair mark and I manage to score the
highest in one on one conversation with friends and general family members with a score of 97
(Lu & Hsu,2012). My average was 71 which is not a really bad score by this means that my
communication is still wanting. The nonverbal immediacy scale self-report indicated that when I
talk to women I tend to use a lot of nonverbal cues of communication compared when am having
a conversation with men. The PRICA, on the other hand, indicated that I had a score of 57 which
means that my level of anxiety when talking to people from the different cultural background is
extremely high. A low score in PRICA is 32 and below in which I was not even any closer to
that mark (Asante et al,2013). The tolerance for disagreement indicated that I had an average
tolerance for disagreement with a score of 41, here a score above 46 indicates that one has a high
tolerance for disagreement while a score below 32 indicates that one has a low level of tolerance
for disagreement. It's a score between 46 and 32 that indicates a moderate level of tolerance for
disagreement. The talkaholic as the name suggests indicates that I actually have a tendency of
over speaking when am in a conversation.

Based on the findings I carried out an analysis and self-checking and that concluded that I
am not a very good communicator but neither am I a bad one (Carnegie ,2017). I have quite a
number of issues concerning my communication styles but there were two problems that were so
chronic and I felt that I had to try and do away with them. It's said that practice makes perfect
and I was determined to see to it that these two problems that were so much grown in me and
threatening my whole communication have to be done away with. The problems were, one I
cannot speak in public, my confidence level is really wanting (Teven ,2010). The SPCCS score
indicates a score of 49 which means that my confidence level is below average when I am
speaking in public. This really eats me up and action needs to be taken immediately. I've always
had a dream of becoming a great leader in future but with this level of confidence then my hopes
are doomed literally it's like there is no light at the end of the tunnel. I do believe, however, that
all is not lost and that something can still be done, something can still make me that great leader
and still want to be after all the cornerstone of effective leadership is self-mastery and self-
actualization (Grice et al,2015).
The second problem that I have in my communication is that I have a very high level of
anxiety. Well, this is very true and it has been happening to me ever since I was a little kid. The
PRICA indicated that I had a score of 57 which is really disturbing, I was not even any close to
the average mark of 41 and the low level of 32 (Beebe et al,2009).
A couple of months ago I had an encounter that really kept me thinking once I had completed
this analysis. I was actually finalizing my attachment. I had been in that law firm and being quite
a social person I had to familiarize myself with almost everyone in that firm. I could actually
walk around very freely during off duties hours to catch up with colleagues, I remember that I
had even been nicknamed the Talkative (Beebe et al,2009). A time came when I was about

leaving the firm to get back and continue with my studies. Having been such a friendly guy to
everyone in the firm the senior partners saw it fit that they organize like some kind of farewell
occasion for me. This really meant a lot. I was supposed to make a speech in front of all workers
in that firm. I was very confident that It would not be a problem since I knew almost every single
person in that firm but this was not the case. When I got in that podium to make that speech was
expected to so deep and meaningful I froze. I hesitated, it was so embarrassing (Hogan et
al,2008).
Another incident occurred when we went to South Africa with the same firm. It was an
exchange programme that was meant to act as an eye-opener and a means of learning by
interacting with people from totally different social setups and background. I was so excited,
everyone was. It was the first time I was going to Africa and I hoped that it would indeed be the
greatest adventure of my life. Literally, it was the greatest adventure of my life but it happened in
a way that I did not for. The first couple of days were pretty good but the remaining days were a
nightmare I don't even want to talk about. I was not really myself this happened during
interactions and discussion with the lawyers and works in the South African firm (Von et
al,2013). I was kind of overexcited, nerves and afraid at the same time. I could not communicate
so well. I found myself over talking when I was spoken to saying things that actually really
mattered but not in an appropriate way. It was some kind of fear couple with anxiety.
Based on these two incidents that happened to me I can clearly say that my
communication is not exactly where I want it to be and its really affecting me. It even affects me
mentally and psychologically I feel really disturbed and I even don't have the peace of mind
(Teven 2010). Communication development is mandatory that's something that I have concluded

and it should happen soon enough. I know it won't be so easy but it's a path that I have to take I
can't really risk what happened to me happen again on my watch.
LITERATURE REVIEW
From the diagnosis and reflection, I noted that I had two problems, the problem of low
confidence and self-believe when speaking in public and the problem of having an extremely
high anxiety when communicating and interacting with people from different cultural and
ethnical backgrounds (Ting-Toomey & Chung ,2005).
Public speaking delivery is very key. Delivery is the actual presentation of a content that
has been researched on. Basically delivery depends on not only verbal but also nonverbal
communication techniques that need to be used interchangeably and simultaneously so as to
ensure a great presentation and delivery. Speaking in public is not an easy thing. Statistics have
that public speaking is among one of the greatest phobias that exist. Confidence is very key in
public speaking and that's something that I was actually missing (Hänninen & Karjaluoto,2017).
Having confidence in public speaking is that character of having zero tension and being less
nervous when communicating in public. It's often normal to experience anxiety and other forms
of communication apprehension commonly known as the stage fight. It happens to everyone
even the greatest speakers that the world has ever known. There was this famous and great actor
known as Mel Gibson is said to have experienced and struggled with tension and nervousness in
a multitude of people during his first performances back in the days that he even had to sit down
because his legs were too weak to be able to support him. Some other well-known celebrities that
have been noted to suffer from lack of confidence and nervousness are Carly Simon, Barbra

