Thinking Made Easy

How do you enhance effective communication so as to be understood.

Effective Communication

Communication

There are many definitions and principles about communication. Communication is the process of exchanging information. The information is conveyed through words, tone of voice, and body language (). Also communication is the foundation for all team functioning. It requires the team members to cooperate and establish development by integrating the plans ( 2001).

Communication is an important set of tools that can resolve conflicts. The communication skills allow people to listen without judging or assuming, gain more information, and gain better understanding (2002). And communication can be in a form of using technologies that have evolved and continue to shape the nature of communication, work arrangements, and organizational culture. The human dynamic of the communication practices should remain on the central focus of the organization, not the technology used to facilitate it (2004).

The Barriers

Team members need to recognize and value the different competencies and approaches of different disciplines. The key to team success is to value the differences on the team and use such diversity to achieve the team’s common purpose. Effective teams seek to manage conflict to avoid the threat or the destruction it might bring for the whole organization (2001). Mature teams and the members can have the chance to select the most appropriate conflict-handling style for the situation. And a successful resolution of conflict requires the ability to communicate effectively, as well as to confront issues, not people, focusing for a better solution.

There are several barriers in communication that are also called the influencing factors that delay the continuous flow of communications. The non-assertive behavior, task pre-occupation, anger or frustration, personal bias, team diversity, or lack of confidence blocks the information. The inappropriate priorities, organizational structures, distractions, interruptions, or rank differences can distort or alter the right information ( ).

These barriers can make it difficult for one member to understand the finer points in the meanings, intentions, and reactions of other team. Some degree of cultural competency must be settled in place for the team to effectively communicate with each of the team members.

Team Behaviors

Different behaviors within an organization can affect the communication expertise of each individual. It is natural for the people to act in their own ways, but to create a delaying tactic such as conflicts is not a good indication to build a good organization of professionals ( 2001). The diversity and values within an organization is more prone to have poor communications (2002).

Conflict is a natural and unavoidable part of human affairs that can directly affects the relationship with each other. And it can be managed through the collaboration, coordination and appropriate accommodation. The whole team must meet the skills of each member and identify the root-cause of the conflict. The conflict resolution strategies are processes of communicating across differences ( 2002).

Decision-making and conflict resolution are also components of the communication process that must be acknowledges by teams. Establishing a decision is essential, and the process must also take resolution of conflicts because conflict is inevitable.

Enhancing Effective Communication

To be effective communicators, team members must be aware on different forms of communications, how to use them effectively, and the barriers to the communication process ().

Providing an effective communication can deliver the whole team in coordination and have an efficient mechanism for exchange of information. An ideal and disciplinary team can establish a good communication through the use of a system that can clearly states all the information and managed to use those information for the team’s strategy. 

Effective communication relies on listening, explaining perceptions, acknowledging, and discussing the differences and similarities in views. Part of the process is that everyone must recommend appropriate treatment, and negotiating agreement. A diverse workplace, language and cultural barriers can exist within the organization (2001).

The acknowledgement of information can be used as an informative way to understand the given communication. The team can provide different related information in accordance to the entire’s teams operation. It is better is there is someone who will take some time to jot down notes or repeat the information just to ensure that the communication is accurately received.

In an organization, most of the people use standard terminology in communicating, like the codes to make the long words shorter. An individual can ask for any clarification when it is needed thus, it’s for the good for the team. A communicator must ensure that the statements are direct and not flowery, and he should make sure that the information can be only passed on appropriate individuals that have the same concern for the mission or plans.

The team must communicate all the information needed by those individuals to the other teams that are also part of the same project, with that, the conflict or competition can be lessen and promotes cooperation and understanding. If it is possible, use non-verbal communication such as recording or written proposal to provide the needed information ().

An effective communication was supervised by communication agreements, trust building, and understanding the entire teams. So to speak, the formal communication agreements are also effective in establishing norms ( 2004). Strategies apply communication principles have a greater chance in developing the organizational environment. Business communication faculty would likely benefit from a more detailed discussion of the unique dynamics in confronting miscommunication and conflicts.

 

 

Business Communication

What is efficient communication and effective communication?

When a business man uses effective communication, he or she succeeds in reaching his or her goal for communicating. When a person is efficient in communicating, he or she gets out the message in the shortest amount of time and with the least amount of energy, effectiveness deal with job well-dong; efficiency deals with time. Further, efficient communication is just responding quickly and effective communication is more considered and actually reaches satisfactory conclusion, effective communication is usually efficient as well. efficient is time focused, effective is time/goal focused. Efficient communication is to talk to people so they can understand your meaning. Effective communication is to talk to people and help them learn and objectively hear what you are telling them. Effective communication is the way that it is given. Was the speech effective in getting results. Efficient is how much. Did the speech have efficient enough information in it. 

Specific example: If you have good friend who is considering opening a small business and you talk to her was your communication with her effective. Did it get her to change her mind, rethink her decision or reevaluate why she wanted to do business in the first place. if she rethought about it the you had an effective conversation with her.  When you had to call on business consultants and speak to them about certain change in the business community, did you give them efficient enough information in order to adapt to your ways.  Thus, effective and efficient communication is recognized as one of the very important, indeed essential, characteristics of wise practices. The best forms of communication are those that achieve interactivity, encourage feedback and maintain two way flow so that the message is influenced and informed by the views of the recipient, thus allowing dialogue to replace monologue as the essence of dialogue is that there are two targets and it is important that each target listen to the other.

      The communication to be communicated

      The objective of the message

      The communication medium to be used

      The relationship between innovative information and changed behaviour

Some differences

Effective communication clearly expresses the objective that it's intended to do. No matter how long the communication is but if it reaches the targeted audience clearly it is called effective communication. On the other hand, efficient communication is one which is short and crisp. Efficient communication is likely to be quick and to the point. But an efficient communication can also be effective. Therefore effective communication gives more importance to the conveying the point to the listeners whereas efficient communication gives importance to the amount of time taken in communication. Communication is transmission of data or information from one actor to another. One can attempt to communicate by sending message or piece of information, or by sharing thought with someone. Such an act satisfies the definition of ‘communication’, provided there is reasonable assurance that the message has been received.

Indeed, effective communication would be if someone warned you not to do something that he don't like, again, or he will hurt you that adheres to effective communication meanwhile, efficient communication would be for the person to just whack you along side the head and wave his finger in your face so you know your behavior was not acceptable. Aside, effective and efficient communication involve process of integrating multidirectional communication process involving dialogue, consultation and discussion is needed to attain awareness. The evaluative mechanisms and the means by which interactive messages could be informed and influenced by feedback to increase levels of understanding and ownership in the strategies to be employed. The need for effective communication was pervasive thread running throughout the workshop and its discussions, its absence lying at the root of many coastal conflicts, its inclusion seen as an essential input for successful coastal stewardship, wise practice agreements, local area management authorities and ethical codes of practice. One of the major gaps identified was the need for evaluation of communication activities in order to determine their effectiveness, the importance of language in communication  as language is important way of interacting with the people around.

 

Adaptive Antenna Array Receivers for Spread-Spectrum Signals in Non-Gaussian Noise

Adaptive Antenna Array Receivers for

Spread-Spectrum Signals in Non-Gaussian Noise 1

We consider the problem of recovering a spread-spectrum (SS) signal in

the presence of unknown highly correlated spread-spectrum interference

and impulsive noise. In terms of basic system and signal model considerations,

we assume availability of a narrowband adaptive antenna array that

experiences additive white Gaussian noise in time and across elements, as

well as impulsive disturbance with direction-of-arrival (DOA) that changes

at the chip rate. The space–time receiver design developed in this work

is characterized by the following attributes: (i) Adaptive interference suppression

is pursued in the joint space–time domain. (ii) An adaptive

parametric nonlinear front end offers effective suppression of impulsive

disturbances at low computational cost. (iii) An adaptive auxiliary-vector

linear filter postprocessor offers effective, low-complexity suppression of

SS interferers and leads to superior bit-error-rate (BER) performance under

rapid, short-data-record system adaptation. Numerical and simulation

comparisons with plain and outlier resistant space–time minimumvariance-

distortionless-response (MVDR) filtering procedures are included

to illustrate and support the theoretical developments. Ó 2001 Academic Press

Key Words: antenna arrays; auxiliary-vector filters; CDMA; impulsive

noise; interference suppression; space–time adaptive processing; spreadspectrum

communications

1. INTRODUCTION

Signal detection in the presence of impulsive channel noise has been

considered extensively in the past (for example [1–5] and references therein),

while detection of a direct-sequence spread-spectrum (DS-SS) signal under

similar channel conditions has been studied in [6, 7] andmore recently in [8–10].

Receiver proposals in [6] involve the use of either a conventional signature

matched filter or a majority-vote receiver (hard-limiter nonlinearity per chip

followed by signature matched filtering). In [6] it is reported that neither

one of the above proposals is universally effective against the combination of

SS interference and non-Gaussian impulsive noise. The work in [8] follows

the principles of minimax M-estimator designs [11] and derives a robust

version of the familiar decorrelating DS-SS detector under the assumption

that the signatures of all SS interferers are known. To handle unknown SS

interference, a minimax subspace approach that relies on eigendecomposition

of the impulsive-noise corrupted input autocorrelation matrix is also proposed

in [8]. In [9, 10] adaptive receivers are developed that are composed of a

vector of adaptive chip-based nonlinearities followed by an adaptive linear

tapweight filter. The structures proposed in [9, 10] tap the relative merits of

both nonlinear and linear signal processing and exhibit superior bit-error-rate

(BER) performance in the presence of combined impulsive and unknown SS

interference. In particular, the nonlinear receiver front end adapts itself to the

unknown prevailing impulsive noise environment, while the adaptive linear

tapweight filter that follows the nonlinearly processed chip samples combats

effectively the unknown SS interference. This article enhances our previous

work in [9, 10] in the following aspects. A narrowband adaptive antenna

array is employed for joint space–time (S–T) disturbance suppression under a

generalized multipath signal model that includes chip-rate random impulsive

disturbance with direction of arrival changing at the chip rate. The overall S–T

receiver design objective is shifted to superior BER performance under rapid

short-data-record adaptation. A Hampel-type nonlinear preprocessor [10] that

encompasses the preprocessors considered in [9] as special cases is considered.

2. SYSTEM MODEL

The baseband received signal at each antenna element m, m D 1; : : : ;M,

is viewed as the aggregate of the multipath received SS signal of interest

with signature code s0 of length L (if T is the symbol period and Tc is

the chip period then L D T=Tc), K 􀀀 1 multipath received DS-SS interferers

with unknown signatures sk , k D 1; : : : ;K 􀀀 1, and non-Gaussian (impulsive)

interference. For notational simplicity and without loss of generality, we choose

a chip-synchronous signal setup. We assume that the multipath spread is

of the order of a few chip intervals, P, and the low-pass channel can be

represented as a tapped delay line with P C 1 taps spaced at chip intervals Tc.

After conventional chip-matched filtering and sampling at the chip rate over a

multipath extended symbol interval of LCP chips, the LCP data samples from

the mth antenna element, m D 1; : : : ;M, are organized in the form of a vector rm

given by

rm D

KX􀀀1

kD0

XP

pD0

ck;p

p

Ek.bksk;pCb

􀀀

k s􀀀

k;p

Cb

C

k sC

k;p/ak;pTmUCn; mD 1; : : : ;M; (1)

where, with respect to the kth SS signal, Ek is the transmitted energy, bk,

b

􀀀

k , and b

C

k are the present, the previous, and the following transmitted

bit, respectively, and fck;pg are the coefficients of the frequency-selective

slowly fading channel modeled as independent zero-mean complex Gaussian

random variables that are assumed to remain constant over several symbol

intervals. sk;p represents the p-cyclic shift of the 0-padded by P version of

the signature of the kth SS signal sk , s􀀀

k;p is the 0-filled .L 􀀀 p/-left-shifted

version of sk;0, and sC

k;p is the 0-filled .L 􀀀 p/-right-shifted version of sk;0.

Finally, n represents additive complex non-Gaussian (impulsive) noise and

ak;p is the mth coordinate of the kth SS signal, pth path, array response

vector,

ak;pTmU D ej2.m􀀀1/sin k;pd=; mD 1; : : : ;M; (2)

where k;p identifies the angle of arrival of the pth path of the kth SS

signal,  is the carrier wavelength, and d is the element spacing (usually

d D =2).

To avoid in the sequel cumbersome 2-D data notation and filtering operations,

we decide at this point to “vectorize” the .L C P/ M space–time data matrix

Tr1 r2 : : : rMU by sequencing all matrix columns in the form of a single .LCP/Mlong

column vector:

r.LCP/M1 D VecfTr1 r2 : : : rMU.LCP/Mg: (3)

From now on, r denotes the joint space–time data in the C.LCP/M complex vector

domain.

