Analyzing Communication Issues: A Reflection Report and Action Plan

This report provides a detailed reflection on the analysis of five diagnostic tools used to assess communication skills, focusing on the Self-Perceived Communication Competence Scale, Nonverbal Immediacy Scale, Personal Report of Intercultural Communication Apprehension, Talkaholic Sca...Read More

effective business communication

Table of Contents
Introduction.................................................................................................................................................2
Diagnostic and reflection.............................................................................................................................2
Discussion and results.................................................................................................................................5
Literature review.........................................................................................................................................5
Action plan..................................................................................................................................................9
Conclusion.................................................................................................................................................11
References.................................................................................................................................................12
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Introduction
The paper will provide information about the reflection on the analysis of the five diagnostic
tools of communication. Apart from this the paper mainly focuses on the two communication
issues that are creating the problem in my behavior and the two communication issues are
Talkaholic Scale and Tolerance for Disagreement. Both this issues are my personal
communication problem that creates a huge problem in my life. Furthermore, the essay gives
literature review focusing on the two communication problem and relating to both issues theories
and practical experience are also discussed. Since it is a reflection so I have acquired knowledge
about the communication and lastly an action plan is demonstrated for diminishing such issues.
Diagnostic and reflection
Here in this context, I have used five diagnostic communication tools to examine my
communication skills in various circumstances. The first tool becomes the Self-Perceived
Communication Competence Scale (SPCC) which define as that how people communicate when
present in one situation with lots of speakers rather than in other situation where they did not
communicate a lot. The second tool was the Nonverbal Immediacy Scale Self report (NIS-S)
where the people analyze the nonverbal communication between two people and here, in this
case, the people show positive feelings towards each other. The third tool was the Personal
Report of Intercultural communication Apprehension (PRICA) where people analyze the
communication pattern between two people of different cultures where the individual fails to talk
in front of public (Abela, 2014). The fourth tool was the Talkaholic Scale where the people
communication pattern in a very high verbal pattern and they have a problem while talking to
other people those have not the right verbal communication and at that time they become quite
(Aitken et al., 2014). Lastly, the fifth tool is the Tolerance for Disagreement where the people
measure the degree of tolerance disagreement and inconsistent ideas which one believes that it is
true.
On studying the five different diagnostic tools I have to recognize my communication pattern
and make which styles preferred me from them. After learning about the Self-Perceived
Communication Competence Style, I feel that I have very comfortable while talking in a small
group of friends and having a good interaction with all of them. But I feel uncomfortable while
talking to a stranger and also in a large meeting of strangers and friends. So that's why I have
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given myself a score of 84 which is considered as a good score of interacting with people in this
given tool. From the second tool Nonverbal Immediacy Scale, I have learned that I am very
confident while talking to other people in meetings or in public. While talking to people I used
my arms and hand to show my gesture towards them and also I have a relaxed body position
while talking to them. My overall communication category in this tool is moderate having a
score of 74 and I have experienced a moderate level of nervousness while talking in public. The
third tool is the Personal Report of Intercultural communication Apprehension, here I have
learned that from this tool I will score 33 which indicates that I have a moderate communication
level of apprehension in the category. From the fourth tool Talkaholic Scale, I have scored only
24 which shows that I am not a good taking person and in future, I have to work on this issue.
The fifth or the last tool is the Tolerance for Disagreement where I have scored 44 which
indicates that I have a moderate communication level in this particular communication style.
In between the five diagnostic tool, I have noticed that I have to improve on the two major tool
among this five one is the Talkaholic Scale and the other one is the Tolerance for Disagreement
tools. By improving myself in this communication areas, I strongly feel that I get a good result
on refining myself in the future that helps me to communicate with other people without any
hesitation. Apart from this on overcoming my issue I would able to talk with the people mainly
the stranger without any hesitation. My unwillingness on talking to people oozes out when I am
taking with my friends. For this, I have to behave friendly with them so that the hesitation of
talking with them should diminish and I would able to solve their issues without any question. In
case of tolerance for disagreement I would always prefer to join in a group where no conflicts
should arise actually I have a tendency to avoid the problem that occurs in between groups and I
am trying to solve this issue as fast as possible so that the conflict does not take place so much. If
some conflict arises in my group or team then I would like to change the topic of discussion for
avoiding arguments and thus I want to work alone apart from working with a team. This causes a
huge problem in any organization as one should have to work in a team and do the
communication issue I have to face any problem in the company for this reason. Although, I
think that disagreement is unavoidable in the business world and in any decision making position
disagreement in the right way to communicate with people of learning them what is going on.
