Communication · Executive Insight Brief · 469
The deficit may not be skill
Communication competence separates motivation, knowledge, skill, appropriateness, and effectiveness so weak performance is not automatically treated as a skills deficit
Premise
Knowing the recommended behavior is not the same as communicating competently. Brian H. Spitzberg’s motivation–knowledge–skills model separates willingness to engage, understanding of what the situation requires, and the behavioral capability to perform it. Competent interaction is then judged against two additional criteria: whether it is effective and whether it is appropriate to the relational context.
That decomposition matters whenever “communication skills” becomes the default diagnosis. A manager can know how to give difficult feedback and still avoid the conversation; another can be motivated and knowledgeable but unable to adapt behavior under pressure. Training is only one possible response because the missing condition may sit in motivation, context, norms, authority, or performance.
What the model is: Communication Competence: Motivation–Knowledge–Skills in Knowledge →
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- FamilyModel
- CategoryTheories & Explanatory Models
- DomainConversation & Relationships
What these mean
Editorial orientation · Family
Model
In this series, Model names the editorial family primarily used to understand and explain communication: theories, frameworks, effects, traditions, principles and other conceptual resources. It is an umbrella for a route into the field, not a claim that every included object is a predictive model.
Editorial orientation · Category
Theories & Explanatory Models
Explains how or why a communication process works by relating mechanisms, conditions or variables. Its value is an account that can guide inquiry into what produces an outcome, rather than a name for the outcome alone.