For conceptual and notational simplicity we may rewrite the vectorized space–

time data equation as

r D

p

E0b0wR-MF C iC n; (4)

where wR-MF , Eb0

frb0g D VecfTPP

pD0 c0;ps0;pa0;pT1U : : :

PP

pD0 c0;ps0;pa0;pTMUUg

is the effective space–time signature of the SS signal of interest (signal-0) and

i identifies comprehensively both the Inter-Symbol and the SS interference

present in (1) (Eb0

f
g denotes statistical expectation with respect to b0). We

use the subscript R-MF in our effective S–T signature notation to make a

direct association with the RAKE Matched-Filter time-domain receiver that

is known to correlate the signature s0 with P C 1 size-L shifted windows

of the received signal (that correspond to the P C 1 paths of the channel),

appropriately weighted by the conjugated channel coefficients c0;p, p D 0; : : : ;P.

In our notation, the generalized S–T RAKE operation corresponds to linear

filtering of the form wH R-MFr, where H denotes the Hermitian operation.

3. RECEIVER ARCHITECTURE

For the space–time signal model of the previous section, the general receiver

structure under consideration is given in Fig. 1a. The receiver consists of a nonlinear

front-end in the form of a vector of parametrized nonlinearities g.r I
/:

C.LCP/M 􀀀! C.LCP/M, followed by linear filter post-processing by an .L C P/M

complex tap-weight filter w.

The nonlinear preprocessor considered in this present work employs Hampeltype

nonlinearities [10–12]

g.rI
1;
2;
3/ D Tg.rT1UI
1;
2;
3/; : : : ;g.rT.LC P/MUI
1;
2;
3/UT ; (5)

where T denotes the transpose operation and

g.xI
1;
2;
3/ ,

8>>>>>>><

>>>>>>>:

x; if jxj<
1; 0<
1

1

x

jxj ; if
1  jxj<
2; 0<
1 
2

3 􀀀 jxj

3 􀀀
2

1

x

jxj ; if
2  jxj 
3; 0<
1 
2 
3

0; otherwise:

(6)

In (6) x is a complex number and jxj denotes the magnitude of x. The linear region

of the Hampel nonlinearity has the effect of passing the observations undistorted.

The nonlinear regions either completely reject (remove) or “correct” the

observations. The latter is considered as an adjustment of the magnitude while

FIG. 1. (a) General space–time receiver structure. (b) Hampel-type nonlinearity.

148 Digital Signal Processing Vol. 11, No. 2, April 2001

maintaining the phase. The parameters
1,
2, and
3 are positive cut-off parameters

to be determined adaptively. The real-valued version of (6) is shown in

Fig. 1b. We note that if we choose 0<
1 D
2 D
3 the Hampel operation degenerates

to the familiar “puncher” and if
2!1the Hampel operation converges

to the “clipper.” Therefore, the Hampel preprocessor is a generalization of the

puncher and clipper preprocessors considered in [9].

The linear filter postprocessor may be chosen to be the space–time minimumvariance-

distortionless-response (MVDR) solution for the nonlinearly processed

data vectors. If, without loss of generality, we assume or we enforce that

g.wR-MF/ DwR-MF by selecting a sufficiently large
1 cut-off value in (6), then

wMVDR D kR􀀀1

g wR-MF; kD

wH R-MFR􀀀1

g wR-MF

􀀀1

; (7)

where, wR-MF is the S–T RAKE matched filter in (4) and Rg , Efg.r/g.r/Hg is

the S–T autocorrelation matrix of the Hampel processed data vectors. Adaptive

SS interference suppression with postprocessing of the form of (7) has an important

shortcoming that we attempt to improve upon in the following section. The

data estimated sample-matrix-inversion (SMI) “open-loop” adaptive implementation

of the S–T MVDR filter O wMVDR.N/ D TwHR-MF

OR

􀀀1

g .N/wR-MFU􀀀1 TOR

􀀀1

g .N/

wR-MFU, where OR

g.N/ D 1

N

PN

nD1 g.rn/g.rn/H is the sample average estimate

of the S–T autocorrelation matrix over a data record of N Hampel-processed

S–T input vectors, exhibits disappointing short data record performance.

Constrained-LMS/RLS “closed-loop” adaptive implementations of wMVDR behave

similarly [13]. Data records of size many times the space–time product

.L C P/M are necessary to approach satisfactorily the BER performance of the

ideal wMVDR filter in (7) with perfectly known R􀀀1

g . In the following section we

address the issue of superior small-sample-support performance in the context

of what we call auxiliary-vector (AV) S–T processing.

4. ALGORITHMIC DEVELOPMENTS

Given a normalized constraint vector x 2 C.LCP/M, any linear filter w 2

C.LCP/M constrained to be distortionless in the x-direction (i.e., wHx D 1) can

be decomposed as w D x C y, where y 2 C.LCP/M and yH x D 0. The S–T MVDR

filter presented in the previous section is equivalent to the linear filter wD xCy

where x D wkR-MFk , wR-MF=kwR-MFk is the normalized S–T RAKE matched

filter for the SS signal of interest and y is the orthogonal to x vector .yH x D 0/

that minimizes the variance at the output of w.

Historically, algorithmic designs that focus on the MVDR filter part y that

is orthogonal to the constraint vector direction x have been widely pursued in

the array processing literature and have been known as Applebaum/Howells

arrays [14, 15], beam-space partially adaptive processors [16], or generalized

sidelobe cancelers (GSC) [17]. Recent developments have been influenced by

principal component analysis reduced-rank processing principles [18, 19]. In

this context, the objective is to approximate the orthogonal data processing

Pados, Medley, and Batalama: Adaptive Antenna Arrays 149

branch y by an arbitrary “blocking matrix” operator B.LCP/M.LCP/M (that

satisfies BHx D 0) followed by processing by a weighted sum of s < .LCP/M􀀀1

“dominant” eigenvectors of the blocked-data autocorrelation matrix. While

the eigenvector weights are usually MS-optimum designed, there have been

many proposals for the choice of a “dominance” criterion. Representative

examples include the s maximum eigenvalue eigenvectors of the disturbanceonly

autocorrelation matrix [20], the s maximum eigenvalue eigenvectors of

the blocked data autocorrelation matrix [21, 22], or the s minimum output

variance eigenvectors [23] (termed maximum “cross-spectral metric” design

in [24]). Reduced-rank filtering based on filter decomposition using canonical

correlations is considered in [25] and modular designs through factorization of

the orthogonal projection operator are developed in [26]. A different approach

for the design of y from a different point of view is considered in [27–32]. The

general method is termed auxiliary-vector (AV) filtering. Instead of optimizing

the orthogonal component y as a whole, the problem is decomposed and

optimization is pursued with respect to a “line” direction, q, and a scalar,

, separately. Thus, the overall filter w is approximated by the filter wAV D

x C q. The concept of AV filtering pertains to a particular choice of a “line”

direction q and an MS-optimized scalar . In [27, 28] q is chosen as a

normalized vector on the line obtained by averaging projected line-subspaces

(vector spaces of dimension one) generated by the received data vectors, onto

the subspace orthogonal to the constraint-vector. In [29] a maximum crosscorrelation

criterion is proposed and q is selected as the vector that maximizes

the magnitude of the cross-correlation (MCC) between the output of the

constraint-vector .x/ processed data and the auxiliary-vector .q/ processed data.

In [30–32] the AV method is generalized to processing with multiple auxiliary

vectors that, together with the corresponding scalars, are obtained through

conditional statistical optimization. The overall filter w is now approximated by

w.d/

AV

D x CPd

iD1 iqi, where qi , i D 1; : : : ;d, are orthonormal to each other and

to the constraint-vector x. Unconditional vector optimization of the AV weights

1;2; : : : ;d requires an explicit or implicit matrix inversion operation and is

also investigated in [30–32]. In fact, the filter produced by unconditional vector

optimization of the AV weights can be shown theoretically to be identical to the

orthogonal multistage decomposition filter in [33]. In this paper, we maintain

our conditional statistical optimization approach and in addition we relax the

orthogonality condition among the auxiliary vectors; i.e., qi are restricted to be

orthogonal to the constraint direction x only. This way, an infinite sequence of

filters is produced .d!1/ as opposed to a finite sequence .d  .L C P/M 􀀀 1/

when orthogonality between the auxiliary vectors is imposed. The detailed steps

of the algorithm are presented below.

The AV filter sequence fw.d/

AV

g, d D 0; 1; 2; : : : ; is initialized at the S–T vector

direction of interest i.e., w.0/

AV ,wkR-MFk. Then

w.1/

AV

DwkR-MFk 􀀀1q1; (8)

FIG. 2. Space–time auxiliary-vector receiver structure with one auxiliary vector.

where 1 is a complex scalar and q1 is a vector in the .L C P/M complex space

that is orthonormal with respect to wkR-MFk:

qH1

wkR-MFk D0 and kq1kD1: (9)

The receiver architecture that incorporates post-filtering by w.1/

AV in (8) is shown

in Fig. 2. In contrast to direct minimum output variance optimization that leads

to the optimum wMVDR S–T filter in (7) [9], we choose an auxiliary vector q1

that satisfies the orthonormality constraint in (9) and maximizes the magnitude

of the cross-correlation between points (a) and (b) of the receiver structure in

Fig. 2 [29–32]. This way, q1 is the vector that can capture the most (in the

maximum MCC sense) of the disturbance present at the output of the S–T

RAKE matched filter:

q1 D argmax

q

E

n

wHk

R-MFkg.r/

􀀀

qH g.r/

o D argmax

q

wHkR-MFkRgq

; (10)

subject to qHwkR-MFk D 0 and qHq D 1:

The magnitude cross-correlation criterion function jwHk

R-MFkRgqj and the orthonormality

constraint are both phase invariant. Hence, to avoid unnecessary

ambiguities in our presentation and without loss of generality, we can identify

the unique auxiliary vector that is a solution to our constraint optimization

problem and makes wHk

R-MFkRgq real nonnegative .wHk

R-MFkRgq  0/. Standard

Lagrange multipliers derivation shows that this vector is

q1 D

RgwkR-MFk 􀀀 .wHk

R-MFkRgwkR-MFk/wkR-MFk

kRgwkR-MFk 􀀀 .wHk

R-MFkRgwkR-MFk/wkR-MFkk

: (11)

Then the complex scalar weight 1 in the receiver structure of Fig. 2 is chosen

to be the value that minimizes the mean-square (MS) error between points (a)

and (c). Direct application of the Yule–Walker theorem shows that this MSoptimum

value of 1 is [27–32]

1 D

qH1

RgwkR-MFk

qH1

Rgq1

: (12)

This filter design approach can be generalized to cover processing with

multiple auxiliary vectors. The AV filter that utilizes d, d D 1; 2; 3; : : : , auxiliary

Pados, Medley, and Batalama: Adaptive Antenna Arrays 151

vectors is of the form

w.d/

AV

DwkR-MFk 􀀀

Xd

iD1

iqi ; (13)

where qi , i D 1; : : : ;d, are orthonormal to wkR-MFk. The weighted auxiliary

vectors are conditionally optimized in a sequential fashion as follows. Inductively,

given q1, 1, : : : , qd􀀀1, d􀀀1, d  1, qd is set to be the orthonormal to

wkR-MFk vector that maximizes the magnitude of the cross-correlation between

w.d􀀀1/H

AV g.r/ and qH

d g.r/:

qd D

Rgw.d􀀀1/

AV

􀀀TwHk

R-MFkRgw.d􀀀1/

AV

UwkR-MFk

kRgw.d􀀀1/

AV

􀀀TwHk

R-MFkRgw.d􀀀1/

AV

UwkR-MFkk

: (14)

Then the weight value d that minimizes the MS error between w.d􀀀1/

AV

Hg.r/

and 



dqH

d g.r/ is

d D

qH

d Rgw.d􀀀1/

AV

qH

d Rgqd

: (15)

By inspection, we observe that for the MS-optimum value of d, the product

dqd is independent of the norm of qd . Therefore, we may drop the unnecessary

normalization operation in (14).We can also factorize the AV numerator tomake

the wkR-MFk orthogonal projection operation apparent. The whole algorithm is

summarized below in the following simple recursive form:

w.d/

AV

Dw.d􀀀1/

AV

􀀀 dqd; dD 1; 2; : : : ; w.0/

AV

DwkR-MFk; (16)

qd D .I 􀀀wkR-MFkwHk

R-MFk/Rgw.d􀀀1/

AV ; (17)

d D

qH

d Rgw.d􀀀1/

AV

qH

d Rgqd

: (18)

The auxiliary vector generation proceduremay stop when qdC1 D 0. Inthat case,

w.d/

AV is exactly equal to wMVDR. Formal theoretical analysis of the sequence of

auxiliary-vector filters w.0/

AV, w.1/

AV, w.2/

AV; : : : was pursued in [13] and led to the

results summarized below in the form of a proposition.

PROPOSITION 4.1. Let Rg be a Hermitian positive definite matrix. Consider

the auxiliary-vector filter sequence w.0/

AV, w.1/

AV, w.2/

AV; : : : defined by (16)–(18).

.i/ Successive auxiliary vectors are orthogonal: qH

d qdC1 D 0, d D 1; 2; 3; : : : .

