Reflective Practice Assignment: Developing Your Communication Competency

Question

Task Description: The objective of this reflective essay is to summarize what you learned from the unit and how you believe your learnings could be applied by you in your future career goals.

Section one: For weeks one to ten you should identify one important or significant concept that you have learned about.

Section two: Based on your discussion of the ten significant concepts you should provide a literature review of one of the concepts. So for example, if you found that listening was an important communication concept then you should provide a literature review on the current academic understanding of the importance of listening within the work environment

Section three: Lastly, you will need to discuss how two of the ten concepts could be important to your future career aspirations. Here you will need to identify where you wish to be in 5 years’ time, and then discuss how you think these concepts/skills will help you meet your career goal. It is important that you are specific as possible.

Your essay should follow the following structure:
1) Introduction

1. Opening statement that introduces the topic
2. Background information that introduces the context, significance and the purpose of the essay
3. Preview of the structure of the essay
4. Thesis
5. Transition to section one

2) Section one—identify and explain the importance of one weekly concept in terms of your work activities

1. Week one
2. Week two
3. Week three
4. Week four
5. Week five
6. Week six
7. Week seven
8. Week eight
9. Week nine
10. Week ten

3) Section two—Literature review of one of the concepts identified in section one

4) Section three—Application of two of the concepts for future career aspirations.

5) Conclusion

1. Synopsis of the areas discussed in the essay
2. Restatement of the thesis statement
3. Capstone statement that signals that the essay has ended.

6) References (APA reference style)

Answer

Effective business communication skills can be helpful for individuals to improve their performance and do their job successfully. In the first section of the essay, different skills of communication are going to be provided from week one to week ten in the form of reflection. In the second section of the essay, literature review is going to be provided on listening skill. In the third section of the essay, future position is going to be provided on the basis of two leanings such as confidence and friendliness. The next section of the study deals with various concepts of communication competence that have been learnt during the communication learning course.

Intrapersonal Communication acts as an essence to involve workforce within an organisation. Intrapersonal thoughts are considered as own thoughts, feelings, emotions and conversation internally, henceforth I considered intrapersonal communication as my theme learning for during the beginning week. As opined by Hartley & Chatterton (2015), intra personal communication skills are useful in order to express feelings, emotions at the time of communication. However, I found that instant as a challenge that how I should respond to whom. Henceforth, based on my current status I prefer intrapersonal communication as an important part for my work life sustainability. In order to express my feelings and emotions while communication with people, it is important to build intrapersonal skills by practice. Effective interpersonal communication is helpful for getting attention of people. This communication skill can be used by me in future in order to present my points of view in front of people. I can able to lead people after becoming an effective leader of an organisation.

During second week of learning I preferred non-verbal communication concept by selecting a non-verbal immediacy as theme learning. Based on Gkorezis, Bellou & Skemperis (2015), point of view non-verbal Immediacy is considered to implement non-verbal cues, for example direct body orientation, eye contact, and nods by head vocal inflections and so on. Based on one of my experience I have been using verbally aggressive communication and non-verbally immediate, both conditions are considered as lack of confidence.

As influenced by Canpolat et al., (2015), it is important for me to communicate effectively with people using verbal and non verbal communication in order to make my professional life smoother. I have also learned about Non-verbal Immediacy during second week of study that had reinforced my current situation. According to Lentz (2013), non verbal immediacy is more effective way of communication rather than verbal communication. I perceived this non-verbal immediacy in order to improve my work line non-verbal communication skills in future.

Communication in terms of writing matters a lot in workplace. In the present third week I have gone through learning’s related to good writing skills. Report writing is found be most important part of work line. I realised challenging situation while writing effective professional report. Inspired by Lentz (2013), it is important to know how to write a formal and professional document for professional purpose. It is more important to present the investigation in the form of report rather than doing the practical investigation. Organisations do not focus on how a person investigate in order to make the report effective but it focuses on the presetaion of report in effective way.

I understood the importance of written communication, by perceiving why you are communicating and to whom you are communicating. According to Waung et al., (2017) impression management need to be included while writing a document. Report can be considered as a form of writing skill. According to Callahan (2015), an effective report cam able to present entire work effectively in front of people. At the time of working in an organisation, it is important to have effective knowledge of writing a report. This writing skill can be helpful for me in order to present any report in front of audience.

During 4th week of my course study, I have learnt the skills to write the academic writing in terms of sentence. Sentence construction plays an important part in academic writing. Though I am not good at writing skills effective knowledge of sentence construction is important in order to work in an organisation and create positive image in the organisation (McDougall, Orenelles& Rao, 2015). In the opinion of De Nobile (2017), voice is used in order to present sentences in different forms. It makes the sentence more effective and it can be used by me in order to present my academic writing effectively. I can able to preset the documentation in front of my hierarchy and clients effectively without any error using effective knowledge of sentence constructions.

