Communication and Interpersonal Competencies †MyAssignmenthelp.com

Question: Discuss about the Communication and Interpersonal Competencies. Answer: Introduction: Possessing and applying effective communication skills is essential for professional success and development. The way professionals use the three essential communication skills of listening, feedback and questioning define their competency. Currently, employers are concerned about the ability of their workers to communicate effectively. These demands by current employers are justified by the spread of globalization effects. The present globalized business environment requires individuals who can listen, query and provide sufficient feedback on the issues at hand. Particularly, effective communication skills are mandatory for occupational health and safety officers. Occupation health and safety officers require effective listening, questioning, and feedback competencies to monitor and control workplace risks and hazards. Communication is central to human life. People utilize communication to convey their interests and obtain the views of others. According to Littlejohn, Foss, and Oetzel (2017), communication is the verbal and nonverbal interchange of ideas or thoughts. From this definition, it is apparent that communication is not simply a process of conveying information. Instead, it entails the interchange of ideologies and opinion from individuals. Precisely, communication is a two-way process which involves sending information and receiving feedback. Listening is the capability to correctly receive and construe messages during communication process(McCarthy, 2017). As Littlejohn, Foss, and Oetzel (2016) elaborate, the ability to listen effectively eliminates the chances misunderstanding the conveyed message. Poor listening abilities result in communication breakdown and loss of potential clients in business. Listening affects the other communication skills such as questioning and feedback since one cannot question or provide feedback to information they have not comprehended. Moreover, listening does not signify keeping quiet when another person is talking. Instead, it entails understanding and showing interest in the information being provided by the speaker. According to Battel (2006), research confirms that 75% of oral communication is ignored, misunderstood or forgotten due to poor listening skills. In this respect, listening requires discipline and commitment. Feedback is the reaction of the receiver after interpreting the message. As earlier indicated, communication is a two-way process. In this view, it entails sending messages and receiving feedback. Without feedback, the communication process is considered incomplete. Moreover, Wooten and Ulrich (2017) point out that the quality of feedback defines the level of success of a communication process. The ability to provide timely and accurate feedback indicates that both the sender and receiver of the message possess effective communication skills. Feedback is important in maintaining communication and improving performance. Without feedback, it can be assumed that the message was never received. Apart from listening and feedback, questioning is another vital element of interpersonal communication. According to Butterfield (2012), asking questions assists in clarifying information, improving communication, and resolving problems. The aim of asking questions is to gain insight on a specific component of a received message. However, it is vital to ask objective and relevant questions. According to Hargie (2006), the relevance and objectivity of questioning are influenced by listening abilities of individuals. Individuals with poor listening skills ask irrelevant questions which can irritate the respondents. As a result, Butterfiels (2013) advises that it is important to apply effective questioning during the communication process. Effective questioning implies knowing which questions to ask, when to ask them, and how to phrase them(Butterfield, 2012). This position illustrates the connection the exist between listening, feedback, and questioning skills in interpersonal communic ation. These skills are utilized as a package and deficiency of one can result in communication breakdown As an occupational health and safety officer, one needs to illustrate excellent comprehension and application of listening, questioning and feedback skills. The profession entails sourcing for health information within an organization set-up and conveying it to relevant officials. In this respect, effective communication is vital for one to succeed as an occupational health and safety officer. According to Leito and Greiner (2017), the objective of occupational health and safety officers is to prevent or minimize accidents, injuries, and illness in the workplace. They attain this objective by assisting in creating and implementing health and safety policies. Furthermore, occupation health and safety officers ensure that the management of organizations effects these policies. To achieve these responsibilities, occupational health and safety officer must interact and communicate effectively with the different stakeholders within and outside their organizations. Collecting information on workplace risks and hazards require an occupational health and officer to utilize active listening skills. The officer collects this information from different individuals within the workplace. In this respect, the officer must carefully listen to submissions from the managers and other workers on workplace health and safety measures in place. Active listening assists the health officer to identify inconsistencies present in the firms policies. According to Battell (2006), active listening is instrumental in gaining a comprehensive understanding of the key issues of a communication process. By applying active listening skills, the officer gives full attention to what the organizations stakeholders say and relate it to the legal environment. Furthermore, the health officers utilize active listening to gauge if the management understands how to implement the existing organizational health and safety legislation. Importantly, effective listening skills also all ow occupational health officers to gather information on different types of organizational health policies and ways of implementing them. Providing timely and appropriate feedback is essential in guiding organizations to develop and implement suitable health and safety policies. According to Winter and Moffitt (2017), occupational health officers are tasked with advising firms on ways of improving their employees safety. In this respect, Winter and Moffitt (2017) point out that a competent occupational health officer provides timely and accurate feedback on the workplaces safety and health conditions. The feedback from these health specialists forms the foundation on which organizations base their health and safety policies. Consequently, occupational health specialists utilize feedback to direct and guide organizational stakeholders on the appropriate health and safety measures. Besides, they utilize feedback to criticize flaws on existing health and safety policies in organizations. In occupational health profession, feedback skills are indispensable since they are vital for advising the management on the proper work place safety and health policies. For occupational health officers to advise organizations appropriately, they must understand how the firms operate. An organizations safety policies are shaped by its culture, operations, and financial abilities. In this respect, occupational health officers utilize questioning skills to explore the reasons why an organizations health and safety policies are structured in a particular manner. Additionally, occupational health officers are required to have a comprehensive understanding of the various factors that affect human performance. In achieving this role, the officers apply their questioning competencies to source information from the stakeholders in the employment sector. The utilization of questioning skills during communication enables occupational health officers to obtain sufficient organizational evidence to inform their health and safety recommendations. However, as advised by Battell (2006) and Butterfield (2012), the officers are supposed to use active and effective listening skills to understand their clients deliberations before asking questions. Additionally, the application of questioning skills lowers the risk of an occupational health officer providing unsatisfactory or inappropriate guidance to their customers. Asking questions allows an individual to collect sufficient evidence to inform their decisions. In this respect, it is vital to use figures and facts to direct organization health and safety policies. However, it is impossible to obtain these facts if the occupation health officers fail to utilize the appropriate questioning skills. Conclusively, occupational health and safety officer are required to illustrate exceptional listening, questioning and feedback skills. They are required to listen to the suggestions of their clients, make relevant inquiries and provide timely feedback. Since workplace health and safety is central to organizational success, occupational health officers must advise the firms management properly. However, this goal cannot be attained without demonstrating and utilizing competencies that eliminate communication breakdown. References Battell, C. (2006). Effective Listening. Alexandria: American Society for Training and Development. Butterfield, J. (2012). Verbal Communication: Illustrated Course Guides. Boston: Cengage Learning. Hargie, O. (2006). The Handbook of Communication Skills. London: Routledge. Leito, S., Greiner, B. A. (2017). Psychosocial, Health Promotion and Safety Culture managementAre Health and Safety Practitioners involved? Safety science, 91, 84-92. Littlejohn, S. W., Foss, K. A., Oetzel, J. G. (2016). Theories of Human Communication (Eleventh ed.). Long Grove: Waveland Press. McCarthy, B. (2017). Communication and Interpersonal Competencies for Undergraduate Nursing Students. Millenium-Journal of Education, Technologies, and Health, 2(3), 25-28. Winter, B., Moffitt, M. (2017). Corporate law: Absence of adequate risk assessments result in $1 million fine. Governance Directions, 69(3), 174-176. Wooten, J. O. (2017). "Idea generation and the role of feedback: Evidence from field experiments with innovation tournaments. Production and Operations Management, 26(1), 80-99.