Chapter 11: Integrity, mindfulness, and communication

The text in a way instructed students to be mindful about the knowledge gained from learning communication studies...the "study of organizational communication theory can be a worthwhile pursuit...to become a university professor"...and those who choose non-academic working lives will find org comm theoretical study mainly as "equipment for living." I find this inspirational actually, and I look forward to making org comm of value by translating it from theory to practice. Immediately, I can identify with the concept of integrity and how I have put this concept to practice. Integrity is "a mindful state of acting purposefully to fulfill the promises and commitments you make to others." It is simple for keeping your words, as mentioned elsewhere in the text. I find from my work experiences that many people make promises that they do not keep. It is especially a "no,no" when it comes to make promises to a customer. If you say you are going to call back, you should.

Chapter 10: Business Strategies

There is an introductory (if not comprehensive) understanding of business strategies that one can take from this chapter. This is what I imagine a MBA student would be learning. I don't know much about Organization & Management at this point, but I would suppose that students there must learn much about organizational communication. As we find in the text, there are many examples of an Org Comm expert being hired as a consultant. I especially like "applying what you've learned" in the next chapter where we would need to act as consultant to four examples (i.e. Miss Elizabeth). I like the discussion of the familiar companies because it shows how consumer and/or patient/client/indirect relation to a consumer are being marketed to or targeted in a specific way, depending on the product. (1) product- or service-driven companies, (2) market-driven companies (Johnson & Johnson sells its products to doctors), (3) production-capacity-driven companies (airlines), (4) technology-driven companies (Apple Computer), (5) sales-marketing-driven companies (Mary Kay), and (6) Distribution-driven companies (Wal-Mart and UPS).

"A company may communicate a strategy such as 'environmentally friendly' or 'superior customer service,' but if customers and employees do not see evidence of the company's claim, the strategy will be unconvincing and ineffective." Strategic alignment...refers to the process of modifying organizational systems and structures to support the competitive strategy. In my encounters, some work places do not have a business/competitive strategy. In one encounter, TQM (total quality management) was taking place with a one person committee; this person does not allow sufficient information and opportunities for dialogue. I would predict unsuccessful strategic alignment and interdepartmental upheaval. I find it curious when someone, who is not even a manager, pretends to be or acts like a manager of everyone.

Web Lec 5: Democracy - 12 Angry Men

There are 5 types of democracy. Demokratia is the root and Greek term meaning common people (demos) and strength, power and rule (kratia). Procedural democracy is the procedures, rules, and requirements essential for democracy. When candidates compete for various governing positions, this is competitive democracy. Actively particpating in the governing process is participatory democracy. When people work together to reach an outcome that all can support, this is called deliberative democracy. Dialogic democracy seems to be the most idealistic and reflective of human nature tendency. It involves collaboration, inquiry, participation, and dialogue. It features a balance between self-expression and listening to other. Dialogic democracy has strengths in recognizing the importances of emotions and encourages cooperative learning. The disadvantage is that this form of democracy is time-consuming and requires genuine commitment to the process.

From work and personal experiences, these five types of democracy are to me actually the escalating process of how democracy works. It's not just one type, but all five types are at times utilized. For example, let's say family members are trying to decide how they should spend christmas break. The procedures and rules are laid out (how much money to spend, and time off etc. -procedural). Then it becomes competitive in terms of who will be the official person to make the decision (mom or dad - competitive). Everyone participates in the decision process, but there is unequal distribution of power (older siblings have more to say than younger siblings - participatory). "Let's be reasonable and impartial now...let's discuss and work together to come up with a trip that everyone will enjoy"...deliberative. Emotion then runs high, young siblings are crying...so we collaborate, listen to each other...cooperate and compromise with a trip that has a mixture of activities that everyone will enjoy...dialogic democracy. This is time consuming but provides the ideal balance. I feel that in the movie "12 Angry Men" that the jurors had to work through these 5 types of democracy to finally make the emotional comeback and finally used dialogic democracy.

Chapter 9: That's a Leader!

Effective leadership habits are covered in the text, and these include habits of mind (patterned ways of thinking that define issue approach and resolution), of character (ways of being in the world), and of authentic communicative performance (relating to others in a way that reflects ones own deeply held values and beliefs). I have personal reflections for the habits of mind and character concepts.

