Effective Business Communication: A Reflective Essay on Skills

This reflective essay evaluates the writer's communication skills using five diagnostic tools: Tolerance for Disagreement, Talkaholic Scale, Nonverbal Immediacy Scale, Personal Report of Intercultural Communication Apprehension (PRICA), and Self-Perceived Communication Competence Scal...Read More

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May 23, 2018

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In any role played by an individual, be it in their professional lives or in their personal
lives, communication plays a crucial role. This is the reason why this concept is given so much
importance across the lives of people (Katz, Lazarsfeld & Roper, 2017). In functions of
management, this concept has again been given a lot of importance. It is a clear notion that
effective communication helps in a person getting a better chance of moving forward, and leaves
a good impression on others. Communication, for this reason, is deemed as an asset. In
maintaining managerial effectiveness and even organizational effectiveness, this is very crucial
(Mikkelson, York & Arritola, 2015). Owing to the significance of communications, this
reflective essay has been written. The theme of this reflective essay is to evaluate the
communication skills of the writer, by making using of five specific tools. Each of these tools
analyse certain aspect of communication of the writer. As a result of the reflective nature of this
task, the first person accounts and experiences of the writer have been included. These
experiences are particularly related to the real life of the writer, which highlighted their
shortfalls, when they entered professional scenario. This essay not only provides the shortfalls
and the real life experiences, but also a literature on the communication related apprehensions of
the writer, with a particular focus on intercultural apprehensions. Before coming to the
conclusion of this essay, an action plan for the upcoming six months, have been drawn for the
writer, which would hopefully help the writer in getting over their communication
apprehensions.
The first stage of this reflective essay required me to apply the five different diagnostic
tools given to us, which evaluate the different aspects of my communication skills. The five tools
serve different purpose, and before going into the results, the name of these tools and their
purpose has been explained. The very first tool which I opened up for this essay was titled

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Tolerance for Disagreement. This tool helps in analysing the degree to which a person can
tolerate the other person disagreeing with their beliefs (Teven, Richmond & McCroskey, 1998).
The ones with low scores reveal less ability of dealing with disagreement and the vice versa is
also true (Richmond & McCroskey, 2001). In this tool, I got a score of 29, which shows that I
am a moderate person. In other words, neither I like to disagree, nor am I comfortable with it.
This did not reveal any communication negatives and so I moved on to the next tool for this
assignment purpose. The second tool which I used was Talkaholic Scale. This tool helps in
evaluating if a person is talkative, and shows if the person tends to over-talk even in sensitive
situations, leading to uncomfortable interactions. Another purpose of this tool is to evaluate if a
person is open to listening to others (McCroskey & Richmond, 1995). As was the case with the
tool of tolerance to disagreement, in the talkaholic scale as well, I got average scores, i.e. 24.
This means that I am open to listening to others and talk as is required. Again, this tool did not
reveal any communication negatives and so I moved on to the next tool for this assignment
purpose.
After this, I selected the tool of Nonverbal Immediacy Scale-Self Report, which is also
denoted as NIS-S. This tool is focused on the body language of the person, their expressions, and
their use of hands and other parts of body, as modes of communication. This tool not only
evaluates the body movement while verbal communication is going on, but also when a person is
silent. For instance, where a person is agitated to say something, they might start tapping or
getting animated. Such things are evaluated through this tool (Richmond, McCroskey &
Johnson, 2003). In the series of average ratings, I again got an average score of 100 in this tool.
This shows that neither I overuse my body language nor I under use it. In simple terms, my non
verbal communication was average. The next tool which I used was Personal Report of

