Communication Skill-Sets of Recent College Graduates - Essay Example

Question Based on the Lopez-Pacheco (2007) article, discuss problems employers find with the communication skill-sets of recent college graduates.What are your thoughts about reasons for these problems? According to the article written by Lopez-Pacheco entitled “Why Cant Executives Write Good?: Poor spelling, Bad Grammar can Harm Career” (2007, 1), employers find the following communication skills of recent college graduates as tremendously alarming, to wit: poor writing skills, typos and grammatical errors, a declining quality of communication, sloppiness in written communication, and failure to proofread written discourse, among others. It was identified that the culprit in this dilemma is not lack of skills but rather the use of Black Berries, as the means to send faster emails creating tendencies to make grammatical errors. Further, the contemporary practice of senior executives to rely on their managers and subordinates to do all the writing and resort to quick reviews tend to exacerbate the issue. The more executives climb the organizational ladder, the more their writing skills are not harnessed nor utilized. Personally, I agree with Lopez-Pacheco in proffering the problems in communications skills of today’s generation. However, apart from putting the blame on technology alone, it seems more appropriate to identify the roots of the problem. Black Berries and the internet technology are not the main source of the dilemma – through these technological accessories is contributory to the decline in communication skills. The main cause remains lack of skills in writing and communicating. When one has gained some form of expertise on the English language - verb dropping, mistakes in punctuation marks, and simple grammatical errors - normally seen in email messages should have been avoided. There are still ways to abbreviate words or messages without making grammatical errors. The fact remains that more contemporary graduates lack training and skills in writing and communicating. It is the training methodologies and technological advancement of today that contribute to the laxity in monitoring the honing of communication skills. The accessibility and availability of information at the flick of the fingers from web sources make students rely on alternative sources rather than on development of their own writing and communication skills. Therefore, their sloppy work is exhibited and manifested in the same technological equipment they originally relied on. Reference: Lopez-Pacheco, A. (2007, January 3). Why Cant Executives Write Good?: Poor spelling, Bad Grammar can Harm Career: [National Edition]. National Post,p. FP12. Retrieved February 1, 2010, from Canadian Newsstand Core. (Document ID: 1189574581 Question 2: Based on the Vass (2007) article, assess your writing skills and develop a plan for improving them. Writing is a skill which can be honed over time. It just takes a good grasp of the English language, an artistic flare, a degree of creativity and imagination, and a genuine interest for writing. However, as can be expected from this kind of theoretical discipline, writing follows a set of rules to guide practitioners into the correct line of thought and discourse to ensure a sense of reward and success in this field. (Vass, 2007) I have been trained to write as early as the primary level in school through essay writing of diverse topics. I find writing as interesting as reading. I am well versed in the English language, as a secondary language. My friends and teachers tell me I have developed enough skills to possibly go into a writing career in the future. However, I need to develop more skills in differentiating between writing styles. I find writing about topics that interest me easy. However, it takes more time when required to write about difficult topics and subjects I practically have no idea of and where I need to make so much research. It is also my aim to develop skills in writing correspondences and in interacting with strangers. I would like to find out communication problems in groups and be assisted in addressing these problems – like improving negotiations skills, for example. I think these goals could be reached by enabling us to make actual presentations and performance like role playing, writing correspondences, giving essay assignments which would develop the skills required. Our professors can best help by giving constructive criticisms and by identifying the weaknesses so corrective measures can immediately be applied. Written communication skills can be improved through constant practice. Learning is never a one time experience. With continued writing on various topics, continued participation in group meetings and discussions, I know I would continue to improve my written communication skills. These are required in the most organizational settings as I would correspond with people from various levels of the hierarchy in the future. Reference: Vass, K.. (2007, November). Effective Marketing And Sales Begin With Good Writing. Textile World, 157(6), 16. Retrieved February 1, 2010, from ABI/ INFORM Global. (Document ID: 1398750291). Question 3: Based on the Kauffeld (2006) article, explain which