Streisand and Rod Stewart. Despite all this these great speakers have gone past their fears and
managed to counter stage fight, lack of confidence and nervousness (Anderson et al,2009). It’s
always every speaker's objective to eliminate the feelings of apprehension and lack of confidence
once they get on stage but this doesn't come in an easy way. It's usually the lack of confidence
and nervousness that motivates most public speakers to prepare both extensively and intensively
about what they are going to speak about and this makes their presentation captivating and even
much more lively, at times someone's greatest fear could actually be their greatest gift and
weakness is not meekness. It's all about turning the tables and mastering the art of turning a
threat into an opportunity (Anderson et al,2009).
Another important thing of instilling confidence during public speaking is how someone
dresses. It works so easily, how one dress for a public function or presentation can have a great
impact on how others respond to you. When you are well dressed too this gives you a great
feeling and it kind of boosts your confidence because you feel well about yourself (Samson et
al,2007). Confidence is very key when communicating since it gives one the command of the
conversation. One being sure of what your speaking about is also another determinant of the
level of confidence that one is actually going to portray while speaking. It's always advisable that
a speaker should have enough knowledge of what they are speaking about since this gives them
command and as a result a major boost in their confidence (Hinman & Danitz,2010). In my
communication, I lack the confidence and the things clearly mentioned above are some but just a
few that I need to put into consideration so to improve my communication. About dressing that is
not really an issue to me but I should also put that in mind. What I was lacking was actually the
idea of not believing in myself not my content of delivery because I always do a very thorough
research of anything before I make up my mind to speak about it (Leonard et al,2014).From

some of the celebrities that have been noted to be having communication Barbra Streisand is one
of my favorite speakers and a role model too, having to see that she also underwent exactly what
I am going through at some point in my life is actually a motivation to me, it gives me the drive
to strive much harder towards developing my communication skills and working on my public
speaking confidence. I have this dream that I will finally get past this and I will that great
speaker and leader I have always wanted to be.
There another huge problem that I do have in my communication is the anxiety I tend to
have when communicating with people from another cultural background. In recent years it has
been noted that intercultural communication has greatly increased despite language being an
interment obstacle (Ting-Toomey & Chung ,2005). Cultural differences that exist is an obstacle
itself and this makes this kind of communications full of non-verbal ques this makes people not
understand each other due to wrong interpretation of these non-verbal cues. Generally, it's known
that a person's perspective and how he thinks is greatly influenced by one's culture, therefore,
people tend to learn body languages and gestures that are commonly used and acceptable in their
culture this makes it even much harder for different people from different cultural backgrounds
and ethnicity to understand each other when communicating (Miller et al,2014).Furthermore, the
way in which people do address each other in these different cultural backgrounds is not the
same, this makes it so easy for people communicating to respond negatively on things that they
should have responded positively and respond positively to situations that they should have
responded negatively, this brings about some kind of misunderstanding (Chamberlain et
al,2009).Each culture has a certain way of internalizing and interpreting information once it has
been received, another factor that comes in in intercultural communication is the degree of
difference between the two cultures involved in the communication a big difference would

definitely lead to a lot of misunderstanding and they might end up not understanding each other
at all when there is no common language. There is also the problem of anxiety where people
tend to assume similarities instead of the differences (Martin & Nakayama 2013). Under this
context, anxiety can be defined as that strange feeling that someone feels as result of being in a
completely new environment. It is believed to be brought about by the fact that each party does
not really know how they are supposed to behave and act once the communication process is
underway and this usually shifts their focus on the actual communication. The results of this
anxiety always manifest itself as making very silly but noticeable mistakes such as over talking,
stammering among others.
Personally, I had a very hard time in trying to master the intercultural communication
skills I was actually assuming the similarities that existed between myself and my South African
counterparts instead of assuming the differences. I personally assumed that it was indeed okay
for us to behave in the same way we do behave in our respective cultures, this assumption,
however, made me the very sensitive and important differences that actually existed between us.
It was this caused the miscommunication (Hersey et al,2007).
For me to master the art of communicating clearly with people from different backgrounds and
cultures then it's important that I first start by appreciating the differences that exist between us.
ACTION PLAN
Having understood in depth the problems that I do have with my communication I have
to do all it takes to try and remedy this (Martin & Nakayama, 2013). Communication is an art
that can be learned and perfected it only takes the right kind of determination and the willingness

to go beyond my comfort zone. For the next six months, there are a number of things that I am
planning to do in line with the bettering of my communication skills. Some of the things that I
am going to do are explained below.
One, I am planning to undertake a short cause of Public Speaking Mastery based on the actual
communication cause (Ting-Toomey & Chung ,2005). Public speaking is one of the areas that I
am very poor at and I do believe that enrolling myself in this course will greatly help me remedy
the impending situation. It will help me get information from the scratch and understand in
depths the art of public speaking which is very crucial. I know it's going to cost me a fortune but
that does not really matter, all I care about is improving my communication nothing else.
Secondly, I am also planning to undertake an advanced postgraduate communication
course at CQC or maybe any other institution elsewhere all with the aim of bettering my
communication skills. There is also a reading plan in place (Bryman & Bell, 2015). We all know
that knowledge is power and the reading will help me in acquiring conceptual knowledge that I
cannot be taught in any class whosoever. This reading is meant to be tactical though, I am only
going to engage myself in reading some communication texts and self-help books. I have not
compiled a list of the books yet but I will do some research and make sure that everything is in
place so as to make this plan a success.
It's always important to keep track and check on progress in each and everything that we
do, based on that I am planning to maintain a personal journal specifically reflecting on my
communication interactions and how I did at the various communication interactions (Zikmund et
al,2013). This will enable me to keep track on my developments and at the end of it, all give an
account if it was really worth or not.

All these activities that I am planning to do will have timelines and a thorough follow up
will be made to make sure that the ultimate goal of improving on my communication skills is
achieved at any cost whosoever.
References
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approach. John Wiley & Sons.
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York: Oxford University Press.
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Jandt, F. E. (2017). An introduction to intercultural communication: Identities in a global
community. Sage Publications.
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