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.

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.

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.

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).

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.

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.  

Chapter 8: Conflict

Conlict is defined as "the interaction of interdependent people who perceive opposition of goals, aims, and values, and who see the other parties as potentially interfeing with the realizion of these goals." It stated that conflict changes or evolved over time and is unpredictable. It takes place in interdependent relationships among people who rely on one another for resources.

Another word for conflict to me is argumentation. In terms of communication and relationships, I can't see a successful relationship with conflict. The reason being is because we all need to fight in order to be happy. As weird as that sounds, it works. We learn new things from one another whenever conflict arises because without getting into disagreements, we would never learn from our mistakes. The most overrated phrase I hear from my parents is, "you will learn from your mistakes". Mistakes aren't planned--just like conflict. We can't say, "oh, today at 2 o'clock, I'm going to have a conflict with my boyfriend". It just doens't work that way. Everything happens for a reason. In order to overcome obstacles, we need to go through conflict again in order to know what we did wrong and what we need to do in order to fix it and overcome the obstacle that is blocking us from continuing on with our lives.

Chapter 7: Gender Differences at Work (frame 1)

Men seek status by engaging in report talk, a style of speaking that emphasizes: 1. demonstrations of knowledge, skill, and ability; 2. instrumentality; 3. conversational command; 4. direct and assertive expressions; 5. abstract terms over personal experince.

Women use conversations to build relationships using rapport talk. Rapport talk emphasizes: 1. demonstrating equality through matching experiences; 2. providing support and responsiveness; 3. conversational maintence; 4. tentativeness; 5. personal, concrete details.

"these different conversational orientations can often lead to misunderstandings between men and women who often experience the same conversation in very different ways such as discussions of personal or professional problems."

I find this concept meaningful because since I work in the professional world, I am surrounded by men and women who undergo these particular conversations. For example, when the men in the office talk, they are talking very bluntly with one another and they get to the point quickly. Women in the office on the other hand, tend to beat around the bush and also try to sugar coat things that may sound a little too blunt. For example, we had an instance at work where a male and a female both got into an argument. It was about inputting timecards and the man had completed the task incorrectly. The woman tried to sugar coat the harsh things she was trying to say in order not to hurt the other's feelings but it did not work because the one conversation that was trying to take place with two different conversational orientations. Therefore, the conversation ended on a negative note.

Web Lecture: Workplace surveillance

As stated in the lecture, workplace surveillance is an example of organizations as instruments of domination. New communication technologies allow organizations to monitor employee computers from the moment those computers are booted up to the moment they're shut down. Cells phones and pagers provide another avenue for organization to montor employee behavior and keep surveillance is intrusive and causes employees' social and mental stress.

I think workplace surveillance is a great idea because it gives employees a sense of respect. Some employees tend to do other things at work and still expect to get paid for the work that they're supposed to do even when they're not doing it. It also allows the company to make sure that the employees are doing the correct thing when dealing with company work. Without it, we would have to rely on the honor method and sometimes people do not work with that (which is sad). It also ensures that everything in the workplace is going well. For example, since I work at the bank, camers are all over the place. We got robbed a few months ago and were able to capture the victim with the help of the cameras. Without the cameras, we wouldn't have been able to catch and ensure safety for all our employees and customers.

Web Lecture: Interpretive View

Our web lecture says that the interpretive view of organizational culture is based on the observation that there is more going on in organizations than competing tasks. These approaches to organizational culture seek to understand how organization life is accomplished through communication. Culture is studied as sense making and the aim of research is interpretation. Researchers focus on stories, vocabulary, rituals, and other aspects of culture that reveal how organization members interpret organizational life.

The interpretive view of organizational culture is found meaningful to me because a lot of people stereotype and tend to interpret cultures in different ways. A lot of people see me as a different individual because of who I am yet they don't know anything about me. The lecture states that researchers focus on stories, vocabulary, and rituals in order to reveal how citizens live their lives. In order for me to understand my own culture, I also rely on the same thing that researchers focus on. We view different rituals and interpret them in our own way in order to better understand the culture in our own words.

Chapter 6: Myths, stories, and metaphors

As defined in chapter 6, myths, stories, and metaphors are the surface structure forms of communication that contain implicit, hidden, and taken-for-granted ideological assumptions that reside at a deep structure level of power. It is said that myths contribute to the strength of a culture's ideology and its soruces of power. In myths, we find evidence of basic metaphors that structure our view of things.

I believe that without myths, stories, and metaphors, we have no means of history. We wouldn't know about our past and wouldn't be able to look into the future without it because of no evidence. It helps us organize our thoughts and feelings in a way that assist us in becoming comfortable with one another. It helps us shape the people we are and the people we plan on becoming because of the knowledge that comes along with myths, stories, and metaphors.

Chapter 5: Socialization

Chapter 5 defines socialization as the process by which people learn the rules, norms, and expectations of a culture over time and thereby become members of that culture. For example, parents teach their children how to be accepted into their families, communities, religions, etc. I think socialization is a very important aspect because without it, we as may feel uncomfortable in a society we are put in. If we do not know anything about the community or so, we tend to feel like an outcast because of all the different traditions being practiced within that community. For example, I'm from two different cultures and my parents are always teaching me little things about their culture. My dad is Filipino and my mom is Dutch. They both came from two different countries and migrated to America. I haven't been to Germany yet, but I went to the Philippines with my dad last year. If he didn't teach me the little norms that they practiced I would have felt very uncomfortable because I didn't know the traditions being practiced. For example, in order for children to gain respect from their elders, they must ask for the elder's hand and place it against their forehead. This is a sign of a "blessing" from the elders. My dad made sure that I was aware of that practice so that the "filipinos" wouldn't think that I was disrespectful and knew a little bit about their culture.

