Model of Communication Competence
Motivation: add items 1, 4, 7, 10, 13, and 16 = 21 out of a possible 30. This is your desire to approach or avoid conversation and/or social situations. Your goals (what you want and with whom) motivate you to act. Your confidence or lack of confidence that you will be successful affects your motivation, as well.
Knowledge: add items 2, 5, 8, 11, 14, and 17 = 19 out of a possible 30. This involves knowing how to act. Once you decide to pursue a conversational goal, you construct plans to obtain it. Previous experience and/or observing others informs your knowledge of what constitutes a workable plan.
Skill: add items 3, 6, 9, 12, 15, and 18 = 14 out of a possible 30. This involves the behaviors actually performed. You might be motivated and knowledgeable about how to act in a particular situation but lack some basic skills.
Adaptability: Examine your scores on items 1, 2, 3. = 10 out of a possible 15. These scores reflect your ability to change behaviors and goals to meet the needs of the interaction, also known as “flexibility”.
Conversational Involvement: Examine your scores on items 4, 5, 6. = 13 out of a possible 15. These scores reflect your ability to become cognitively involved in the conversation and demonstrate involvement through interaction behaviors like head nods, vocal cues, etc.
Conversation Management: Examine your scores on items 7, 8, 9. = 6 out of a possible 15. These scores reflect your ability to regulate conversation through controlling the topic, adjusting to a change in topic, interrupting, and asking questions.
Empathy: Examine your scores on items 10, 11, 12. = 10 out of a possible 15. These scores reflect your ability to show your conversational partner that you understand his/her situation or that you share his/her emotional reactions to the situation.
Effectiveness: Examine your scores on items 13, 14, 15. = 5 out of a possible 15. These scores reflect your ability to achieve the objectives you have for conversations.
Appropriateness: Examine your scores on items 16, 17, 18. = 10 out of a possible 15. These scores reflect your ability to uphold the expectations for a given situation by behaving in ways other people expect of you. Note: If you achieve your goals but violate the expectations the other has for you and your relationship, then you are less than competent.
The overall total was 54. This score places me in the middle of the 18-90 range scores should fall within. This would appear to indicate a medium competence of communications.
My motivational score seems to place me on the positive side of the median, but not by very much. So, it seems to show there is some desire to approach or avoid conversation or social situations. I somewhat agree with this assessment and believe it to be somewhat high since I do not like social situations and avoid them as much as possible. I do agree that the assessment is correct in that I am goal-oriented. Most times the mission and goals are placed above effective communications and interpersonal relationships. I totally agree that my motivation is significantly impacted by feelings of confidence in the success of a project.
The Knowledge score places me just of the median which indicates I may be somewhat competent in knowing how to act. It also would show that I somewhat plan out how to obtain conversational goals. This score would also seem to indicate that I can to, some extent, determine what is a workable plan based on experience and observations. I do agree with this score, but I would have thought it to be higher.
It seems my Skill score puts me below the median and on how I behave in my communications and execution of the workable plans to communicate. I agree with the lack of execution. There is also agreement that the knowledge does exist to have better interpersonal relations and communicate effectively but feel I do not display the skills to do so.
The scores show strength in Conversational Involvement, which indicates I am involved in my conversations and use visual and vocal cues to show engagement. This score is as expected.
Adaptability, Empathy, and Appropriateness scores show a somewhat median score. This would indicate that I am possibly average in my flexibility, understanding of the other side’s conversation, and meeting their behavioral expectations. I do feel adaptability and empathy are as expected but do believe my appropriateness is scored higher than expected.
My Effectiveness score is below the median, and I expected this result since I am aware that I often do not achieve the objectives of my interactions with others.
Overall, most scores were as I expected but I was surprised at how low I scored in some areas that were initially believed to be strong areas and I scored high in areas that I felt would have been low.
This is the first in a series of posts I will be making in which I share some of my course work toward my Doctor of Technology degree. Please share any thoughts you may have or would like to share on this topic.
Thanks,
Joe B.
