Analyzing oral communication apprehension prevailing among engineers in engineering workplace of Pakistan

Abstract

Communicative apprehension affects job performance of engineers at workplace and it is never in the better interest of organizations. The purpose of this research was to investigate communication apprehension prevailing among engineers in engineering workplace of Pakistan. Five (5) engineers from 2 engineering organizations of Pakistan participated in this study. Purposive sampling method was employed since participants were drawn on specific criteria of engineers with minimum five years’ industry experience. All presentations were video recorded to explore communication apprehension traits that affected oral presentation performance of engineers. Data were analyzed qualitatively using oral presentation assessment rubric based on communication apprehension traits. This assessment rubric contained four communication apprehension traits such as oral communication skill, credibility or confidence, gestures or purposeful use of body and appearance of nervous mannerism. The results of the study revealed that due to communication apprehension engineers’ possessed poor credulity or confidence, poor gestures or purposeful use of body and faced nervousness that affected their effective oral presentation performance. The findings of this study can be used as a guideline to overcome communication apprehension of engineers through oral communication and oral presentation skill trainings in order to make them productive for organizations.