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Intercultural Communication Apprehension, which is also denoted as PRICA. This show the
apprehensions which a person feels in communicating with people from varied cultural
backgrounds. So, when a person is asked to talk to a person having different cultural background
as the first person, he/she would get tensed up (McCroskey & McCroskey, 1988). As against the
earlier tools, I did not get average scores in this tool. Instead, I got my first weakness through it,
with the score of 59. This score shows that I have high intercultural communication
apprehensions. To put it simply, when I had to communicate with a person from different
cultural background from mine, I got very conscious and faced anxiety.
In the series of tools given to us, I then moved on to the Self-Perceived Communication
Competence Scale, which is also denoted as SPCC. This is a tool through which the
apprehensions of a person are analysed, when they have to communicate. The focus of this tool
is on varied aspects, and analyses the communications of a person in different settings, like dyad,
public, strangers, and comes to a total score in the end in context of apprehensions of a person
being high or low (Neuliep & McCroskey, 1997). This was a difficult tool for me, since I have
known it for some time that I face apprehensions in communicating with others. All the scores
which I got in this tool showed that I have low communication skills, which means that I get
anxious easily, when I have to communicate with people. The scores I got in this tool were
public 47, meeting 23, group 60, dyad 50, stranger, 30, acquaintance 42.5, and friend, 62.5,
giving me an overall score of 45. I have been facing anxiety since last some months and this tool
confirmed my apprehensions.
Based on the tools which I used, I concluded that I have two big communication
shortfalls. If I want to be successful in my personal and professional life, I need to get over these
two shortfalls. These two shortfalls are communication apprehensions/anxiety and intercultural

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anxiety. In order to find solutions to my problems, I conducted a review of literature on these
two key areas. But before highlighting this literature review, I would like to state two of the
instances, which took place in the last year, which had already sowed a seed of doubt in my heart
regarding my lack of confidence, and increasing anxiety in dealing with public, particularly
when it came to people from different cultural backgrounds. I have not only faced these issues in
professional spheres, but in my education life as well. I have always gotten nervous when I am
asked to communicate with new students of my class, and even with new teachers. At times, I
even face problem in communicating with my friends. The two specific professional incidents
have been covered below.
I am very fond of movies, particularly of the sci-fi based movies, including the Marvel
based movies. As I stated earlier, I had known for quiet sometime that I felt apprehensive in my
communication with general public. This is the incident where I was confirmed that I have this
comprehension. In order to remove this apprehension, and to earn some money, I decided to do
part time job at the movie ticket hall, where I worked as a helper to the cashier. This allowed me
to both face the crowd and to avoid the crowd. Whenever I got a chance, I made attempts to
interact with a Marvel fan. When the movie Black Panther released, I was working one day, and
due to the cashier falling sick, I was doing their job. A presumably talkative person made
attempts to discuss the movie reviews with me, and asked if the movie was worth watching. I
ignored the man completely and simply handed over the ticket to him. He did ask me if I was
okay, as I was shaking a bit, but I could not respond. I could simply manage a smile, and the
person tried to relax me. However, I still did not felt better and asked my co-worker to do the job
for me. During the interval, one of the other people, who had witnessed this entire incident,
approached me. As she was a person from different culture from mine, I immediately started feel

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nauseated. This was even before he had said anything. I knew I should not be feeling this
anxious, but I still felt very uncomfortable. She told me to relax and even told me that she was a
psychologist. She asked me if I needed to call anyone, but I refused. She was saying something
but I still cannot recall it. When she attempted to give me a business card, which I presume was
of her, I simply ran away. I did go back the next day to my part time job, but to quit.
This is not the only case which confirmed for me that I had apprehensions about talking
to people. My uncle has a bakery in Perth and I was visiting him during Christmas last year. He
asked me to help me with work due to the excessive work load at his bakery, due to festive
season. To my plight, the community where my uncle lives is an intercultural community. I do
know a lot of people who came to his shop, but since it had been a long time since I visited that
place, I faced a lot of difficulty in communicating with them. One of my childhood friends from
my uncle’s neighbourhood came to meet me, and I could hardly talk much. I could not get as
comfortable with him as I wanted to. I could visibly see the disappointment in his face, due to
my responses, but my physical responses stopped me from getting comfortable. Even talking to
an old known person, I faced difficulty in communicating with them. My uncle did try to make
me comfortable and I could talk to him easily. However, I still could not feel easy, till I got back
to his home. Every time I visited the shop to help uncle from that time onwards, I asked him to
give me work behind the closed doors, so that I would not be required to face new people.
Communication apprehension, as the name suggests, refers to the anxiety which a person
feels when they have to communicate with another person. There are not only apprehensions in
general public speaking, but these are also faced, or to put it more aptly, are enhanced when
culture comes into play (McCroskey, 2015). This is often referred to as intercultural
apprehensions. People with low intercultural apprehensions are unable to communicate properly

