Team-Based Organization (Chapter 8)

The author speaks on the team approach as encouraging formal communication and view all employees as capable of making decisions. Instead of separating the managers and writing off the workers as non-thinkers. When you empower a worker with the ability of making their own decision, rather than dictating to them, you build up their sense of belonging in the company. Everyone wants to have a sense of belonging and workers get this sense when they are working with teams.

Gender Differences at Work. Chapter 7

The two most important statements in this section are: Men seek status by engaging in report talk. Women use conversation to build relationships using rapport talk. Women and men do have two different ways of communicating. Most of this is because of the way we are socialized. Unfortunately, the workplace and other institutions measure us by the way men communicate rather than women. This is one of the many reasons men tend to be promoted before women. As women I feel that we need to adapt more of the form of communication of men, but still be true to ourselves.

Web lecture: Virtual or Real Communication

I think that most people put both Virtual and Real communication in the same category. Proffessor Coopman asks if this class is real even though we meet online. This class is still real. But, I personally have had a real hard time connecting with the material. Eventhough, it is very interesting to learn about all of these topics. It doesn't feel like I'm interacting with anyone. As a result I probably will not be taking any online courses in the near future.

Technology is important for the development of a country. But, what kind of society will we have if people will continue to communicate through myspace messages, text messages or e-mail instead of in real life.

Web Lecture- Pervasive Communication Environment

One of the key points made in the web lecture on Pervasive Communication Environment is that "time and place no longer constrain a group's activities." This is particularly important to me, because of the activism that I take part in. For example, we have organized rallies across the state with one meeting, and many e-mails, text messages, phone calls. Another example of this is President Obama's campaign; he used all of these mediums to gain supporters and volunteers for his campaign. For the first time it was as easy as checking e-mail to advocate for a particular candidate.

It is also important to note that we need be careful not to lose the physical interaction part of communication. In my opinion, this is very important and imperative to developing a healthy sensitive society.

Fragmentation (Lecture)

When I read the definition of Fragmentation it made me think of how politicians tend to have this practice. In fragmentation meanings change depending on the circumstances or issues at hand. This is also possible withing an organization. It can work in a positive or negative manner. I keep thinking of a time when I volunteered for a political campaign ; and I think this would be the kind of setting where people would have to practice the fragmentation ideals. You have to be flexible with what is going on in the campaign and many times there are several issues you have to look at before you can make a decision, but these are all factors.

Organizational Assimilation (Chapter 5)

The concept of organizational assimilation is one that most of us have encountered. As the reading describes it it is when we begin a new job and we are welcomed with open arms by the CEO or top management and they speak on how they have an open door policy. Then you seem to never be able to get hold of them or when you do they are not helpful. But, then you reach a level of familiarity with the different dynamics of the company and you feel much more at ease.
In my experience it depends on a person's personality as well. For example, I hired two new interns at around the same time and one of them is much more outgoing than the other. She had an easier time adapting to the culture of the organiztion than the other one. They both do outstanding work, but I can tell that one of them feels much more confortable than the other one at the office.

Manufactured Consent (Chapter 6)

Manufactured Consent is when an employee willingly accepts and enforces the legitimate power of the organization, society and capitalism. The reading speaks of how when this power is not recognized its power just expands. I believe that this conditioning of workforce happens before an employee becomes a part of an organization. This process begins occurring at our public educational institutions. Young children and youth are conditioned to not question authority and follow directions. In some cases it is more noticeable than others, but I'm certain that we can all think of an instance when we knew the right answer but we were afraid of saying it because we didn't want to make our superior's look bad.