.ii/ The generated sequence of auxiliary-vector weights fd g, d D 1; 2; 3; : : : ,

is real-valued, positive, and bounded,

0 <

1

max

 d  1

min

; dD 1; 2; : : : ; (19)

where max and min are the maximum and minimum, correspondingly,

eigenvalues of Rg.

152 Digital Signal Processing Vol. 11, No. 2, April 2001

.iii/ The sequence of auxiliary vectors fqd g, d D 1; 2; 3; : : : , converges to the

0 vector:

lim

d!1

qd D 0: (20)

.iv/ The sequence of AV-filters w.0/

AV;w.1/

AV;w.2/

AV; : : : converges to the MVDR

filter:

lim

d!1

w.d/

AV

DwMVDR D

R􀀀1

g wkR-MFk

wHk

R-MFkR􀀀1

g wkR-MFk

: (21)

2

The S–T auxiliary vector filter w.d/

AV in (16), defined inductively through (17)

and (18), has the following advantages in comparison with the S–T wMVDR filter

in [9]. First, while both filters are a function of the S–T RAKE matched filter

wR-MF and the Hampel preprocessed S–T input data autocorrelation matrix Rg,

no matrix inversion operation (neither explicit nor implicit) is required for

the auxiliary-vector filter. The second and most important advantage has

to do with the short data record behavior of the filter estimators wO .0/

AV.N/,

wO .1/

AV.N/, wO .2/

AV.N/; : : : , and wO MVDR.N/ 2 that are based on an N-point estimate

of the S–T autocorrelation matrix OR

g.N/ D 1

N

PN

nD1 g.rn/g.rn/H . As illustrated

in [13], for a fixed finite data-record-size N, the sequence fwO .d/

AV.N/gd provides

an infinite number of filter estimators with varying bias versus (co)variance

characteristics. For short data records N, the early, nonasymptotic elements of

the generated sequence of AV estimators offer favorable bias/covariance balance

and are seen to outperform significantly in mean-square estimation error the

wO MVDR.N/ D wO .1/

AV .N/ estimator. The latter translates to superior short data

record BER performance as illustrated in the following section. Data record

based criteria for automatic selection of the best filter estimator OW

.d/

AV in the

sequence (d D 1; 2; 3; : : :) can be found in [34].

To complete the algorithmic developments for a fully adaptive implementation

of the S–T DS-SS receiver in Fig. 1a, we turn our attention to the Hampel

cut-off parameters
1,
2,
3. Adaptive cutoff parameter optimization can be

pursued exactly as in [9, 10] in the form of a decision driven minimum bit-errorrate

(MBER) stochastic approximation recursion. For completeness purposes we

reproduce a simplified version of the recursive algorithm in [9],

i;nC1 D
i;n C c

n

b0n

Ob

0.rn;
i;n C dn/􀀀 Ob

0.rn;
i;n 􀀀 dn/

2dn

;

i D 1; 2; 3; nD 1; 2; : : : ; (22)

where c >0, dn D d n

􀀀1=4, d > 0. This recursion together with either the wO MVDR

filter estimate through (7) or the wO .d/

AV filter estimate through (16)–(18) forms a

coupled, joint optimization procedure.

2 By Proposition IV.1, wO MVDR.N/ D wO .1/

AV .N/ if OR

g.N/ is positive definite.

5. NUMERICAL AND SIMULATION STUDIES

We examine DS-SS signal transmissions with speading gain L D 15 in

the presence of five SS interfering signals .K D 6/ and impulsive noise.

The normalized synchronous signature cross-correlations of the interfering

signals with the signal of interest are chosen in the 20% to 30% range. The

communication channel is modeled as a multipath Rayleigh fading channel

with three paths .P D 2/ and zero mean complex Gaussian fading coefficients

of variance one (i.e., Efjck;pj2g D 1) for all paths p D 0; 1;2 and all SS

signals k D 0; : : : ; 5. The average total received interfering signal energies

Ek

P2

pD0 Efjck;pj2g are set equal to 7; 8; 9; 10:5; and 12 dB for k D 1; 2; : : : ; 5,

respectively. For signal reception we assume availability of a narrowband

adaptive antenna array withM D 5 elements. Therefore, the space–time product

for our system is .L C P/M D .15 C 2/5 D 85. The additive impulsive channel

noise is modeled according to the familiar -mixture disturbance model

f.x/D .1 􀀀 /f0.x/C f1.x/; (23)

where  2 T0; 1U accounts for the probability under which the noise is f1.
/

distributed. The nominal pdf f0.
/ is taken to be 0-mean complexGaussianwith

variance 2

0

D 1. The “contaminating” pdf f1.
/ is 0-mean complex Gaussian

with variance 2

1

D 22

0 , 2 D 1000. If the sources of impulsive disturbance are

directional with unknown but fixed directions-of-arrival over the whole input

data record, then the impulsive disturbance can be effectively suppressed by the

S–T linear filter processor alone. If nondirectional “impulses” cause identical

complex valued disturbance in time at all antenna sensors, then, again, the

disturbance can be suppressed effectively by the S–T linear processor. Instead,

in this paper we consider the severe form of impulsive interference, where

directional impulsive disturbances change direction at the chip rate.

As a reference study, we begin with the plain AWGN case . D 0/. In Fig. 3,

we plot the induced bit-error-rate as a function of the total received energy

for the SS signal of interest for the S–T receivers of the general form of

Fig. 1 wO MVDR.N/, wO .1/

AV.N/, and wO .6/

AV.N/, for a given data record size N D 400.

Multipath fading is assumed to remain effectively constant during receiver

adaptation (N D 400 symbol periods for this study). The BER of the ideal S–T

RAKE receiver wR-MF is included as a reference. We note that wO .6/

AV.N/ offers

the best bias/variance tradeoff (lowest MS estimation error) for N D 400. All

BERs for all filters are analytically evaluated over all bit combinations of the

interfering SS signals and the results that we present are averages over 80

independent channel realizations and, when relevant, 10 independent filter

estimates per channel.We note that for this plain AWGNcase ( D 0 in (23)), the

adaptive nonlinear preprocessor in Fig. 1 controlled by recursion (22) drives the

cutoff parameter
1 to sufficiently large values so that, effectively, g.rI
/D r for

every encountered S–T data vector r. At a glance, in terms of BER performance

comparisons, the superiority of the wO .6/

AV.N/ filter is apparent.

154 Digital Signal Processing Vol. 11, No. 2, April 2001

FIG. 3. BER versus total received energy for the AWGN space–time channel . D 0, 2

0

D 1/. The

data record size is N D 400.

In Fig. 4 we repeat the studies of Fig. 3 for the  D 0:2 impulsive noise case.

First, the Hampel nonlinear preprocessor is disabled; that is we let g.rI
/ D r

for every S–T input vector r. We immediately notice that all S–T receivers

collapse in the presence of impulsive noise and exhibit BERs higher than 10􀀀1.

Next, we reactivate the adaptive Hampel nonlinear front-end controlled by

FIG. 4. A repetition of the studies in Fig. 3 for impulsive noise . D 0:2, 2

0

D 1, 2

1

D 1000/ with

the Hampel preprocessor either enabled or disabled.

Pados, Medley, and Batalama: Adaptive Antenna Arrays 155

FIG. 5. BER versus data-record-size for impulsive noise . D 0:2, 2

0

D 1, 2

1

D 1000/ with the

Hampel preprocessor activated.

recursion (22). As a result, the S–T receivers recover and their relative BER

behavior parallels their behavior in Fig. 3.

Finally, in Fig. 5 we plot the BER as a function of the data record size N for

the  D 0:2 impulsive noise case and the Hampel nonlinearity activated. The

total received energy for the SS signal of interest is fixed at 8 dB. The plot

illustrates the performance of the wO .1/

AV.N/, wO .2/

AV.N/, and wO .4/

AV.N/ as well as the

wO MVDR.N/ and ideal S–T RAKE receivers. As the data record size N increases,

the best bias/variance tradeoff (lowest MS estimation error) AV filter estimator

shifts toward a higher number of AVs d (as the sample support increases we can

“afford” a higher number of AVs).

6. CONCLUSIONS

Adaptive DS-SS receiver designs that are resistant to unknown correlated

SS interference and impulsive noise were considered in [9] in the form of a

vector of parametric chip-based adaptive nonlinearities (hard-limiter, clipper, or

puncher) followed by MVDR linear filter post-processing. In this work, (i) we

generalized the channel model to account for multipath fading and impulsive

disturbance that changes direction-of-arrival at the chip rate, (ii) we generalized

the parametric front end to a Hampel processor that covers the previously

considered nonlinearities as special cases, and (iii) we employed an adaptive

antenna array for joint space–time adaptive interference suppression. Most

important, (iv) instead of joint S–T MVDR postprocessing, we proposed joint

S–T auxiliary-vector (AV) linear filtering. The benefits are (i) low computational

optimization complexity and (ii) superior short-data-record BER performance,

156 Digital Signal Processing Vol. 11, No. 2, April 2001

since AV filter estimates exhibit significantly lower MS estimation error

than their conventional MVDR counterparts (SMI/RLS/LMS). Processing with

multiple, conditionally optimized auxiliary vectors and AV weights offers the

system designer effective control over the bias/variance tradeoff for a given data

record size.

Corporate Communication

1/4

 

Corporate Communication

MBA Paper

 

Introduction

 

            We only cease to become an individual when we finally carry our own identity. Identity is a must to everyone, it makes us belong and at the same time it makes the difference in this world full of average. The identity of an individual or of an organization is the collective wholeness of its reason for being.

            A comprehensive identity program for a company is an invaluable resource since fashioning a powerful and accessible identity is the company’s best bet for capturing the attention of the customers.

 

Corporate Identity, color and logo

            In a market cluttered with big and small companies competing for the consumer’s attention, public image becomes more critical than ever to the success of any business. A corporate identity is what the company wants to be perceived by the public.

            Our company would be engaged in the fast growing, dynamic and challenging cargo-forwarding enterprise. The need for fast and efficient cargo forwarding system was never before been needed as much as in the present times. Companies are building and investing in businesses worldwide. With the globalization of products and services, business without borders or multi national companies are in need of reliable and efficient cargo forwarders.

            Seeing this thriving opportunity for good business, we decided to venture and challenge established local forwarding companies. This company would be known to everyone as SYNERGY .It is the simultaneous joint action of separate parties which, together, have greater total effect than the sum of their individual effects. From this definition, we can derive our company’s vision which is “Moving forward…in Unison”. We will be there to assist businesses who are in need of efficient and reliable forwarding system, and together with our counterparts we will move forward in unison.

            Our company logo is also the company’s name, SYNERGY. It would be printed in monotype corsiva font with the color blue. The blue color is chosen because it is the color of the horizon.

 

 

 

 

 

2/4

Corporate Communication

            The TRI-Pod systems, in its aggressive drive to promote internet connection to every home in the world, continues its program of donating and installing free internet connections to schools and government agencies to the less fortunate citizens in third world countries. Just last month, a total of 150 internet ready personal computers were turned over to local governments of South Africa, Argentina and East Timor in Asia.

The company’s partnership with the United Nations (UN) through its literacy campaign remains strong and one of the company’s top sponsorship.  A total of 1.6 million dollars was donated just last year to the United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF). This is just our simple way of saying thank you to all of you who continue to be loyal to the company.

TRI-Pod systems, the number one solutions provider today in the market is again making another milestone and will take another great leap forward in the industry. Today, you would witness the unveiling of our new software that would truly revolutionize not only the industry but the world as well. This new software is the first of a kind that would be available to the market. We are calling this HOLOS, this would revolutionize the way we communicate with people from all parts of the world. Hologram communication is now a reality, with high fidelity and contrast of colors, you would be talking from here to anywhere else in the world as if the one you’re communicating with is in front of you.

Our research and development team would again promise you to keep up for more truly revolutionary products and innovative technologies as well. We would never stop dreaming and conquering our dreams to make our lives easier through our technologies.

On the other hand, we are very pleased to announce to you that TRI-Pod systems and PrimeMedia, merged into one big dynamo to further solidify our leadership in the market. This merger was built on trust and equal admiration for both companies. you can expect a wider range of IT products and solutions to come this way.

Along with this giant merger, next month you will see the opening of one of our biggest factory. We are pouring more investments this year to product development and research. Along with this investments are job opening that our company can provide to highly talented and goal oriented people.

Our company was only been around for 15 years. Truly an infant to the industry, but this infant matured so fast that we are now the number one leader in this very dynamic industry. We would continue walking hand in hand to the future and making it happen right now.

 

 

 

 

 

 

4/4

 

Stakeholders are defined as “individuals or organizations who stand to gain or lose from the success or failure of a system”. By definition, stakeholders are those who are impacted by or have an impact on the company, their perspectives need to be taken into account in order for the company to be successful. Stakeholders can have positive or negative views regarding a given project, and often don’t agree with one another, making it a challenge to reconcile their varied viewpoints.

