Jeanny Script

Furthermore, Johansson (2018) stated in his study that historically, leadership

studies have not concentrated on leadership communication but began by relating the
personal attributes and characteristics of leaders, such as their drive and cognitive
capacity, to their effectiveness. Skills approaches did not specifically address the role
of communication in the development or application of leaders' abilities and
competencies, such as their technical, human, problem-solving, and social judgment
skills. Therefore, it appears that industries have been neglecting a leader's ability to
communicate effectively, which is one of the most crucial qualities a leader needs to
possess. However, studies showed that leaders who demonstrate poor communication
quality with subordinates are likely to make them feel disengaged at work (Robertson-
Smith and Markwick, 2009; Marone, 2020). A lack of communication may increase
conflict and ambiguity, which leads to disengagement through burnout. Contrarily,
competency theory suggest that individuals competent in communication can
consistently manage conversational activities, express themselves using various
linguistic nonverbal codes during the interaction and present their concerns with
feelings, emotion, attentiveness and interest (Mulder, 2017). Thus, employees or
members are expected to become engaged at work when leaders use communication
competency skills by maintaining communication appropriateness (relationship-
oriented) and effectiveness (task or achievement-oriented). For instance,
communication effectiveness (task-oriented) clarifies ambiguity and uncertainty,
which increases the employees’ or members level of work engagement, while
communication appropriateness enhances the employee or member-leader
relationship. Previous studies indicated that a better relationship between managers
and employees leads to employees’ greater work engagement (Harter and Rubenstein,
2020; Rabiul et al., 2021b; Robertson-Smith and Markwick, 2009; Weaver and
Mitchell, 2012). It also increases employee job engagement, as it clarifies job rules
and reduces uncertainty through effective communications.

Johansson, C. (2018). Leadership communication. The International

Encyclopedia of Strategic Communication, 1–
16. https://doi.org/10.1002/9781119010722.iesc0099