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While talking to someone I feel uncomfortable mainly in case of Talkaholic Scale and in case of
Tolerance for Disagreement tools. For this issue, I would like to provide an example of what
happened before 12 months while working as an Administrative Executive Head while working
on a firm in Australia. As an Administrative executive head, I have a core team where I am being
the team head. The team consists of various members of different personality so that's why I feel
problem on talking with them. As I have said earlier I do not like conflict so something arises
between the team I am not able to solve it properly and it creates a huge problem for me to
continue the work. Apart from this meeting with the team member has been arranged in every
month solving the problem that arises between them but due to my problem, I feel nervous while
talking to them. Being the head of the team my responsibility is to listen to all the problem of the
team member and solve them as much as I can. But due to nervousness, I talk less and sometimes
I keep quiet apart from knowing that it is not a good option for me. Although sometimes I talk
less where I needed to talk and hence it gives an advantage to the member who is working under
me and for this, I have to take care of the issue and wanted to solve it as much as possible so that
it does not cause any problem in the future. But apart from this problem, I have managed myself
to communicate with the member but it faces me many difficulties while talking to them at that
time.
The other issue that I have noticed on learning about the five diagnostic communication tool is
the tolerance for disagreement. This tolerance for disagreement issues generated in the same
organization where I have working for the 12 months. Peoples having high argument type
behavior can have a high disagreement for any purposes if they think it is not right (Arquero et
al., 2017). But according to me, I am not that kind of person who will always an argument with
something that is going wrong. In this organization, I have given a task which not belongs to my
duties but for avoiding any conflict with the head of the organization I had completed the work
without any issue. This think clearly shows that I have the great issue with tolerance for
disagreement. As I am an Administrative head so I have a team with different types of members
and thus their opinion will also different regarding any working procedure and this creates a
problem to me as I do not like the circumstances where people conflicts or arguments on the
same problem. Thus for diminishing the conflict, I would like to change the topic of discussion
so that the disagreement does not take place. Although I do not like those people who always
have an argument with some sorts of things and hence it creates a big issue for me because
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working in a team conflict will always arise and hence I have to take care of my issue so that it
does not bother me in the future days.
Discussion and results
I have identified the major two communication issues which creates a problem on talking to
people and that I have to improve my future life. I would like to overcome my issue as fast as
possible so that it does not affect my future life and in future, I do not get any problem regarding
this two type of communication issue. For overcoming this issue I will keep a notebook with me
where I can update all of my task and workings throughout the day and hence it keeps me on
track and can reflect my own report of progress. After one month the notebook will update me
about the faults that I have done during my work and hence it helps me to improve my issue so
that it does not cause any problem in future. Apart from this to diminish this issue I would like to
maintain a friendly behavior with the people so that the hesitation of taking with them should
decrease and along with this I will join in a training program where people have to give task and
presentation on the basis of communicating medium. This all process will help me to decreases
my anxiety towards this two diagnostic issue.
Literature review
Among the five diagnostic tool “Talkaholic scale” is one of the issues faced by me. According to
the author the "Talkaholic scale" is a process of identifying the people those who have the
tendency to over communicate in a consistent manner without having any reason (Berger, 2016).
