Theories of Communication and Emotional Intelligence - Essay Example

Theories of Communication and Emotional Intelligence Name Course Instructor Institution City/state Date Introduction Communication is the transfer of ideas from source to another and it has been instrumental in the way businesses are carried out in different career fields (National Communication Association 2014). All career fields require effective communication for their success. However, the personnel in such organisation need to take into consideration certain theories that scholars developed to help them understand the communication phenomenon. Nonetheless, these theories apply differently to various career contexts though the essay chooses marketing and advertising field and examines theories of communication that apply such fields. Marketing and advertisement careers are communication intensive therefore the personnel in this sector must comprehensively understand theories of communication that pertain to this area (Kola & Akinyele 2010, p.77). Some of the theories that the essay adopts include how to build a rapport, personality types, emotional intelligence, learning style, NLP and body language. On the other hand, emotional intelligence is another important aspect of communication that refers to an individual’s ability to recognize, manage and evaluate their emotions (PsychCentral 2014). The discussion therefore gives a brief inference into emotional intelligence and how it affects communication in career fields, especially in marketing and advertisement. To help understand the concept of communication theories and emotional intelligence, this paper chooses two examples within a working context and discusses how these aspects affect such work situations. Importance of communication to marketing and advertisement Generally, marketing involves the understanding of the products that the audience wants that is best achieved through listening to them and eventually the organisation will tell its market that such a product exist(Kola & Akinyele 2010, p.78). Therefore, in marketing, effective communication enables an organisation to reach out to the target market and present its product in the most appealing way which is normally referred to as advertisement. In advertisement, effective communication is instrumental to the target market since it makes the advisements in different media to standout to the target audience and also leads to achievement of goals (Rajagopal 2006, p.58). Effective communication within the advertisement field entails focusing on a target audience with certain information that will meet their needs. A good advertisement can trigger a perfect emotional response from the audience or can make the audience anticipate what is to be presented them. Finally, the good advertisement triggers such actions from the audience like purchasing. On the other hand, branding is another important aspect of communication when it comes to advertisement that acts to convince the audience to prefer the product (Kola & Akinyele 2010, p. 80). It is best communicated through names, symbols and signs that serve to build a strong customer loyalty. Besides, effective communication is important in advertisement since it helps in building brands. Communication will ensure a strong connectedness with the brand thus their loyalty is maintained. Finally, effective communication builds emotion as a brand which has helped big companies like Apple appreciate their esteemed customers by building strong emotional brands. Such companies have always used strong marketing strategies as effective communication measure that most organisations wish to achieve in their advertisement initiatives. Theories of communication Theories are simply models that have been developed by scholars to help in understanding certain concepts (CONCORDIA UNIVERSITY 2014). Communication as a field of study has been presented by numerous theories that have been useful both in the classroom as well as work environments. This essay firstly provides an overview of some theoretical frameworks of communication and thereafter uses them to explain certain scenarios at work place with focus on marketing and advertisement. Before applying the theories of communication and emotional intelligence, it is vital to get a brief overview of some of these theories. The first concept communication is rapport building which entails harmonious understanding that exist between people that eventually leads to easier and greater communication (University of the West England 2014). Rapport may occur naturally when two people just engage themselves in communication even if they are not familiar with each other. However, individuals can also build rapport by first developing a common ground of understanding that enables them to be empathetic towards each other. It is the basis for communication process. In any communication process, body language is very important since human beings naturally read each other’s body language that is voiced in the verbal communication (University of the West England 2014). In any case there is a mismatch in the verbal communication and body language then a proper communication takes place. Therefore, a suitable body language is the beginning of building a rapport since the cues welcomes the communication need by providing a relaxed feeling and openness between the communicators. Besides, the way people use their voices is also important when developing rapports. Tonal variation clearly indicates the state of mind and it must be considered when people