Monday, January 26, 2009
COMM 105--Introduction
A new semester! My name is Sarah and I am a communications major! Finally am a senior and super excited to graduate!! I am a full time student who is also a full time personal banker at Union Bank. I have been in banking for the past 6 years and have realized that business is not the path I will be taking...numbers drive me insane! I am planning on applying to law school, but dreading the 3 year commitment. Other than all that, I'm just your average California girl trying to get by in life. I just turned 21, so I have lived it up...well to a certain extent of course. I'm excited to start this semester off as I love all my classes and upon completion of this semester, I will only have 3 classes left...:) So to everyone reading this, cheers to a great beginning!
Thursday, July 3, 2008
Web Lecture: Authentic Dialogue
According to our web lecture, authentic dialogue or dialogue as real meeting, where "a genuine communion can take place between people that transcends differnces in role or perspective and that recognizes all parties' common humanity".
I see authentic dialogue as the opposite of phatic communication. As previously stated in my blog, phatic communication is engaging in small talk with a person you barely know. It's talking about general topics in order to seem interested in "talking" with the person.
Authentic dialogue is actually wanting to speak to a person about their interests and showing concern, compassion, and interest in what the other person is saying.
I see authentic dialogue occur within close personal relationships with friends, family members, and significant others. For example, the conversations that take place with my parents and boyfriend are authentic dialogue as oppose to the conversations I have with clients I meet at work--phatic communication.
I see authentic dialogue as the opposite of phatic communication. As previously stated in my blog, phatic communication is engaging in small talk with a person you barely know. It's talking about general topics in order to seem interested in "talking" with the person.
Authentic dialogue is actually wanting to speak to a person about their interests and showing concern, compassion, and interest in what the other person is saying.
I see authentic dialogue occur within close personal relationships with friends, family members, and significant others. For example, the conversations that take place with my parents and boyfriend are authentic dialogue as oppose to the conversations I have with clients I meet at work--phatic communication.
Wednesday, July 2, 2008
Chapter 11: Phatic Communication
Phatic communication is a form of small talk that helps us appear social gives the impression that we are interested in others. IT shoes disregard for each other because nothing that is said really matters to either person. When we rely on phatic communication, it will prevent us from being able to communicate normally or interestingly at work or any other social place that we may be at.
I think phatic communication is something that everyone uses. We are constantly using small talk in order to engage or start conversation especially with someone who we just barely met. There are some people who are horrible at starting conversations and end up talking about the weather or politics which are examples of phatic communication.
Whenever I go out to business meetings or even small parties phatic communication is my best friend because without it, I wouldn't know what to talk to about or how to start a communication. I don't know the person who I'm talking with and being able to talk about a general or on common ground is very helpful.
I think phatic communication is something that everyone uses. We are constantly using small talk in order to engage or start conversation especially with someone who we just barely met. There are some people who are horrible at starting conversations and end up talking about the weather or politics which are examples of phatic communication.
Whenever I go out to business meetings or even small parties phatic communication is my best friend because without it, I wouldn't know what to talk to about or how to start a communication. I don't know the person who I'm talking with and being able to talk about a general or on common ground is very helpful.
Tuesday, July 1, 2008
Chapter 10: Training and Development
As stated in the textbook, training and development are formal and informal efforts to develop employee skill. It has always been a function of management and many business people have been recognized that there are benefits to identifying the best practices in performing any given job and then communicating these practices systematically to employees.
Training is easier when the job requirements stay the same and don't change every so often. However, with technology always booming, it's difficult for job requirements to stay the same and training is therefore needed in order to teach employees how to better do their job.
An example of Training and Development is the current job I have right now. I've been in banking since I was 16 and I still remember the first day on the job. Shadowing my fellow coworkers was interesting because watching their computer screens seeing what they do was hard because I had no idea what they were doing. I thought to myself that I would never be able to understand or do what they do for a long time. Luckily, training was a requirement in order to touch or even handle customer problems. I was able to go to a training class where instructors assisted me in learning what I need to learn in order to perform the job to the best of my knowledge.
Training is easier when the job requirements stay the same and don't change every so often. However, with technology always booming, it's difficult for job requirements to stay the same and training is therefore needed in order to teach employees how to better do their job.
An example of Training and Development is the current job I have right now. I've been in banking since I was 16 and I still remember the first day on the job. Shadowing my fellow coworkers was interesting because watching their computer screens seeing what they do was hard because I had no idea what they were doing. I thought to myself that I would never be able to understand or do what they do for a long time. Luckily, training was a requirement in order to touch or even handle customer problems. I was able to go to a training class where instructors assisted me in learning what I need to learn in order to perform the job to the best of my knowledge.
Monday, June 30, 2008
Chapter 9: Modesty
The defintion of modesty in our text book is personal humility about one's accomplishments and a profound commitment to the good of the company-is vital to leadership because it is inspiring. Greenleaf says that personal humility is also found in the idea of "servant leadership". There are many qualities that are associated with the definition of a servant leader.
