Taking a step back to move forward: understanding communication skills and their characteristics in the workplace

Figures & data

Table 1. Events/Activities observed and key informants’ information.

Event	Purpose	Informant (s)	Position
AC-Induction Session	Session 1: Mission and Values of Flow	Serge & Joanna	HRM & HR Consultant
AC-Induction Session	Session 2: Lean philosophy	Joanna	HR Team
AC-Dinner (Social Event)	See candidates in a social environment – No formal assessment	Assessors, Candidates and Flow employees	Various
AC-Assessors Brief	Selection methods update and briefing on key areas of interest	Assessors, Serge, Denise & Joanna	HRM & HR members
AC-Group Exercise	Assessing problem-solving and team work	Assessors, Serge, Denise & Joanna	HRM & HR members
AC-Interview 1	Assessing candidates experience; how candidates have handled things in the past; continuous improvement and leading change	Assessor 1 and Assessor 2	Flow employee
AC-Interview 2	Assessing candidates experience; how candidates have handled things in the past; continuous improvement and leading change	Assessor 3 and Assessor 4	Flow employee
AC-Presentation	Assessing problem-solving, presentation delivery, use of Lean	Assessors and Candidates (2,3 x2)	Flow employees, Candidates and HR Team
AC-Wash up	Making decisions about position offers	8 assessors, Serge,Denise, HRT1	Flow employee, HR Team
ER-Employee forum	Communication of business progress and employee issues through representatives	Flow Genaral Director, Serge, Denise, HRT1	Flow Employee, HR Team
MNG-Performance Review	Reporting business progress and financial conditions (economic upadate, performance as compared to budget, issues affecting profit, sales and cash-flow, risks and opportunities and forecasts)	Serge, the director and general manager of the division, the general managers in North America, China & Japan, Australia, South Africa, UK & Europe, the IT director, the directors of different contracting companies, of programme management, and the financial controller.	Various
TC-Presentation skills	Presentation skills training – Train the trainers session	Bertraint, TCATR	Flow employee
ER-Employee forum	Communication of business progress and employee issues through representatives	Flow Genaral Director, Serge, Denise, HRT1	Flow Employee, HR Team
ER-HR debriefing meeting	Discussing important HR related issues between HR team members.	Denise and HRT2	HR Team
ER-Meeting with employee	Maternity return meeting for deciding the schedule to fit organisational and employee needs	HRT2 and Line manager (call centre)	Flow Employee, HR Team
ER-Apprentice placement offer catch up	Quick meeting between Denise and Zoe (the apprentice) to make sure that the person has received the placement offer and is in the process of deciding in which division s/he would like to have the placement.	Denise and APTr1	Flow Employee, HR Team
TC-Negotiation Skills	Development of negotiation skills for junior level managers and team leaders	TCTrainer 1 and trainees	Outside BE employee and BE employees
TC-Building a team	Development of buidling a team skills for junior level managers and team leaders	TCTrainer 2 and trainees	Outside BE employee and BE employees
TC-Learning to lead	Development of learning to lead skills for junior level managers and team leaders	TCTrainer 2 and trainees	Outside BE employee and BE employees
ER-Employee forum	Communication of business progress and employee issues through representatives	Flow Genaral Director, Serge, Denise	Flow Employee, HR Team
AC-Psychometrics: Verbal, Numerical, Mechanical	Assessment centre for apprentices – assessment of areas of verbal, numerical and mechanical ability	RCT1	Energy employee
AC-Group Exercise	Apprentices programme: The exercise aims to assess interpersonal savvy and drive for results.	12 Candidates and 6 assessors	Energy employees and candidates
AC-Induction Session	Presentation of the apprentices programme	Jason	Energy employee
AC-Wash up	Making decisions about position offers	Assessors and RC Team	Energy employee
TC-Influencing skills	Development of influencing skills for junior level managers and team leaders	TCTrainer 3 and trainees	Outside BE employee and BE employees
AC-Group Exercise	Graduate programme: Leadership – Debate on two problems	Assessors and RC Team	Energy employee
ER-Trainee and trainer meeting	Assessing candidates progress in the apprentice programme	Jason	Energy employee
ER-Trainee and trainer meeting	Assessing candidates progress in the apprentice programme	Jason	Energy employee
ER-NVQ3 accreditation procedure	Assessing candidate in order to award NVQ3	Jason	Energy employee
MNG-HR team meeting	Planning the next period and reporting progress	Serge, Denise, HRT1, HRT3, HRT4	HR Team
TC-Communication skills	Communication skills training for Energy employees	TCTrainer 4 and trainees	Employees

Notes: Events: AC = Assessment Centre, TC = Training Courses, MNG = Management meeting/work, ER = Employee Relations, Informants: HRT = Human Resource Team Member, A = Assessor, TCTrainer = Training course trainer (Energy), TCATR = Training course assistant training (Flow), RCTeam = various members of recruitment team.

Figure 1. Analytic procedure.

Table 2. Code key: identification/characterization of communication skills.

Behaviors/ What people do	Aims	Positional Identities	Forms of knowing
Explaining, reporting, clarifying, elaborating Demonstrating, exemplifying, modelling Simulating, role-playing/performing Building on others’ points Rephrasing, interpreting, reiterating, summarising Justifying, reasoning, arguing, substantiating Questioning: probing Pursuing elaboration/justification Questioning: factual questions Reassuring Welcoming/putting at ease Suggesting, recommending Guiding, advising Giving pointers/ tips, hinting Commanding/giving directions Organising, prioritising, synchronising, delegating Questioning: inviting contributions Reflecting Praising contributions Validating/agreeing Questioning: seeking validation/agreement/feedback Giving feedback Challenging, confronting, disagreeing, negating Questioning: confrontational Articulating emotions/ beliefs/impressions Setting the problem/issue Questioning: explorative Exploring causes/circumstances/options Questioning: hypothetical/behavioural Deciding on a plan Pausing (long silence) Eye rolling/blinking Relaxed pointing/gesturing/nodding Tense pointing /gesturing Smiling Frowning	Updating people & supporting people’s learning Managing work Engaging & supporting People Gathering information & forming judgment Problem-solving	Teacher Administrator/officer Host Examiner Work-partner/collaborator Employer – employee mediator Advisor/career consultant	Cultural – through participation in practices (Eraut and Hirsch 2007) Personal – including feelings, impressions and experience (Polanyi [1958] 1962) Relational -knowing about others (Edwards 2010) Epistemic – knowing about the culturally structured scientific methodology (Knorr Cetina 1991) Propositional/declarative -(Bereiter 2002; Eraut 1994)

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