Who Am I as a Communicator?

This week’s activities were very interesting and informative in total different ways than past weeks. For my evaluations I chose my cousin and my co-workers. Almost all of the descriptions I received in all three of our evaluations were word to word exactly the same but the scores were different. Perception is a cognitive process through which we interpret our experiences and come to our own unique understandings (O’Hair, & Wiemann, 2009). What amazes me is that how would the understanding of me as an individual got to be so similar in all three evaluations. May be it is due to the computer generated system but still scores I got were different and the descriptions were similar word to word. I understand this is an assignment but as a detail oriented person I am curious to know how did this happen and what is the meaning behind this. Often people can come to vastly different conclusions even in the exact same circumstances. This is because each individual organizes and adapts his or her perceptions into existing memory bases called schemas (O’Hair, & Wiemann, 2009).

Communication and Culture

Workplace Diversity

With the diversity of people from different cultures its eventually going to transition to the workplace, therein lies the challenge. There is a great need for honest and open communication in the workplace and the sooner employers provide systems to incorporate with workplace diversity, the better.  It’s a great idea to incorporate diversity and celebrate in monthly.  For example, the month of May, it will be great to celebrate Cinco de Mayo for our Mexican co-workers. It would be great to celebrate Hanukkah in December for our Jewish co-worker.

Communication Skills: Language, Nonverbal, Listening

Seinfeld

An excellent example of many communication behaviors is the long-running television sitcom, the infamous “show about nothing,” Seinfeld, which is widely considered to be one of the most succesful television series of all times. There are four main characters: Jerry Seinfeld, George Costanza, Elaine Benes, and Cosmo Kramer. Whether done purposefully by the writers of the show or by a simple incidental reflection of communication styles in our culture, Seinfeld exemplifies many of the communication behaviors we take for granted, all in a very humorous manner.

The four characters are very comedically written characters are true paragons of different communication styles, and as such, most of the problems that occur in the very loose plots of Seinfeld are due to breakdowns in communication. There can be no doubt that Seinfeld is a show that, quite simply, revolves around interpersonal communication.

Ethics in Communication

Oprah Winfrey demonstrates competent communication within a particular context.  She has a style that is so unique.  Oprah’s body language, facial expression and tone of voice are what make her a great communicator.  Oprah is my role model when it comes to communication with others.

Oprah refers to  communication as:

“Communication is like a dance. One person takes a step forward, the other takes one back. Even one misstep can land both on the floor in a tangle of confusion. That's the perfect moment to rise to your feet and get clear about the next move—to gently say to the other dancer, "What do you really want here?"