Intercultural Common Competence: Importance, Tools, And Strategies

Diagnostic and Reflection

Discuss About The Intercultural Common Competence Retrospect?

Communication can be defined as the process of interacting with the other person. Interaction is not limited to speaking but listening is also a part of good communication (Arnold & Boggs, 2015). It is the very important part of life of an individual in professional and personal manner thus it is required to develop the communication skills so that effective communication can be made. In order to identify these skills, there are various tools available. Five of those tools are discussed in this report. The later part of the report is about the literature review that explains many arguments related to conceptual and behavioral knowledge and theories about the factors that restricts effective communication. Improved communication skills helps in developing psychology and image in the society and thus help the individual to share the information easily and effectively.

In order to identify my weakness and strength in terms of communication, I have utilized 5 tools and evaluated the results so that the relevant improvement can be made in my skills. The first tool that I have used is personal report of public speaking anxiety (Yew Wong, 2005). It has been analyzed that it is the tool that help in analyzing the degree of anxiety a person may have at the time of speaking in public (Bambini, Washburn & Perkins, 2009). When I evaluated the results of this test, I have scored 121 which is less in terms of being a good public speaker. This is because I get nervous at pints when I have to deal with public speaking scenarios. I myself have realized many times that whenever the situation comes and I have to speak I public I feel very anxious and nervous and this skill of mine needs a great improvement. as per my scoring, I should improve my public speaking skills because this is the thing that can restrict me in getting ahead in my career as presentation and communication skills is the basic necessity for cracking any of the interviews.

With a positive attitude and a new hope I conducted the next test by the next diagnostic tools that was self-perceived communication competence scale. As per the name, it has been analyzed that this tool helps in analyzing the perceived competency of the person and not the actual one (Baraldi, 2017). It is the perception of the self. I have used this tool for analysis myself and identifying that how much I know my own skills and what is the perception that have stored in my mind about myself. In terms of scoring, I have realized that I have scored 76.25 which is quite good, this means that I myself have faith in me that I have good communication skills but this can be my perception and could have been different  from the actual scenario. The scale suggested that more than 87 scoring support the competence of the person to communicate while the scoring of less than 59 shows the low communication competency. If the improvement is considered, I should improve my skills but this tool has not given the satisfactory results and it is required to get the feedback from others about myself. That would be the actual feedback and the actual results of my communication n skills.

Tools for Identifying Communication Weaknesses and Strengths

Communication is not that easy and it became more difficult when we have to deal with the person who is not from the similar background or culture (Vangelisti, 2016). Thus, I thought of testing my intercultural communication skills and conducted a test called personal report of intercultural communication apprehension (Worth, 2009). This is the tool that can help in analyzing me fear and consciousness that may arise when I have to interact with the other culture people. Intercultural communication basically means interacting and making conversations with the person having different language or may be having a different mindset for the things because of the difference in prior experiences. Thus, this is very difficult part of communication. After I conducted the test, I realized that I have got 29. This is a quiet good score and I thing and I am quite comfortable with the people having different background. This may be because I love to know about new things and thus I try to learn new things from the people having different culture. I usually prefer talking to them so that can get to know about their culture more.

As we know that communication is not only about what we speak or not only about the language but it is about our nonverbal ability to make the other person understand about our feelings. Sometimes, some people express the things very well with their nonverbal cues that they do not have to say anything to communicate their information. Thus nonverbal cues or skills are the most important skills of communication (Chaloupka-Risser & Füssl, 2017). When we say something it may have many meaning, it is the nonverbal expression of the individual that adds essence to the sentence we speak. This drives me to conduct the test called nonverbal immediacy scale self-report. It is the tool that involves the scoring on the scale of 5 point scale. When I conducted this test, I realized that I scored 60 Which is very low in terms of having an effective communication? When I evaluated all the questions I realized that I do to show so much of gestures every time I speak on this resist me to make a good an effective conversation and this is the reason why some of the people misunderstand my things at times. It is very important to show the motions and gestures when to convey your humor to anyone and if there were no gestures the statement turns out to be very different. I figured out that I cannot able to judge that which gesture should I use and this makes y conversation more complex for the people.