communicate. Proper rapport behaviours involve good posture while communicating, respect among the communicators and avoidance of issues like stereotyping. Personality type is an important aspect of communication since people’s traits affect their performance (John et al 2012, p.518). To understand how personality influences people’s careers, it is first imperative to understand how scholars define personality. By definition, personality is a trait that defines or characterises a person (Rajiv, Scott & Brent 2013, p.281). However, cultural, biological as certain life events influence personality. The theory that best explains personality trait is known as the big five which is basically a 5-factor model that includes emotional stability, extroversion, openness to experience, agreeableness and conscientiousness (CONCORDIA UNIVERSITY 2014). Emotional stability entails how individuals can understand their degrees of depression, anxiousness, anger and emotional insecurity (Muhammad et al 2014, p.76). On the other hand, extroversion helps individuals to identify their degrees of being active, sociable, assertive, talkative and able to express their emotions openly. Conversely, openness to experience entails intellectual curiosity of an individual that enables him or her to thirst for new knowledge or experience. Nonetheless, agreeableness involves an individual’s ability to be good natured, courteous and trust worthy (Muhammad et al 2014, p.77). Finally, people can develop conscientiousness at work place that enables them to identify their degree of being responsible, dependable and organised. The other important communication model is NLP or Neuro-Linguistic Programming which is a science that explains the modelling of human behavioural patterns (Ahmad 2010, p.476). It generally explores the inner functionality of the human mind which entails how people think; develop their desires, fears, goals and how they also do self motivation by attaching some meanings to their experiences. Concisely, NLP allows individuals to utilise their mind language so as to achieve their desired outcomes (Ahmad 2010, p.477). It has huge influence in the way people interact in their respective work places by identifying and controlling their behaviours. Besides, NLP encompasses the most influential human components of producing experience like language, neurology and programming since neurology dictates body functions, language determines communication while programming entails the worlds that people create (Ahmad 2010, p.478). Therefore, NLP explains the dynamics of neuro (mind), language and how they interact to affect the body and general behaviour or programming. This concept is therefore important since it is a process of developing behavioural competence as well as strategic thinking within an individual. Briefly, NLP strives bring into light the cognitive and mental processes that influence behaviours (Ahmad 2010, p.476). A clear understanding of behavioural processes is vital in organisational performance Emotional Intelligence Emotional intelligence is important because it helps people navigating through social complexities that exist in work places (Robert 2006, p.269). On the other hand, it enables individuals to excel in their career y developing good leadership and motivation in their places of work. In the modern job environments, employers value emotional intelligence of the job candidates just like they would to their technical abilities. Emotional intelligence by definition is simply the ability of an individual to recognise, manage and evaluate feelings or emotions (CONCORDIA UNIVERSITY 2014). Some academic works maintain that emotional intelligence is rather inborn while others argue that people can learn it (Myleen, Michael & William 2009, p.424). Broadly, people develop emotional intelligence when they are able to identify, understand as well as manage their emotions positively (PshchCentral 21 March2014). Such people are able to relieve develop empathy, communicate effectively, overcome challenges and relieve stress. Nonetheless, emotional intelligence impacts on people’s daily lives by influencing the way they behave and interact in social contexts. Therefore, the higher the emotional intelligence, the higher the ability of an individual to recognise his or her emotional state as well as those of the others thereby provides a state of mind where one is able to engage with others positively (CONCORDIA UNIVERSITY 2014). A better understanding of emotional intelligence helps people to develop better relationships with other that enable achievement of success in an organisation (Exe-Coaching, 2014). There are various components of emotional intelligence that are worth noting (CONCORDIA UNIVERSITY 2014). Firstly, self-awareness is an important aspect of emotional intelligence since it enables individuals to recognize their emotions (Druskat & Wolff 2014). Self-awareness also aids in recognising strengths and weakness thus making them to develop strong self-confidence. Secondly, self-management is another important element of emotional intelligence because it enables people to take control of their impulsive behaviours and feelings thereby managing their emotions in the best way possible (Myleen, Michael &William 2009, p.428). On the other hand, it makes individuals stick to their commitments, take initiatives and adapt to dynamism of situations. Thirdly, social awareness is important as it entails how individuals understand their emotions; recognise certain emotional cues and social comfortably. In