Communication Skills in The Workplace Are More Important Than Technical Expertise
Introduction:
Organizations and employers find the best talent that can assist them in strategic goals. It is always the desire of employers to employ human resources that have multitasking talent. They want applicants and interviewees to have attributes that make them a perfect fit for the organization. In this context, employers desire employees to have the desired technical expertise that can enable them to be perfect in performing tasks. Along with it, they also have to interact and coordinate with their colleagues at the workplace. In the wake of the burgeoning importance of teamwork and collaboration, communication skills have become inevitable for every employee. An organization or employer must desire to have employees having a combination of technical and communication skills. It would do the job perfectly, along with having good relationships with their colleagues. It sounds good, but evidence would help shed light on the importance of communication skills. This essay presents an argument about whether communication skills are more important than technical skills. It requires a debate because only evidence and empirical research can decide which skills are more important. Communication skills are important because they make other required skills, including technical skills, complete by making them comprehensive and relevant to the organizational objectives.
Inevitable for Effectiveness of Technical Expertise:
There has been a popular discussion on prioritizing soft or hard skills. Communication skills fall under the soft skills category, while technical skills or expertise falls under the hard skills category. Technical skills are crucial, but these skills cannot be effective without communication skills. Interpersonal skills that have communication at their centre are inevitable for the effectiveness of technical expertise. A technical worker or an employee cannot fulfil her task alone; instead, she has to interact with her department and colleagues. She has to join and share with others even if she is an expert in her field. This aspect raises the importance of communication skills over technical expertise. Thus, the job is troublesome without the use of communication in the workplace (Bharathi, 2016).
Learning Communication Skills is a Challenge:
It seems very simple to push or favour communication skills, but it is a truth that they are more troublesome to learn. They are complex in nature and call for employees to dedicate efforts to practice them at the workplace. Technical expertise is also hard to learn, but they do not vary very much after learning about them. An employee necessitates being connected with the most advanced trends and changes for making technical expertise aligned with contemporary trends. Communication skills are complex because a human being has to interact with another human being. It makes the case difficult when the feelings and emotions of the person are concerned. The complexity of attaining communication skills also goes to their favour and makes it favoured over technical expertise (Klein, 2017).
The Nature of Modern Workplace:
The nature of the modern workplace has changed to a large extent, and the most prominent attribute is the dynamism prevailed in today’s workplace. Organizations have been presenting an environment where sharing resources and expertise has become of prime importance. The competitive advantage of such an environment exists in the fact of how everyone is connected and interrelated with the organization. Technology and other financial resources are achievable, but a talented workforce is more arduous to attract and retain. This nature of the modern workplace has aroused one to be concerned regarding the attainment of competitive advantage. Communication skills help an organization to make this happen through coordinating efforts and making one common picture of the whole organization from within. Technical expertise cannot take such a holistic and wider perspective (Godlewska-Majkowska & Komor, 2019).
The Need for a Customer:
Communication skills are more important than technical expertise because of their connection to customers. An employer cannot deem ignoring the expectations and priorities of a customer. But it is a fact that customers are increasingly proceeding to be demanding with the desire for customized products and services. Technical and technology-intensive solutions have assisted them in their eagerness to have innovative products. But the ultimate responsibility remains with the sales representatives and employees who have to interact with customers. A customer establishes his perception based on the interaction and experience with the customer representative. Therefore, an organization cannot scorn communication skills because they come as a rescue to satisfy customers. Thus, communication skills serve a strategic purpose for an organization (Masa’deh et al., 2019).
A Requirement for an Integrated Workplace in an Organization:
An organization has diversified departments and divisions that work towards the vision and objectives of the organization. Each department has its objectives and milestones that are crucial for attaining overall organizational goals. Each department has many employees having technical expertise and capabilities. They are crucial for the attainment of organizational objectives. But the problem arises when each department does not share expertise and resources with any other department. It is because of the inadequacy of communication among departments. Many organizations have seen demise due to this as their departments pursue their departmental goals and do not adhere to the concerns of other departments. Such situations indicate strategic and vital importance of communication skills that work within and among departments of an organization (Lai et al., 2017).
Conclusion:
The essay concludes that communication skills are more important than technical skills. It does not state that technical skills are not worthwhile; instead, it only states that communication is more important. It is because of the increasing role of integration and coordination among departments within an organization. Communication skills spread an integrating and interactive climate within an organization due to which everything gets streamlined and organized. It then becomes the reason for the competitive advantage that is otherwise difficult to achieve. Moreover, the central point of the essay is that communication skills have a wider and broader purpose than any other skill, including technical skills. The essay guides today’s organizations to focus on communication skills and should base other skills on it. It would help them achieve a competitive advantage over their competitors.
References
Bharathi, A.V., 2016. Communication Skills-Core of Employability Skills: Issues and Concerns. Higher Learning Research Communications, 6(4), pp.1-12.
Godlewska-Majkowska, H. & Komor, A., 2019. Intelligent Organization in a Local Administrative Unit: From Theoretical Design to Reality. European Research Studies, 22(4), pp.290-307.
Klein, C., 2017. Communication and Developing Relationships for People Who Use Augmentative and Alternative Communication. Assistive Technology Outcomes & Benefits, 11(1), pp.58-65.
Lai, D.W., L, Shankar, J. & Khalema, E., 2017. Unspoken Skills and Tactics: Essentials for Immigrant Professionals in Integration to Workplace Culture. Journal of International Migration and Integration, 18(3), pp.937-59.
Masa’deh, R. et al., 2019. The association among employees’ communication skills, image formation and tourist behaviour: perceptions of hospitality management students in Jordan. International Journal of Culture, Tourism and Hospitality Research, 13(3), pp.257-72.