Since stakeholders have an impact to the company, it also have an impact to the company’s reputation. An oil excavating firm like Shell faces a lot of pressure from its environmentalist stakeholders to use its research and development fund to discover renewable sources of energy instead of fossil fuels and oil deposits. Thus Shell, has its extensive program now to take into account environmental protection or else face continues rallies and propaganda against the company.

Labor unions are also popular and powerful stakeholders of the company. They are the backbone and the workforce behind the movement of the company. To ensure smooth relationship between the company and the unions, they are engaged into bargaining agreements that helps insure and protect both their rights. The labor union can stage boycotts if their demands are not meet and this have great impact not only to the production side but as well as to the reputation of the company as stable and united.

 

 

 

 

International Business: Managerial Performance in a Cross Cultural Business Environment

International Business: Managerial Performance in a Cross Cultural Business Environment

 

 

Introduction

The advances in technology and globalisation in general, opened new and very promising avenues of business opportunities not just in an individual’s locale but also abroad. A lot of business-minded individuals from different countries with different nationalities and cultural orientation have and continuously defied the geographic boundaries that exist between continents. This is evident in the growing number of internationally-operating business firms all over the world run by entrepreneurs of varying race and culture. The information man has successfully rebelled against intercontinental borders and the challenge that confronts him the most, deals with how to fit and blend in the new cultural environment in which their businesses are situated.

 

Inescapable as it may seem, workplace dilemmas brought about by different cultures are unavoidable and should be expected at work especially in business firms owned or controlled by individuals from a different cultural orientation especially when they employ the local citizens in their international operations. Dealing properly with situations such as instances of principled power struggle between supervisors and subordinates from different cultural orientations, will be of much help in running a business firm properly and successfully. Addressing conflicts and working out understanding by compromising for the good of all will pave the way to maintain smooth working relationships among the employees, staff, supervisors and subordinates.

 

Today, it can be said that role of HRM in the organization has been expanded and improved as new ways to handle employees are discovered. Furthermore, with more and more new issues about employment and management of people arises, the tasks and responsibilities of an HR practitioner also increases. In addition, specific issues emerging from the peek of globalization and new information technologies determine the fate of human resource management. Because of these several challenges that the modern HRM face, there is definitely a complexity in forecasting its future. Nonetheless, the improvement in modern business practices may ensure that the future of HRM is fair but difficult. In line with this,  (2004) initiated reviews of empirical researches and theories tackling the relationship between workforce diversity and organizational performance as well as outlined practical steps that HR personnel can utilize to effectively manage diversity efforts and successful enhancement of positive employee management. In this paper,  (2004) journal article entitled leveraging Diversity to Improve Business Performance: Research findings and Recommendations for Organizations will be the main discussion. 

 

 

Findings and Analysis

Multi-business organizations and firms are constantly facing pressures brought about the varying unpredictable factors that hinder efficient and effective business operations. This results to graver responsibilities faced by the business executives as board of directors; capital markets and shareholders push for effective and powerful corporate strategies. The competitive business environment within particular industries intensifies the need of business organizations to diversify the operation systems of the company recognizing the importance of the conglomeration of assets, skills, and capabilities of the available resources that the company has in order to be successful.

 

But most of the successful business endeavors depend greatly on good interpersonal communication and relationship between the service or product providers and their clients. Persuading customers on trying the offered services and products is only a start on putting up a successful entrepreneurial activity. Gaining the trust of the clients and maintaining patrons is very important to ideal business transaction flows. But all these will be put to waste if issues and problems brought about by cultural differences between employers and employees arise in an organization functioning to achieve a common goal. As such, a lot of studies have been conducted pertaining to cultural differences as comparisons between the Western and Eastern cultures have been very common. Such studies cut across gender and ethnicity in differing levels of analysis, context and issues critically addressed by some authors.

 

            According to (1994), the 1992 United States General Accounting Office report entitled Immigration and the Labor Market stated the rampant interest in the entry of alien workers in the American workforce was perceived by some to be to be a solution to size and capability problems of the United States (US) labor force while seen by others as a threat to jobs of American workers. It was mentioned further that foreign workers usually enter the US workforce in the most menial positions although they held higher positions in their native land. Most of them were employed through the underground job market where their employers do not have to pay for their compensation insurance and withholding taxes, hence, such employers profit more. Findings such as these give birth to social issues and problems that international business organizations face within the workplace concerning effective management.

 

In line with this, (1999) and (1993) pointed out that business relationship in particularistic cultures like in China tend to be less stiff and formal between employers and employees but the commitment between them is strong. In the same book,  (1987) found that Chinese people communicate in a way that upholds traditional values of harmony and kinship affiliation as compared to North Americans. Japanese entrepreneurs, on the other hand, are considered neutral in this respect because they feel that expressing emotions in the workplace is “unprofessional”. Other cultures, that are considered to be relatively affective, feel that the indifference of neutral colleagues in the office is a manifestation of dislike and superiority among co-employees. In a case study of expatriate assignments of women managers in Chile conducted by  (2002), it was found out that women in particular will encounter the possibility of negative stereotyping from co-workers, managers and clients in the host country regarding their roles and that dedicated efforts in preparing women for expatriate assignments through in-country support system can make international assignment more effective for women employees and the organization itself.

 

As such, studies on organizational communication have always been used by large companies so as to ensure good working relationships among employees as well as to evaluate the relationship among members and staff of big corporations. (1997) further elaborated that the idea of global community in a model that suggests intercultural and international communication and ethical problems to best address the immediate need is of much importance to truly build a global community. Inquiries have been made in order to realize how the Eastern and Western culture differ in the work setting by comparing the evident and obvious contrasts between different cultural orientations and ethnicity. Such differences include most recurring ethical dilemmas brought about by race in business where employees and staff of varying cultural orientations who work together as an organization.

 

But according to  (2004), the discussions among opponents and proponents of workplace diversity lacked coordination with the findings of empirical studies. They argued that increasing diversity of the workforce normally includes problematic issues on dissatisfaction and conflict among members of the business organization. They likewise claimed that diversity alone can not take companies to ensured success and workplace, group or individual improvements in performances. But effective management of management of diverse workforce can result to overall organizational yields ands profits.

 

The fact is organizations spend $8 billion annually on diversity training (2003) and other diversity-related initiatives, including dedicated diversity management staffs and workplace programs and benefits such as flexible work arrangements, domestic partner benefits, corporate-sponsored employee affinity groups, and other programs designed to attract and retain a diverse workforce ( 2003). According to  (2003), this drive towards diversity among business organizations rooted from the beliefs that (1) competition for the best talent requires organizations to reach out and embrace an increasingly diverse labor pool; (2) global economy requires that organizations have a diverse workforce so that they can effectively deal with an increasingly diverse customer base; (3) demographic diversity unleashes creativity, innovation, and improved group problem solving, which in turn enhances the competitiveness of the organization; (4) diversity is a more palatable and “socially acceptable” way to address race and gender issues; and (5) diversity is simply the right and ethical thing to do as corporate citizens, regardless of the economic implications. However, the analysis and reviews conducted by  (2004) among empirical researches focusing on the positive impact of diversity to increased organizational performance revealed that certain conditions and situations are relevant to make a direct relation of the said variables. They emphasized that simply employing a diverse pool of labor force will not directly result to positive outcomes.

 

 (2004) enumerated empirical evidences from past researches and academic activities that illustrate the conditionality of diversity among organizations to ensure positive outcomes. Their claims were grounded from four empirically supported findings of previous studies. These include their findings that (a) increased diversity does not necessarily improve the talent pool and does not guarantee an increase in diversity of task-related knowledge, skills, abilities, experiences, and other characteristics.  (1998) study indicated that a variety of standardized techniques that have been shown to be predictive of job performance which include behavioral interviews, biographical data inventories, assessment centers, work samples, personality inventories, mental ability tests, and other procedures, all of which provide objective, quantitative assessments best measures positive outcomes rather than simply diversifying the members of the organization. Moreover, (b) increased diversity does not necessarily build commitment, improve motivation, and reduce conflict since individual employees react to work situations in which they must work with persons who are demographically similar to themselves as opposed to situations in which they must work with persons who are dissimilar (2000; 1998; 1993). Furthermore, (c) increased group-level diversity does not necessarily lead to higher group performance because research has shown that workgroups whose members are diverse in terms of their race, gender, age, or tenure have a variety of problems, including communication breakdowns, low cohesion, and turnover (1996; 1998). Finally, (d) diversity does not necessarily improve organizational performance since there are relatively few studies assessing the relationship to the performance of the organization and others have shown that diversity is actually detrimental to organizational performance (2003)

 

Interestingly, however,  (2004) likewise identified four general conclusions that have important implications for diversity initiatives. The authors’ reviews and analyses of various researches on organizational performance and diversity indicated that (1) the benefits of diversity are contingent on the situation because a variety of contingency models have been proposed for leadership, motivation, group behavior, and organizational effectiveness and there is unlikely to be “one best way” with regard to diversity programs (2003). Situational factors such as the organizational culture, strategies, and environment, as well as the people in the organization and their jobs highly determine the positive outcomes of organizational diversity. Moreover, (2) successful diversity programs are based on specific goals with feedback provided on how well the programs achieve these goals as the goal-setting theory states that explicit goals that are difficult but also acceptable lead to higher performance on a wide variety of tasks than goals that are ambiguous, easy, or nonexistent (1990). As such, diversity programs should be designed with other goals in mind than quotas. Furthermore, (3) the success of diversity initiatives depends on how they are framed since research in a variety of areas of psychology has shown the powerful influence of psychological framing on how messages are perceived and how the recipients of these messages respond to them (2003). In line with this, diversity programs should be framed as challenges and opportunities rather than as threats to overcome (2002). Finally, (4) diversity initiatives are more likely to succeed when employees identify with their teams and the organization suggesting that Diversity in terms of surface-level features had negative consequences n the short term, but as persons interacted over time, deep-level diversity emerged as a more potent force that benefited the group ( 1998).

 

In this light,  (2004) enumerated several considerations in effectively managing diversity in the workforce. These include (1) building senior management commitment and accountability. Since organizational barriers to diversity are often systemic, subtle, and deeply ingrained in the organization ( 2002), leveraging diversity for the benefit of the organization requires ongoing and consistent leadership. Moreover, (2) conducting a thorough needs assessment, in terms of the people, jobs, and organization ensures that issues related to diversity are framed accurately and that the right interventions are identified since an organizational culture that views diversity as an opportunity to capitalize on the insights, skills, and experiences of members of various cultural identities has also been identified as a factor enhancing the performance of diverse workgroups ( 2001). Similarly, (3) developing well-defined strategies that are tied to business results in a realistic way is the foundation of a successful diversity initiative along with several potential competitive advantages of diversity, including enabling organizations to compete for the best talent, competing more effectively in the marketplace by understanding the demands of a diverse customer base, enhancing the creativity and problem-solving effectiveness of work teams, and reducing costs associated with turnover, absenteeism, and lack of productivity (1991). Furthermore, (4) emphasizing team-building and group process training among diverse groups are believed to perform better over time, largely because time allows group members to develop a deeper-level, interpersonal understanding beyond demographic characteristics (1998; 1999). Finally, (5) establishing metrics that is capable of assessing the effectiveness of diversity initiatives of the business organization is critical to managing diversity effectively (2003).

 

 

Conclusion

Continuous improvement within any business organization can only be realized if good working relationships between and among employees is experience by all the members of the company. To be able to function effectively with clients and customers, manufacturers of goods and products as well as service provider companies should be aware that success is first elicited inside the organization. Good working relationships should be observed first within the company so that the whole business operation can answer to the demands of the business transactions with clients and suppliers alike.

 

Researches and studies regarding the opportunities that the resources of the company can provide should be investigated in order to make the most practical and effective business strategies. Teambuilding programs and activities in the organization should be practiced so as to guarantee that the employees and staff are functioning within the responsibilities and duties that are assigned to them while enjoying their work experience. The system that the company utilizes should be applicable and suitable to the nature of the company as well as understood by all members of the business organization to come up with the best ideas from which the company will benefit. Commitment of the members with the organization to ensure loyalty to the company should be inculcated and maintained to the people through enhanced and regular group or team interaction which the Human Resources Department will be handling most effectively. 

 

The global reach of supplies and services of international business enterprises define them as companies with varying and diverse cultural experiences. Since business deals are not conducted in the local setting alone, the members of such companies should have the ability to communicate effectively with various types of people from different cultural orientation. International business organizations have long crossed continental boundaries across different territories around the world and it is inevitable that business transactions are being handled with business entrepreneurs from diverse cultural backgrounds. Communication could be very troublesome especially between individuals of different cultural backgrounds. But the drawbacks of diversity could be amended if respect and proper orientation are given to parties in specific business deals. This will only be applicable to the external transactions of the company if these good working communication and understanding is at first observed and practiced within the company.

 

COMMUNICATION PLANNING PROGRAM

The communication is also one of the key importances so that the success of the company can achieve. This means that it is essential to have meaningful and timely communication workforce. The companies should then have to have a communication planning program earlier so that it can avoid inaccurate rumors.

