Week 5: Procedural Democracy

I had no idea that there was any type of procedural democracy, it's interesting to see that it focuses on the different foundations of democracy. As mentioned in the reading, "procedural democracy focuses on the foundations of democracy-voting, a free press, free speech, and freedom of assembly (web lecture-Democracy & Dialogue). I may be headed another direction here, but this reminded me of a paper that I worked on some time ago. My research paper was focused on freedom of speech, and I focused it on rap music. Rap music has had it's dilemmas in the past because of it's explicit lyrics. There were many people, including women, who believe that the lyrics in the music was offensive. In many occasions the artist who made these records, for example Ice T, 2 Live Crew, who got lashed by the media. In there defence, they claimed that this was their music, they also claimed that it was their right to freedom of speech. I do believe that rap music has very explicit lyrics, and in many occasions I have felt offended by what is said about females, but I also think that these artist have the right to freedom of speech. They are artist, and in many occasions they base their music on true events that they have been through in life. The only thing that I mentioned in this is if somebody does not like what they are listening to, then they should turn it off.

Chapter 11: Phatic Communication

I never realized that this type of communication existed (I did not realize that it actually had a name to it). As the authors explain, "phatic communication is a form of small talk that helps us appear social and gives the impression that we are interested in others " (pg. 344). This is also known as "mindless exchange" (pg.344). This kind of exchange happens to me at the office where I work. The office is set-up as follows: my work area (cubicle) is in the middle, and the "more important" people, their offices surround my working area (it's shaped like a rectangle). I work around the quality improvement coordinator, the administrator, my boss, etc. With my boss, phatic communication does not occur, but with everyone else it does. We pass each other by and say "Hi, how are you?" "Good, thank you." It really never gets passed that stage, but hopefully I will get to know them a little bit more. For example, this is the kind of dialogue that I would have with the office secretary, but we have gotten to know each other a bit more. Now when we speak to each other, it goes passed the phatic communication.

Chapter 10: Training and Development

Training and development as stated in the reading, "training and development-formal and informal efforts to develop employee skill-has always been a function of management" (pg. 322). I'm assuming that most people when they start a new job go through training and development. In the job I have now required that I learn a bit of both. I work at a alcohol and drug prevention program, and most of the training that I had, included my co-workers and my participation. What we do at my job is we go to different sites (high schools, juvenile hall, group homes), and we do a program with the youth that teaches them how to learn about communicating with others, how to look for jobs, how to work as a team, etc. My two sites that I run are at the juvenile hall and at an all girls group home. In order for me to learn how to run the program, my supervisors set-up a mini training session for us. We did this as a team, and I think this is what helped me out a lot. As for the training, if I ever need to do anything on the computer (I am not a computer wiz), I usually get help from one of my co-workers. The development part of my job requires the actual interaction that I have with the youth. You either make a connection with the youth or you don't. I have been very lucky with both my sites, the youth trust in me and come to me when they have questions.

Chapter 9: Authentic Communication

I think that authentic communication is something that people either have or don't have it. Many leaders have the natural drive to have this kind of communication, and for those people who are around leaders like this, is something great. Just as mentioned in the reading, " authentic communication, in relating to others in a way that reflects their own deeply held values and beliefs" (pg. 284). I've had the experience to work in many different jobs, all had something positive and negative to offer. A couple of years back I worked in retail, and I had a horrible experience with the new manager. From the very first time he set foot in the store, he thought he was the best of the best. He walk around like he was sooo important, and made everyone feel inferior to him. Even the way he spoke made you want o say "You are so full of it." Luckily, this guy was fired because of some incident that happened at work, but then one of the supervisors became the manager. This guy was awesome, he talked to us like "normal" people, he would even help us work at the register when we needed the help, this guy would even eat lunch with us. We all identified with him one way or another, and best of all, everyone got along with him. It's great to work with people like this because it makes work so much more likable.

Week 4: Technology & Teams

Technology has definitely been a huge impact in the 21st century. As mentioned in the reading, "in less than a decade, cell phones have gone from a search-for-a-signal tech-toy for the wealthy to the most pervasive mobile computing platform on the planet." Its interesting to see that everywhere you look, everyone has cell phones. Even the kids who are still in middle school have cell phones. When I was in high school, I never had a cell phone. At that point in my life, my friends and I thought pagers was the "cool" thing to have (does anyone remember those things?). I do have to admit, that when I got my first cell phone, I felt so important. I remember thinking to myself "Wow, I can really call whoever I want right now." I also have to mention that, to me, my cell phone is a very important device because you never know when you are going to need it. My mom has mentioned to me before that she thought a cell phone bill was to much money, and that I shouldn't use it anymore. I explained to her that it's important to have a cell phone. For example, if your car ever brakes down, you can always call for help. This has happened to me before, and my mom changed her perception on things. Let's see what other new gadgets we will have in the futre.

