Importance Of Effective Communication

Introduction

An effective communication is important in business as it helps to foster a good relationship at work between the management and the staffs which in turn helps to improve the efficiency and morale of the employees. In this report, the principles and purpose of communication strategy are explained and the general characteristics of being a good listener and speaker are discussed. Further, personal weakness and strength in communication are being highlighted.

Task 1

In a communication strategy, the HR director of the independent London sports and leisure centre require to consider the principle of completeness and clarification. As mentioned by Tran et al. (2017), message to be delivered during communication required to be complete so that it is properly understood from the perception of the receiver. This is because an incomplete message creates confusion in the mind of the receiver to understand what nature of information being delivered. As argued by Ruben and Gigliotti (2017), incomplete messages in business communication make the receiver to get back to the sender to clarify what has been informed. This takes increased time and causes delay in making business decisions. Thus, the HR director requires to strictly implement the principle of clarification and completeness in the communication strategy so that proper conversation can be established and less time is spent in making business decision through communication.

The HR director also requires considering the principle of concreteness in communication strategy. As asserted by Boiarsky (2015), concrete delivery of messages through communication leads to deliver factual details in an appropriate manner to the receiver. This is required to keep away unnecessary imagination and wrong perception of the meaning of the information by the receiver delivered through communication. It results to overcome wrong interpretation of the message, in turn, avoiding risk of conflicts between the receiver and the sender (Eyre, 2016). For instance, the HR director by implementing concreteness in communication strategy would be able to help the staffs deliver right information with factual details to the customers making them avoid develop wrong interpretation of the message received in turn avoiding rise of negative perception due to imagination for the organisation. The HR director also requires keeping in mind the principle of courtesy in the communication strategy. This is because proper courtesy in communication helps to show respect to the receiver, in turn, creating an effective communication (Mehta, 2016). Thus, it is going to show respect to the customers making them feel valued to return to the company for further services.

The HR director requires considering the principle of correctness in communication strategy so that correct languages are used in communication with the customers. This is because the correct use of language and phrases to communicate helps to increase trustworthiness and the receiver of the message feels that their queries are taken in a valuable way to communicate the right information (Mazzei and Ravazzani, 2015). Thus, the HR director in this way would be able to create value for the consumers, in turn, making the loyal to the company resulting them to return back to them for taking further services. As commented by Cha et al. (2015), conciseness in communication strategy is required to deliver a clear and compact message to the sender without using unnecessary words. This principle is required to be implemented by the HR director of the independent London sports and Leisure Company so that the attention of the receiver is properly got through the message as well as it is made sure what the sender actually wish to convey through the message in the communication.

Explaining general characteristics the participants require having for effective listening and speaking power

The general characteristic of an effective listener in a business meeting is to pay attention to the individual who is communicating information in the meeting. As mentioned by Fedesco (2015), providing attention to the person involved in speaking during a conversation leads the listener to collect proper information being delivered. Thus, the HR director requires asking the staffs working in the organisation to become effective listeners to pay attention to the speaker in business meetings. This is required so that they are able to collect valuable information regarding the way they are to work for better customer satisfaction in turn showing respect to the speaker. As asserted by Omar (2017), effective listeners in business meeting maintain eye contact with the speaker. This is because maintaining eye contact is a body language that indicates the speaker that the listener is involved in identifying whatever information is being delivered in the business meeting. Thus, participants during the business meeting require keeping eye contact with the speaker to be effective listeners. The effective listeners in business meeting required to nod and smile at appropriate times to show their interest towards the speaker. This is required to make the speaker motivated to provide further information which may be required by the staffs for better activity and creating improved work efficiency (Pearson, 2017).

The effective speaker within a business meeting required to have the characteristic of being confident. As mentioned by Reece and Reece (2016), confidence in speaking helps the speaker to provide concise and clarified information to the co-workers as well as clients in a clear and proper manner. Thus, the participants to be effective speakers during the business meeting require having the ability to speak in a confident way to clearly inform other regarding any information for better management of the business so that the organisation is able to effectively grow in the sports and leisure industry. As commented by Niebuhr et al. (2016), effective speakers are seen to have proper voice modulations. This is because during a speech the pitch of the voice acts to show courtesy to the listeners. Thus, a high tone of voice would mean disrespect to the listeners whereas a mild or low voice tone helps to show empathy and politeness during speech. Therefore, to be a good speaker in business meetings the individuals require maintaining proper tone of the voice.

