Various people throughout my educational pursuit have asked me, “What can you do with a degree in Communications?” My answer is, I can do many things but mostly I want to deliver messages in order to help others. I am a networker by nature and I want to use that skill in order to help initiate positive change. In order to capitalize on my innate persuasive talents, I feel I must strive to speak to people and not at people. Anyone can talk but a true communicator can extract information and talent from others and shed a positive light on an issue or a cause. I want to be that communicator.
The historical progress of communication has gone from face-to-face grunts, groans and body language, to cave paintings, to print media and now to social media whereby you can reach virtually anyone in the world. What has not changed are key points, first you must get the other party to hear your message, secondly the message must be received and interpreted and there must be a form of feedback and participation for the message to be successful. I remember my first State College Communication epiphany was realizing that to be a good communicator, you must be a good listener. Communication, particularly in the social media age is a continuous loop of realization that the sender of a message is simultaneously a receiver of message. Without this sender/receiver loop, a person is not communicating with another. When I think of communication, I look to Maslow’s hierarchy of Needs for answers. Abraham Maslow developed a model presenting human needs; starting with the most basic and advancing to those that motivate and foster personal development. The stages are biological and physical, Safety, Belonging and love, Esteem, and lastly Self-actualizat...
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...tions and 9) Interaction posture-otherwise known as the ability to respond to others in a descriptive, nonevaluative and nonjudgmental manner (Lustig & Koester, 2010).
Armed with the tools I obtained at State College, I am ready to go out into this complex and exciting world to be a vessel for social change and economic development. I will assist start-up companies as well as small companies that are struggling to enter social media promotion. As a former non-profit director and volunteer, I will extend my volunteer work to include cultural competencies and strategies to promote health, prosperity and cultural tolerance.
Works Cited
Miller, K. (2012). Organizational communication; approaches and processes. (Sixth Ed.). Boston
Lustig, M. & Koester, J. (2010). Intercultural competence: Interpersonal communication across cultures. (Sixth Ed.) Boston
Ting-Toomey, Stella., & Chung, Leeva C. (2012). Understanding Intercultural Communication. Oxford University Press. 43, 159-160.
Martin, Judith N., and Thomas K. Nakayama. Intercultural Communication in Contexts. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2013. Print.
Lustig, Myron W., and Jolene Koester. Intercultural Competence. 4th ed. San Francisco: Allyn and Bacon, 2003.
Martin, J. N., & Nakayama, T. K. (2013). Intercultural Communication in Contexts (6th ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill.
Communication involves the exchange of messages and is a process which all individuals participate in. Whether it is through spoken word, written word, non-verbal means or even silence, messages are constantly being exchanged between individuals or groups of people (Bach & Grant 2009). All behaviour has a message and communication is a process which individuals cannot avoid being involved with (Ellis et al 1995).
The initiation of intercultural effectiveness can be derived from behaviour impacted by its cultural differences and “cultural self-awareness includes recognition of one’s own cultural influences upon values, beliefs, and judgements, as well as the influences derived from the professional’s work culture” (Winkelman, 2005, p. 9)
The relationship between young people and nonprofits can be the start of a significant change in our community, and should be a reciprocal and powerful educational experience. An open-minded and encouraging flow of communication between organizations and community members can be the launchpad for the social and environmental change organizations talk about and try for every day. Together, we can make change – not just a semblance of idealism, but reality, as well.
Interpersonal Communication in an Intercultural Setting Cultural growth in the twenty-first century has heightened the emphasis on interpersonal communication in an intercultural setting. As our world grows, expands and becomes increasingly more interconnected by various technological advances, the need for effective interpersonal communication among differing cultures has become quite clear. Due to the advancement of technology in today's world, a world in which some businesspeople are involved in transactions with other businesspeople in faraway countries, the call for knowledge of intercultural communication within this setting has become a reality. Interpersonal communication is a form of communication that involves a small number of people who can interact exclusively with one another and who therefore have the ability to both adapt their messages specifically for those others and to obtain immediate interpretations from them (Lustig et al, 1993). Although interpersonal communication is usually thought of as being perf!