In my course study during week 5, I have learnt on writing the academic essays including the self-reflection essay. According to Callahan (2015), writing the academic essays set out the coherent ideas, towards an argument. Learning the written communication of academic essay will help me to understand the core grounds of ideas using literature review and will help in enhancing my skills along with the course grades. Therefore there is an importance to enhance self reflective essay writing to implement such skills in work line arena. Self reflective essay is a way to present own idea in the form of an essay. Sometimes, in an organisation, it is important to present the whole meetings in the own way so this skills can be helpful for me in future. This skill can be used by me in order to present my point of view or any real life experience in the form of an essay. It is important to think actively in order to write a self reflective essay.

In the 6th week of my course study, I have learnt the vocational presentation in terms of communication skills through specification in approaches to public speaking. In the opinion of Bergman (2012), recognising different approaches to public speaking is used within the business aspects to provide the core information through presenting a report to the potential clients.

(Bodie, 2010), opined there is an anxiety while explaining, defining and treating while public speaking, therefore it is important to recognise approaches required in public speaking . In future I will be able to incorporate skills related to public speaking elements and approaches to implement those in work line.

Public speaking is also a form of verbal communication. I have gained knowledge of public speaking with the help of verbal communication study. In the opinion of Dekay (2012), it is important to have effective verbal skill in order to present own point of view in front of audience. This skill is useful for me to present my views in front of people in an organisation. I can also able to fight for the right things using this skill. This skill can be used by me in order to give effective presentation in front of people in future.

In the 7th week of my course study, I have learnt the skills related to the intercultural communication, where the communication can be done to then people from different cultural backgrounds in terms of low and high context culture. High-context and low-context culture communication will be effective to create good relationship with co-workers.

High Context culture has also been experienced by me during the study of intercultural communication. It is mainly based on traditions and relationships are given more priority in case of high culture context. In future, I will have to deal with people of various cultures so this skill is useful for me to respect the cultures and build effective relationship with people. This skill can be helpful for me in order take effective decisions based on culture and tradition for future benefits.

In the 8th week of my learning course, I have learnt the importance of communication within the organization. In the opinion of De Nobile (2017), an effective flow of internal and external communication in the organization can specify the roles and responsibilities along with the organizational goals and aim. These skills are useful in order to manage the work while working in an organisation. Byron (2008) opined both the internal and external communication that needs to be exercised in managing the organizational goals has been learnt by me, which will help me to manage the organizational responsibility in future. The importance of internal communication and external communication has been experienced by me during this week of study. In the opinion of De Nobile (2017), internal communication is done in the form of meetings, events, email, documents and others. An employee needs to effective communication skills inside and outside the organisation. In order to manage my work effectively in future, this skill can be helpful for me in order to have effective communication within my organisation.

During the completion of week 9, I learnt specific professional skills that are workplace meetings. Allen et al., (2014) opined meeting plays an important role, which helps to increase coordination among the employees and other professionals. The theme of this learning week to develop skills required in group development and this would be helpful to integrate my leading capability as a group. In accordance to Foronda, MacWilliams & McArthur (2016), it is important to have the skills of working in a group. This skill can be helpful in order to give effective performance while working in a group in future. I have faced difficulties due to lack of this skill. I was not able to manage while working in group. An effective team can able to achieve big goal easily so it is important for me to build this skill inside me. The present module is specified and aimed to determine role of group and teammates. I emphasized group development stage, recognized team building necessity. Henceforth, inspired by Kauffeld& Lehmann (2012), I perceived effective communication and competencies for workplace mobility.

As stated by Worthington & Fitch-Hauser (2018), Meetings are happened in workplace for group development. I have experienced during my study that the performance and skill of people get develop after attending meetings. According to Dwyer (2016), self disclose skills can be considered as a thinking that comes out of mind after per activity. Self disclosure quality is helpful in order to build effective relationship with people. In an organisation, a leader needs to have self disclosure skill in order to lead employees effectively. In the opinion of Dekay (2012), by communicating supportively it is possible to build and maintain self disclose skills. Interpersonal communication can be used in order to make people self disclose. In accordance to Foronda, MacWilliams & McArthur (2016), it is important to communicate with people effectively in order to have the quality of self disclose. This skill can be used by me in order to remove my fear to communicate with people so that I can able to have effective communication skill.

In this section, listening skill has been selected for literature review. Listening skills were taught to the students in the second week of the course of the study. Listening skill is important in order to understand the views of others. As stated by Worthington & Fitch-Hauser (2018), a great listener can able to influence people by understanding their views effectively. However, they do not interrupt the speaker in the middle and waits until the speech or needs of the speaker is spoken and then the question is put forth. Moreover, employees are able to build an effective relationship with customers by providing them the chance to speak. It is also seen that customers remain loyal to the organisations where their requirements are listened to properly by the employees.