           

 

 

THE Real Cost of the deal,

Hewitt Quarterly Asia Pacific,

 

Hewitt associates

2008

 

 

 

 

Communicating difficult message

Discussion

Corporate restructuring generally refers to substantial change in a company's financial structure, organizational form, or both. Financial restructuring includes changes in ownership, management buyouts, and divestitures. Organizational restructuring includes decentralization of authority, development of teams, and downsizing of employment. At times, the financial component can drive the organizational changes; at other times the organizational component drives the financial changes (1997). Authority to succeed and fail is pushed lower in most restructured companies, giving their operating units greater autonomy. Business units acquire more responsibility for setting strategy and other policies, but they are also held more accountable for results. Strategic business units (SBUs), with full profit and loss Responsibilities, are increasingly becoming the dominant form, and these in turn are divided and subdivided on much the same principles. SBUs and their equivalent subunits are typically focused around distinct products or services for internal or external customers. Each of the units and subunits incorporates as many company functions as possible, including planning, production, and marketing ( 1997)

 

With relationships to customers more clearly established, managers and units acquire stronger incentives to respond; with responsibility for decision making more clearly delegated, they acquire a greater power to act. And with accountability for results more clearly pinpointed, they acquire stronger reason to perform. At the same time, a greater premium is placed on cross boundary management, on massaging relations among the units that are now more autonomous and independent of one another. Since international competitive pressures and domestic investor pressures have been most intense at larger companies, the most extensive restructuring is likely to have been felt there. Company size has been found to be a good predictor of both financial and organizational restructuring (1997).  Restructuring actions taken singly, research studies suggest, tend to achieve few enduring gains. In the absence of a broader plan, downsizing the workforce can generate short-term cost savings, but often at the expense of long-term cost increases. Similarly, the introduction of a total quality initiative or a reforming of a company into strategic business units without a host of associated changes may yield little enduring gain. Studies of the introduction of new information technologies, lean manufacturing methods, and employee stock ownership plans, for example, reveal that alterations in each of these areas without parallel changes in the culture, compensation, and reporting structure of the company tend to leave the intended effects largely stillborn (1997). A company that underwent restructuring and downsizing is AT & T. American telephone and telegraph company was initiated so that American Bell Telephone Company’s desire for expansion and growth in market was properly managed. The company increased its status over time and it soon became the parent company of the entire bell system. The company was one of the first organizations to launch a communications satellite. This improvement in the field of communication industry provided customer satisfaction and lowered the barrier of entry for rivals.

Problem Definition

In 1984 the company had a vision. This vision was to pursue a strategy that would integrate all aspects of telecommunications.  This led the company to expanding its services into the computer industry. For this endeavor the company hired the best executives from different computer companies. The new endeavor did not fair well with the public, it did not achieve success after some time.  But the company did not easily give up; it altered its strategy by acquiring established companies in key industries. After some time AT & T acquired NCR Corporation. This acquisition was a success but it created lay offs to employees. The company after a few years was still keen on acquiring other companies but the results of the acquisition did not satisfy the management, shareholders, and analyst.  The continuous failure of the computer division made analysts believe that the division was on the verge of restructuring or sale.

 

Suggestions

The vision of the company to pursue a strategy that would integrate all aspects of telecommunications was not bad but it lacked proper management and techniques. The new division should have used marketing strategies so that people can know that AT & T is selling computer related products. The company should have merged with established computer companies so that they have an experience of the computer industry and what computer products attract customer. Instead of the strategy of acquiring companies, AT & T should have allied with other companies.

 

 

Conflict Message

Conflict Message

One of the female employees in the department has been showing up late to work at least 3-4 days in a week over the past month. At first, the tardiness seemed acceptable and was ignored with the hope that it would eventually be corrected. It was not even considered as a form of non compliance or job dissatisfaction since the employee is performing well in the team. Being late on some occasions was acceptable but the frequencies of her tardiness have been rather ordinary

 This employee is a great employee except for her tardiness and I wanted her to continue working with us. As the supervisor, I have tried to be flexible but the tardiness has aggravated. But now it is getting to the point that even the employee’s co workers are complaining.  I’m afraid the habitual occurrences of tardiness may have demoralizing effects on your fellow employees who arrives for work on time. Because of this, I resolve to confront the employee regarding the tardiness.

I thought it will be best to become assertive by communicating concern directly without making her feel her rights are demeaned.  As her supervisor, it is also my responsibility to listen to the employee’s situational factors. Having empathy will allow her to communicate underlying factors that causes tardiness although this does not necessarily mean agreeing with her. Rather I will encourage her to tell the situational factor, express understanding and support her to overcome those factors so she can get to work on time.

Assertive Message:

‘Your recent tendency to become tardy concerns me. Sometimes when person runs late frequecntly, there is an underlying reason. I know that we had some changes at work here recently that well have to adopt to, including. Things at work may sometimes become difficult. You may even have some non work difficulties that I am not aware of. I’m just opening the door to communicating openly about any problems that may be a barrier to your addressing the tardiness problem. Should it include problems you might be having with me that I need to know about and work to my end. I sincerely want you top be able to overcome this problem. I don’t want to intrude but is there anything you want to share that could give me a better understanding of the problem so we could come up with the solution?’. After the employee replies, I may show responsive and supportive of what he says.

‘I am glad that we are communicating like this. I need for you to communicate any difficulties in the future but I want you to understand that I need some help from you as well. Above all, I must be clear that these difficulties cannot be always the case for coming in late. The department loses, and potentially you also do. I hope I could count on you for some improvements in this area’.

Through this direct and non aggressive confrontation I expect that any hostility or defensiveness with the employee is avoided. Such communication will also clarify my thoughts and feelings about her tardiness. Conversely, the employee will have the opportunity to explain the reasons for such behavior and we stand a good chance of working collaboratively to address the problem.

Leadership, Communication, and Motivation

Leadership, Communication, and Motivation

 

 

Unit 4 IPCRJ410-0702B-01

 June , 2007

 

Abstract

 

Like any other traditional government services, the correctional services and prison systems are also facing issues on whether to succumb to the tempting offers of privatization. To an extent, it is always beneficial for the state to hand over some of its duties to the private sector if it wants to improve on efficiency and acquire some level of cutbacks in its spending. However, debates appear to be at a rather different plane when the prison system has taken the helm. Basically, the discussions below will be pinpointing the very debate that has existed ever since the issue sprung up in the early parts of the 1970s. The discussions will be done in the perspective of a correctional administrator, both in private and public sectors as the debate progress. In any case, this study surmises that privatization could do wonders for the state as a whole. However, it is held in this paper that the management of the prison system should still be sin the hands of the state. Privatization should only go as far as outsourcing certain functions in the correctional facilities like the maintenance of the building, medical services, commissaries and the like. In this collaboration of both public and private sector will essentially combine the individual strengths and in the same time limit the weaknesses by meeting some requirements which the private or the public could not complete on its lonesome.

 

Keeping it in the Public Sector

In the eyes of a public sector prison administrator, there are certain elements that could be considered arguments in favor of keeping the prison service in the hands of the public sector. One argument for the public control over the correctional facilities is that there is a guarantee that certain standards are going to be upheld as the protocols and certain procedures are covered by legislation. (2001) This means that since the state is carrying out the specific established activities in the correctional facilities, handing it over to private control does not place promise that these standards will be implemented just the same.

Another argument in favor of keeping the prison services to the public domain is focused primarily on the dynamics of industrial relations. For employees sanctioned by the government are barred from staging any form of protest or strike. (2004)  When the private sector takes on the prison service, this clause is waived. An attached issue will then be seen in the context of security in the prison itself once an employee strike takes place.

Moreover, the state has established certain disciplinary procedures to rehabilitate its convicted offenders. These disciplinary procedures could be compromised once a private company comes in to take the reins of the operation. (2001)  Though this may not be entirely dreadful, there is room for doubt regarding the effectiveness of the possible changes in the disciplinary procedures as compared to the existing procedures taken by the public sector.

Moreover, given that full authority is given to the private organization once privatization takes place in the prison service, there is a possibility that they invoke their option to accept or reject any inmate. (2004) To a certain extent, this goes entirely contrary to the espoused principles of efficiency and effectiveness of privatization. Once this takes place, there would be an imminent issue on where to place offenders once private prisons reject them. Ironically, these convicts will inevitably end up in a public controlled correctional facility.

In the same manner, there is also the possibility for the private sector to encounter financial problems. This could be an issue in the public sector but it will always find ways to manage and acquire other means of capital. (2001) The more pressing issue on the private sector is the possibility that they could go bankrupt. In this setting, they don’t have a lot of options and the main recourse is to send the services back to the control of the state. Once this happens, the state is now burdened with another transition and the inmates and the employees of the correctional facility will be the most affected. In the case of state operations, they could still operate despite the lack or insufficiency of finances because they have the option of practicing deficit spending. This would not be very difficult, if not impossible, in the case of private institutions since they could only resort to filing Chapter 11 claims to protect their interests, which in some way will adversely affect the operations of the prison systems. A worse case would be apparent when these private institutions ask for higher fees once they encounter some financial hurdles which essentially defeat the purpose of privatization.               

 

Potentials of the Private Management

On the part of a private correctional facility manager, privatization still is the best possible option for the prison system. If what is desired is actual change, that privatizing the prison management services is still the way facilitate this process. Besides, there are certain elements in the operations of the state that could be improved when these are transferred to private management. One element is the actual operating costs of the prison. Given the fact that efficiency and profit is seen as the basic premise of the private sector, it could find ways to minimize the expenditures and maintain a level of operation that could equal or even surpass those offered by the state.

In the same reason, employees in the prison system and correctional facilities will have the opportunity to acquire a more reasonable pay which in turn could boost their morale. (2004) In any case, this could always be an indication of progress for any organization. There is also the preconceived notion that private firms could always surpass the performance of the state. In this regard, there is an assumed notion that when the prison system is placed in the hands of the private firms, then a higher state of public safety is seen as a major outcome.

Moreover, there are certain articles that indicate that the private sector tends to acquire the control of prison system to get the services of the inmates in terms of labor at a significantly lower cost. (2001) This also means that once private sectors get a hold of the management of a correctional facility, they could help the convicted offenders serving their time to have a livelihood and even allow them to acquire some additional cash to pay for the punitive damages and restitution to their victims.

 

Perceived Challenges for the Competing Sectors

The debate relating to the competing sectors of private and public management tends to highlight certain challenges. For instance, there is a study that points out to the inconsistency of comparing public and private organizations. (2005) Specifically, there is a problem in terms of comparing the efficiency of the performance of private firms and public management in the context of the prison systems. To a certain level, the claims of the said study are rather accurate. For some reason, it is doubtful that comparing performance on such a singular baseline would be an indication of actual improvement in the prison industries. Yes, there will be some level of changes in terms of the financial aspect of the operations of the prison system once it has transferred management to the private sector. However, would the basic intention of rehabilitation of the inmates achieve its optimum level once privatization takes place? Would the quality of rehabilitation of those inmates in the publicly managed prison or a privately managed correctional facility be different?

There are also other issues forwarded in terms of limitations and accountability in imposing privatization among the state. In the study of Beermann (2001, 1507) there may be a problem in terms of the leadership in these privatized correctional facilities. Issues on the accountability of these leaders would be lingering in as much as these privatized prisons appear to be self-governing.

 

Legal Issues of Privatization of Prison Systems

A prevailing issue that states should recognize is whether privatizing a prison system is within the bounds of their power. This means that they should consider the Tenth Amendment principles held by the US Constitution. (2001) For prison systems, there is apparently no clear limitation on the states’ capability to consign the operations of these institutions to private care. To a certain extent, this regard is placed on the responsibility of the state since they are accountable to the courts if they are charged against the constitutionality of a privatized action.   

Another issue that has been discussed in literature is the legal responsibility of privatized prisons. The case of Richardson v. McKnight has given light in this issue. As stated in the decision of the case, private prisons are able to impose an immunity defense on the charge of the claimant that the guards placed the handcuffs on him too hard. This immunity defense is available to these private firms because these private prisons are carrying out a public duty as mandated by correctional facilities.   

 

Conclusion

The discussions above have presented a presentation of the observations made regarding the privatization of correctional facilities. As seen in the discussions above, privatization does offer some level of financial advantages on the part of the state. However, the issue on accountability still hangs in the balance. At this point, it is only the state that could impose certain standards such that laws and regulations are effectively implemented in prison systems. However, one must realize that it would be for the benefit of the public that the public and private sectors collaborate in the operations of the prison systems and correctional facilities. This way, issues on accountability could be addressed. A much safer environment is offered to the public. Rehabilitation would be top rate. Thus, this paper recommends that states should avoid placing total control of the correctional facility on the private sector. They could satisfy their need of efficiency by meeting the offer of the private sectors such that certain parts of their operations should be contracted out. Elements like the infirmary services and commissary operations are among the elements that should be consigned to the private sector. Management of such institutions should still be held by the state.      

