Features of Managerial Skills and Communication - Coursework Example

Running Head: Managerial Skills and Communication Managerial Skills and Communication [Institute’s Managerial Skills and Communication Introduction In our society, important work is done by individuals with different responsibilities and with different titles. In the context of business, restaurant manager, chairperson, dean, production manager, governor, and human resources manager are some of the titles associated with the position of management in different parts of the globe. These individuals may work in different types of organizations with different purposes; however, they all have one thing in common. They practice management and they make efforts to manage arrangement of the work, in order to ensure cooperation among the workers, employees, staff, etc. Furthermore, our society depends on the goods and services provided by the organizations these individuals manage. Each of us is influences by the actions of managers every day in different capacities, because we encounter organizations every day. Our experiences may be as students in a college, patients in a hospital, customers of a business, or citizens of a state. Managers play a vital and crucial role in almost every type of organization. All the organizations are guided and directed by the decisions of one or more individuals who are designated managers. In other words, managers can be considered as the backbones of every organization. In this regard, it is the responsibility of managers to manage their work, their employees and workers, in order to ensure successful proceedings in the organization. In specific, a number of factors are responsible for the effectiveness of a manger. Particularly, interpersonal skills play a vital and crucial role in the efficiency and efficacy of the managers. In this paper, we will try to focus on couple of interpersonal skills that can facilitate the working of managers in an efficient manner, especially the communication competence and intercultural communication. (Williams, pp. 31-32, 2001) Interpersonal Skills It is very important that the term interpersonal skill should be understood and discussed in the paper, which will perform as the basis of our study. In this regard, during social communications and interactions, communicative algorithms play an important role that have been referred as interpersonal skills, which facilitate and impact significantly on results. Within business organizations, social communication and interactions is the major tool that is utilized by managers to operate and manage the employees in business organizations. In other words, interpersonal skills can be referred as an art that is used at the time of interacting with one another. It has been observed that interpersonal skills are key factors in the reduction of conflict within the workplace, and people refer these skills as a communicative respect for the workers. (Greene, pp. 11-13, 2003) It is an observation that tasks are completed efficiently and professionally, when the information is obtained, processed, and employed with the help of interpersonal skills by the employees, especially the managers in an organization. For instance, the interpersonal skill trains the manager to interrupt work of an employee with utmost respect for some other professional work. An interruption may result in conflict; however, managers mostly utilize their interpersonal skills to manage the priorities of work within their workplaces. In this regard, it is very important that managers should acquire interpersonal skills with efficacy, as it generates professional and significant results. Since the conflicts are reduced, productivity is usually increased by the employment of positive interpersonal skills in the organizations. In informal context, easy and comfortable platform is acquired by the workers and people to communicate with each other. In difficult situations, a number of people cannot control their feelings and situations emerge as a conflict. In such situations, a crucial role is played by the people and particularly, managers with good interpersonal skills. (Gootnick, pp. 99-103, 1999) Communication Competence In informal context, simple talk is referred as communication by most of the people that refer communication as a natural occurrence, which does not require any kind of training. In educational context, a common system of symbols and behavior is utilized by the individuals to exchange their information through a process known as communication. In other words, communication is usually defined in a naïve manner, which can be unacceptable by the professionals. For instance, if an individual defines engineering as an art of management of engines, most of the engineers will not agree with that individual. Similarly, definition of communication is still a complex thing that has not been understood by a number of people, which has resulted in the inefficiency of professional, as well as, informal works. (Greene, pp. 41-44, 2003) In specific, meanings are generated by the utilization of messages by individuals within different cultures, medium, and contexts. It is a known fact that data is not exchanged by human beings, and information is transmitted from one individual to another or others. In other words, meanings are created and understood by the management of messages in communication, which plays a vital role in the success of most of the organizations. In