Self-awareness and Ethical Decision Making

Discuss about the Importance of Professional Communication Skills.

While undertaking this unit, I have learned that professional communication skills are the key for officialdom to move forward. The last few weeks learning proved to be great learning experience for me where I have cultured various aspects of effective and professional communication skill like self awareness and ethical decision making. This unit helped me to gain an insight about effectiveness of communication skills while letting me know about barriers related to it. From this unit I came to know that cross cultural communication is undoubtedly the most significant skill to hone as globalisation has become unavoidable these days. Although communicating effectively in your environment and comfort level may feel challenging but it is necessary for exploring different cultures. Earlier I had many weaknesses and flaws in my communication skill but this unit has taught me drastically how to improve various aspects of professional communicational skills.

I learned that communication process is a technique through which ideas and thoughts are transmitted among people. Communication process can involve a summation of work that is been done by an individual and when the individual wants to generate an indulgency about their work and thought in other minds.[1]  Professional communication is a communicational process that promotes oral, ocular discipline and written process at workplaces. According to this unit, effective communication systems within workplace are essential for realising success in business.[2] Along with it, effective communication combines together pedagogical theory of rhetoric and technology to enhance communication under different varieties.  Effective communication skills are developed with application of theories and strategies that make communication process more professional in this business world. With this unit I came to know about the progresses in technology and ever changing feature of modern society that has made professional mandatory for availing expert practitioner’s assistance. 

This unit has also made me realise that all reward brings additional barriers to it and since this essay is related to my learning about effective communication, I came to know about various barriers that retards effective communication. This learning will help me in making future decisions regarding communicational strategies and their possible outcomes. Barrier to effective communication can be further divided into four major categories; physical barrier, process barrier, psychosocial barrier and semantic barrier. By making aware of these four barriers, this unit has developed consciousness inside me about the responsibilities and importance of senders and receivers along with giving active response during listening skills. During a communication process it is necessary to follow an effective and enhance communication process so that communication barriers involving different people can be minimised. During the process, communicators like sender, encoder, mediator, receiver and feedback are involved that needs to be managed by an efficient leader.[3] Since this is a complex process of giving and taking, breakdowns in the cycle of communication can block entire process of understanding. Personal linguistics barrier can also affect communication process as without finding appropriate words, making other peoples understand becomes very difficult. Cultural barriers are also important to be considered as they prove to be a discouraging edifice block in big organisations.[4]

Effective Workplace Communication

Along with the above mentioned themes, this unit have given an insight about problems that are linked with professionals and as an individual; it can only be solved with the help of professional learning. By exploring participants learning in the unit course of communication skills, the methods and investigation techniques about self awareness related to work has been developed in me to a great extent. The qualities mentioned during the course about professional knowledge and related theories have developed competence within us relating to talent and communicational knowledge. Themes associated with self awareness include awareness in aim of reference, personal resonances and situational awareness. Analysis made from all the related studies came to a result in which participants during self awareness process and personal knowledge, experienced various approaches towards professional situation in novel ways. Gaining theories and models is considered as a useful way of understanding our day to day professional life.[5] Professionals with self awareness are able to improve their aptitude to consciously use reflection between being engrossed in the circumstances and transcending the circumstances. Through enhanced observation power they can analyse the situation from distance and can find out alternative ways while responding to subjective situation. Self awareness theme was concluded by making us learn about communication skills and methods of dealing with resistance while protecting the vulnerability of others.

Next theme that was introduced during the unit course was very significant for me as it taught me about communication skills required in global environment. Cultural and language misinterpretation can be avoided with increased understanding about different cultures of people. The learning related to cross cultural communication concentrates more on the need of examining the interaction and communication between people belonging to different culture.[6] The basic rule of cross cultural communication is to recognise the culture of communicating people. In the process of globalisation, technology like internet have increased the possibility that whatever is acknowledged online will be interpreted by others that may belong to different culture. In any career path, cross cultural communication will show the art of communicating with other culture along with ways through which professionals can get accustomed to diverse working styles. Cross cultural communication can be very challenging for us to deal especially when you are a team member belonging to different cultured people.[7] I have experienced various situations which proved no less than fighting uphill battle, nevertheless, now I am more confident about dealing with such situations.

Barriers to Effective Communication

Ethics in professional decision making teaches us with reference to the ways we are treating others and ways we should treat others after deciding upon whether the treatment is right or wrong.[8] Although this can be challenging many times but, determining what shall be done also becomes significant to understand. This place, ethics stands for deciding between right and wrong and how the decision can be used professionally. The unit showed us different frameworks and theories that intend us to be cultivated according to difficult ethical decisions. The frameworks are not related to any prescription or it can be said that no framework can provide sufficient information about any ethical decision. Rather, this unit guided me how to help teams and individuals through effective communication conversation for finding out ethical solutions for complicated issues. While ethical decision cannot match with everybody’s decision making style, it needs to be developed as a source to assist by providing clarity around situations of ethical ambiguity. Whenever we face questions related to ethical decisions in our professional life, it causes significant distress while impacting on all other people involved. The situations arising in professional life may be unsolvable but can be resolved if ethical approaches and models are applied to it.