Intercultural competence is an important ability that seems almost necessary for every person to have. This means that people can properly communicate with other people that are from different cultures, values, customs, beliefs, and so on. This also means that there is a certain degree of knowledge, skill, and attitude towards different cultures and accepting them even if they are different from what you are used to. Having all of these important skills means that you are interculturally competent. The reason behind myself taking the class communication in the multicultural world is to gain a better understanding of all the cultures that are out there. Right now I feel like I need to learn more about these cultures and proper ways to communicate
7.Paul E. Rohrlich, "Why Do We Study Intercultural Communication?," in Culture, Communication and Conflict: Readings in Intercultural Relations, 2d ed., ed. Gary R. Weaver (Needham Heights, MA: Simon & Schuster Publishing, 1998), 84-87.
Intercultural communication is an evolving discipline that occurs between individuals from contrasting backgrounds. It include...
Communication skills and interactions are very important for every part of life. The way that people communicate can affect how well they do in school, in their careers and in their interactions with friends and family members. Some of the most important communication skills for success in our lives occurs without the use of words, and instead takes the form of an action. This can be the way in which someone stands, what their posture looks like, where they look, where they hold their arms and whether or not they make eye contact. This is because people tend to say things with their bodies that may otherwise go unnoticed, or may indicate that they mean something different from what they are saying. Non-verbal communication can be
To elaborate, by mentioning intercultural understanding, I meant that each cultural group has different ways to communicate. For example, Western culture encourages people to be up-front and straight-forward with their communication; contrastly, people who are influenced by Eastern culture might be less outspoken about their ideas and pay a lot of attention to nonverbal language of the people around them. Culture is something that if one have never encountered or exposed to it, he or she would never know. I hope that after this project, besides of the knowledge we gained from the research itselves, all four of us would improve even more on our intercultural and interpersonal communication skills. Because at the end of the day, the knowledge that one have learnt might be forgotten, but all of the skills that one have gained will stay for a very long time.
“In order to maintain a positive on-going relationship in any difficult face-to-face circumstance, an individual must learn the appropriate socialization rituals. Knowing these rituals and being able to play a proper front stage role is crucial in order for an individual to get along with others (Brignall and Valey, 2005).” With the relatively recent rise of social networking sites such as Twitter and Facebook, the means for maintaining relationships through these platforms rather than speech communication and face-to-face communication are becoming much more apparent and widespread throughout society. However, it is difficult to maintain these relationships without knowing proper social skills especially if these skills are not practiced or introduced to an individual. Although, “Communication frequency and self-disclosure play a role in computer-mediated communication and the formation of online friendships just as they do in face-to-face interactions and offline friendships (Subrahmanyam and Greenfield, 2008).” Yet, in our vast digital world that we reside in today, the ways in which we choose to communicate are becoming hindered by our participation in online communication. “We must have a philosophical understanding of the purpose and importance of communication to individuals and based upon this understanding, shape our attitude and value toward the communication process (McFarlane, 2010).” It is extremely crucial to understand communication’s importance and to not tuck the original beliefs and values regarding the tool underneath the rug, resorting and succumbing to communicating poorly in a fashion that mimics what we have now experienced via our devices. “As with any social change, we also believe there is a need to study and understand the impacts that change might have, regardless of whether such changes are viewed as positive or
The social media is one of the most common means of communication and pretty much of knowing anything and everything around the world these days, and it is growing very rapidly. It changes and affects each person in a different way, or ways. Some may argue that social media has a bad influence on children and young adults, while most people see that the social media has a more positive effect on them than a negative one. Social media is basically the new way of keeping in touch with everything and everyone, and of even strengthening bonds between each other. This essay will argue that social media has improved communication between people, and has also improved the means of communication between them.