Importance of Intercultural Common Competence

Now comes the time when I have to judge my talking skills. Most of the people say that I speak so much and there says that I speak less. So, this develops confusion in my mind that whether I am talkative or not. Then I tested my talking skills by conducting a test called talkaholic test. This tool describes that how much a person talk. A person is talkative only when the other person do not find it interest and worth replying thus if the person is talking and the other person is replying with equal intensity then the person is not called as talkative (Turner, Iliffe, Downs, Wilcock, Bryans, Levin, ... & O'carroll, 2004). As far as the scoring is concerned I have got 23 and this makes me a mediocre and my confusion still stays the same. They realized that it is the environment and the comfort zone of mine that allow me to speak. The nature of me being talkative depends on the surrounding and the people who are around me. If I find it comfortable I used to talk much but I don’t find the environment comfortable I do to talk.

I have recollected some of the incidences from past that can be related to these tests. Once when I was in an interview, the interviewer has asked so many questions to me. I realize that I got panic at that time and cant even made any eye contact to them. All gestures of fear have shown on my face which was not to be shown at that time as this is the skill that I have to learn. The next situation that I recollected is at the time when I have participated in a debate competition. I was speaking for the topic and the other one was speaking against the topic. When I realized that he is quoting very strong points and as I reached the stage, it was a blackout for me. As I saw the audience I started shivering and initiated the topic stammering my name. This made me even nervous and the expressions on the faces of the audiences have made me even more uncomfortable. This lack of confidence can nowhere help me in my future. Thus it is required to improve my confidence level at the time of communication.

With the help of all the above tools, I figured out my weaknesses in communication and this may help in develop the strategies that can support me in improving my skills. I have concluded from the tests that I have to develop confidence in me that can help me in interacting with people confidently and making intelligent conversations with them. Most of the effective communicators have so much of confidence that they even say the wrong thing with that much confidence that the other persons get convinced. I want that level of confidence in me. Another side where I am lacking is expression and gestures. I should judge where to express and where not. What to express and how to express is also very necessary to make the communication effective because communication is not only verbal but it involves some of the nonverbal gestures that contributed a lot in the conversation.

Strategies for Improving Communication Skills

Chi & Suthers, 2015 suggests that in order to understand the complexity of the interpersonal skills, it is required to understand the process of communication. After analyzing the process of communication, it can be identified that where the probability of issues can rise and where the scope of improvement is present. Human beings are not passive in nature and nor the communication process (Choren, 2015). Communication is considered as the active process and thus it is affected by the surroundings and the complexities of the human behavior. Thus, the human s should know about their behavior and their communication style so that they convey their information efficiently to the other people in the society.

Various diagnostic tools are available to test the communication skill of the individuals and some were used by me to check mine. It had been analyzed that the diagnostic tools that were used for testing and evaluating the communication skill were successful enough to give a result that can help me in improving my communication skills (Shehada, 2016). It has been identified that I am not expressive I nature and cannot judge where and how to express. This gives me a panic attack at times and ruins the overall conversation for me. This ultimately becomes a limitation for me in my interpersonal skills. The major reason that has been observed behind lack of expression and interpersonal skills is because of attitude and the behavior of the person (Dai & Chen, 2014). It has been discussed that when the person is not expressive enough and lack in interpersonal skills then it becomes very tough for him to communicate at professional level. This is because when the people communicate the personal level, the other person may not judge him on how he stand and show he show his gestures bit at professional level (Fearn-Banks, 2016). These things matters a lot. Passive and active communications are the types of communication that exists. Passive communication is the one which is not independent other surrounding and does not include any gestures. This communication is not effective in nature while active communication is dependent on the nature of the surroundings (Samovar, Porter, McDaniel & Roy, 2014). The passive communication act as the limitation for the person to convey his feelings behind the words he is speaking. It is considered as the very big weakness and it never turned out to be effective (Henderson & Mathew Byrne, 2016). As far as the professional scenario is concerned, it has been analyzed that the individuals with this kind of style of passive communication fails the interviews and deals because of their lack of interpersonal skills. It has also been analyzed that the people who use this style of passive communication fails to rotate the information in the other group effectively. This is the reason why the communication is considered as active process in nature (Hirsh-Pasek, Adamson, Bakeman, Owen, Golinkoff, Pace ... & Suma, 2015). The reason being that passive communication cannot be able to win a conversation as it lacks the gestures and the response to the changes in the surroundings, the person with passive communication have the attitude of speaking and not listening. This idea suggests that listening is also the part of communication process. If the individual is not a good listener he cannot make any successful communication. My concern is this that I am not an expressive person and also failed to figure out that where and how I should express my gestures. This is a great weakness in me that restricts me to grow in communication field. I need to develop my interpersonal skills so that I can improve my overall communication skills.