 

Unit 4 DB Leadership, Communication, and Motivation

June , 2007

The responsibility of the prison administrator is not limited to the personnel and the maintenance of the correctional facility. Recent developments in the prison settings tend to highlight several issues. For instance, the study of (2002) reveal that there is an increase in the incidence of sexual coercion in women’s correctional facilities in the Midwestern part of the United States.

Actually, these have been a “dirty little secret” in women’s correctional institutions for ages. (1998) In the said study, the correctional officers tend to have absolute power over the women inmates. Aggravating this problem is the fact that prison administrators are often left in the dark as the other correctional officers have the propensity to keep mum about such incidents to protect their fellow officers. This also means that the window of opportunity for abuse to take place is significantly wide.

In looking at the findings of these works, it is apparent that the inmates of the correctional facility have no recourse in given their situation. (2005) Thus, prison administrators could provide a venue where inmates, especially in women’s correctional facilities, could forward their grievances. In this manner, this could serve as a deterrent for correctional officers in coercing inmates for further sexual favours.

 

Kress and van Leeuwen vs. Walsh (Composition vs. Reading)

Kress and van Leeuwen vs. Walsh (Composition vs. Reading)

A. Kress and van Leeuwen's Composition Process

According to Kress and van Leeuwen the readers are the most powerful and the authority in interpreting the literary texts they are reading. However, there are many misconceptions regarding their essay about the process of composition. Kress and van Leeuwen used an understandable gesture of linguistic salience. Certainly, Kress and van Leeuwen's view was always full synecdochically to stand for the entire iconoclastic project of composition, to which their study was progressively more associated. 'Composition', engages, in this circumstance, a radical skepticism on the way to the veracity of a subject's ideas, connotations and denotations, or of a subject's authorship of those ideas, connotations and denotations. And the flaws of Kress and van Leeuwen's essay, as well as its propensity towards unsupported generalizations, its disregard of academic or scholarly exactness, and its strong-willed way with literary history, were often seen as the weaknesses of the composition process itself. There is, in fact, a sensibly simple sense in which Kress and van Leeuwen's announcement may seem to be comparatively uncontroversial.

 

According to Kress and van Leeuwen theme is the basic idea of any composition. It may touch on different aspects of life. It may also be subjective or objective in nature. Various compositions may be expressed through motif, metaphor, and symbols. With this, one can create a mental calculation on what to expect about the composition. It may be supposed as a composition about life, or its essence, or anything that a person can relate to. Historical, social, fantasy, comedy, etc. define the theme of the composition. In analysing the theme of a composition, it could be affirmed that the universality or the worldwide popularity, relevance, and intellectual or philosophical aspects must be considered. Furthermore, composition themes must be honest, sincere, and related to the plot.

One of the primary differences among speech and writing composition in Singapore is that, unlike speech, writing composition remains, that it lasts after the person that writes has departed.  In sum, different acts of speech, acts of writing can be read after the absence, counting the fundamental deficiency that comprises death, of its author (2004).

However, the disadvantages of this statement in attitude are very broad and much is at risk in Kress and van Leeuwen's statement of information value. In information value, the text is working without their authors. The author’s message to the reader is not significant in the process. Kress and van Leeuwen raises elemental questions of interpretation and appreciation of literature; they question the character of literary speech acts and of literary-critical judgments; they exerted an effort to reconfigure the reader’s perceptive of how the process of composition works; they challenged long-held beliefs regarding the main concern of the human writer and reader, of individualism, of prejudice and subjective experience; and they challenged conservative concepts of the composition process as well as traditional views of the institution of literature and  the nature and status of the literary work. Kress and van Leeuwen's essay may be said to re-open composition theory to questions of attractiveness to the viewer’s attention. Kress and van Leeuwen's essay form the founding statements of much successive critical and theoretical work on the composition process.

Within the perspectives of modern composition process, during the late 18^th and early 19^th century, the liberal perception of the composition process in Singaporean literature is completely spoken. History agrees to the thought that literary work in Singapore as essentially, certainly entirely, well thought-out around the composition process of an author reached its apotheosis. The critical historical transformation in conceptions of the composition process in Singaporean literature is not a function of late twentieth-century theorizing so much as of the 'romantic revolutions and the eighteenth-century philosophical and artistic discourses upon which it drew'. However, it is specifically in the composition process, in the tradition against which modern literary theory reacts with its declaration of the presence or absence of information value, salience and planning, that figurative speaking is also inducted and theorized 2003).

Kress and van Leeuwen, in much simpler words, both inaugurated a specific sense of composition process. Consequently, the idea of the author as creator and brains, as fully intended, fully living source of  the literary text, as authority for and limitation on the 'proliferating' meanings of  the text, has particular importance for a culture.

B. Walsh’s Reading Process

According to Walsh, whether it be print, visual or multi-model, a reader should engage with a broad cultural and intellectual context, a wider textuality and politics. Textuality is considered to take place, yes, but by the same token it does not take place anywhere or anytime in particular. It is produced, but by no one and at no time. It can be read and interpreted, although reading and interpreting are routinely understood to occur in the form of misreading and misinterpreting.

As it is practiced in the Singaporean academy today, print media has for the most part isolated textuality from the circumstances, the events, the physical senses that made it possible and render it intelligible as the result of human work (Machin, 2004).  In keeping with Walsh’s emphasis on inter-textuality, according to which a text is no more than a 'tissue of citations' from multiple other texts, and in keeping with a new, de-centered sense of subjectivity and of textuality, Walsh remarks at the end of his essay that he has in many respects only recapitulated what is being developed around the reader.  In this regard, an understanding of the reading process involves an understanding of some of its major mid-century philosophical and ideological critiques.

In a traditional perception about the reading process in Singaporean literature, an implied author exists; he is the image or idea of the author in the text, a more conventional manner of talking about the author that avoids the presumption that a literary text is an historical agent. In the 19^th century, the ‘free direct discourse’ was introduced. Here, the narrator speaks using a character’s point of view or his or her perspective, making it possible to point out the precise location of narrator, author and character; this is called ‘omniscient 2003).

To identify print, visual and multi-model works as form of human work in Singaporean literature is to validate individual agency. Singaporean print, visual and multi-model works are produced in time and in society by human beings, who are themselves agents of, as well as somewhat independent actors within, their actual history'. In cases where such a thing is possible, studies regarding the reading process in Singaporean literature attempts to distinguish the traces of agency that cohere in pieces of print, visual and multi-model works, sometimes discovering one singular trace, but often a subtle entanglement of several or many. Where that is not possible, its aim becomes one of contextualization locating the text within time, place, a culture, a genre, and an institution. Examples such as those just given complicate the notion of the reading process to a degree that it becomes more helpful to define it in relation to a series of functions performed during the creation of the print, visual and multi-model works rather than as a single, coherent activity. The term ‘reading’ as used in this chapter, did not therefore denote the condition of being an originator of works, but a set of linked activities which are sometimes performed by a single person but will often be performed collaboratively or by several persons in succession. Walsh’s model for determining these was the actual print, visual and multi-model works of authors of various historical periods, which brings the consequence that it will be a variable model requiring to be reformulated for different writing cultet al. 2004).

Walsh is convinced that the reading process is the discovery of the truth about the universe which generally means the interpretation of the universe in terms of human instincts and of personal emotions and desires. In this wishful interpretation of the universe, man has two things to take into account-what he knows, and what he does not know. In proportion to the latter the former is still very small, and in primitive stages of existence it must have been extremely minute. Walsh figures print, visual and multi-model works as 'the overflow, utterance or projection of the thoughts and feelings of the author'.  In this expressive theory of literary composition, the work of literature 'ceases to be regarded as primarily a reflection of nature': instead, ' the mirror held up to nature becomes transparent and yields the reader insights into the mind and heart of the poet himself'.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Communication Interaction

Communication Interaction

Overall, the experience of uncertainty relates to ambiguity in the communication or context. However, because the experience of uncertainty is subjective, the ambiguity or clarity of the situation or message does not determine the level of uncertainty. Individuals or collections of individuals must attend to the communication event and then determine if it generates uncertainty for them. The individuals or collectives may have cognitive scripts or schemas, patterns of routine or expected behaviors for the situation (2004). These scripts and schemas help prevent or preclude the experience of uncertainty. Uncertainty is perceived when the events or communication trigger uncertainty because they fail to follow or fit the cognitive scripts or schemas. Individuals sometimes resign themselves to uncertainty in situations. In a similar fashion, members of groups and organizations can collectively accept uncertainty through communication interaction. This is most clearly demonstrated in the way group members manage uncertainty created by contradictory regulations and procedures (2004).

 

One communication interaction in the workplace was when a meeting was held so that the employees are informed about the changes in the company’s policy. In this communication interaction various ideas were shared so that adjustments can be made regarding the changes in policy. The meeting provided assistance in determining what actions can be done to make sure that changes in the workplace would not have a negative effect.

The Role of Organizational Communication in Managing Ethnic Conflict in Somalia

The Role of Organizational Communication in Managing Ethnic Conflict in Somalia

 

 

Introduction

            Ethnicity is a complex concept because of its wide-ranging scope resulting to various definitions.  conceptualises ethnicity based on his definition of ethnic group as “a segment of a larger society whose members are thought, by themselves or others, to have a common origin and to share important segments of a common culture and who, in addition, participate in shared activities in which the common origin and culture are significant ingredients.” This definition implies that an ethnic group constitutes three elements: 1) the group is deemed by the rest of society as difference based on one or a combination of traits of ancestral homeland, language, religion and race linked to culture; 2) members of the group consider themselves as different; and 3) the members of the group share in activities revolving around a common culture. These three elements constitute the parameters or the scales in conceptualizing ethnicity so that this concept becomes the social construction of identity and identification to a culturally distinct group.

             Ethnicity becomes a source of conflict because of its underlying bases on differences[2]. The fact that ethnic groups are distinguished according to their unique or different features indicates that ethnicity as a social construct also revolves around relative defining characteristics of a group to which individuals identify with. These differences results to conflict when the cultural values and practices of a group become inconsistent with the culture of another group. Inconsistencies cover a range of scenarios such as territorial, political, economic or socio-cultural disparities in each group’s perceptions. Inconsistencies can then translate into small or large-scale conflict or peaceful or violent confrontations.    

             supports ethnicity as a cause of conflict due to differences by providing that “ethno-national conflict is a dispute between two or more cultural groups that feel different from each other and view their relationship as unfair under existing political orders”. The author further provides that ethnic conflict is “opposition among social entities directed against one another, the intensity of which tends to increase with decreases in the social distance between the groups and with increases in the amount of energy behind them”.

             This conceptualization of ethnic conflict means that the difference-based perceptions of members of cultural groups in the context of unfair relationships lead to conflict. Moreover, perceptions of unfairness are linked to the majority-minority relations of various cultural groups especially in instances when the majority group extends their unwanted influence on minority groups. In addition, ethnic conflict has a political component because political structures constitute the machinery through which perceived unfairness is allowed, enforced or maintained. In relation to the intensity of ethnic conflict, this depends upon two factors. First is the extent of disparity or inconsistency in the cultural expressions of various ethnic groups so that greater inconsistency increases the propensity for conflict. Second is resource availability to the groups to support and sustain conflict so that groups with more resources tend to engage in conflict when inconsistencies in intercultural values and practices resulting to outcomes, perceived as unfair, arise.

             Ethnic conflict can lead to dire results such as the division of a state, political instability, displacement of communities, and economic downturns that cause or worsen poverty levels, such as in the case of Africa. Rothchild[4] provides for the need to manage ethnic conflict in order to dispel the negative effects of this conflict. The core idea of ethnic conflict management is the establishment of regulated positive interactions resulting to cooperation. In the case of African states, ethnic conflict management strategies are varied from administrative control and coercion, exhortation, persuasion, political autonomy, political education, power sharing and redistribution. These various strategies work in different circumstances and for different reasons such as denial or recognition of the ethnic and national identities or varying levels of compromise so that the contextual background of the ethnic conflict determines the appropriate strategy.

             The expectation that ethnic conflict management should result to the establishment of regulated positive interactions implies the need to consider certain factors in strategy selection and implementation. Factors necessary in building positive interactions involve the parties, channels, modes, standards and other factors important in developing interaction. Interactions occur through communication or discourse. This means that the concept of organizational communication plays an important role in ethnic conflict management by providing a means through which regulated interactions between conflicting ethnic groups as well as intervening parties can raise their issues and seek a solution to the conflict.

             Organizational communication is understood through two perspectives. The first perspective considers this tool as a component of the organization.  define communication as the process of sending and receiving messages using symbols. The second perspective views communication as the foundational basis of an organization. look at communication as the core binding force “that permits coordination among people and thus allows for organized behaviour”. consider communication as the means through which the behaviours of members of the group are best understood. Regardless of the difference in perspective, communication constitutes an important tool in group and intergroup processes.

