Chapter 11- Becoming more mindful

According to our text in chapter eleven a mindful approach to organizational communication enables us to understand, talk "as a mental and relational activity that is both purposeful and strategic. I find this to be very true. We already know that it takes two active listeners and participators in order to be mindful. So when we encounter a communication situation in an organization we should have reached some sort of achievement at the end of a conversation. If nothing can be taken out of the few minutes that you were speaking, then we know that it was a waste of time according to American style of work. Americans work schedules are extremely busy compared to other nations, which is why we want to make the most of time and always be efficient/ mindful in communication.

Chapter 10

In one section of chapter ten we learn about organizational alignment and competitive strategy. Every organization, small or big, must have some alignment and strategy. With out some sort of strategy a business is almost guaranteed to not be successful. Having no business strategy is almost the same as walking in aimlessly in the dark. Companies need to compete is what drives every company. Knowing that your product is perceived as a better predict than your competitor, even if all the ingredients are the same, can be the difference from a thriving company to a foreclosing organization. How a company markets its self is up to that particular company. Every organization is different form others. 

Chapter 9- Trait Leadership

Trait theory was one of the first ways of describing how a leader is choosen. It is described as being focused entirely on individual’s physical and social attributes. This was derived from earlier powerful forms of leaders in the early 18th century. In my eyes, this is a superficial way to choose someone to lead! Just because someone seems physically fit for a role, does not necessarily mean that they are the best for the job. One example of how America was caught in the trait theory is through the Presidential election of Nixon and Kennedy. Those who herd the big debate between the two on the radio thought Nixon had the best political stand. Those who watched on TV thought Kennedy did the best based on how he was perceived on television. This brings me back to the point that because someone fits the 'traditional’ physical model of a leader does not always mean they are the best. Lets look at one of the most obvious examples today. Ever since the begging of our democracy our leaders have been 'white males'. America broke out of the trait theory in 2008 when Barrack Oboma was choosen as our 44th President. Being the first 'black male' male president proves that our nation has evolved as humans to think outside of the 'norm'. From reading this chapter I realize the limitation that the trait theory obtains

Web Lecture-Dialogic Democracy and Organization

In the web lecture we are informed of different types of possible democracies. These types of democracies include procedural, competitive, participatory, deliberative, and dialogic democracy. Of all these different ways of governing an organization I would say that the dialogic democracy method is the best way to organize an organization. Dialogic democracy benefits the entire organization because it takes active listening and speaking to move forward from one point to another. Organizations who can do get many people actively involved will make people more aware of there surrounds and as a result a better out put by everyone. The only negative to this style of democracy is that it is time consuming. Although this may be true, if time is what a company needs on order to be the most productive, then I would say that it was time well spent compared to a waste of time. 

Chapter 8- Teams

Good communication in teams is vital to its success most of the time. Teams can be found in all organizations, education, and simply through life. Teams with in organizations are defined as groups of employees with representation from a variety of functional areas within the organization to maximize the cross-functional exchange of information. We can see examples of this compared to departments in an organization. Each department has some assortment of teams; whether it’s sales, marketing, or even managing. Teams are vital because it allows for many different points of views and can lead to ground breaking discoveries that could have never happened if it was not for the 'team'. Some different types of teams include virtual, quality improvement, work teams, and also project teams. They all have a purpose and end up serving the whole organization, not only certain departments. 

Chapter 7- Communicating Multiple Identities

In this section we are reminded that as communicators we use symbols and communication to construct our own and others identities. There are many differences between all types of people, and these differences are important to know about when communicating. Allen give us three tools to help us communicate better in groups and on an individual bases. The first is to be mindful when communicating. We have to be aware of what comes out of our mouth so that relationships are not destroyed. The next step is to be proactive. And lastly we should fill our communication toolbox. Doing these three steps will better communication between humans. Knowing how to keep someone engaged, not responding ignorantly, and having a vast vocabulary and modes of communication are ways to improve new relationships that come in our lives.

Chapter 7- Frame 1: Gender Differences at Work

Not many people can disagree that men and women definitely have different ways of communication. In chapter seven we find out some of the ways that men and women converse while at work. According to Tannen of "You just don’t understand: Men and women conversations", Men seek status when engaging and women seek connections when speaking. This may be true, considering how men grow up from being boys; everything is a competition then. But to believe that it the only way men converse is not so in my opinion. Men can also have different motives to speaking with another person, especially in the work place. There are endless opportunities to build relationships in work rather than trying to prove status.

Web Lecture- Pervasive Comunity

I believe our professor was right on when speaking about how we live in a pervasive community. That is why this lecture has been one of the most interesting lectures thus far; we are all well ware of the importance of new communication technologies. The revolution of digital instant messaging along with other technologies has made a huge dent in our everyday lives. There is almost no reason not to either not get a hold of someone or send an important message. Having these technologies keeps all sorts of different groups or organizations connected. I wonder how the 2.6 billion cell phone subscribers would react if all networking signals went down. I'm sure there would be radical problems amongst everyone who puts in use these technologies. 