Chapter 8: Cultural Diversity in Teams

When I reading this, I never realized that there were "phases in the negotiation process"(pg.250). One that I found to be interesting was Developing Relationships with Others. When I began to work at my job that I have now, I began to work in October of 07, I had to get to know all of my co-workers. One other girl and I were the newest people on the team, the two other student workers already knew each other. When I first began working for the Drug and Alcohol Prevention Program for the County of Santa Cruz, it was something completely new to me. The first couple of weeks we had meetings every Friday where we would all do activities together, which helped us get to know each other better. Just as it mentions in the reading, "for the members of a newly formed intercultural team to develop productive work relationships, they need to be given sufficient time to explore long-term goals..." (pg.250). At my job, we all work as a team, and it does help to "develop productive work relationships." It helps me a lot to feel part of a team because I know that if I ever need help with anything, work related , I have my co-workers to help me out.

Chapter 7: Gender Differences at Work

This was completely new to me, I never really new that there was gender differences at work. I have always heard and read about how men and women communicate in interpersonal relationships, but nothing like this. As Deborah Tannen (1994) explains, "men seek status by engaging in report talk...women use conversations to build relationships using rapport talk" (pg. 204). In every job that I've had, except for the one that I have at this moment, I have always worked with women only. My current job that I have now, I only work with one male, he's one of my supervisors. I think this whole concept is interesting because the authors make such a distinguishment between male employees and women employees. For some reason, I get the impression that the authors make the women employees sound "weak, "(I may be wrong), but they when they describe male employees they describe them as not so "needy." Another thing that I thought was interesting was what Linda Babcock and Sara Lashever had to say, they "argue that women need to follow the assertive man's lead and ask for what they deserve." I'm not really understanding what they mean by this.

Chapter 7: Organizing Differences in Organizations

In this section, Alvesson and Wilmott (pg. 201) "describe several specific practices that organizations use to "make" members identities." Reading through each of these was very interesting because I had something that I was able to relate to in at least a couple of them. One that I found interesting was "Providing a Specific Vocabulary of Motives," something about the word "ideal," at least to me, sounds like perfection. I understand that "organizations often explicitly describe the motivations that describe their ideal employees,"(pg.201) I think that's a great idea, but it's also good to reward employees. Alvesson and Wilmott gave a great example of an elementary school teacher, and they also mention a "successful" teacher. I agree that elementary school teachers should definitely be in it just for the children, but I didn't agree so much where it mentions that a "successful teacher is one who does not request a higher salary." I believe that elementary school teachers who really love there job, and who are "in it for the kids," are the ones who deserve to ask for a higher salary. I mean, why shouldn't they? I understand that there are many elemenatary school teachers who are maybe not that "great" at what they do, and that's a whole diferent topic. I just think that anyone who works for a living, should at one point in their lives be able to ask for a pay increase.

Week 3: Domination

When I was reading the domination metaphor, and how it "turns our attention to how organizations use and exploit employees, damaging employees' health and intruding on their personal lives." I once did a research report in one of my classes based on the Bracero Program. The Bracero Program was something that began back in the 1940's in the U.S, employees in the U.S contracted Mexican workers to work in the fields, railroads, etc. It was an agreement between the U.S and Mexico that would let Mexican workers come legal to the U.S while men were off fighting the war. The employers that hired Mexican workers were dominating, they told them what to do and when to do it, many times these men worked for long hours out in the sun that they would get dehydrated, and many would get sick and die. After some time many of these men began to fight back and demanded justice. All this goes to show that the domination way to run a business does not work. People need to be treated with respect, especially if they are helping run a business, because without them everything would fall apart.

Week 3: Metaphors

I think its interesting how in my Comm 100W class we were discussing this today, except the topic was the many ways that people use cliches. I always thought that metaphors and cliches were the same thing, but I understand that I might be wrong. One concept that really caught my attention was where it mentions "if you view love as a journey, then you'll expect romantic and other close relationships to progress and change over time." This is exactly what I believe, I think the relationship that one has, either romantic or a friendship relationship, is a journey. For example, I have been together with my partner since we were both in high school, we are high school sweet hearts. Our relationship has been through some ups and downs, but we have both worked at making our romantic relationship even better. I consider this a journey because one has to go through changes when involved in a romantic relationship. Axley (1984) mentions "that when we apply the conduit metaphor to organizational communication, we assume that meanings can be transferred from speakers/writers to listeners/readers in words." In result, "effective communication are messages that are clearly transmitted and understood." This has also been effective in my friendships with close friends, effective communication is necessary in all relationships.