Week #2, ch2 (continued) Real meeting

Real meeting defined in the book is, genuine communication that can take place between people that transcends differences in role or perspective and that recognizes all parties' common humanity. I see real meeting as a conversation held between two or more people that discuss important situations that are occuring at the time. Being able to discuss situations in person is very successful because it not only solves any problems, it prevents any miscommunication mishaps in the future. For example, even though I am already 21 years old, my parents and I always have a weekly meeting with each other in order to discuss anything that is happening in our lives. We talk about other family members, current problems that are happening in the work place, financial issues, and anything else that may be on our minds. It helps because we're always on track and know that if anything was to go wrong, we could talk to one another and everything will be okay. Being able to relate to another person is also very helpful because it's very hard to have a genuine conversation with someone you do not know or aren't comfortable with because true/real feelings will not come out because of how the other party or parties may feel.

I love talking about communications! =)

Week #2 chapter 2- Voice

Having a voice in our world today is very important because as individuals with that have freedom of speech, we need to be able to say what's on our mind because without it, nothing will ever change. We should never be afraid to say what's on our mind because if we do that, everything will just worsen. According to the book, voice manifests itself in the ability of an individual or group to participate in the ongoing organizational diaglogue. We as individuals should speak our mind and tell anyone what we're thinking because we have the ability to. As an employee, I'm faced with certain individuals who do not accept me for me. It's very hard to be involved in an enviornment where your boss or other co workers do not get a long with you because of how old you are. Yes, I'm young but being discriminated against because of age shouldn't happen. When I first started my job, I had a boss who was absolutely horrible. All se would do is say that I'm incapable of completing tasks necessary for my job because I wasn't old enough and I didn't have enough knowledge. At first, I told myself that I would not say anything because I have to respect my elders. But it came to a point where I couldn't take it anymore. I had to say something. Having a voice enabled me to look beyond my horizons and see that there is more out there and that there are other managers out there that will respect you for who you are not how old or what you are.

Week # 2, ch1 (continued) - Outsourcing

I can't believe how much gas is now a days! I drive a honda accord and I remember it used to cost me like $15 MAX to fill up the tank!! Now that it's almost $4.50 a gallon, it costs me $45 to fill up my tank!!! Gee, I feel like I'm working just to pay for gas!! =( I read in an email that it's better to fill up your tank early early in the morning or late late at night. But it's so hard trying to find a gas station that is 24 hours where I live. A lot of them close early now because they're trying to find employees that will work for less pay. This kind of reminds me of oursourcing. Accroding to the text, outsourcing is when businesses search the globe for the lowest possible labor costs and move jobs wherever cheap labor can be found.

I was talking to the owner of the gas station and he was telling me that he has to find employees that will work at a low hourly rate and hwo he has to find a new location for his gas station because rent is so expensive now.

Also, working at the bank, we're always in dire need of help and whenever I call my technical support group, it's always a call made to India or the Philippines because it's the best place where our company can find cheap labor for the work that is needed to be done. It's just difficult sometimes because when companies try to find the cheapest labor, it doesn't necessarily mean the best workers. I hate to criticize my own company for this, but it really is an inconvenient when your tech guy can't understand you because maybe the line is going bad or because of slang that is being used in order to describe a situation that is occuring.

...sigh I hope our economy gets better soon!

Week #2- Identity Theft (Chapter 1)

Identity theft is something that I absolutely HATE!! Working at the bank for the past 5 years, it's something that I see so often and it just aggrevates me just to think that someone can take advantage of another person just like that. I don't understand why they can't put themselves in that other person's shoe and have their money taken away.

According to the book, identity theft is when someone steals your identifying information and impersonates you in trasactions with various stores and institutions.

How does this relate to my own experience?? Well, fortunately, I haven't experienced identity theft myself but I have watched many of my clients go through it. For example, I have an elderly client who gets her retirement checks every month and comes into the bank to withdraw a majority of it in order to pay some of her bills. Well, she came into the branch one day and to her dismay, all of her money was gone and she had owed the bank over $500 in overdraft fees. We found out that someone had stolen checks that had been sent back to her house (old checks that have cleared her account) and had washed them so that they could write in the amount they wanted to cash the check for. The signature on the checks stayed the same so that when the individual trying to cash the check at the bank came in, the teller saw that the signatures matched and didn't have to think about the check being fradulent.

Just seeing my client go through such hardship is so hurtful because it's something that goes on all the time. My grandma is her age and I know that if my grandma was to go a month without any income, it would kill her because in our economy today, money is something that we all need in order to survive. We feel violated when our prized possessions have been taken away from us and for a couple of months, there is nothing that we can do.

Introduction

Hello! My name is Sarah Reyes and I am currently a junior at San Jose State University! I have about 15 more classes to go and I will officially be a college graduate. I just turned 21 so this summer is going to be a blast! I currently am taking 2 summer classes and working at Union Bank of California. I have been working at the bank for about 5 years now... Working as a personal banker is probably the greatest thing to do at my age because being able to help people financially is something I find joy in. I'm looking forward to this class and I hope that everyone else is too!