On concluding note it can be said that professionals who wants to expand their business in global market with enhanced communication skills need to be educated in professional manner. The communicational skills for dealing with others were given priority in this unit that has developed my communication skills in effective manner. The above essay reflects my personal experience during the unit and how it brought difference in my way of thinking regarding communication skills. During the course I have learned about five major themes, as discussed above that will always be remembered by me in my future course. In the end I would like to say that professional communication skills are tremendously needed to maintain communication within workplace that can even boost team work along with self improvements.

Reference

Adlabjarnardottir, Steinun, ‘CROSS CULTURAL COMMUNICATION’ (2005) <https://skemman.is/bitstream/1946/538/1/cross.pdf>

Andren, Ulla, ‘Self-awareness and self-knowledge in professions’ (2012) <https://gupea.ub.gu.se/bitstream/2077/30157/1/gupea_2077_30157_1.pdf>

Hans, Anjali, and Emmanuel Hans, ‘Role of Professional Communication in Today’s World of Business and Commerce’ (2014) <https://www.questjournals.org/jrhss/papers/vol2-issue9/I297276.pdf>

Johansen, Marcus Selart and Svein Tvedt,’ Ethical Decision Making in Organizations: The Role of Leadership Stress’ (2010) <https://www.researchgate.net/publication/225111493_Ethical_Decision_Making_in_Organizations_The_Role_of_Leadership_Stress>

Lunenburg, Fred C, Communication: The Process, Barriers, And Improving Effectiveness (2010) <https://www.nationalforum.com/Electronic%20Journal%20Volumes/Lunenburg,%20Fred%20C,%20Communication%20Schooling%20V1%20N1%202010.pdf>

Padhi, Prasanta Kumar, ‘The Rising Importance of Cross Cultural Communication in Global Business Scenario’ (2016) <https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/13e4/bea3566870e4c896b79c147d669e32bcf341.pdf>

Rani, K. Usha, ‘COMMUNICATION BARRIERS’ (2016) <https://www.researchgate.net/publication/304038097_COMMUNICATION_BARRIERS>

Vonhof, Sarah, Chris Nowak, Lee Herrington, and Diane Kuehn, ‘HANDBOOK FOR EFFECTIVE, PROFESSIONAL COMMUNICATION’ (2008) <https://www.esf.edu/fnrm/documents/FNRM_Communications_Handbook2008.pdf>

[1] Anjali Hans, and Emmanuel Hans, ‘Role of Professional Communication in Today’s World of Business and Commerce’ (2014) <https://www.questjournals.org/jrhss/papers/vol2-issue9/I297276.pdf>

[2] Sarah Vonhof, Chris Nowak, Lee Herrigton, and Diane Kuehn, ‘HANDBOOK FOR EFFECTIVE, PROFESSIONAL COMMUNICATION’ (2008) <https://www.esf.edu/fnrm/documents/FNRM_Communications_Handbook2008.pdf>

[3] Fred C Lunenburg, ‘Communication: The Process, Barriers, And Improving Effectiveness’ (2010) <https://www.nationalforum.com/Electronic%20Journal%20Volumes/Lunenburg,%20Fred%20C,%20Communication%20Schooling%20V1%20N1%202010.pdf>

[4] Usha K Rani, ‘COMMUNICATION BARRIERS’ (2016) <https://www.researchgate.net/publication/304038097_COMMUNICATION_BARRIERS>

[5] Ulla Andren, ‘Self-awareness and self-knowledge in professions’ (2012) <https://gupea.ub.gu.se/bitstream/2077/30157/1/gupea_2077_30157_1.pdf>

[6] Steinun Adlabjarnardottir, ‘CROSS CULTURAL COMMUNICATION ‘(2005) <https://skemman.is/bitstream/1946/538/1/cross.pdf>

[7] Prasanta Kumar Padhi, ‘The Rising Importance of Cross Cultural Communication in Global Business Scenario’ (2016) <https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/13e4/bea3566870e4c896b79c147d669e32bcf341.pdf>

[8] Marcus Selart Johansen and Svein Tvedt,’ Ethical Decision Making in Organizations: The Role of Leadership Stress’ (2010) <https://www.researchgate.net/publication/225111493_Ethical_Decision_Making_in_Organizations_The_Role_of_Leadership_Stress>