turn, a person will be able to recognize hierarchies or power dynamics within an organisation (CONCORDIA UNIVERSITY 2014). Finally, relationship management as an element of emotional intelligence helps in developing and maintaining better relationships through clear communication. Individuals who recognise the importance of relationship management influences and inspires others, have good team work skills and portrays outstanding skills of conflict management(Druskat & Wolff 2014). The importance of emotional intelligence on people’s careers is quite defined in certain academic works. Druskat and Wolff (2014) postulates that emotional intelligence has various effects on people since it affects their work performance, physical health and their relationships. In work environments, emotional intelligence helps people manage various situations that may arise by properly understanding their feelings and controlling the way the react (Exe-Coaching 2014). Nonetheless, people can raise their emotional intelligence by firstly improving their decision making skills though the development of stress management skills that leads to effective communication. The model below shows Goleman’s model that shows the five models of emotional intelligence (CONCORDIA UNIVERSITY 2014) Goleman’s model of emotional intelligence (CONCORDIA UNIVERSITY 2014) Real work example 1 A real life scenario is when there is friction between an employee and the boss. In this context, marketing and advertisement is a complex field that needs a proper flow of information from the top management to the subordinates (Kola & Akinyele 2010, p.77). Occasionally, workers complain of their bosses who may be compelling them to some duties or are totally ignorant of good relationships that they should develop with their workers. In this case, such bad relationships may arise from poor communication skills from the boss or the employee. When a conflict arises between two parties it means that the rapport building stage was not successful (University of the West England 2014). They should have first developed a common ground of understanding that will make their communication easier. When faced with such situation, workers must use their emotional intelligence. In such scenarios, an individual must understand the emotional state that his or her boss is before taking any action. However, emotional stability is what will determine if an individual will overcome the situation or not (University f Missouri 2014). In marketing and advertisement for instance, there are certain personality traits that allows for effective communication (Denham 2010). There are various traits that are unique to marketing and advertisement. Firstly, good communication is the basis of success in this career field (Rajiv, Scott & Brent 2013, p.290). Many complaints from workers may be triggered by bad communication from the boss. The boss must interact with the staff in the most appropriate manner which is determined by his or her emotional intelligence. However, it is not only the duty of the boss but the workers must be able to ensure proper communication process by ensuring that they are able to understand the message the is trying to send out. A good understanding between employer and the employees reduces conflicts (Denham 2010). The boss also needs to develop good interpersonal skills, proper written expressions and oral comprehension to avoid conflicts with the staff (Muhammad 2014, p.85). On the other hand, deductive reasoning is important trait that the boss needs to recognise. As a stuff working under the boss, there is also the need to recognise these traits for better coexistence. The worker also has the obligations to develop good personal traits pertaining to marketing like project management (Kolan& Akinyele 2010, p.79). When a worker is able to beat the deadline for tasks as an aspect of project management then he or she will never develop problems with the boss. Real life scenario or example 2 The other problem that may call for the personality traits is when people are undertaking team work (Druskat & Wolff 2014). When one is chosen to lead the team, there are many challenges that may occur. One of them may involve a party declining to participate in the team or group works. In such scenarios, the team leader has to apply his or her personality traits that are useful in achieving success in the team. In marketing and advisement, it takes the combined efforts of the expert teams to develop extraordinary brands that will be appealing to the eyes of the customers (Kola & Akinyele 2010, p.78). A personality trait that can be helpful in such a situation is good team player. This is because a person may decline to participate because the team has not persuaded the team, using different traits, into participating. The team leader must first advice those who are unwilling to participate on the importance of team player in marketing field (University f Missouri 2014). There are various teams in marketing and advertisement like marketing directors, managers as well as other specialists like research managers and human resource managers. Therefore, it only takes proper personality trait to realise the success of a common goal. However, personality traits can be narrowed down to communication theories and emotional intelligence to explain how success can be achieved within a team. Firstly, as a team leader, an individual has the obligation to identify the effective communication to use (Exe-Coaching 2014). Within the team, the leaders will first build a