Educ 3001 Reflective Practice : Assessment Answers

Answer:

Introduction:

The interpersonal communication is essential for the professional as well as the personal growth of the professional. It is important that an individual develops his professional and the personal communication skills for effectively communicating and presenting their viewpoint. The communication skills are essential in every aspect of a person’s life. In the professional world, the communication skills are essential in distinguishing a person from his counterparts. It is one of the most important professional skills and increases the employability skills of a professional (Wright, 2009). The interpersonal skills encompass both verbal and non-verbal communication skills. It includes body gestures, facial expressions and the body language of a person. A person can develop his self-communication skills by implementing some diagnostic tools and methods and addressing the weaknesses in the communication style.

Diagnosis and Reflection

In order to identify the weaknesses and communication issues in the communication style, I implemented a range of communication tools. These tools are Johari Window, self-assertiveness tool, communication style tool, extroversion introversion tool and transactional analysis. The Johari Window is the most common tool for the analysis of interpersonal communication. It is a technique which is used to assist a person in better understanding oneself and his personality aspects. It also helps in better understanding relationships with other people. It is commonly used in self-help groups to increase the awareness of a person for his personality. In this exercise, there are a total of 56 adjectives which have to be placed in four quadrants. According to this analysis, it has been identified that I am bold, brave, trustworthy and cheerful. However, the exercise shed light on various qualities which I was not aware of, such as I am proud, sentimental and emotional.

The transactional analysis is another model which is used in explaining the interpersonal relationships of a person. It assists a person in understanding oneself better. It can be used in to improve the communication style if a person and increase his interpersonal skills.  According to structural analysis, every person has three separate sources of behavior which are called ego states, namely, the parent, the adult and the child. The parent refers to the ego state or the feelings and the attitudes which are copied from a parental figure. The adult is the ego state which is independent of the set of feelings, attitudes and behavior of an adult person. It is an independent set of feelings, attitudes and behavior and the person who rationally gathers the facts and tests its reality and provides rational, objective response refers to the adult aspect of the personality.

The child refers to the ego state which is a collection of feelings, attitudes or behavior which developed from the childhood and sustained to the maturity. The child ego state is responsible for strong emotions such as anger, excitement, sadness and fear. When this model is applied to my personality, I immediately give responses to the people and do not control my actions (Wright, 2009). Moreover, I have sudden outburst of anger and do not control my emotions. This behavior hinders my professional growth. I am aggressive in nature and try to impose my decisions on others. As a result, I am unable to develop strong interpersonal relationships with others.

The extroversion introversion tool also stated that I have an extrovert personality. I am an extremely extrovert person and I am on the verge of being a dominant person. Several times, people assume me as aggressive person or a dominant person who impose his opinions on others. I am also very emotional and quickly respond to my feelings. As a result, I am not manipulative and unable to handle difficult clients (Huszczo, 2010). Although I understand that a person should always remain polite and courteous towards his clients or customers; I burst out when the client is extremely impolite. As a result, I am not given complicated tasks. As I am an extremely extrovert person, I tend to trust person easily and several times reveal personal things and secrets. Moreover, as I am excessive talker I also sometimes reveal the secrets of my friends. Due to this quality, people perceive me as less trustworthy. An extrovert person easily gives oneself away from his talks. As a result, it is easy to judge him and put label on personality. This behavior results in labeling a person which is unpleasant and demotivates a person.

The communication style also impacts on the interpersonal skills of the person. In the communication style test, it has been identified that I emphasize more on my intuition and instinct and rely less on the facts. Due to this personality aspect, several times I have taken bad decisions in my life. Moreover, I also realized that focusing on emotions results bad decisions. I trust too much on other people and they have breached my interest.

In professional situations also, this behavior has negatively impacted on my performance. Once I trusted a colleague with a personal secret. I wanted advice from an experienced advice. Although he gave me the advice, he also circulated the confidential information in the office. As a result, my image in office declined. Similarly, once I had a conflict with my coworkers in the office. My coworker was trying to claim my hard work and efforts on a single project. I also tried to confront him; however, he lied that he did the entire work of the project. The situations get better of me and I become aggressive in the situation. Although I did all the efforts in the project, my boss dismissed me and my overall impression on the senior management declined.