             However, even if conflict management is recognized as an important tool in managing ethnic conflict, the application of this concept is contextual so that its role in various conflict situations could vary. This research seeks to investigate the role of organizational communication in managing ethnic conflict in Somalia. The study intends to test the existence and importance of organizational communication as a conflict management tool and investigates the role of organizational communication in the specific context of conflict management in Somalia.

 

Literature Review

             conducted an experimental study using the Q methodology to investigate the factors contributing to individual identification with an ethnic group or nation and the impact of the extent of identification with conflict and conflict resolution. The study challenged the theory of the traditional interrelationship of individuals, groups and systems. By looking at the particular case of Basque Country, the study was able to show that traditional theorizing on national and ethnic identity is limited in covering the subjective aspect of individual attachment to a nation. Filling this knowledge gap is important because subjective rationalizing defines the propensity of an individual to develop certain levels of attachment to the nation. Understanding subjective aspects of personal identification with a nation then provides important explanations on the occurrence of issues involving national and ethnic identities such as conflicts and the corresponding conflict resolution.

            The study was a response to previous studies on national and ethnic identities based on imagined or utopian communities. Previous studies considered identity as an object of discourse, instead of an observable phenomenon in actual settings through language and systems of communication, dress, and other physical or material manifestations of individual identity and identification with a particular cultural group or nation. Although, these studies provide important theoretical foundations for succeeding researches, there is need to enhance theorizing based on empirical data. The study used an actually existing nation as the locale of the experimental study in order to derive empirical authoritative data linking identity, ethnicity and nationality.  

            Basque Country was the locale of the experimental study because this constituted the only remaining non-Indo-European-speaking group in all of Western Europe and it has also experienced its share of ethnic conflict. Due to these characteristics, Basque Country provides a valuable setting for investigating the strength of links between individuals and the nation. Basque Country comprises of the three French provinces Basse Navarre, Labourd and Soule and four Spanish provinces Alava, Guipuzcoa, Navarra and Vizcaya. Basque Country borders France and Spain so that its population found influence from these two cultures in the establishment of ethnic and national identities.

            The underlying principle for the investigation of the subjective aspects of national and ethnic identity is the existence of three basic needs that only finds fulfilment through group alignment. First basic need is belongingness because of the innate drive of individuals towards emotional attachment to a group or groups for a number of reasons such as the advancement of other common interests achievable only through group interaction and participation. Second basic need is survival. Although, in many instances an individual working alone can provide for certain needs, there are necessities for survival that requires attachment with a group such as in constructing buildings or thoroughfares to facilitate travel, protecting territory, and providing for long term needs. Third basic need is individual value or worth, which a person receives only from interacting with other people. These three needs support the inclination of individuals to identify with an ethnic group or nation. These also constitute the theoretical framework for the experimental study using Q methodology.

            Q methodology applies in studies investigating the variable ‘subjectivity’. This works as a scientific means of studying subjectivity by not considering this variable as a metaphysical construct or mental state. This method elicits information from the subjects by documenting the communication of perspectives. Since opinions and attitudes have found general acceptance as the behaviour-based reflections of subjectivity, then documenting communication of views constitutes a valid means of deriving reliable data similar to studies having objective topics. This method covers subjectivity because it involves self-reference statements able to draw the personal opinions of individuals on the research topic.

            In applying the methodology to residents of Basque Country, the study collated 117 personal views given by Basques regarding Basque Country from various sources such as song lyrics, speeches, poems, news articles, academic writings and interviews. Out of these statements evolved the hypothesis that Basques develop attachment to the nation in these three ways: affective involvement by having a sentimental link to the nation, ego involvement by developing a sense of pride from associating with the nation, and goal involvement through motivation-based attachment with the nation. Out of this hypothesis evolved six categorizations of research participants, as affective committed, ego committed, goal committed, affective alienated, ego alienated, and goal alienated. After which thirty statements were developed representing the concourse of the six categories. The thirty statements formed Likert-type questionnaire presented to 31 participants for ranking.

            Experimental aspect of the study occurred during the ranking because the participants rated the extent of their agreement to the statements through self-reference so that they were able to share their personal understanding or interpretation of the statements and shed light on their personal national and ethnic identities. Factor analysis of the ranking statements showed two forms of attachment, Factor A and Factor B, with Basque Country. Although both factors involved Basque self-identity indicating respondents’ identification with Basque, Factor A involved forms of attachment collectively described as ‘guardian nationalism’ because of sentiments about protecting the core values of Basque Country such as the preservation of its language and drive towards self-determination or freedom from unwanted external intervention. Factor B reflects semblance of alienation from Basque Country because even if respondents recognize their identity as Basque, there is weak attachment to other aspects of Basque Nation such as to collective movements and politics. The primary difference between the two factors is their perception of Basque Country. Responses in Factor A comprise positive views of Basque in terms of its unique language and community cohesiveness while viewpoints in Factor B constitute negative views of Basque through politicized and violent collective action that dispels the development of strong identification with Basque.

            The research was able to provide two new factors of attachment that previous researches were unable to derive from their purely theoretical methodologies. Moreover, research results imply that the extent of individual identification with a nation and the expression of this level of identification influences conflict. Strong identification with the ethnic group and nation when expressed in radical action creates conflict within the group or with other groups.

            In relation to the current study on the role of organizational communication in managing ethnic conflict in Somalia, this research implies a number of significant applications to the current study. First implication is on methodology. Q methodology applies to the case of organizational communication in managing ethnic conflict in Somalia because the method enables the researcher to derive subjective views of Somalis on the utilization of organizational communication to manage ethnic conflict. Subjective views are important because the Somalis themselves should apply the tool in managing any occurring ethnic conflict. Studying the expressed perceptions of Somalis on the various aspects of organizational communication utilization provides the research with valuable information or whether this would work in the case of ethnic conflict in Somalia or whether the Somalis would be able to successfully apply this conflict management tool in addressing ethnic conflict in the country. However, Q methodology should be applied in context to derive generalized data. Second implication is on the results of the study. The study covering Basque Country implied that conflict depends upon the extent of individual identification to a nation and the expression of this attachment. This means that conflict should also find resolution by considering the identification factor. In utilizing organizational communication to manage ethnic conflict, national or ethnic identification or attachment should comprise a focus of the dialectic. National and ethnic identification provides part of the explanation for the emergence of the ethnic conflict, the parties, variables and factors intervening in the conflict, and the means of allaying conflict.

conducted a study on the relationship of identity with conflict behaviour. The study proceeds from the recognition that prior studies on intergroup conflict focused on interest advocacies and capability to create conflict as the factors explaining the occurrences of intra and inter-country conflict. An observation of the manifestations of conflict shows that identity comprises a strong motivation for conflict behaviour since most if not all conflicts revolve around identity-based issues. However, this has yet to be established since there are competing hypotheses on the link between identity and conflict. On one hand, proponents of the social identity theory provide that individual members of a group have a tendency to enhance ingroup value and devalue outgroup value. Concurrently, the extent of individual identification with the group determines the extent of devaluation for the outgroup. This means that if an individual carries strong links with the ingroup, that person has a greater tendency to develop strong devaluation of the outgroup that could manifest in conflict. On the other hand, self-identity development theorists provide that self-identity emerge through factors such as group identification, with group identification contributing to the security of an individual. Since a more secure individual experience an enhanced well-being, the person will also be less likely to engage in conflict behaviour. Although, there is a common recognition that identity is linked to conflict, there is a difference in opinion on the effect of identity and identification on conflict. This indicated the need to conduct further investigation on this relationship.

            To clarify this issue, the research conducted two experiments, a priming experiment and a simulation study. The priming experiment was intended to partition identity and investigate effects while the simulation study documented the development of identity in an ingroup and documented the effect of this development on conflict behaviour. Results of the priming experiment showed that there is a relationship between identity and conflict but the relationship is determined by intervening insecurity levels of the group members so that enhanced levels of security influence cooperative behaviours. Positive and negative perceptions of opponents have no documented influence on conflict behaviour. Results of the simulation study showed that greater identification of an individual with the ingroup caused more conflict behaviour. Image of an outgroup does not affect the conflict behaviours.

            In the priming experiment, 54 college students enrolled in an introductory international relations course participated in the first experiment. The participants were provided briefing papers covering a conflict in a country assigned to them and then they were asked to play the role of foreign policy adviser. Respondents were asked to answer a questionnaire intended to derive insecurity index, image of the outgroup index, and strategy index. Measurement of the identity roles displayed by the respondents utilised four categories of ingroup identity, including: 1) dissimilar ingroup characteristics; 2) similar ingroup characteristics; 3) similar ingroup characteristics together with instrumental identity; and 4) similar ingroup characteristics together with instrumental identity as well as differentiated or hostile outgroup. Answers to the questionnaire were processed using analysis of variance (ANOVA) to determine divergence in the identity formation and group identification of the respondents.

            Determination of the insecurity index constituted of five questions on the belief of the participants over the security situation in their assigned countries. The index resulted to a Chronbach α of .74 or moderately high ability of the questions to determine insecurity. Image of the outgroup index was through ratings of the outgroup using five opposite word pairs through a 7-point scale. Strategy index was determined through the rating of the strategies likely to the adopted by the participants contained in three opposing word pairs using the same 7-point scale. The last two indices had a Chronbach α of .81 indicating that the word pairings were able to significantly determine perceptions of outgroup image and strategy preferences respectively.

            Results of the ANOVA analysis of priming experiment results showed that participants negatively primed developed negative perceptions of the outgroup but higher levels of insecurity did not significantly support harbouring of negative perceptions about the outgroup. This means that despite negative priming, negative perceptions do not necessarily result to conflict behaviour against the outgroup.

            In the simulation experiment, 200 students participated to earn class points. Respondents were asked to select among 20 schedules so that there are 10 members per schedule assigned to two groups with five members. Each group was assigned as the foreign policy body of their respective countries. These groups discussed separately on identity building before coming up with the project of designing a flag and drafting a foreign policy response to the conflict. After this, each group rated the work of the other groups and each group is informed that the other group has rated their work negatively. Participants were then asked to complete a similar questionnaire used in the priming experiment processed through regression analysis.

            The insecurity index constituted nine questions rated through a 7-point scale to measure the extent of group identification. Questions had a Chronbach α of .89, which means the questions significantly measure insecurity. Image of the outgroup index was determined through seven word pairs intended to determine the perception of the participants of the other group. The word pairs received a Chronbach α of.90 indicating the high ability of the word pairs to derive outgroup image perception. Strategy index was measured through the rating of four word pairs using the 7-point scale to determine the strategy preferences of the group members. Word pairs scored a Chronbach α of .85 indicating that the word pairs were able to successfully determine the strategic preferences of the individual members of the group.

            Results of the regression analysis showed that as the degree of ingroup identification increases, individual behaviour tends to be more conflictual. This means that when ingroup identification increases, the strategy preferences become more hostile. However, even if there is a relationship between identification and conflict behaviour, identity only constitutes part of the explanation for conflict behaviour so that other factors affect the development of conflict. In the simulation study, image of the group also does not significantly determine conflict behaviour.

            In connection with the current study on the role of organizational communication in managing ethnic conflict in Somalia, this study provides theoretical and methodological implications. With regard to theoretical support, this study contributed to the clarification of the relationship between identity and conflict through the results of the two experimental studies so that there is a relationship between identity and ethnic conflict but the propensity of individuals to engage in conflict behaviour depends upon the strength of their identification with the ingroup together with other intervening variables. Identity and identification issues, together with all issues arising from the context of a conflict situation, should form part of the considerations in using organizational communication otherwise this tool will not be able to elicit satisfactory results. This study calls for the contextual investigation of issues to derive reliable data. With regard to the experimental method, although priming and simulation worked in the study in investigating the relationship between identity and conflict, these methods may not apply to the current study on the role of organizational communication in ethnic conflict management in Somalia because these methods apply to artificial conflict scenarios but the ethnic conflict in Somalia is an actually existing case. Although simulation can work in determining whether particular techniques of organizational communication could work in the case of Somalia, there are other appropriate experimental methods geared more towards the measure of factors arising in actual situations.

conducted an experimental study on the effect of the dynamics of majority and minority status of groups in the development of intergroup conflicts in Sri Lanka. The research proceeded with the goal of investigating attitudes variances for members of ethnic groups constituting majority or minority in a locale, especially the case where a group is a majority in a country but a minority in the region. The study was based on the assumption that the behavioural expressions of cognitive processing of majority-minority status influence the intergroup conflict. Investigation of this phenomenon occurred in Sri Lanka after the achievement of a ceasefire between the Sri Lankan government and Tamil rebel forces. Sri Lanka was chosen as the locale for the study because it fitted the majority-minority dynamics mentioned above. In Sri Lanka, Sinhalese group constituted the majority group while in South Asia the Sinhalese group comprise the minority with the Tamils comprising the majority group.