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with a person of different cultural background. When it so happens, that an individual is required
to address a group, which has members from different cultural or ethnic background, such person
becomes anxious and nervous (Hammick & Lee, 2014). When it comes to intergroup anxiety, it
is almost like a negative feeling and the person feeling restlessness where an individual has to
indulge in communication with another person, where they have a different social identity, or
where the cultural identity of the sender and receiver is different (Rahmani, 2017).
James C. McCroskey was the father of communication apprehensions, and he also
covered a model of intercultural communication apprehensions. This was quite similar to the
emotions and the thoughts which an individual got in the other communication apprehensions.
However, as per Neuliep (2014), the intercultural apprehensions were related to the cultural and
the linguistic barriers. These were based on the audience, the context, the situation faced and the
traits of the person. The intercultural communications are based on the negative perceptions
which an individual has in view of Mak, Brown and Wadey (2013) due to the differences in
culture and the uncomfortable behaviour which a person displays when they come across an
individual who belongs to some other culture. This was contributed to the imminent cross
cultural interactions. And these feelings are only present when it comes to public speaking or
intercultural speaking, and not in daily lives. When it comes to the circumstances where the
anxiety in a person was present only in certain situations, for instance where the person was
faced with job interview or had to speak up in the public, the same was a content based
apprehension as per the literature contributed by Gumus, Hamarat and Dursun (2005).
It has been further stated that intergroup anxiety, as is the case with the general anxiety,
only gives negative results, and also has a detrimental impact over the cognitive performance of
a person, along with hampering the social interactions which such person has with others. In this

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regard also, there have been a number of scholars who have presented their views. There have
been studies conducted by Hackman and Barthel-Hackman (1993) and Hsu (2007), in addition to
one done by Pederson, Tkachuk and Allen (2008) on the diversified contextual incompatibility of
communication apprehensions as a result of the cultural and non cultural elements revolving
around the communications of an individual. The difference in the cultures of different people
from public results in different communication apprehensions. So, an English person may get
apprehensive when they have to communicate with a person from a different cultural
background, say one from Arabic nations. These communication apprehensions are quite
common based on the nation one belongs to, for instance, East Asian cultures, US, UK,
Australia, Arabic countries, and Western Europe. Based on the area from which a person comes,
they put their emphasis on the personal space, their requirements and the activities they indulge
in. The need for personal space is particularly prominent in the people who come from
individualist cultures (Jandt, 2017).
Pryor, Bulter and Boehringer (2005), Pederson, Tkachuk and Allen (2008), and Merkin
(2009) are just a handful of scholars who have conducted extensive studies in this context. These
scholars have noted down that there is a big difference in the individuals who come from high
context cultures, for instance the ones from Japan, Korea, Arabic countries and China, from the
ones which the low context cultures face, for instance the ones from US. This difference is the
reason for a person or the individuals facing communication apprehensions. In the view of Hall
(1976), when it comes to high context culture, most of the information is easily shares amongst
the participants. He further stated that in such culture, there is a mutual perception of
communication and the same is dependent upon the context of the communication. Though,
where the case of low context culture was present, it was always more straight forwards, which

