THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN VERBAL COMMUNICATION BEHAVIORS AND COMMUNICATION COMPETENCE IN L-OREAL MALAYSIA
Zulhamri Abdullah & Tham Yee Ling
Universiti Putra Malaysia
Abstract
Communication is crucial in different contexts, particularly in an organization. This is because face-to-face and verbal communications are still the gold standards in communication abilities. This is due to communication issues may potentially develop in any circumstance or social relationship. It can be easy for individuals to misunderstand or misinterpret others, and these misunderstandings may lead to arguments or tension in personal, platonic, or professional relationships. In addition, people seek to influence their goals, relational status among others and their self-identity when they are engaged in verbal communication with others. Also, the shift in blue-collar to white-collar employment, increase in temporary and contingent employment, globalization, and the use of technology have put greater emphasis on employees- “interpersonal skills and the ability to collaborate” in teams. As the world leader in the cosmetics industry, L-Oreal Malaysia provides a dynamic and interactive working environment where L-Oreal Malaysia believes in fostering entrepreneurship within each individual and encouraging them in taking accountability of their respective jobs. As it has a people-driven working environment, communication plays a vital role as majority of the tasks requires communication across multiple parties and departments. The drawback is that it is prone to all communication problems, such as miscommunication, communication barrier and challenges in the respective competencies. Therefore, this study aims to identify these communication behaviors that are learned socially and taken place in L-Oreal Malaysia. This study is guided by Interpersonal Skill Model to examine the relationship between verbal communication behaviors and communication competence in workplace. The objectives of this study are to identify the relationship between verbal communication behaviors and communication competencies of these behaviors based on the Workplace Communication Behavior Inventory, with the following variables: Information Sharing, Relational Maintenance, Expressing Negative Emotion and Organizing. Communication competency was measured by Communication Competency Questionnaire with the following variables: Encoding and Decoding. Using simple random sampling method, this research took on a quantitative approach by collected 277 questionnaires distributed to the employees in L-Oreal Malaysia. Information Sharing factor was found to be the most commonly practiced verbal communication behaviors subscale. The findings contributed to the existing literature on Interpersonal Skill Model in Malaysia context. This study enabled the policy makers to make decisions especially in assigning task to each individual.
Keywords: Verbal communication behavior, Communication competent, cosmetic
Topic: Management, Organization, Leadership and IT