Communication Skills in University and Workplace Report

This report examines the crucial role of communication in various aspects of life, including university, work, and personal relationships. It emphasizes the importance of effective communication for students, managers, and individuals in general, highlighting its function in planning, organizing, leading, and controlling. The report delves into ways to improve communication skills, encompassing verbal, written, and body language aspects, such as active listening, eye contact, and confident speaking. It also discusses assertive communication, differentiating between assertive, non-assertive, and aggressive behaviors, and how facial expressions play a role. The report further underscores the significance of listening skills in academic, professional, and personal contexts, providing strategies to enhance listening abilities and overcome personal challenges in this area. It references key academic sources to support the analysis.

Running head: COMMUNICATION
Communication
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

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Importance of communication at University, work and personal life:
Effective communication is very essential for the students, managers inside and
outside of an organization in order to perform the primary function of management that is
planning, organizing, leading and controlling. Communication helps in motivating students
and employees by informing and explaining the employees about the tasks assigned and the
manner of doing the tasks. Communication acts as a source of information to the students,
teachers and members of the organization which in turn helps in decision making and also
plays a major role in altering the attitudes of the individuals. It also helps in socializing
(Burgoon, Guerrero and Floyd 2016). It makes people interact with each other and in turn
have clarity of the thoughts. Communication also assists in the controlling process. It
determines the behavior of the individuals in various ways. An effective communication
system requires managerial proficiency in receiving and delivering messages. In personal life,
communication helps in fostering a feeling of closeness with friends and family.
Improvement of communication skills:
In general, mastering effective skills of communication helps individuals both at work and at
home. In order to improve the skills of communication it is essential to improve verbal,
written and body language communication skills. The ways to improve communication skills
are-
 Listening- Speaking consists of one-half of the communication. It is equally necessary
to listen carefully to what others are saying in order to have an effective and
successful conversation.
 Eye contact- While conversing with others, regular eye contact helps in a successful
conversation.

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 Asking questions- I can learn the aspect of asking questions while in a conversation as
it will help me in clarifying and understanding the point of view of others, in the
conversation.
 Body language- It is necessary to have a fair idea about the body language of others.
Conversations keeping the arms closed will create a negative impact on others.
 Speaking confidently- It can make the conversation easier. Confidence in speaking
leads to a direct, open and a clear conversation.
Assertive communication and two levels of communication:
Assertive communication is the potential of an individual to express the negative and
the positive ideas and feelings in a clear and honest and direct. It helps in recognizing the
rights of an individual along with respecting the point of view of others. It also helps us in
taking responsibility for ourselves and the actions with no any judgments and blames. During
the time of conflicts, it allows us to confront and in turn resolve the problem.
There are two levels of communication and that manifests in three different forms of
assertiveness, non-assertiveness and aggressive behaviors. The various characteristics of
body language help in distinguishing between non-assertive, assertive and aggressive
behaviors. The characteristics are- approach, nodding, touch, facial expression, nonverbal
encouragement and vocal range.
Facial expression: Human faces demonstrate over 10,000 facial expressions. Men and
women however use these expressions differently. Men show less facial expression than
women. Men also smiles less than women (Müller et al 2013). The main reason behind this is
that women have been taught more appeasement body language and are always encouraged
to adjust and cooperate with others. Facial expression helps in expressing an assertive
behavior, which includes expressing the feelings, ideas, rights and needs in ways that do not

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violate other’s rights (Doty 2018). When an individual is honest, expressive, self-enhancing
and spontaneous, it portrays assertive behavior of that individual. Assertive people and body
language helps in making choice by their own and are confident.
On the other hand, facial expression can also help in determining the non-assertive
behavior of an individual. People who are not good at expressing their ideas, feeling and
needs and usually ignore their personal rights portray a non-assertive behavior. They are
usually dishonest, indirect and self-denying.
Facial expression of an individual can also determine the aggressive behavior towards
others (Ekman 1993). They express their feelings, ideas and needs at the expense of others.
Aggressive people usually stand up for their personal rights but pay no attention in the rights
of others. They tend to dominate and humiliate which shows up in their facial behavior.
Importance of listening in academic, professional and personal context:
Listening is the key to an effective communication. If the process of listening is not
effectively followed, messages are very easily misunderstood. As a result of which
conversation becomes unsuccessful. Listening is an essential component for every individual
for communication as for the top managers listening skills helps in better interaction with the
employees as well as the clients. This also helps in the communication and interaction
between the students and the teachers, which in turn helps the students to have a better
understanding of the subject matter. In personal context, listening to what others are saying
makes the conversation easier and simpler to understand and comprehend. This in turn
enhances the confidence and bonding of the individuals.
I lack in the process of listening while in a conversation. I also fail in the process of active
listening. In order to improve listening at the receiving stage-

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 I would prepare myself to listen.
 I should start understanding and differentiating between intentional message and
noise.
 I should also concentrate on the stimuli that is most relevant to my goal or objective
of listening.
 I should take care of the selection and attention process in any conversation.
 I should also avoid interrupting the other person while he or she is speaking for
maintaining an ability to receive stimuli and listen to the point o view of the other
person.

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Reference:
Burgoon, J.K., Guerrero, L.K. and Floyd, K., 2016. Nonverbal communication. Routledge.
Doty, L., 2018. Communication and assertion skills for older persons. Taylor & Francis.
Ekman, P., 1993. Facial expression and emotion. American psychologist, 48(4), p.384.
Müller, C., Cienki, A., Fricke, E., Ladewig, S., McNeill, D. and Tessendorf, S. eds.,
2013. Body-Language-Communication(Vol. 1). Walter de Gruyter.