While I was participating in the universal design for learning workshop you all were busy blogging about organizational communication. I'll make a few more comments today. Apologies in advance if I don't comment on everyone's blog.
Victoria Beckham focused on training and development, which I found especially relevant this week as I've been involved in two training sessions this winter term, one on technology in the classroom and the other on universal design. Victoria provided a great example the impact training can have from a trainer's perspective.
Spartan Girl does an excellent job applying the notion of deliberative democracy to blogging in this class, noting how blogging encourages us to express ourselves while at the same time consider others' perspectives in meaningful ways.
Who me?, CGH, Phil, and others talked about balancing work and family life. This resonated with me as I've recently taken over the duties of acting chair, in addition to teaching this class, serving as the COMM Club advisor, and working on a student success project involving the development of two workshops on communication and disability. Those commitments don't leave much time for my life in Santa Cruz, especially now that the internet, wireless access, my laptop, and cell phone keep me in constant contact with SJSU.
Wally Oxenfree discussed report and rapport talk. My only concern with this section of the chapter is that people view gender differences in deterministic ways. Research strongly suggests that gender differences are culturally based. In addition, there are greater communication differences within groups (among women and among men) than between the two groups. Even dividing individuals into two gender groups takes a binary approach to gender that's not especially useful.
Scaphoidfracture, Tiger, and others highlighted instructions for life in the new millennium that are especially relevant in today's fast-paced and complex world. These instructions provide a hopeful counterbalance to critical views of organization and organizing.
SJSUgirl suggested that instant messaging with people you don't know isn't real. Yet doesn't all communication influence us in some way? That makes mediated communication quite real.
Shona commented on the idea of thinking together in our individualistic society. How might we overcome our fear of interacting with others to think together? This is particularly difficult in the academic setting when students (and professors) are typically evaluated individually.
San Jose Org Commer wrote twice about democracy and makes a key point: "The most powerful members of the organization establish the criteria." Workplace democracy does equal egalitarianism. Even (or especially) in academe, where there's much emphasis on democratic processes, a clear (although often implicit) hierarchy exists based on an individual's rank in the university or college and the profession.
Kaeli blogged about sexual harassment in the workplace, saying, "Now that I know more about harassment, I can keep my eye out for it and not let it happen to me, and help any friends who may be in a hostile workplace." Sexual harassment often is difficult to combat due to power issues (the more powerful harassing the less powerful) and those who are targeting feeling that they're someone to blame or even feeling shame.
Shitentenemusu and others talked about Deetz's notions of workplace democracy and enlarging the definition of organizational stakeholders. Shitentenemusu provides an astute observation: "at first glance what seem to be quite simple steps to follow, they are actually fairly difficult actions to follow up on."
Longevity provided a nice link between the web lecture on dialogic democracy and the discussion of dialogue in Chapter 2 of the text with the emphasis on "a balance between expressing ourselves and understanding the perspectives that others bring to an issue." B Strong noted that the importance of dialogue extends to our everyday lives as we interact with people from a wide range of backgrounds.
KFinneran's discussion of the pervasive communication environment reminds us of how accustomed we are to mediated communication, and our sometimes out of proportion reaction when the technology fails.
JennB156 blogged about consumption and our drive to buy, buy, buy. Our intensely mediated world has only increased the pressure to consume.
Another week of excellent and insightful entries! I'm sorry I won't get to comment on them all. Keep up the great blogging!
-Prof. Cyborg
No comments:
Post a Comment