Communicating Bad News Tactfully and Effectively

December 17, 2015

Delivering Bad News Tactfully and Effectively

I believe at some point in all of our lives we will have to deliver some type of bad news tactfully and effectively on the job, even if we are not a big boss. In June of 2005 to October of 2009, I was actually a Manager for a local Best Buy store and had to deliver bad news to people a few times.

One of my employees, who was with the company for two years, is not performing as well or at a substandard level that I expect. I am receiving numerous complaints from customers on her attitude. Coworkers are not happy with her because she is very confrontational when spoken to by other employees and even at times with customers. After numerous complaints, I knew I had to do something about it. We will say that her name is Noel. Noel is 25 years old.

I am going to anticipate Noel to be very defensive and have somewhat of an attitude with me when I tell her of the complaints. I am first going to set up a private meeting with her in my office and I am also going to have one of my assistants in the room as a witness and backup if needed. It is always good to have a second person there for conversations like this so that you have someone to back up how things went down and what was said otherwise, it could be your word against hers.

Is Social Milieu Changing Cultural Behavior?

 June 3, 2015

 Celebrations and Rituals of other Cultures

When a member of society undergoes a major important change in life, a rite of passage in all cultures is created and followed in the form of ceremonies such as christenings, puberty, rituals, marriages, funerals, and celebrations. Certain practices all help cultural anthropologists to become so familiar with diversity by seeing and studying which ways people of all cultures behave (Miner, 1956), and treat these important life changes. Cultural anthropologists believe that we are shaped by our culture and subcultures.  Today, due to a constant changing milieu, a rite of passage for Americans with a day off from work to witness it, yet the Presidential inauguration comes and goes giving Americans yet another opportunity not to care or even make time to witness it, whereas the Japanese culture for human life has significant rituals that they keep practicing today, even in a rapidly changing milieu.

The Importance of Intercultural Communication

Cultural Communication

With more and more Organizations handling their business globally you are dealing with people from all over the world and good communication techniques are critical in fostering your success in business and in your career. Even in my daycare business, I am dealing with all types of races, religions, and cultures and this has opened my eyes to new and creative ways to communicate.

This can be especially true from the Linguistic relativity view of the Sapir-Whorf hypotheses. This hypotheses theorizes that people from different language communities perceive the world differently (Trenholm, 2011), therefore each situation that you are faced with during communication is a learning tool and I want to make sure that each culture is receiving my messages and understands what is being said without it being taking the wrong way or not being able to understand.

Learning about other cultures is key and will enhance how your interaction will go because the understanding of their views, celebrations, holidays, religions, and customs are completely different than mine (Hahn, 2005).

Four Types of Media Technology Past to Present

  

Four Types of Media Technology Past and Present

Media technology has changed so much just in two decades. Newspapers, television, and radio were the dominant ways to get the news that we crave so much. Times have changed and keep changing  with the use of social media, cable TV, smart televisions, and smart phones, that getting the news and reading magazines is right at our finger tips at all times of the day.

Categories and Functions of Sound for the Movie Sleepless in Seattle/ October 9, 2014

Catagories and Functions of Sound for the Movie Sleepless in Seattle

Peggy Hughes

October 9, 2014

Film: Sleepless in Seattle

Release Date: June 25, 1993

Directed by: Nora Ephron

Genre: Romantic Comedy/Drama Film

Starring: Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L4Ll-xXjjXc (Click to view Link)

The term Mise en scene also refers to the role of actors in a film, their physical appearance and positioning as well as movements within a frame. Audiences get their initial feeling about a character and what might happen by where they are, how they are dressed, what they look like, and how they speak in character. Colors also draw an audience’s attention and help set an overall mood. (Goodykoontz & Jacobs, 2014).

Did you know that in general research has shown that emotional judgments suggests that individuals are more attuned to those film characters perceived to be similar to oneself than as different? (Roberts & Levenson, 2006).  This particular study examined responses of 168 United States born college student between the ages of 18 and 30 years old and of all different types and races. They were made to watch 12 film clips and evaluated through emotional response, autonomic and somatic nervous system physiology and facial behavior were monitored continuously during the films viewing. Reports and self-reports of subjective emotional experience were collected after each film.

Interview with Gladys Hughes: Life as a Light Skinned African American Growing up during Segregation Times/ March 21, 2015/ Advanced Communications in Society

Interview with Gladys Hughes

            Intercultural communication has come such a long way from sixty years ago to today. This type of communication generally refers to interaction among people of diverse cultures in the United States today (Jandt, 2013). This interview was done with Gladys Hughes who is of African American decent and also is half black foot Indian and states she was raised strictly as a lighter skinned African American. She often questioned why her Blackfoot Indian heritage was never spoke about.  Her date of birth is January 8, 1933. She is currently 82 years young. She became my mother in law two years on July 9, 2012 when I married her son. She was raised by both her parents with her mother being a stay at home mom and her father worked on the railroad. He was also the Methodist Minister for their community. Gladys Hughes belongs to a different subgroup from me considering her cultural experiences are very different from my own, since I am much younger than her and also of Caucasian decent. Gladys had so many interesting experiences to tell about growing up and communicating in Hamlet North Carolina being a light skinned African American during segregation and integration times in her life and how different things are today.   

Expressing Your Business Identity with Facebook (Using Voice over) November, 2015

A Proposal for a Help Hotline at Ashford University, Technical Writing, April 29, 2015

  

 April 29, 2015

  

Dear Ashford University Administration:

Introduction

Thank you for giving me the opportunity for you to assess the need of a 24 hour help hotline for on line Ashford University students. The knowledge and skills that are required to succeed in an on line environment come in many forms, and with Ashford Administration on board with providing better screening for hiring teachers, and a hot line that will give students 24 hours a day, 7 days a week help with instruction, general questions about a class, you will see more successful students, better retention percentages and over all better graduation rates.

Ethical Behavior in Persuasion, Communications July 26, 2014

Ethical Behavior in Persuasion

By the late 1960’s Ostrum (1968), counted some 34 different persuasion theories of which two I am writing about in this paper. I am going to write about The Theory of Reasoned Action and the Mere Exposure Theory and how or if these persuasive theories can be done ethically and the impact ethics has on persuasion in certain environments. Ethical behavior in persuasion allows us to communicate properly, honestly, and respectfully. Ethical persuasive behaviors are important because it allows for communication to take place in a humane manner, and its significance is marked by the evolution of a communication process and theories involved that has been practiced and studied for centuries. (Seiter & Gass, 2004). The question is, Can it always be done ethically?  What drives ethical persuasive behaviors varies per each individual person according to their motivation and other modern day variables that can impact judgments.

Merry Almost Christmas Everyone!!! (Creative Communication with Powtoon)