An effective speaker is seen to generally develop the speech in such a manner so that it connects to the audience. This is required to get the attention of the audience to listen to the speaker as well as it is needed to make the speaker understandable to the listeners (Itzchakov et al. 2017). Thus, to become an effective speaker in business meetings it is essential their speech is developed in such a way so that it connects to the audience. The effective speakers in business meetings are required to have passion towards the topic they are informing through the speech. Moreover, to become an effective speaker in business meetings they require developing characteristics to make the speech in such a way so that it is clearly understood from the perspective of the audience for whom it is being developed to be delivered.

Task 2

Evaluating my personal strength and weakness in communicating orally and in written format

In my organisation, while acting as an HR manager to manage employees I identified that I have the strength to deliver message in a concise and clear manner while communicating orally. This is evident as I often had short conversation with the employees and each time they informed that they have clearly understood and been informed regarding what they wish to know for their effective work activity. I also had the strength of maintaining proper voice modulation while communicating orally because I often speak softly and in a natural tone. The strength is evident as in no instances the listeners informed that they felt disrespected while communicating in an oral manner with me and often showed satisfaction. However, I have the weakness in oral communication of being unable to paint a picture for the listeners regarding what I wish to inform them. This is because in many instances the employees informed me to repeat the instruction being given in oral communication so that they can develop an image in the mind to properly understand what they need to do. However, I felt that I have the strength of patience while communicating orally to listen to the receiver to understand what further information I require to give them for the success of the communication.

My key strength in written, as well as oral communication, is that I have effective understanding of language and phrases regarding where and in what situation they are to be used. This is evident as there are diverse employees in the organisation where I work as HR Manager and none of them have ever complained nor the management has informed that I did not maintain the professional code of language to be used during oral and written communication. I also have the strength of imagination in written communication which helps me to understand the way I need to present the information so that the reader can understand it in an effective way. However, I have the weakness in maintaining proper grammatical skills in written communication. This is evident as the management has often reported that they have found minor grammatical errors in my writing in the professional field which has led them to face embarrassment and humiliation from the clients.

I also have the weakness of being unable to have proper stock and understanding of vocabulary to be used in writing so that the sentences can be written in a better and innovative way. This weakness is evident as many times it is been reported that due to lack of proper use of vocabulary in written communication in the business many information seemed to presented in an inappropriate manner. It leads to change the meaning of the information being present leading to confusion and in some cases rise of conflict with the client.

Conclusion

The above discussion informs that the HR director requires to abide by the principles of completeness, conciseness, correctness and others in communication strategy. Moreover, during business meetings, to be a good listener the individual required to be attentive, maintain eye contact, nod and smile and appropriate time and others and to be a good speaker they require to be concise, have proper voice modulation and others. My personal strength related to communicating orally and in the written format is attentive, have proper voice modulation, professionalism and others. However, my weaknesses are grammatical skills, vocabulary and others in communication.

References

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• Cha, H., Suh, J.W. and Kim, J.R., 2015. The effect of issue obtrusiveness, issue congruence, and response strategies on the acceptance of crisis communication messages. Asian Journal of Communication, 25(3), pp.307-326.
• Fedesco, H.N., 2015. The impact of (in) effective listening on interpersonal interactions. International Journal of Listening, 29(2), pp.103-106.
• Itzchakov, G., Kluger, A.N. and Castro, D.R., 2017. I am aware of my inconsistencies but can tolerate them: The effect of high-quality listening on speakers' attitude ambivalence. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 43(1), pp.105-120.
• Mazzei, A. and Ravazzani, S., 2015. Internal crisis communication strategies to protect trust relationships: A study of Italian companies. International Journal of Business Communication, 52(3), pp.319-337.
• Mehta, N.K., 2016. Excellence in human and business communication: reflections from the Srimad Bhagavad Gita. International Journal of Business Excellence, 9(1), pp.113-133.
• Niebuhr, O., Voße, J. and Brem, A., 2016. What makes a charismatic speaker? A computer-based acoustic-prosodic analysis of Steve Jobs tone of voice. Computers in Human Behavior, 64, pp.366-382.
• Omar, N., 2017. Methods of discovering effective listening skills in direct selling actual conversations. Advanced Science Letters, 23(1), pp.267-271.
• Pearson, R., 2017. Business ethics as communication ethics: Public relations practice and the idea of dialogue. In Public relations theory (pp. 111-131). Routledge.
• Reece, B. and Reece, M., 2016. Effective human relations: Interpersonal and organizational applications. Cengage Learning.
• Ruben, B.D. and Gigliotti, R.A., 2017. Communication: Sine qua non of organizational leadership theory and practice. International Journal of Business Communication, 54(1), pp.12-30.
• Tran, D.Q., Nguyen, L.D. and Faught, A., 2017. Examination of communication processes in design-build project delivery in building construction. Engineering, Construction and Architectural Management, 24(6), pp.1319-1336.

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