of this study rest.
Interpersonal Skills Effectiveness: A Definition
Farley and Akridge (1987) have noted that:
. . .about 75% of job failure is attributable to workers' poor relationships with co-workers and supervisors. Similarly. . .a major factor in job and career and rehabilitation failure is ineffective relationship skills. Recent research has continued to support the notion that relationship skills are related to successful adjustment in career settings. . .(p. 148)
The foregoing leads to the questions of what precisely is meant by interpersonal or relationship skills and what constitutes good or effective skills? Unfortunately, the plethora of definitions provided for the term interpersonal skills effectiveness makes it difficult to arrive at a precise meaning of the term.
In most definitions, the key component is level or strength of interpersonal skills; however, despite this similarity across definitions, the term overall covers a host of different views. These differences in view are based on differences in the skill or skills that authors of the definition choose to single out for emphasis.
For example, Mitchell (1988) and Rubin (1983) feel that interpersonal skills effectiveness is translatable to effectiveness in listening, speaking and writing. Indeed, Rubin (1983) developed a training program for university students that focused on helping them to become better interpersonal communicators by improving their listening skills, overcoming their communication anxiety and developing better speech communication.
Mitchell (1988) expanded the communication definition of interpersonal skills by adding written communication skills to the list. Cooper and Smith (1987), on the other hand do not believe that writing skill is a pivotal component of interpersonal skills. Instead, they state that interpersonal skill effectiveness rests solely on the effectiveness of one's oral communication skills.
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