Perceptions of Communication Ability

Several researchers have suggested that individual success in organizations can be attributed at least in part to interpersonal and communicative effectiveness. This study examined the relationship between several measures of interpersonal effectiveness and job level in the headquarters of a large international insurance corporation. Participants completed Snyder's (1974) self-monitoring instrument and reported on their own communication abilities. Results showed that self-monitoring was related to perceived persuasive ability and to perceived communication effectiveness. However, when the self-monitoring instrument was decomposed into the subscales suggested by Briggs, Cheek, and Buss (1980), the other-directedness subscale was virtually unrelated to any other study variable. Job level in the organization was positively related to self-monitoring and to perceived communication effectiveness.