strong rapport with all members to ensure that his or her body language is accurately shows the verbal communication that is being passed out (University of the West England 2014). This will be followed by a detailed evaluation of emotional intelligence of everyone in the team so as to know to deal with them in any case conflicts arise (Concordia University 2014). Conversely, the leader can also do his or her emotional intelligence evaluation and see if he or she can handle the situations that may arise in the best possible manner. After a critical evaluation, it is vital to consider personality traits that pertain to team work. Reliability as a personal trait entails consistency that enables people to exhibit good performance every time (John et al 2012, p.526). Besides, constructive communication will enable the team leader to clearly express thoughts and ideas in a clear, honest and direct manner that also ensures respective to others (Denham 2010). In addition, active listening is another personality type that enables people to absorb, consider and understand people’s ideas without undermining their views (Muhammad et al 2014, p.86). The other personality types that will ensure success in the team include active participants, open and willing individuals, problem solvers, flexible team members and respectful personalities. The above traits will allow for proper division of tasks within the group. Conclusion In summary, communication and emotional intelligence are important for the success of all career fields. In marketing and advertisement for instance, the success of a brand is best achieved through proper communication. However, there are theories that are useful in explaining the communication process. This essay has briefly discussed certain theoretical frameworks like personality types, emotional intelligence, rapport building and NLP as well as body language since they all influence the communication process and explains human behaviour. The essay has also provided two real life situations, one pertaining to work place conflicts and the other involves communications in team work. The paper has therefore applied different personality types that lead to the best realisation of the goals of a team. On the other hand, the essay has compared the team work scenario to marketing and advertisement career field that entails a collective responsibility of various personnel like board of directors, marketing directors among others. Generally, the discussion has focused on communication theories and emotional intelligence and concludes by applying these two aspects in real life situations. References Ahmad K.Z 2010, ‘Understanding NLP – Strategies for Better Workplace Communication … without the Jargon’, Leadership & Organization Development Journal, vol. 31, no. 5, pp.476 – 478. Concordia University 2014, Daniel Goleman’s Emotional Intelligence Theory Explained, viewed from http://education.cu-portland.edu/blog/reference-material/daniel-golemans-emotional-intelligence-theory-explained/ Denham, T September 24 2010, the 10 most important personality traits for career success, viewed from http://blog.timesunion.com/careers/the-10-most-important-personality-traits-for-career-success/633/ Druskat, V. U & Wolff, S V 2014, building the emotional intelligence of groups, Harvard Business ReviewI, viewed from http://hbr.org/2001/03/building-the-emotional-intelligence-of-groups/ar/1 Exe-Coaching 2014, the important of emotionally intelligent teams, exe-coaching.com, viewed from http://www.exe-coach.com/the-importance-of-emotionally-intelligent-teams.htm John W. L, Nancy F, Patrick C. C, Ji Y K, Lucy W. G & Adam W. D 2012, ‘Key personality traits and career satisfaction of customer service workers’, Managing Service Quality, vol. 22, no. 5, pp.517 – 536. Kola, O & Akinyele, S.T 2010, ‘Evaluation of Effectiveness of Marketing Communication Mix Elements in Nigerian Service Sector’, Pakistan Journal of social sciences, vol. 7, no.2, pp76-80. Doi: 10.3923/pjssci.2010.76.80 Muhammad A B, Mohamed M. B, Ahmed R. I &Veera P. S 2014, ‘Effects of personality traits (big five) on expatriates adjustment and job performance’, Equality, Diversity and Inclusion: An International Journal, vol. 33, no.1, pp.73 – 96 Myleen, M. L, Michael, D. R, William, B. F 2009, ‘A study of personality preferences and emotional intelligence’, Leadership & Organization Development Journal, vol. 30, no. 5, pp.421 – 434. National Communication Association 2014, what is communication?, viewed from https://www.natcom.org/discipline/ PshchCentral 21 March2014, what is emotional intelligence (EQ)?, viewed from http://psychcentral.com/lib/what-is-emotional-intelligence-eq/0001037 Rajagopal 2006, ‘Brand excellence: measuring the impact of advertising and brand personality on buying decisions’, Measuring Business Excellence, vol. 10, no. 3, pp.56 – 65. Rajiv, P. D, Scott, K. W & Brent L. B 2013, ‘Influence of personality traits on perceived relationship quality within a franchisee-franchisor context’, European Journal of Marketing, vol. 47 , no. 2, pp.279 – 302. Robert, K, John G, Norma H & Emily B 2006, ‘Emotional intelligence and leadership effectiveness’, Leadership & Organization Development Journal, vol. 27, no.4, pp.265 - 279 . University f Missouri 2014, characteristics of good followers, leadership getting it done, viewed from http://web.missouri.edu/~campbellr/Leadership/chapter5.htm University of the West England 2014, rapport building, viewed from http://learntech.uwe.ac.uk/communicationskills/Default.aspx?pageid=1381 Read More