1. Valuing individuals (genuine concern for others' well-being and development
2. Networking and achieving (inspirational communicator)
3. Enabling (empowers, delegates, develops potential)
4. Acting with integrity (consistent, honest, open)
5. Being accessible (approachable, in touch with others)
6. Being decisive (a risk taker)
Humility is the result of habits of mind and habits of character that are then realized fully in authentic communicative performance.
I think that in order to live a successful and prosperous life, modesty is the answer. The reason I believe this is because walking around with too much pride will only get yourself into trouble. I've seen this first hand and my manager is an example. He is only 26 years old and aleady a branch manager. Having so much pride kills him because he does not accept failure, which is fine, but it does get him into trouble. Having a "cocky" attitude just because you're a young branch manager doesnt get you anywhere except to the bottom of the list. I've seen people close accounts just because of the cocky attitude one person can give you. Just being humble and happy is also the key to success. Not having so much pride on your shoulders will get you farther than you expect (in my opinion of course).
1. Valuing individuals (genuine concern for others' well-being and development
2. Networking and achieving (inspirational communicator)
3. Enabling (empowers, delegates, develops potential)
4. Acting with integrity (consistent, honest, open)
5. Being accessible (approachable, in touch with others)
6. Being decisive (a risk taker)
Humility is the result of habits of mind and habits of character that are then realized fully in authentic communicative performance.
I think that in order to live a successful and prosperous life, modesty is the answer. The reason I believe this is because walking around with too much pride will only get yourself into trouble. I've seen this first hand and my manager is an example. He is only 26 years old and aleady a branch manager. Having so much pride kills him because he does not accept failure, which is fine, but it does get him into trouble. Having a "cocky" attitude just because you're a young branch manager doesnt get you anywhere except to the bottom of the list. I've seen people close accounts just because of the cocky attitude one person can give you. Just being humble and happy is also the key to success. Not having so much pride on your shoulders will get you farther than you expect (in my opinion of course).
Friday, June 27, 2008
Web Lecture: Pervasive Communication Enviornment
According to our web lecture, the pervasive communication enviornment in which we live influences all aspects of group and team communication. It gives us the ability to access, create, and share information in multimedia from almost anywhere, at anytime, for any reason. It gives us multiple access points to an integrated communication structure with text, audio, video, and voice capabilities.
It's amazing how new communication technology has formed and how much we rely on it. As said in the lecture, it's more than just chatting with your friend in Hong Kong while stuck in Chicago Traffic. We're able to meet new people online and even create a meaningful relationship with someone we do not know online. We're able to work from home...not only by email but by enabling "video chat" where we can show whomever we're talking to what EXACTLY we're doing. We can give them a play by play of what we're doing so that they feel involved. I feel that the pervasiv communication enviornment we live in is only going to get worse because I know that without technology for even a couple of hours, I feel completely lost. I went camping with my cousins a few years ago and I remember that my cousin told me, "Sarah, there will be no source of communication while we're in the mountains". I told her it shouldn't be a problem...I"m on vacation anyway. Boy was it a problem! I wasn't able to call ANYONE! I had such a hard time not being able to text or chat away...and that doesn't even begin to describe how I felt as the week went by.
I hope that our society doesn't get too involved in technology because by the way I see it now, it's only going to get worse.
It's amazing how new communication technology has formed and how much we rely on it. As said in the lecture, it's more than just chatting with your friend in Hong Kong while stuck in Chicago Traffic. We're able to meet new people online and even create a meaningful relationship with someone we do not know online. We're able to work from home...not only by email but by enabling "video chat" where we can show whomever we're talking to what EXACTLY we're doing. We can give them a play by play of what we're doing so that they feel involved. I feel that the pervasiv communication enviornment we live in is only going to get worse because I know that without technology for even a couple of hours, I feel completely lost. I went camping with my cousins a few years ago and I remember that my cousin told me, "Sarah, there will be no source of communication while we're in the mountains". I told her it shouldn't be a problem...I"m on vacation anyway. Boy was it a problem! I wasn't able to call ANYONE! I had such a hard time not being able to text or chat away...and that doesn't even begin to describe how I felt as the week went by.
I hope that our society doesn't get too involved in technology because by the way I see it now, it's only going to get worse.
Thursday, June 26, 2008
Chapter 8: Work Teams
A work team is a group of employees responsible for the entire work process that delivers a product or service to a customer.
As stated in the text, successful work teams are supported by commitment to empowerment. Because they are given the discretion and autonomy to make decisions and to solve problems, empowered teams are not frustrated by a lack of authority to implement their ideas and solution. A group can do a much better job of managing its resources when it understands the big picture, has the authority to adapt to changing work conditions, and feels that its work is meaningful and has an impact.
Work teams play an important role at my company because we are constantly broken up into different teams in order to make sure our goals for the year have completed. We have two general teams: operations and platform. After we have established the two basic teams, we then split up into other little teams in order to insure our manager that there is more than one person concentrating on the other important aspects that need attention. When we have teams, we have team work because a lot of the goals my company makes are unattainable, however, with the help from team members, the goals are no longer unattainable.
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