Week 16 Question 3

In chapter 5 Diversity in Groups: The Strength of Different Perspectives, I feel the intercultural communication is not emphasis enough under the topic of language use. Language use is the first thing we notice about intercultural differences, however, language is not the only differences within intercultural context. There are things like use of time, space, general communication context aren’t discuss enough in this chapter. Sometimes different cultures can be people from different country or people with different religion. These are the factors are going to effect us greatly in an organization because we are interaction with people constantly. I feel like since it is a chapter about diversity, intercultural communication in the organizational world should be included and to be explain in depth. More importantly, United States is a multi-cultural country and it is hard to find an organization with only one dominant culture. To learn about intercultural communication is the first step for us to be intercultural competent.

Week 16 Question 2

For the outside group project, I feel it is useful to observe and apply the concepts we learn in the book. Sometimes when we read about these concepts we only have ideas, it is helpful to create a situation and apply these concepts to real life. I like this project because being an observer gives me a better focus on the group itself. I chose a teenager church group in Santa Clara and every meeting is about a topic in the Bible. The leader will teach these teenagers the topic of the day with his personal experience and throw in a lot anecdote. He has a very creative teaching style and care for his students as well. He is very close with the group and it is very obvious from their interaction. I feel the project is useful to me because not only being an observer gives me a chance to apply the things I learn in life also I feel I learn from the bible teaching as well.

Week 16 Question 1

CMC is any communication that “takes place through a variety of media and provides distributed group member with video, audio, and text-based messaging capabilities (Harris & Sherbolm 2008, p. 296). CMC doesn’t include human contact so basically it is less interpersonal. “CMC group members tend to focus more on the task and instrumental aspects of the process than on the personal and social aspects of the group. Thus they tend to be more content oriented and less social-emotional in their communication style than face-to-face groups are” (Harris & Sherbolm, 2008, p. 296). Since, some of the CMC doesn’t involve images of the personal u are communicating, sometimes it is less intimidating. It was undeniable that f2f communication contains more information than CMC communication such as nonverbal cues, facial expression, eye behaviors…etc. I feel like we still need that human aspect in the communication process, therefore, I would prefer to have a face-to-fact relationship before starting a CMC communication relationship.

Week 14 Question 3

The concept that interests me in chapter 12 is charismatic power. It was defined in the text book as “Charismatic or personal power resides in particular personalities to which others are attracted. It is elusive in that it is difficult to define, but we recognize it when we see it or feel it” (p. 241). I think this power gives people the extra edge. Whenever I go to a speaker’s event or presentation, I usually would remember the speaker the most and if he or she is a funny and personable person, it image would be with me for a long period of time. I remember I saw a video once with a psychologist talking about brain. The subject sounds boring but he is most interesting speaker I have never seen. I ended up learning a lot of useful information about brain and it is because this charismatic psychologist made the speech so much more interesting.

Week 14 Question 2

Normally I would force myself into the collaborative conflict resolution when it comes to conflict with family and closes friends. When I have conflict with my father, I would want him to understand my point of view and he usually very understanding therefore, it is worth the time and energy to communicate with him. I am very lucky that I can talk to my father and whenever we have conflict, we would identify the problems we are having and speak what we have in mind and come up with a solution that we both can agree on. When it comes to competitive conflict solution, I usually end up with destructive conflict rather than constructive. Whenever, I argue with my sister, I automatically shifted and become a difficult person and trying to “win” the argument because I am older. Needless to say, it is not the best solution for my sister and I. My sister is not appreciating this method of conflict resolution and I can see it is hurting our relationship. I think collaborative conflict resolution is more satisfying because at the end of the day we can solve our problem and not hurting our relationship.

Week 14 Question 1

A forum consists with “a public discussion in which the full audience participates, examining a topic or problem after a short presentation by the group” (p. 219). A panel is “a public format with group of four to eight experts discusses a problem or decision in front of an audience. This discussion often follows the problem-solving format but uses an informal, sometimes humorous, style of interaction to keep the audience’s attention and to effetely share information that may be technical in nature” (p. 220). However, a panel has no direct interaction between audience and panel of expert. A colloquium usually “open with short position or opinion statements by the experts and then shifts to a more interactive public discussion of the issues with audience participation, shifting back to comments by one or more of the experts, and returning again to audience comments, so that the discussion is carried on both in front of and with the participation of audience members” (p. 221). A symposium is “to present complex technical information to the audience about the problem. The speeches are well prepared, practiced, and polished presentations that are uninterrupted by the audience and presented by skilled public speakers” (p. 221). I would prefer the colloquium because I think the constant interaction between audience and speaker is very helpful. Feedbacks from the speaker is very direct and the shifting back and forth of comments would encourage audience to participate more because they would know they would get more feedback.

Week 13 Question 3

The concept that interested me in this chapter is openness, “maintaining openness-a supportive communication climate-during the problem solving process is vital for creativity” (p.194). I always like this concept because I think that is the key for more creativity. I also believe that openness is important in communication, especially group communication. I find it refreshing when I keep an open mind, how much I can be inspired. If we are closed-mind, I think its hard for us to breakthrough, and if we do not breakthrough, it even harder for us to think outside of the box and be creative. In this century, people are more competitive, and the quality employers looking for is not whether or not you can operate on Microsoft office or know how to do bookkeeping. They need an employee to have an open mind and generate new idea, be creative; this way employee can become a real asset for the company.