week 4 web lecture: pervasive communication

The pervasive communication enviornment has three major components. These are Mobile digital media, Mobile Analog media, and Location specific media. These three concepts are how we communicate with each other. Mobile digital media is cell phones, laptops, media players, personal digital assistants, media recorders and satellite radio. These forms of communication I can not live without. On a daily basis I use my cell phone and laptop multiple times a day. Sometimes I wonder how our society got his way? Our parents did not have these methods of communication and they were fine but now days it seems as if we can't live without them. I agree with Coopman that the pervasive communication enviornment has changed how group and team members communicate.

week 4 web lecture: pervasive communication

week 4 chapter 8: communication network roles

Communication network roles are always different based on the group. Individuals occupy a different position in the network based on where he/she plays a part in the flow of communication. If an individual is well connected in an organization than that individual is most likely the most influential and it is not likely he/she will leave the organization. In this concept there are four types of communication roles. The four concepts are the isolate, member, bridge, and liason. I can identify strongly with the bridge role because at my previous employer I worked in HR and had to interact with members of informal groups all the time.

week 4 chapter 8: Norms

As defined by the book, norms are the informal rules that "designate the boundaries of acceptable behavior in a group." In different group settings there are different expectations placed in the individuals. If you are in a group at work you are expected to dress appropriately, be on time, finish all your work in a timely fashion etc... If your small group is a group of friends then the norms may be set at a different standard. Regardless of what group you belong to there are norms that have been set by society as a whole. In our society deviating from the norms labels you as different and an outcast. All of the small groups base their norms on the norms of the society. My last job required us to wear professional attire to work. Many companies now days do not have a dress code but because society says it looks more professional that is the standard of dress attire our company abides by.

week 4 chapter 7: work/life balance

I found the work/life balance concept to be very interesting because I can relate to it. The book defines this term as the simultaneous influence of work on members lives away from work. The book also talks about the standards society places on women to balance work and home life such as child care and domestic labor. I struggled to maintain this gender requirement once my son was born. When I went back to work and school I tried my hardest to maintain the household as well and I was becoming burnt out. I would get home and be so tired that I would become grumpy when cooking, cleaning, and taking care of my son. I was only pleasant to my son but my relationship was taking a toll. I had to make a choice and the choice I made was to quit working. It seemed like I did not have another option because school is my main priority.

week 3 web lecture: workplace surveillance

Surveillance in the workplace is a very common thing. At my previous job our computers had surveillance on them. Certain web sites were blocked so that we could not surf the web. The only thing we could use on the internet were sites that could be used for working purposes. I worked at a staffing firm so many popular sites such as yahoo and google were used because the recruiters needed those job boards to find qualified candidates. The myspace website was blocked and the recruiters were not allowed to go on that site. The reason the site was blocked is because people were abusing using the site and surfing the site rather than working. Due to having surveillance on the site the company realized the priviledge was being abused and blocked the website. I do not think having surveillance is being intrusive because in this scenario the production was suffering so the company had to make a change.

week 3 web lecture: conduit metaphor

The conduit metaphor has 3 components to it: ideas and meanings are objects, linguistic expressions are containers for meanings, and communication is sending. The conduit metaphor has several negative aspects to it. One problem is this method makes assumptions. It is never good to make assumptions when one does not know what the outcome will be. Conduit metaphor suggests that as long as we use the right words for our ideas than communication is easy. This is not always true because dealing with different cultures or people who speak different languages, we have to change the words we use in order to adapt. If I decide to speak spanish to someone who only speaks spanish I may say the right words but because I am not a fluent spanish speaker the communication process will not be easy. Another example is if two people are arguing. One person may say the right things to get across what he/she means but because the other person has a different opinion about the argument the point may not be accepted by the apposing party.

week 3 chapter 6

An ideology is a concept that is used all the time. When people have conversations many ideas that come up are ideologys. The book defines an ideology as a system of ideas that serve as the basis of a political or economic theory. I have conversations about with people about something so simple as the high gas prices and different ideologies come into play. I think a reason gas prices have risen is the war in Iraq. There is a lot about the real motive of the war that is hidden from us Americans and now our gas is up to almost 5 dollars. A result of high gas is affecting the sale of trucks because no one wants to own a gas guzaler. Another person may think that the war in Iraq has nothing to do with the high gas prices. People always have their own theory of how things should be. That is an ideology.

week 3 Chapter 5: Integration

Integration is descirbed as portraying the culture in terms of consistency and clarity. It is somewhat of an unrealistic perspective because it says that cultural members agree of what they are going to do and why. In the real world many people do not all agree. It may appear to an outsider that everyone is agreeing but in actuality that may not be the case. For example the Poligamy culture appears to all be in agreement with the way the children and women are treated but if you dig deep you will find people who are not in compliance with it but he/she feels like there is no other choice but to follow the rules of the culture.

week 1 blog 2

On page 68 in Chapter two a feature of societal dialogue is presented. The book talks about resistance to domination. Resistance to domination refers to people who are oppresssed or less powerful tend to not listen to those who are in power. I think this is partly true. Not everyone who is oppressed reacts to power that way but some people do. I think many oppressed feel that those in power are not looking out for their benefit so why do what they want?

week 1

In the third chapter I found the theory of partisan interesting. Partisanship is the story we tell in our own favor. In the book it says that the history of organizational communication emphasizes the interpretations of dominant white males. I think that not only is the history of organizational communication that way but much of our countries history is. Often times minorities or the oppressed get little attention. If your looking at some part of history in favor of yourself than your view would be different than others. Just like the book says that Native Americans may look at their history very differently than we read in the history books. This is the same for me. In our history books slavery is looked at as the people of our country did not know any better or we are sorry it happened but blacks look at it as more. Many people look at slavery as not a big deal and wonder why people still make a big deal about it but those who it affects from a partisanship perspective realize how important it is to the African American culture.