Literature Review

The business communication skills are essential in the professional and the personal growth of an individual. According to Perrin (2015, August), the business communication system is also essential in the organization growth and the achievements of the business objectives. All the business organizations focus on their communication system as it is important in developing and maintaining positive and healthy relations with the clients and the suppliers alike. In the present competitive word, the business communication is important for marketing methods and distinguishing an organization from its counterparts. The success of the business organization relies on its ability to effectively communicate with its customers. It is also important to retain customers and build customer base.

Oussi & Klibi (2017) has posited that business communication capability of an organization is dependent on the individual communication capability of the employees. The employers seek to hire staff with strong interpersonal skills as the interpersonal skills of the employees are associated with the organization culture and the image of the organization. As a result, several organizations implement training sessions to improve the interpersonal skills of the organization.

Haslam, et al. (2014) have discussed that business communication skills are also essential for the professional growth of the employees. The communication skills of an individual distinguish him from his counterparts and increase the employability of the person. Moreover, the employees with higher communication skills are perceived as able, intelligent and self-motivated. The senior management remains impressed with employees who have great communication skills. The communication skills are also essential in customer handling and customer acquisition; therefore, the employers prefer to hire the individuals with great communication skills.

According to Zaenuddin, Paramita & Fathoni (2016) the business skills of the employees encompass several features, namely, verbal communication and non-verbal communication such as body gestures and expression. In order to be an effective communicator, the person should master all the skills. The body language and the gestures should be confident and the person should be self-assured in order to be a great communicator. Along with it, the interpersonal skills of the employees should include listening skills, negotiation, decision-making and problem solving skills.

According to Zhao, Peng & Sheard (2013), a good decision maker also possesses good communication skills. The decision-making capability and the negotiation skills of the employees is also dependent upon the interpersonal capabilities of the employees. In order to be a good negotiator, a person should have listening skills and must be able to provide a response which appeals to the front party. The decision taking is a crucial skill for the decision maker. Taking right decisions is important for an individual for self-growth and the growth of the organization. While taking correct decision, a person should focus on all the pros and cons of the situation. Moreover, in the business environment, there are several decisions which provide several opportunities still have several risks. The interpersonal skills are essential in collecting all the relevant information and using it for taking the best decisions.

In the perspective of Guffey & Loewy (2015), in the present era of internet use or digitalization, it is important that the organization has superior communication technologies and business communication system. The present is referred as communication age in which all the information is transmitted instantly. The internet and other communication mediums assist in easy transfer of the information. Several companies are using the internet mediums to communicate with their customers and establishing relation with them. It is important to present a concise, customer-oriented and attractive message on the social media to attract large number of customers. In the present age, the communication skills of the employees are very important.

Means (2009) has discussed that the interpersonal and the communication skills of the organization are also critical in the development of the organization culture. The organization culture of a business organization is dependent upon the motivation and personality of the employees. When the workplace is infused with dynamic and self-motivated people, the organization culture of the business enhances. It is directly related with the productivity of the organization and overall proficiency or profitability of the workplace. Good business communication system increases the transparency of the organization which is also essential in establishing employee engagement and increasing their satisfaction. If the culture of the organization is transparent, the employees remain motivated and try to excel in their jobs in order to enhance their position in respective fields.

According to Locker & Kaczmarek (2011), the employees can also establish positive relationships with their employers or senior managers with strong interpersonal skills. The interpersonal skills are considered as the key skill in the professional growth of the employees. They are necessary in increasing the networking of the employees which is essential in the personal growth and success. In the professional world, the networking skills are considered as equally important as the technical expertise as it is important to build trust organization. A strong business communication system is important for building trust among the employees. The employees can discuss their agenda, operational issues and workplace related issues with the senior management.

