Conversational Coordination Skills Of Engineering Students—An Interpersonal Communication Perspective

Abstract

Interpersonal skills are the fulcrum on which the levers of interpersonal relations revolve. It is imperative to maintain interpersonal rapport and conduct ourselves with the requisite communication competence with others. Interpersonal skills are the conduit through which students interact with others effectively and appropriately.  Duality in interpersonal interactions determines the extent to which our conversations succeed or fail. Duality is a process where individuals feel respected and heard in their conversations. The foundational pillar of duality in interpersonal communication is reciprocity. Monopolizing communication is the antithesis of a productive conversation. This could amount to egotism or narcissism. Competent communicators talk and help others to express themselves. Participants in a conversation cannot have a huge number of latency pauses that stifle the smoothness of a conversation. Smooth coordination, turn taking, listening patiently without being judgemental, giving co-communicators opportunities to express their views and opinions are the crux of interpersonal communication competence. Results indicated that competent communicators not only talk and express their views but take it as a solemn responsibility to give others also a chance to express their views. Conversational narcissism defeats the purpose of smooth conversations. Further, students indicated that their overall conversational communication competence needs to improve. This paper will deal with the significance of conversational skills, the various elements of conversational coordination, the need to cultivate a reciprocal give and take in all our interpersonal interactions, what constitutes good conversational coordination, and why many of our conversations become awkward, laborious, and cumbersome. A meta-analysis of various findings of the relevance of interpersonal conversational coordination skills is discussed here. Finally, the steps to be taken to ensure that our interpersonal conversations are smooth and courteous marked by reciprocity, respect, and empathy will be discussed.