Blog 4-Technology and the Value of Work

I definitely agree with professor cyborg on that technology has brought many positive changes in life, but has also brought negative impacts. There have been many cases where advanced technological surveillance has helped save a company from problem. As chapter six tells us the top employees in the company are hardly surveillance, when in fact they create most of the moral/ethical problems. Which is a terrible system of checks and balanes. I recall reading about an employee who was caught stealing some medical bandages from work. He was later fired. The ironic part about the whole case is that, his employer provides faulty insurance. In this case who is more in the wrong? Technology serves two sides of the spectrum. It can be somebody’s savior at one point and another’s down fall in different instances. 

Chaper 6- Centrality Of Power

In life there is always going to be some sort of power structure. It is only obvious that there are going to power issues in any organization. We learn five different types of social power according to Robert French and Bertram Raven. There is reward power, coercive power, referent power, expert power, and legitimate power. These different types of powers come down one common theme. One person always has some degree of power over the other. Although, this is an incomplete way of thinking of power. What caught most of my attention was the invisible power that people have over there lives everyday. For example, I am in school so that I have a good job. In today’s world, competition for jobs is vastly growing, so to have an advantage over the next candidate is necessary. People have to work in order to survive. Many people are getting to know this more and more in the U.S. because of the current economic crisis. Our book suggest some type o reform from the invisible power to have a “lifetime of work” the way it is now. Will we see any drastic reform in power over the next eight years? This is something that our president and his staff should look forward to dealing with, while the opportunity is at head.

Chapter 5- Organizational Assimilation

We have all at one time or another been a so called "newcomer". Organizational assimilation talks about that very topic in organizations. At first most employee's preconceived thoughts about the job and quickly disintegrated. The goal of a new employee is to figure out what role they are supposed to perform. We learn that in many organization the CEO's give a welcoming speech to new employees, but they soon realize the reality of the job. Most newcomers can not risk asking a irrelevant question, so they go about it by looking for information through other colleges, customers, or company messages. Once they have figured out the normal procedures, the employee becomes more comfortable. And a certain degree of comfort should be with in all employees in my opinion. If an employee is not comfortable, than it is likely that there work will negatively reflect so. On the other side of things, some employee's that become too comfortable end up also slacking at the role possibly because of entitlement. That is why when ever I am employed I try to have the right degree of comfortabilty, so that I am also on top of my job. 

Chapter 5- Cultural Elements

In chapter five we begin to learn more about cultures with in an organization. It is interesting to see how often unnoticed daily processes can define culture in an organization. Learning how metaphors associated with an organization can transform the organization caught my attention. My current football organization has many metaphors or simple phrases around the building that are directed towards motivation of everyone involved in the workplace. For example, in the weight room we have an artifact, which is a huge Spartan symbol. On that symbol is a phrase that simply states, "A Culture of Champions". Alongside the artifact are all the teams who have currently won championships in their perspective sport. Having this metaphor and artifact is supposed to help motivate all the sports that come and work out in that weight room. It can contribute to harder lifting in the weight room and making smarter choices on what is done to the body of each athlete.  Another positive to having this artifact in the weight room is that it allows for outsiders to form an opinion of what it means to be a Spartan athlete. 

            At first I never really paid too much attention to artifacts that are posted around the facilities. But now I can see that these artifacts and metaphors are not there by accident and serve multiple purposes for the organization itself.   

Chapter 4 Goals

In this section of the chapter we learn about the goals in the open systems approach theory. What I found most interesting about goals and organizations is; when goals are a clearly communicated and broadly shared means that organizations will most likely be successful and forthcoming according to Jim Collins. This makes a lot of sense to me. If I am apart of a grand organization and I as an employee have a broader goal in mind, then I will know how to direct my work. I think Disney may be one of these companies who do so. When ever I have visited Disneyland or called via telephone I have always been greeted with joyfulness. I believe the top management makes it clear to the organization that their goal is to be “the happiest place on earth” in everything that they do. I find clearly defined goals to be effective in organizations.   

Chapter 3- Empire to Hierarchy

In this section of the chapter we begin to actually learn of some actually organizational communication theories that began during the industrial revolution. The classical theory of management seems to be very old fashioned because it is based off of military mechanics. Meaning that the system is highly structured, concerned with rankings among the employees. This is what we know as a Top down management. The problem that I find with this theory of organizational management is that communication is basically one sided. The director communicates to the president who in turn directs the managers and so forth. This linear way of communication does not allow questioning or feed back from employees. As we learned in previous chapter, when an employees voice is not heard, it was cause great problems in the organization. 

Chapter 3- The Three P's

In chapter 3 we witness some of the fundamental properties of theories. Since much of this semester is based around theory, I found it more than acceptable to begin my first blog on the three P's. The first thing about theories we learn is that they are partial.  Meaning that theories only convey one part of the situation at hand. I defiantly agree with this definition, because we witness in life many different sides to different issues. Just because one side is voiced, does not necessarily mean that it is 'correct', but rather simply one side of the account. I experienced this allot when I worked summer athletic camps. Certain kids got into altercations with each other and I would have to be the one to put an end to it. Every kid had his or her side of the story of what happened, which may have been the true, but in reality was a partiality. The secound ‘P” meant that theories are partisan. Meaning that the theory is in favor of what is commonly known or accepted. This can also be applied to the kids who had confrontation between each other. Each of their stories for why they fought was in favor of what they personally thought to be acceptable reasons for fighting. Lastly we are taught theories are problematic. One theory can cause conflict amongst people, because of perspective and what is thought of as truth. These three P’s are good to keep in mind throughout this course.