Action plan

It can be reviewed that there are several shortcomings in my personality. I am excessively aggressive and outspoken. I am unable to control my emotions which negatively impact my image in the workplace. In this regard, I will take actions to control the emotional outbursts and aggressiveness in nature. An action plan has been prepared to address the issues in the personality. In this action plan, various actions are outlined which can be used for controlling the desired behavior. The anger and emotional management is essential in becoming successful in life. In the present stressful life, several situations occur in which a person experience fleeting annoyance or full-fledged rage (Faupel, Herrick & Sharp, 2010). Although anger is healthy and normal human emotion, it can become destructive when it gets out of control. Excessive anger and emotional outbursts can create several problems in the professional as well as personal lives. It can also impact on the overall quality of human life.

Therefore, anger management is important in increasing the quality of life of the people. Anger management practice is also essential in reducing the emotional feelings and controlling physiological arousal raised with the anger. It is important to control the anger as it hinders vision and makes a man to take wrong decisions.

Conclusion:

It can be concluded that the communication and interpersonal skills are essential in the personal and the professional growth of a person.  The interpersonal skills are important in professional growth as an employee can distinguish himself from others with strong communication skills. People with strong communication skills are perceived as strong, intelligent and talented. In this regard, communication tools are applied on my personality. It has been identified that my strongest weaknesses are anger and emotional outburst. The emotional outbursts and anger has created several situations in the workplace wherein I was negatively perceived due to emotional outbursts. Despite being hardworking person, I have lost a number of opportunities. I have also faced a number of situations in which I was not rewarded for my efforts. Therefore, it is important to implement anger management practices. In this regard, in this paper, an action plan has been formed to control the anger. It includes cognitive restructuring and improving emotional response style.

References:

Wright, M. (2009). Gower Handbook of Internal Communication. Gower Publishing, Ltd.

Herring, S., Stein, D., & Virtanen, T. (Eds.). (2013). Pragmatics of computer-mediated communication (Vol. 9). Walter de Gruyter.

Perrin, D. (2015, August). Investigating intercultural communication in the workplace: applied linguistics as research on, for, and with practitioners. In JACET International Convention Selected Papers Volume 3 (p. 26).

Oussi, A. A., & Klibi, M. F. (2017). Accounting students' perceptions of important business communication skills for career success: An exploratory study in the Tunisian context. Journal of Financial Reporting and Accounting, 15(2).

Haslam, S. A., van Knippenberg, D., Platow, M. J., & Ellemers, N. (Eds.). (2014). Social identity at work: Developing theory for organizational practice. Psychology Press.

Zaenuddin, M., Paramita, P. D., & Fathoni, A. (2016). EFFECT OF COMMUNICATION STYLES, PERSONALITY AND RELATIONSHIP TOCUSTOMER SATISFACTION OF MEDIATION BY THE PROFESSIONALISM OF EMPLOYEES AT INDO PERKASA RAINBOW TOUR AND TRAVEL SEMARANG. Journal of Management, 2(2).

Zhao, H., Peng, Z., & Sheard, G. (2013). Workplace ostracism and hospitality employees’ counterproductive work behaviors: The joint moderating effects of proactive personality and political skill. International Journal of Hospitality Management, 33, 219-227.

Guffey, M.E., & Loewy, D. (2015). Essentials of Business Communication. Cengage Learning.

Means, T. (2009). Business Communication. Cengage Learning.

Locker, K.O., & Kaczmarek, S.K. (2011). Business Communication: Building. Tata McGraw-Hill Education.

Faupel, A., Herrick, E., & Sharp, P.M.. (2010). Anger Management: A Practical Guide. Routledge.

Seawoard, B.L. (2011). Essentials of Managing Stress. Jones & Bartlett Publishers.

Elliott, C.H., Smith, L.L., & Gentryy, W.D. (2015). Anger Management For Dummies. John Wiley & Sons.

Huszczo, G.E. (2010). Tools for Team Excellence: Getting Your Team into High Gear and Keeping it There. Hachette UK.