specific, one of the significant factors of an effective manager is the communication competency that decides the success of failure of an organization. (Gootnick, pp. 48-50, 1999) In the year 1988, a number of experts defined communication competency as an art that results in an efficient interaction with others. In specific, coherence, effectiveness, and clarity were referred to be the specific meanings of efficiency in the abovementioned definition. Later, some other experts defined communication competence as when appropriate objectives are set in a situational ability for the maximization of level of achievement by the generation of communicative actions; it is referred as communication competence. This definition was delivered in the year 1994. In a given social situation, when objectives are satisfied by the individuals with their perceived communication skills, it is referred as communication competence, which is one of the most significant requisites for being an effective manager. (Burnard, pp. 20-22, 1996) A number of experts have defined communication competence in their perspectives; however, all the specialists have signified the importance of communication competence in the achievement of success in most of the tasks, especially in the business contexts. Various social situations in an organization require motivational factor in the communicational abilities of the manager, and therefore, communication competence may prove to be very effective when workers are motivated by the implementation of communication competency of the managers. It has been noted that some managers are very good at motivating their workers; however, they are not considered the effective managers. In this regard, it is very important that motivational approach should be combined with plans of action, knowledge, proper information, and skilled behaviors for the proper amalgamation of these skills, which are necessary for an effective manager. (Hayes, pp. 29-35, 2002) It is an observation that some individuals are able to create an impression by their communication skills, which may support the fulfillment of a task. In other words, it is very imperative that communicative behavior of a manager should be performed in such a manner that may leave an understandable impression within the organization. However, a number of experts have provided an insight into the utilization of term motivation. As earlier mentioned in the paper that some managers have not been able to acquire an effective status even after their motivational abilities, it has been indicated by the experts that sensitivity and commitment can be the two specific and required divisions of the term motivation, which should be employed collectively by the managers. (Williams, pp. 23-25, 2001) In terms of sensitivity, every individual appreciates when a person shows concern and respect for him/her, and therefore, sensitivity can be related with the ability of communication competence to express a sense of respect for the employees while delivering the content of information regarding different tasks. In other words, a task can be given to an employee by ordering, as well as, by requesting. If requesting cannot be associated in a number of business organizations, managers should have the ability to give the task in such a manner that may be well accepted by the workers. Secondly, it is almost impossible that only positive people will be consisted in the organizations. Therefore, it is very important that managers should know the way to acquire commitment from the pessimistic people with their communication competency. In brief, managers should be flexible in their communication that may allow the workers to modify their behaviors according to requirements of the tasks. Man is a social animal, and therefore, managers should be socially experienced, exposed, and may have the ability to articulate and control things in serious situations with their communication competency. (Levy, pp. 89-90, 2001) Moreover, it is very imperative that appropriate words and body language should be used by the managers, which has been referred as responsiveness and perceptiveness by most of the experts in this field. Additionally, emotional reactions should be well understood by the managers, which can be a key factor to a successful organization. Combination of all these factors and abilities play a vital role in the effectiveness of a manager and it is hoped that the paper will be well understood for the better consideration of the communication competence. Intercultural Communication Now the paper will look into another significant characteristic of intercultural communication that is closely associated with communication competence. Although most of its points are similar, the paper will try to discuss some of the unique factors of intercultural communication. In recent years, one of the organizational assets has been the cultural diversity, which facilitates innovation and creativity at the workplace. However, diversity can sometimes be a disadvantage, if not responded appropriately. Consequently, mismanagement with different individuals from different cultures can result in a critical situation. In brief, managers are now deemed successful and effective, if the communication in an intercultural environment is well managed by them. (Porter, pp. 22-25, 2005) Our globe is changing drastically and companies have now expanded from one country to another, which has resulted in the beginning