Chapter: 6 The Centrality of Power

Robert French and Bertram Raven describe five types of social power, one that I was really able to relate to was reward power. Reward power, as mentioned in the reading, "person A has reward power over person B when A can give some formal or informal reward..." I worked at a pre-school for five years, and there we would implimite the reward power system. When the children were finishing there lunch, we would let them know that they had to eat a bite of everything on there plate in order to get their dessert. Many of the children were horrible eaters, especially when it came to eating their vegetables. I would always let them know that if they wanted a slice of watermelon (or any fruit that we had that day), they needed to take a a bite of everything on there plate, even if it was a small bite. I think that it's really interesting how organizational communication works in social power. While working at the pre-school, I never realized that this would be considered reward power. It's interesting to see that organizational communication is around in the everyday tasks that we do.

Chapter 5: Cultural Elements

As I was reading, I thought it was interesting to see that in organizational communication there is also a culture that emerges from all of this. In the reading it mentions, "these various symbolic expressions combine to create a "unique sense of place" that defines an organization's culture." Each cultural element was very interesting because everyone can relate to them one way or another. The one that I was able to relate to was artifacts. About three years ago I worked at a cosmetic department at Macy's, and the employees had to follow a certain dress code. The dress code was to wear all black, black shoes, black pants, black shirt, whatever one wore to work, had to be black. I did not mind at all because I liked to wear black, but I think it was interesting how we had to follow this dress code. I liked how this dress code set us apart from everyone else, because I think it really made all the employees look very professional. Artifacts was also important at this job because the work area also had a specific decor, and spatial arrangement. The layout of the make-up always had to be set-up a certain way, lipsticks, eye shadows, make-up brushes all had a specific area in which they had to be in.

Chapter 4: Partial Inclusion

Weick uses another theory called partial inclusion. Weick uses this to explain "why certain strategies for motivating employees are ineffective." This theory goes on to explain that "employees are only partially included in the workplace; that is, at work we see some but not all of their behaviors." This theory is very interesting because I have seen this in the places of employment where I have been. I currently work for the County of Santa Cruz for a Drug and Alcohol Program, one of my supervisors is very calm and keeps to herself at work. Outside of work, she surfs, shes a single parent of two teenage boys, and she also has another job, which she occasionally does of the weekends. Many of these things I did not know about her until months after I began to work there. It's also interesting to me seeing the behavior of employees when they are not at work. A couple of months ago, my co-workers, my boss, and one of our supervisors, and I were part of this miniature golf tournament. Every of work (especially my boss and my supervisors), always seem so serious. That day everyone just let loose, everyone was having a great time outside of the office.

Chapter 4: Loose Coupling

Weick's concept of loosely couple systems has had a major impact on our understanding of organizations as communication systems." This goes on to say that in colleges and universities there is interaction that "occurs within departments but not across various fields of study." To me this is interesting because my major is Communication Studies and my minor is Mexican-American Studies, this are both very different departments. For all of us who are Communication majors, we know that there are many different pathways we can take in communications. This is the same with Mexican-American Studies, but I'm also learning a lot about the history about Mexican-Americans/Chicanos. The history about Mexican-Americans does not have much effect in the communications department. As mentioned, my major is Communication Studies with a minor in Mexican-American Studies, this are completely different departments, but I'm hoping to make some connection between these two.

Chapter 3: Scientific Management

"Scientific Management at the Gym," I thought this was an interesting title, especially when I began to read it. It mentions, "for many people, exercise is a therapeutic means of escaping the daily grind and a way to work out stress on the job and in life." That is exactly what I do, I like to go to the gym, listen to my i-pod and workout. To me, I feel a lot better when I sweat my stress away. As silly as this sounds, but for me it works. I think that it's interesting that the scientific management would be considered management at the gym. It's completely understandable, people are always trying to find new ways to make their schedules work, especially in this busy world. As mentioned, "many working families today adopt a scientific management approach in their efforts to give order to their busy lives." I find myself doing the same when it comes to school work and my job. I'm always writing important due dates on my calendar so that I don't forget.

Chapter 3: From Empire to Hierarchy

It's really interesting to me that since the eighteenth century organizations function "much like empires." As it is said in the reading "social control is effectively produced in part by the relationship between the location of industry and neighborhoods." This is something that I noticed when I was visiting my family in Mexico. I was visiting in a small town, and the people whose homes were closest to the factories, they had less material power and social status. It was something that I noticed, but I never paid much attention to it, not until I read this chapter in the book. Karl Marx demonstrated in the mid-nineteenth century the division of labor. Marx thought that "division of labor was essential to organizing corporations and societies along class lines." I worked at a day care for five years and I always felt like there was a division of labor when I was working there. Of course, it was not as structured as mentioned here, but there was the distinction of who did what type of work and when things needed to get done. There was my boss, who did not help much with the children, she would just tell my co-workers and me what to do. I always felt like that was some kind of division of labor.