In this section, friendliness and confidence have been selected in order to meet career aspirations. After five years, I want to be at the position of an effective leader of a large number of team members. In order to deal with people, it is important to have friendliness as well as confidence in communication. In accordance to Foronda, MacWilliams & McArthur (2016), a leader can able to build effective relationship with the team members if the leaders are confident as well as friendliness in communication. These skills can also be helpful for me for building an effective relationship with my team members and gain their trust. As a team leader, I need confidence skill because it helps me to influence my team members by my words and presentation. In this way, I can able to become effective leaders in future with the help of confidence and friendliness skill and influence a lot of people.

In this essay, the importance of effective business communication skills has been discussed. The writer has gone through a clinical study in the first section and provided ten skills such as confidence, clarity, respect, open mind, empathy, friendliness, listening, emotional intelligence and others. The factors that are important to improve in order to become an effective listener have been discussed along with the importance of an effective listener.

Reference
Abdulai, Ibrahim, & Mohammed. (2017). Communicating across cultures in multinational Ibis West Africa. International Journal of Intercultural Relations, 58(3), 42-53.

Allen, J. A., Lehmann-Willenbrock, N., &Landowski, N. (2014). Linking pre-meeting communication to meeting effectiveness. Journal of Managerial Psychology, 29(8), 1064-1081.

Bergman, E. (2012). Setting your presentations apart. (EXPERT ADVICE) (preparing your business presentations). Canadian Manager, 37(3), 25.

Bodie, G. (2010). A Racing Heart, Rattling Knees, and Ruminative Thoughts: Defining, Explaining, and Treating Public Speaking Anxiety. Communication Education, 59(1), 70-105.

Brink, K. E., &Costigan, R.R. (2015). Oral communication skills: Are the priorities of the workplace and AACSB-accredited business programs aligned? Academy of Management Learning & Education, 14(2), 205-221. Retrieved from: https://cqu-primo.hosted.exlibrisgroup.com/primo-explore/fulldisplay?docid=TN_gbv835353621&context=PC&vid=61CQU&search_sc

Byron, K. (2008). Carrying too heavy load? The communication and miscommunication of emotion by email. Academy of Management Review, 33(2), 309-327.

Callahan, J. (2014). Writing literature reviews. Human Resource Development Review, 13(3), 271-275. Retrieved from: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/1534484314536705

Canpolat, M.,,Kuzu, S., Yildirim, B., &Canpolat, S. (2015). Active listening strategies of academically successful university students. Eurasian Journal of Educational Research,14(60), 163-180. Retrieved from:http://web.a.ebscohost.com/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=1&sid=8a0fc3a6-b679-4877-9031-66ef337a6027%40sessionmgr4007

De Nobile, J. (2017). Organisational Communication and Its Relationships with Job Satisfaction and Organisational Commitment of Primary School Staff in Western Australia. Educational Psychology, 37(3), 380-398.

DeKay, S. H. (2012). Interpersonal Communication in the Workplace: A Largely Unexplored Region. Business Communication Quarterly, 75(4), 449-452.

Dwyer, J. (2016). Chapter 3: Interpersonal Communication, Communication for Business and the Professions, 9(14), 46- 78.

Gkorezis, P., Bellou, V., &Skemperis, N. (2015). Nonverbal communication and relational identification with the supervisor. Management Decision, 53(5), 1005 – 1022. Retrieved from:http://www.emeraldinsight.com.ezproxy.cqu.edu.au/doi/pdfplus/10.1108/MD-11-2014-0630

Hartley, P., & Chatterton, P. (2015). Developing your communication: Deciding where to start in Business Communication: Rethinking your Professional Practice for the Post-Digital Age, 1(1), 13-35. Retrieved from: https://cqu-a.alma.exlibrisgroup.com/view/delivery/61CQU_INST/1288348890003441

Kauffeld, S., & Lehmann-Willenbrock, N. (2012). Meetings matter: Effects of team meetings on team and organizational success. Small Group Research, 43(2), 130-158.

Lentz, P. (2013). MBA Students’ Workplace Writing. Business Communication Quarterly, 76(4), 474-490. Retrieved from: http://journals.sagepub.com.ezproxy.cqu.edu.au/doi/pdf/10.1177

McDougall, D., Orenelles, C., & Rao, K. (2015). A primer on the pathway to scholarly writing: Helping nascent writers to unlearn conditioned habits. College Student Journal, 49(2), 262-270.

Tuleja, E. A. (2017). Culture and context in communication. In Intercultural Communication for Global Business: How Leaders Communicate for Success, 1(3), 156-187.

Waung, M., McAuslan, P., DiMambro, J., &Mi?go?, M. (2017). Impression management use in resumes and cover letters. Journal of Business and Psychology, 32(6), 727-746. Retrieved from: https://link-springer-com.ezproxy.cqu.edu.au/content/pdf/10.1007%2Fs10869-016-9470-9.pdf

Zorn, T., & Campbell, N. (2006). Improving the writing of literature reviews through a literature integration exercise. Business Communication Quarterly, 69(2), 172-183.