and tremendous advancement in the industry of international business. In this regard, intercultural communication plays a vital and crucial role in the success of different tasks, particularly in this age of international business. Especially the Western countries like the United Kingdom, the United States, Canada, and Australia are some of the countries that receive the highest number of immigrants from the developing world. (Young, pp. 27-28, 1996) In this regard, it is very important that managers should be able to respect and consider different cultures, norms and values of different societies in a single workplace. In most of the multinational companies, managers have to deal with Americans, Canadians, Pakistanis, Chinese, and Africans at the same time, and it is very important the managers should have the proper knowledge and information regarding the world cultures. (Hayes, pp. 76-81, 2002) As the businesses are becoming global and expanding internationally, increment has been observed in the demand of managers with the skills of intercultural communication since last decade. It has been observed that a number of conflicts and misunderstandings due to unavailability of managers with the incorporation of intercultural communication in their abilities. Therefore, it is very important that barriers and limitations related to the different cultures should be realized, understood, and dealt properly and appropriately by the managers, which is one of the significant characteristics of effective managers. In Western countries, managers have to usually deal with the people from the developing countries that are more emotional and confused as compared to the Western people. In this regard, earlier discussed characteristic of motivation in terms of respecting each other plays a vital role in the incorporation of intercultural communication. (Porter, pp. 33-37, 2005) As earlier mentioned in the paper, most of the skills of intercultural communication overlap with the general skills of communication competence. Generally, experts have indicated universal skills of intercultural communication that can be employed by the managers at their workplaces, in order to avoid any conflict and misunderstandings. One of the significant requisites of intercultural communication overlaps with another major factors of effective managers, listening and feedback. In specific, it is very imperative that managers should be good listeners, as it is very essential that managers should listen to their employees in an intercultural environment, as sometimes, a term in one culture would be diverse in another culture. Hence, managers should listen to their employees, understand properly and give the feedback for the confirmation. It is critical that understood information should be repeated to the individual for a mutual understanding with the intercultural employees at the workplace. (Wysocki, pp. 49-56, 2006) As earlier mentioned in the paper, innovative thinking is increased in a diverse and intercultural environment, as different solutions can be acquired from employees of different cultures for similar problems. On the other hand, identical solutions can be achieved in a homogenous group. In this regard, it is the test of managers to identify the potential risks and benefits from these intercultural environments through proper understanding of the cultures. It has been observed that sometimes, potential solutions are considered as breach of security and cultural identity by the managers, which result in the cultural conflicts in the organizations. (Wysocki, pp. 53-57, 2006) Employees often feel low morale and cannot focus on the given tasks due to mismanagement of communication with the managers. In this regard, managers should study different cultures, in order to create a close relationship with the workers, which can be the major factor of success in the organization. (Scollon, pp. 19-22, 2001) In brief, many people are unknown with the experience of working in cross-cultural workplaces. It can be a challenge when misunderstood, and a dynamic opportunity if creatively and appropriately managed. It is imperative that cultural of other people should be understood by the managers. In specific, communication styles, body language, and behaviors are some of the major factors that should be studied by the managers, which can be decisive in the improvement of relationships and successful tasks in the intercultural workplaces. It is hoped that the paper will be beneficial for the students, teachers, experts, and nonprofessionals in the better understanding of the topic. References Chuck Williams. (2001). Effective Management. Southwestern Publishing. David Gootnick. (1999). Action Tools for Effective Managers. American Management Association. John Hayes. (2002). Interpersonal Skills at Work. Routledge. John O. Greene. (2003). Handbook of Communication and Social Interaction Skills. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. Philip Burnard. (1996). Acquiring Interpersonal Skills. Chapman & Hall. Philippa Levy. (2001). Interpersonal Skills. Books on Demand. Richard E. Porter. (2005). Intercultural Communication. Thomson Wadsworth. Robert K. Wysocki. (2006). Effective Project Management. Wiley Publishers. Robert Young. (1996). Intercultural Communication. Multilingual Matters. Ronald Scollon. (2001). Intercultural Communication. Blackwell Publishing. Word Count: 2267 Words Checked by Copyscape.com & Turnitin.com Read More