competencies are increased as a result of being part of a self-directed team. Compare this study’s findings to your experiences. According to the article written by Kauffeld (2006) on self-directed work groups and team competence, “self-directed teams are more competent than traditional work groups on seven out of 12 aspects of competence. Self-directed teams show greater methodological competence, to some extent greater professional and self-competence but no greater social competence when completing optimization tasks” (1). The discourse explained that professional competence which is regarded as “the sum of organizational-, process-,task- and workplace-specific professional skills and knowledge of a team” (5) and is increased “by access to information about order processing, material availability and production capacity, and on the other hand by communication and argumentation within the group as well as with interface areas”. (5) Methodological competence, defined as “the ability of a team to make means and resources available and to use them for the accomplishment of tasks” (5) is also increased by self-directed groups who begin to focus on achievement of results. Self-competence was found to be increased by self-directed team through emphasis on self growth as a result of showing initiative, taking responsibilities and active participation in work process. Finally, social competence was found to be not significantly increased by self-directed groups. Social competence means “the ability of the team members to communicate and cooperate with each other in a self-organized way” (6). According to Kauffeld (2006, 12) “employees working in self-directed group work make as many positive or negative judgments about persons or their activities in the discussion as their colleagues in traditional work groups. Criticism and running others down as a criterion of negative social competence”. My personal experience in a manufacturing firm confirms and validates Kauffeld’s findings on self-directed groups’ ability to increase competencies on methodologies, professionalism and self-competence. The interesting finding on social competence not being increased by self-directed groups is also true as I have observed that even traditional work groups make as many positive and negative judgments of colleagues within the organization. It is the nature of people, either in traditional or self-directed groups that do not affect competence levels in the organization. Reference: Kauffeld, S. (2006). Self-directed work groups and team competence. Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology,1 79, 1- 21. Retrieved February 1, 2010, from ABI/INFORM Global. (Document ID: 1021573931). Question 4: In the Williams (2007) article, 13 ground rules for job success in the information age are presented. Modify these rules, so a self-directed team may use them. A self-directed team is a group of people, usually employees in a company, who combine different skills and talents to work without the usual managerial supervision toward a common purpose or goal. In the contemporary information age, self-directed teams abound due to the nature of the global environment, the demands of the organization, the absence of managerial supervision and the mission or objective towards which the team’s effort is directed. Using Williams (2007) 13 ground rules for job success in the information age, the rules can be modified so that self-directed teams may use them. These modifications are presented herein: (1)Work from the heart and invest yourself passionately in your job – with focus on achieving the company’s mission and the objective of the group. (2) Act with calculated caution focusing on achieving well defined goals. (3) Create a clear role for yourself, in relation to your contribution to the group’s tasks and responsibilities. (4)Think and act like an owner; acknowledge the need to work in a team. (5) Embrace life-long education and learning to gain knowledge on updated information necessary to achieve group goals and organizational goals. (6) Hold your team accountable for outcomes. In these times of self- directed teams, empowered employees and boundary-less organizations, employees also get measured by the collective results. (7) Contribute more than you cost. Think in terms of being paid for performance as your individual contribution is a needed input for the team’s success. (8) See yourself as a service centre. This heightens the importance of knowing your customers needs even if that customer is internal. Make yourself increasingly aware of the changing needs of your clientele. (9) Manage your own morale and have genuine love and interest in what you are doing as a member of the self-directed team. Your active involvement motivates other members of the team. (10) Be a fixer, not a finger-pointer. Organizations need people to take care of problems and offer solutions, not whiners and complainers. Develop positive attitude within the group. (11) Make minimum expectations but maximize performance as a team. Reference: Williams, R. 2007, January 10). Sea change to rules of engagement: [National Edition]. National Post,p. WK7. Retrieved February 1, 2010, from Canadian Newsstand Core. (Document ID: 1192938051). Read More