It is revealed by many authors that it is very important to make the agenda of the topics and full preparations should be done before making any professional communication. Professional interactions are very tough to make and thus it is required to be prepared for that. When nay of the individual initiates the professional conversation or interaction, it is required by them to show their feeling properly with respect and grace (Ihtiyar & Ahmad, 2015). This is possible only when the person know his own flaws and limitations. This is because if the person has the idea of his own flaws then only he makes the proper improvement in the same (Ruben, 2015). It is not the negative side that should be required to know but the positive side should also be used to hide the weaknesses. Communication involves two or more than two people and thus analyzing the behavior and the skills of both the person is required because it is not a single side game.

With the help of the diagnostic tools explained above, it is very easy to judge the skills of the person (Reilly & Hynan, 2014). As the discussion has been made an active communication it has been analyzed that it is the environment that affect the communication process thus it has also been analyzed that if the person is using the appropriate communication style then it becomes very easy for the person to adjust and fit in any kind of environment (Keech, Kelly, Dowling, McBride and Brown, 2016).

Another limitation and the weakness that I have identified in myself by the diagnostic tools is confidence. I lack confidence in me to speak in public especially. The studies suggest that an effective communicator should always have confidence in him and this makes me even nervous because I lack this skill. Confidence is the very important part of effective communication and it is very much required to gather a great confidence when an individual has to convey the message to the masses. It has been suggested that if the person is not confident, it is not only the public speaking communication that becomes restricted but many of the professional skills such as presentation skills also get affected by the same (Kim, 2015). Presentation skills are very important in a professional career of the person. If the person does not have the confidence to deal with masses then that person could not be able to convey the ideas to his bosses and the colleagues at professional level as well (Koester & Lustig, 2015). A good communicator is the one who speaks confidently and along with it supports the listener to boost up their confidence as well. Thus, it is required by the presenters to develop a gather the courage to deal with so many people in front of them (Neuliep, 2017).

It has been identified that confidence can be learnt but it needs to be developed. For development of the same, it is required to implement some of the strategies such as knowledge, training and practice (Koprowska, 2014). Knowledge is the very big tool that is the solution for all the problems. It has been analyzed that when an individual has the thorough idea about the topic or the subject of communication then it helps the person to gather enough confidence to convey those ideas to the public. Lack of knowledge results in nervousness and fear must the participant and thus they lose their confidence to convey their messages (Kuhnke, 2013). Thus, it has been identified that the individuals should read and gain all the knowledge about the subject and its related aspects so that the communication can be deal with confidence in terms of public speaking, the speaker should prepare for the speech and should be active enough to speak out the words with so much confidence so that the masses can be attracted and convinced (McKay, Davis & Fanning, 2009). Communication is the very important tool for the public speaker and leaders and thus they have to develop that confidence by gaining the knowledge. Another strategy that can work out in this area is practice (Kurtz, Draper & Silverman, 2017). A very famous phrase suggests that practice makes the man perfect. The individuals like me who have analyzed hat they lack confidence when speak in public should make a frequent practice o the communication and should try to join the public gatherings so that the fear of masses and public can be reduced. It is very necessary for the individuals to communicate frequently to remove their fear from their minds. The last strategy is about trainings (Leutenberg, Liptak & Brodsky, 2008). There are various courses available such as the course of personality development that helps the individuals to develop their personality as well communication skills. This strategy helps the individuals like me to develop the confidence as well as the interpersonal skills to communicate with the people. Training provides professional etiquettes to the individuals who are very helpful in developing confidence and courage to speak in public (Louis & Zeger, 2008).

The inference that is made out of the discussion suggests that confidence and nonverbal skills are the two most important components of effective communication.it is very important realize the weakness so that the corrective actions can be taken on the same. By analyzing the weakness and the strengths, the individuals can work on their weak points and can improve their communication skills as whole.

The action plan is required to be made in order to identify the activities that are needs to be performed for the purpose of making improvements in the communication skills. I have synthesized tall the activities in the following format which I will perform so that I can get rid of my weaknesses that has been diagnosed by suing the above tools.

Conclusion:

It has been concluded from the report that communication is the very significant part of life. In order to identify my weakness and strength in terms of communication, I have utilized 5 tools and evaluated the results so that the relevant improvement can be made in my skills. The tools that I have used are PRICS, NISS, PRPSA, Talkaholic scale and SPCC. All these tools suggested that I lack in the area of nonverbal skills and confidence to speak in public. Thus an action plan has been prepared to improve these skills.

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