The Development of Communicative Competence among Community Leaders in Thung Song Municipality

Abstract

This research aimed to study 1) the components of communication competence, 2) the methods of developing communication competence, and 3) the success factors in developing communication competence among community leaders of Thungsong Municipality. It was a qualitative study using document analysis, in-depth interviews, and group interviews. The documentary sources used in this research were 1) the local development plan, 2) the Thungsong Municipality website, and 3) 26 issues of the Thungsong Municipality journal. The study included 55 key informants. The results showed that: 1) the components of communication competence consisted of (1) internal communication competence, which includes communication competence in community management, communication competence in meetings, communication competence in receiving information, and communication competence in decision making, and (2) external communication competence, which includes communication competence in receiving complaints, communication competence in disseminating information, communication competence in disseminating knowledge, communication competence in public speaking, communication competence in using social media, and communication competence in the use of technology; 2) methods of developing communication competence included (1) training and (2) coaching; and 3) success factors in developing communication competence included (1) organizational factors, (2) employees, (3) development methods, and (4) experience from actual work.