The people who possess high verbal communication falls into this category. These people face
problem for keeping quiet in presence of other people in any situation. The people are considered
as "high takers" not that people who are referred to as "talks too much." Over a half-century, the
researchers mainly study the variability of talking behavior of people in terms of communication
medium (Wright et al., 2014). In the past two decades, most of the scholars deal with the
difference of talkativeness that has reduced the verbalization levels between the peoples (Berger,
2014). As per the view of the author, the compulsive communication is measured by the
Talkaholic scale and it has a positive relationship with confidence and willingness to
communicate, self-perceived communication pattern and neuroticism. Apart from this, it has
also a negative relationship with the shyness and communication apprehension that causes some
difficulties to the people having such problem. The communication apprehension refers to the
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level of fear or anxiety that has occurred in association with communication problem and it
varies from person to person (Walther, & Valkenburg, 2017).
In recent studies by the researchers, the communication problem is mainly focused on the style
of each individual according to their willingness of communication (Croucher et al., 2016). The
communication apprehension occurs in three various ways depending on the situation. One
anxiety mainly occurs when the individual avoid public places because of their lack of talking
capability in public as they are getting nervous while talking to a stranger (Drucker, 2017). For
diminishing this communicating problem the author has mentioned on accepting the new ideas
while talking to someone the individual has to put their views in that situation so that the
problem should decreases (Mojzisch et al., 2014). Apart from this, the individual those who have
a positive behavior of interacting with the people will more overcome this issue rather than those
who have a negative behavior towards interacting with other people in the group. By this way,
the problem in between the individual facing this issue can be diminished. Apart from this self-
monitoring is a process where the individual can monitor the public as well as self so that the
problem should reduce (Worthington, & Bodie, 2017). The people those who have high self-
monitoring power can have the capability to overcome the situation while those people who have
less self-monitoring power they have to be very careful about the surroundings to overcome the
situation (Parks & Kim, 2017).
On the basis of talkativeness, the researchers have indicated that the more an individual will talk
to a stranger or a person they more will overcome the issue (Parks et al., 2016). The researcher
suggested that the success in business and also in life will occur if only the person has an ability
to communicate easily and fluently with the other person without any hesitation. According to
the author, the self-awareness is also a factor that can diminish the issue (Fleisher & Bensoussan,
2015). Here, in this case, the individual has to aware of the about the behavior of the person on
which he is talking. The individual has to be aware of the perception of the person on which he is
talking and this decreases the issue of this communication problem (Frei, & Beebe, 2017). From
all of these research results, it should be concluded that overcoming this issue can give positive
results to the individuals in their workplace.
According to the researchers, the tolerance for disagreement mainly occurs in a group and in a
meeting where different types of persons are present. Actually, the disagreement scale is the
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measure of the people where an individual can tolerate the ideas of other people instead of giving
their own views (Gao et al., 2016). According to the author, disagreement occurs in an in the
individual present in different circumstances and it can take place whether through face to face
or by online also. The scale is somewhat similar to that of conflict or argument (Gilchrist-Petty,
2017). The individual having high conflict level can only be able to deal with the disagreement
method the people who have less conflict behavior are not able to deal with this tolerance level.
As per the view of the author, it is believed that the conflict in interpersonal communication can
relate with the function of tolerance for disagreement in a large scale (Pearson, 2017). According
to the theoretical knowledge, the tolerance for disagreement is not ambiguous and it may happen
to an individual depending on the situation and which gives rise to conflict or argument at the
end of the conversation.
According to the earlier researchers, this tolerance for disagreement explained that some
individual is mainly prone to involve in the argument conversation while some are not
(Sidelinger, & Bolen, 2015). The conflict in an organization mainly takes place either by the
disagreement of tolerance factor or due to the low degree of positive attitude between the
individual (Men, 2014). By the study of the researcher, there are four types of interpersonal
communication methods that give rise to the disagreement for tolerance or argument between the
individuals mainly in the organization are verbal and non-verbal communication, listening to an
individual and emotions in communication (Hosseini Fatemi et al., 2016). The communication
style that affects the organization is an argument, conflict, support and the verbal violence
(Raina, & Roebuck, 2016). This factor gives a bed impact to not only the employee but the
organization is also affected by thus communication pattern. The manger is mainly affected by
this type of communication skill. On the other hand, non-verbal communication also gives rise to
the issue in the organization as because the employees only use sign language or without briefly
the situation properly and hence it creates a huge problem in the organization (Kwiatkowski,
2017). As per the author, another method that can give rise to the issue is the individual
emotional communication that should be understood by the people while working in an
organization. It is seen that disagreement mainly occurs due to differences in opinion of
individual members in the team and also it can occur due to the lack of positive attitude on the
topic and hence it gives rise to conflict in between them (Messner, 2015). Apart from this the
thought of every individual vary due to the different perceptions and being as a short clash it
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gives rise to a great conflict (Lozano, & Escrich, 2017). From the earlier studies by the author,
every individual has a tendency for giving rise to disagreement as an argument that making a
huge effect on the organization as well as the employee working there.