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also covered quite a lot more information in comparison. This makes the high context cultures
less value and way more apprehensive in view of Pryor, Bulter and Boehringer (2005). Allen,
O'Mara and Long (2014) discussed these communication traits being present in the
communication taking place orally, based on the cultural context.
As has been stated earlier, McCroskey (2001) brought the concept of communication
apprehensions as a fear associated with anticipated or real communication with different
individuals. This apprehension, at its heart, is basically the psychological response to evaluation.
Quickly, this psychology response is converted into physical response and the body reacts as per
such perceptions of mind, which are not really present in majority cases. Often, the body
prepares a fight or flight response when faced with speaking up (Sapolsky, 2004). A study
conducted particularly on students by Horwitz, Horwitz and Cope (1991) revealed that students
got anxious when they were required to address their very classmates, and that speaking in
general public was not an easy task for all. North and Rivers (2001) have gathered the physical
reactions in terms of confusions, sweating, discomfort and nausea when a person was faced with
even the thought of public speaking. The solution to such apprehensions, both communication
and intercultural apprehensions, could be stemmed from the work of Jones (2004). He stated that
the anxiety faced while a person felt apprehensive had to be overcome, and instead of dealing it
as a hurdle, it has to be deemed as a stepping stone, towards getting over the fears of a person.
Effectively, there is a need of properly channelling of negative energy faced when a person feels
apprehensive, to the positive energy of confidence while facing public or a person from other
culture (Ohata, 2005).
The literature I read was very helpful, as it made me better understand why I was not able
to control my physical responses, despite trying to do so, when I met my old friend in my uncle’s

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cafe. As the literature suggested that I need to channel my negative energy into positive energy, I
have made an action plan, which I would follow for the next six months. This action plan covers
different activities, which I would be following in the coming days, to try to improve on my
communication apprehensions. I realize that removing these is not an easy task, and so I have
created different tasks, which cater to both my fears and my interests. The drawn action plan is
portrayed below.
Gantt Chart depicting Action Plan
Jun-18 Jul-18
Aug-
18 Sep-18 Oct-18 Nov-18
Maintaining a personal log
Starting talking to friends more
Approaching people at book store
Starting a blog on movies
Visiting Church
Visiting Temple
Visiting Mosque
Giving review on Venom before class
Organizing Fiction meet
Communicating with mentor

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University activity with sign board
The first step which I will be taking in my journey to improve my skills is maintaining a
personal log entry, as has been suggested in the assignment file. This log would be a personal
diary of sorts, which would cover my progress or journey, the problems I face, and my mini
achievements, towards my path of removing my apprehensions. This log would be maintained
daily, and in case one day is missed, it would be crucial to cover at least the highlights of the
entire week in this log. The next step is to reconnect with my old friends, whilst expressing
myself more before my existing group of friends. This is because recently I have been facing
difficulty even in talking to my close friends. As I am a Marvel fan, I would try to visit a book
store and interact with Marvel enthusiasts there. I would try to first listen into conversation of
people, particularly the discussions of recent movies. And I would also attempt to indulge in
such discussions. In order to gain confidence in communicating my thoughts, I would start a blog
on movies, from September 2018 onwards, where I would try to express my entire thoughts. I
would keep this blog open to public, so that new people can interact there with me and can give
me criticism on my work. Beyond six months, the aim is to convert to vlogs, in order to face the
world.
As it is very clear that I have intercultural apprehensions, I would take turns in visiting
different religious places, and would also try to start interactions there, if possible. However, I
would ensure that no person is offended due to my anxiousness. In a bold move, I would be
giving the movie review of Venom, which is another Marvel movie, set to release in October this
year (IMDb, 2018). I would also be organizing a fiction meet for the university students, where
new people can talk to me regarding my fictional interests. This would have people from
different backgrounds as well. I would also approach my mentor on the understanding if I need

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any external help to deal with my apprehensions. Lastly, as a fun activity, I would take a sign
board in university which would state that I have communication apprehension, and this board
would invite people to me, to interact or to help me get over this apprehension, with their
suggestions. If I am able to take up all the aforementioned activities, I would consider myself
successful. The most important criteria in this is starting the vlog and giving the review of
Venom in class, without any hesitations or apprehensions.
To summarize the detailed discussion undertaken in this reflective essay, my journey
began with filling the diagnostic tools and analysing my shortfalls. These weaknesses were then
substantiated with two professional experiences which took place in the last year. Based on the
knowledge gained through the conducted literature review, I gained more clarity on my
problems, particularly on the lack of my physical control, despite wanting to control my anxiety.
The literature offered certain suggestions, based on which I drew up an action plan for next six
months, to get over my communication apprehensions and the intercultural apprehensions. It is
expected that by following and undertaking the activities planned up for the next six months, I
would be able to improve my communication shortfalls. This is not only important for my
professional future, but is even important for my personal life as well.

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