For habits of mind, "leaders draw on their own fundamental values and capabilities--operating in a frame of mind that is true to them yet, paradoxically, not their normal state of being..." I was told from an upper-manager before that to be uncomfortable is when progress and result can be achieved. I have upheld this philosophy since. Also, I am aware that I need to be true to myself because I don't want to lose my fundamental being in the process! For habits of character, I was enlightened to learn about Level 5 leaders (aka "Executives," per Collins). This was the only level where he found "that rarest of human combinations: personal humility alongside professional will." Modesty is key for me when looking for a leader I would want to work for. Two executives I admired from work before were modest and spoke in a very modest and yet inspirational and powerful way. They were the founders of the company, and I was really proud to work for them and to follow their company's ten principles.

Chapter 8: Teamwork and Work Team

It is interesting to learn that teamwork is a fairly new concept introduced in the United States in 1898. This would have been 110 years ago. According to the textbook, most American employees now work in some form of team-based organization. In addition to individual responsibilities, employees are members of a working group, committee, or cohort. I appreciate the concept of work team where a group of employees is responsible for the entire process ranging from training, maintenance, to hiring and making compensation decisions. To be successful it requires supervisor overseeing. My relation to this concept is of supervising an operation with 8 operators (who we could consider a work team). It is true that supervisors would need to (1) faciliate to keep group on track (looking at production line for backlog and yet not rush operators), (2) be hard on rules, agendas, goals, and accountability (at same time allow operator to package the products the way that it is efficient for them), and lastly (3) communicate extensively to keep team inform of work of other teams (I made sure that I let the operators know what Customer Service Dept are expecting to ship out that day). My work experience is not exactly a work team, but I can see how the principle of good supervision could be applied to a work team.

Chapter 7: Gender Equitable Policies

Buzzanell and Liu suggested that organizations develop policies that are more gender equitable including: (1) establishing HR advocate to assist in leave negotiation, (2) making parental leave policies unambiguous, (3) rewarding and promoting competent women while they are pregnant or on maternity leave, and (4) providing flexible work schedules and rewarding employees for efficiency. Buzzanell and Liu studied several women during their maternity leaves. I have also heard first hand from several women (in terms of suggestion #1). One woman (Person A) had an HR friend, so she learned how to maximize her leave, using accrued vacation time, maternity leave, and accrued sick time. Another woman (Person B) was a full-time employee but did not have vacation time and sick time benefit. I recall it might have been 45 days maternity leave for Person B, so she took 2 weeks before and 4 weeks after giving birth as leave time. This 6 weeks for Person B is drastically different from Person A who had 4 months or 16 weeks. This is not the perfect example (due to the fact that Person B did not have vacation and sick benefit) but it does demonstrate that without an HR advocate, someone might think she is limited to 45 days when she could negotiate to use vacation and sick time and take the 4 months that would give her more bonding time. Without an HR advocate, the immediate supervisor might also oppose to a 4 months leave.

Chapter 7: A Feminist Education

I feel empowered since learning so much more about feminism, women's communication style, and leadership. These three concepts are fluid and flow very well together for me. As explained in the book, feminist research takes on a variety of forms.
Liberal feminists are interested in changing policies to level out the playing field for women. Radical feminists are more interested in dismantling the existing organizations and substituting them with a feminist-inspired structure without hierarchy.

Feminists have since adopted different approaches to explore the identity. Early research did not treat women's communication style as a utility. Women's ways of knowing, being, and leading may even be considered superior. Leadership is at the center of the organization according to this perspective. I would almost want to speculate that corporations are becoming more motherly, nurturing, and softer because they try to integrate family-like activities such as afternoon team-outings to the bowling alley. Leaders must share responsibility, develop and invest in others, and build and maintain a network of relationships. This could be analogous to a mother who divides the house chores to each family member, nurtures the kids, and maintains a loving relationship with those in the household. I feel empowered with these concepts because they demonstrate that a different perspective on something that already exists could mean a world of change (i.e. deficit vs. utility re: comm. style). Therefore, I will definitely aim for the more positive outlook on my communication style in the work and home sphere.