But according to the recent study by researchers it is seen that not all disagreements can give rise
to an argument (Sidelinger, & Bolen, 2016). It generally refers to the opinion of the individual
member of a group working in the organization (Luftman et al., 2017). For decreasing this issue
an individual have to manage the circumstances with their individuals' thoughts of not giving rise
to any conflict and the individual have to listen properly about the other people opinion carefully
so that the disagreement factor does not give rise to any type of argument (Men, 2014). Apart
from this for decreasing the disagreement factor the individual should have to talk clearly and
properly about any matter carefully and listen to the other people care so thus the conversation
does not give rise to an argument and hence they both together can solve their problem without
any conflict.
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Action plan
Main Activities/ Stages
Month 1 Month 2 Month 3 Month 4 Month 5 Month 6
Topic selection and its scope 
Preparation of a reflective essay 
Identification of secondary data
sources

Preparation of a literature review 
The undertaking of short courses 
Developing skills 
Undertaking post-graduate
courses

Reading plan on communication
skills

Maintaining journals 
Conclusion 
Finalising and submission 
Measurement of successful completion:
After the identification of the two communicating issues that created a problem in my
communication pattern, I have made an action plan for overcoming these issues for the next six
months. In between the next six months, I have undertaken a short communication course that
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helps me diminish this problem and it also helps me to improve my skills of communication in
the workplace. By this courses, my skill on this communication issues has been decreasing as
they give me a proper training on this issue. This short courses not only enhances the ability to
change my communication style but also helps me for putting my idea and opinions in front of
everyone. Apart from this, I have also participated in the post-graduation course for developing
my skills against the two issues. Here in this courses, proper trainings are given that helps me to
decrease the communication issues. Apart from this in this courses presentations and exam are
also given on weekly basis depending on a particular topic relating to communication which
influences me to reduce the problem. Along with this to improve my knowledge on the talkaholic
scale and tolerance for disagreement I would also read many books and articles that help me a lot
for reducing this issue. The books that I have chosen all are related to the communication
problem and thus it helps me a lot for changing my behavior towards people. The two books that
I have read relating on this communication problem is "Tolerance among the Virtues" by John R.
Bowlin and the other one is "The Sourcebook of Listening Research: Methodology and
Measures" edited by Debra L. Worthington and Graham D. Bodie. Both the books give me
valuable ideas of reducing the problem and thus I get myself improved in the issues in the
present day. Moreover, I have also participated in the interpersonal communication courses that
help me to improve my skill in commutation at a professional level so that I could not face any
issue in my workplace. Along with this, I have also participated in a training course for
developing my knowledge on tolerance for disagreement. As I am a very shy person and
hesitated to talk with the people in a team those having different types of view but after this
training courses my hesitation towards this issue has been reducing a lot. Furthermore, I am also
using a journal where I can reflect my progress and after six months it will give me an idea about
the areas where I have to work so that it can help me to improve in the future. Although all this
process helps me overcome the issues that have been faced by me due to the communication
problem.
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Conclusion
The paper provides information about the five diagnostic communication tools. With this five
communication tools, I have made a reflective essay where all the points of the individual
method have been described properly. Among this five tools, I used to gather information about
the two communication that has been faced by me. Apart from this the literature review on this
two issues have also briefly described in this paper which concluded that for diminishing such
issues I have to do a proper communication to the people without any hesitation and for this
action plan has been made which help me to overcome this issues in the future.
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