Theories of communication Theories are simply models that have been developed by scholars to help in understanding certain concepts (CONCORDIA UNIVERSITY 2014). Communication as a field of study has been presented by numerous theories that have been useful both in the classroom as well as work environments. This essay firstly provides an overview of some theoretical frameworks of communication and thereafter uses them to explain certain scenarios at work place with focus on marketing and advertisement.

Before applying the theories of communication and emotional intelligence, it is vital to get a brief overview of some of these theories. The first concept communication is rapport building which entails harmonious understanding that exist between people that eventually leads to easier and greater communication (University of the West England 2014). Rapport may occur naturally when two people just engage themselves in communication even if they are not familiar with each other. However, individuals can also build rapport by first developing a common ground of understanding that enables them to be empathetic towards each other.

It is the basis for communication process. In any communication process, body language is very important since human beings naturally read each other’s body language that is voiced in the verbal communication (University of the West England 2014). In any case there is a mismatch in the verbal communication and body language then a proper communication takes place. Therefore, a suitable body language is the beginning of building a rapport since the cues welcomes the communication need by providing a relaxed feeling and openness between the communicators.

Besides, the way people use their voices is also important when developing rapports. Tonal variation clearly indicates the state of mind and it must be considered when people communicate. Proper rapport behaviours involve good posture while communicating, respect among the communicators and avoidance of issues like stereotyping. Personality type is an important aspect of communication since people’s traits affect their performance (John et al 2012, p.518). To understand how personality influences people’s careers, it is first imperative to understand how scholars define personality.

By definition, personality is a trait that defines or characterises a person (Rajiv, Scott & Brent 2013, p.281). However, cultural, biological as certain life events influence personality. The theory that best explains personality trait is known as the big five which is basically a 5-factor model that includes emotional stability, extroversion, openness to experience, agreeableness and conscientiousness (CONCORDIA UNIVERSITY 2014). Emotional stability entails how individuals can understand their degrees of depression, anxiousness, anger and emotional insecurity (Muhammad et al 2014, p.76). On the other hand, extroversion helps individuals to identify their degrees of being active, sociable, assertive, talkative and able to express their emotions openly.

Conversely, openness to experience entails intellectual curiosity of an individual that enables him or her to thirst for new knowledge or experience. Nonetheless, agreeableness involves an individual’s ability to be good natured, courteous and trust worthy (Muhammad et al 2014, p.77). Finally, people can develop conscientiousness at work place that enables them to identify their degree of being responsible, dependable and organised. The other important communication model is NLP or Neuro-Linguistic Programming which is a science that explains the modelling of human behavioural patterns (Ahmad 2010, p.476). It generally explores the inner functionality of the human mind which entails how people think; develop their desires, fears, goals and how they also do self motivation by attaching some meanings to their experiences.

Concisely, NLP allows individuals to utilise their mind language so as to achieve their desired outcomes (Ahmad 2010, p.477).

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