Experiment participants comprised of 100 Sinhalese high school students. The participants belonging to the Sinhalese ethnic group constituted sufficient demographic representation of the population in terms of gender, age group, and economic class. The experiment was held in four classrooms with twenty students per classroom. All the participants were issued similar instructions and manipulation materials. After introducing the manipulation, perceptions on conflict-relevant attitudes and stereotypes were assessed through factorial analysis. The results of the experiment showed that when the Sinhalese participants hold the view that they are the minority group, they tend to have a demonizing perception of the majority ethnic group so that the conflict-relevant attitudes become less conciliatory. This means that ethnic conflict has strong links to the perceptions of an ethnic group of its minority status relative to a majority ethnic group.

The experiment comprised of three parts. First is the map manipulation. Half of the respondents viewed the map of Sri Lanka while the other half observed the map of the whole South Asia. The maps only showed outlines of the geographic boundaries of Sri Lanka and South Asia without providing names of countries or provinces. In the maps are placed distinct black dots showing the location of ten unlabelled cities. Names of cities were separately listed on the right hand corner of the maps. In the South Asia map, eight of the ten cities were located in India, one is located in Sri Lanka, and the other city is located in the Eelam region where disputes between Sinhalese and Tamils occur. The participants were asked to name the cities marked with dots by choosing from the list. After marking the maps, the students then provided a rough assessment of the concentration of ethnic groups in the areas shown in the map by providing a percentage distribution of the six ethnic groups, Sinhalese, Tamils, Burghers, Sikhs and Europeans in Sri Lanka and South Asia. Percentages of the ratio of Sinhalese relative to Tamils served as the manipulation check in determining the students’ perception of majority and minority status of Sinhalese and Tamils.

Second is the questionnaire assessing the impressions of students of cultural stereotyping of Sinhalese and Tamils. Stereotyping was measured through students’ attitudes toward five socio-political issues. First issue is the promotion of birth control in Sri Lanka, which is not linked to the ethnic conflict between the ethnic groups. The remaining four issues are related to the conflict. Second issue is the attitude of the participants toward the peace process. Third issue is support for the separation and founding of the sovereign Tamil Eelam state. The fourth issue is support for establishing Eelam state as semi-independent. The fifth issue is support for the exchange of linguistic honorary courtesy in the political arena to Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) leaders through honorific titles as sign of respect. Responses to these issues were through scaled responses ranging from ‘strongly agree’ to ‘strongly disagree’.

The third part also delved deeper into the attitudes of the students over their own ethnic group and the other ethnic group. Participants were provided a list of twenty-one personal characteristics and asked to determine whether they perceive these characteristics as commonly expressed by either Sinhalese or Tamil group. Half of the students matched the characteristics with the Sinhalese group and the other half for the Tamil group. Instructions for rating asked for knowledge of general and not individual stereotyping. Twenty-one characteristics included: “(1) Loves own ethnic group; (2) Poor; (3) Hardworking; (4) Cunning; (5) Foolish; (6) Peace lovers; (7) Hostile; (8) Inhuman; (9) Selfish; (10) Naïve; (11) Unclean; (12) Terrorist or supporters of terrorism; (13) Unpleasant way of speech; (14) Aggressive; (15) Anger towards [outgroup: Tamil/Sinhalese] people; (16) Lazy; (17) Greedy for money; (18) Religious; (19) Fights for own rights; (20) Helpless; and (21) Strong ingroup unity”. Composite measures were derived from the ratings. Seven of these characteristics indicated malevolence (4, 6, 7, 8, 12, 14, 15, while item 6 was reverse-scored) while three expressed agency (10, 19, 20, while items 10 and 20 were reverse-scored). Composite indices for malevolence is a mean interitem score of r=.35 and chronbach’s alpha of .80 and interitem score of r=.23 and chronbach’s alpha of .47 for agency.

Analyses of results of manipulation checks showed close estimates of Tamil population for students shown the Sri Lankan and regional maps (M score of 40.23 and 44.26 respectively) even if the estimates of the Sinhalese population differed in estimates of the two respondent groups on the Sinhalese population in Sri Lanka and South Asia (M score of 72.79 and 28.10 respectively. This shows that the manipulation check worked in supporting the perception of majority status of the Sinhalese group in the country but minority status in the region.

In terms of the implication of the socio-political attitudes to Sinhalese and Tamil conflict, there was no strong correlation based on individual answers except for the significant influence of may manipulation on four items reflecting the disfavour over the sovereign Eelam state (p=.001), semi-independent Eelam state (p=.033), and the current peace process (p=.028)

In relation to the stereotyping attitudes indicating malevolence and agency, the Tamils were deemed as more malevolent relative to Sinhalese (p=.001) with malevolence ratings higher in the group shown the regional map (p=.040) while Tamils were also shown to be more agentic (p=.001) especially from participants shown the regional map. This supports the influence of stereotyping perception on negative or adversarial behaviour of a minority group towards the majority group.     

In application to the current study on the role of organizational communication to the management of ethnic conflict in Somalia, this study offers valuable insight in terms of methodological and theoretical support. Utilisation of a blank map to investigate the perception of the respondents on the majority and minority status of ethnic group through the identification of map or geographic locations and assessment of stereotyping attitudes applies in the current study because organizational communication should include the aspect of territoriality relative to minority and majority groups together with majority-minority attitudes and behaviours as bases of ethnic conflict. Moreover, the use of statistical measures constitutes a reminder of the need to use appropriate statistical checks to derive reliable conclusions. Results of the study support the direct relationship between the perception of members of an ethnic group over their relative majority or minority status and ethnic conflict. This could constitute an important conceptual framework for the current study by providing a causal factor of ethnic conflict and the need to include this in organizational communication in order for this ethnic conflict management tool to successfully achieve objectives for its usage. Organizational communication plays an important role in conflict management if the discourse covers salient conflict causation such as majority-minority perceptions and stereotypical attitudes.

             conducted a study on group inequalities in the academic setting. The research proceeded based on the basic assumption that inequalities are attributed to the characteristics of the individuals belonging to the group. Due to this common perception of the cause of group inequalities, researches rarely delve on the structural causes surrounding group inequalities. The study investigated the cognitive, cultural and systematic explanations for the bias. These explanations are tested in the academic setting by taking two college classes to undergo a course on group inequalities. In this course, content and learning technique relates to the development of structural thinking about group inequalities. The active learning process relates to the implementation of structural thinking to change objectives.

            The study considers the United States as the forum of investigation. Based on studies characterizing the perceptions of Americans about differences arising in members of a group, these commonly provide that the general population hold a biased perspective about differences so that attitudes and behaviour towards differences also become biased. Concurrently, other studies also looked into the difficulties brought about by structural thinking. Some studies consider individualistic thinking as a natural inclination of people so that it is not surprising for people to harbour biased perspectives absent any intervening variables. Other studies consider culture as a determinant of individualistic perceptions because there are cultures that encourage individualism more than other cultures. This means that biased perceptions regarding differences normally occur in cultures that harbour individualistic perceptions more than collective thought.

            Structural thinking is important to the issue of group inequalities because biased individual consideration of differences manifests through group inequality. This means that changing biased perspectives involves the shift from biased to structural consideration of differences. Structural understanding of individual differences gives rise to an objective and contextualized perception of variances that results to tolerance or constructive responses to these differences and avoids the adverse effects of biased perspectives such as discrimination. The research sought to study the occurrence of biased perspectives among college students, introduce a course intervention to develop structural thinking among these students, and document the changes in perspective arising from the intervention.

            There are a number of interventions that could be introduced in different settings to affect change in perspective from biased to structural. One important means of achieving this shift is through education on various levels from household, to sector and even community based learning. Education on structured thinking could also be achieved in the school setting making classroom education an important channel for change. Previous researches on the link between structured thinking and education resulted to divergent results. On one hand, some researches have found that schooled individuals, particularly the people completing college or university education are less authoritarian because of their exposure to more structured thinking. On the other hand, other studies also provide a weak relationship between education and structural thinking because of inconsistencies in the results of various researches. This means that there is need to conduct further research to clarify the differences in research results.

            In applying the experimental method, the research introduced the course ‘Introduction to Intergroup Relations and Conflict’ to first year college students that exposed the students to structural resource materials on group differences and conflict. As teaching method, the course used active participation and discussion as primary modes of learning. Through this course, two experiments were conducted with processed through regression analysis. Study 1 investigated the cumulative effect of the course on the causal thinking of the students regarding group differences and the development of conflict. After-course perspectives of the students were compared to the perspectives of a control group or a freshman class that did not take part in the course. Study 2 looked into the extent of change that occurred in the thinking of students taking the course by comparing the perspectives of students before and after taking the course.

            Study 1 involved 174 student participants with half participating in the course and the other half not involved in the course. The respondents were selected to represent the demographic characteristics of age, gender and ethnicity, pre-college residence, and college residence. During the end of the term, the students were asked to answer a questionnaire similar to the questionnaire floated to the control group. Answers were analysed using the two criterions of attributed causes of ethnic or racial inequality and the causal analysis of conflicts arising between or among different groups. The first criterion was addressed through the students’ ranking of five statements that were both positively and negatively stated. Results showed that the students participating in the course were able to perceive more structure-based causes of ethnic or racial inequality. The second criterion applied with students reading a vignette on inequality. After reading this vignette, students were requested to list the causes of conflict. Content analyses of the answers determined the extent of causal recognition of students. Results pointed out that the respondents exhibited lesser individualistic and greater structural thinking after finishing the course. Based on the results of Study 1, education has an important influence in developing structural thinking among students that is important in understanding differences and prevents unnecessary conflict.

            Study 2 investigated the impact of the course in developing structural thinking by considering in-depth change in causal thinking of the students before and after taking the course. The course was offered to another group comprised of 203 students enrolled in the course. Students were asked to complete a pre and post-test questionnaire after completing the course. Results of the questionnaire were analysed through four measures. Based on the first measure of causes attributed to group inequalities, the participants exhibited more structured thinking about ethnic inequality after taking the course. A similar improvement in thinking also occurred in the case of the issue of poverty indicating that the students developed skills in structural thinking that they can apply not only to the issue of ethnic inequality but also to other issues such as poverty. Through the second measure covering the causal analysis of conflicts among groups by going through a language-based vignette, students also showed improvements in structural thinking by providing greater structural attributions towards various aspects of the issue subject of study. Using the third measure of targets of change, students also increasingly expressed the realisation of the need to change social structures to incorporate more structured perspectives about issues. By using the fourth measure, constituted by the course dimensions of content and pedagogical tool, results showed that content, learning tools coupled with degree of student participation in the course determines the extent of change in structural thinking.

            In application to the current study on the role of organizational communication to ethnic conflict management in Somalia, results of this research contribute both methodological and content values. The offering of a course on intergroup conflict to a specified group as an experimental intervention may also be applied to the investigation of the role of organizational communication to ethnic conflict in Somalia especially when the Somalis strongly carry biased individualistic perspectives of intergroup differences. An educational or learning intervention to determine conflict causation based on individual perspectives of intergroup differences, provide a channel through which a group can structurally perceive differences to avert conflict, and catalyze the realization of the need to change perspectives in managing conflict. Utilisation of the appropriate statistical tool, in this case is regression analysis to determine the existence of a relationship and the strength of relationship between the variables education and structural thinking, also constitutes an important consideration in experimental research to derive reliable data. In terms of content, results of the study showed that education has a significant effect in changing individual perspectives from a biased to a more structured view to prevent or manage ethnic conflict but a change in perspective is only achieved when the beneficiaries of the educational intervention actively participate in the learning process. This means that organizational communication should adhere to the structural model and participative method to achieve positive results.

 

 

Conclusion

            Ethnic conflict is a timely topic of study because of the emergence of culture-based conflicts in various states and regions. However, despite a number of researches on the ethnic conflict, this concept remains complex in terms of theoretical and empirical rigor. On the theoretical side, there are divergent opinions on the conceptualization of the key terms in ethnic conflict such as ethnicity. On the empirical side, various studies perceive various aspects of ethnic conflict differently such as the cause of the conflict and the various factors intervening in the conflict. This means that there is a wide gap to fill in ethnic conflict studies.

            Concurrently, in relation to the study on the role of organizational communication on ethnic conflict management that finds foundation on ethnic conflict, it is expected that existing theorizing on the subject also admit to complications. Nevertheless, this means that there is great impetus for this study in order to contribute to the clarification of the complexities of these concepts or variables, albeit in the specific context of ethnic conflict in Somalia. Through the results of this research using the experimental method, aspects of the complexities of ethnic conflict management would be addressed especially to provide empirical support for the nature and extent of the role of organizational communication in managing the ethnic conflict in Somalia.

 

 

 

 

BUSINESS COMMUNICATION CUSTOMS IN NORWAY

BUSINESS COMMUNICATION CUSTOMS IN NORWAY

 

 

 

 

 

INTRODUCTION

 

 

            The onset of globalization has transformed the world into one big global community wherein trends, attitudes, lifestyles, social issues, and ideas can liberally flow from one nation to another. This phenomenon also fuels the transfer of technology and know-how, skills and expertise, and manpower between national boundaries. Maddox says that business firms in the contemporary world exist in a highly turbulent business environment  and are aggressively pursuing their “share of the new world market.” The current business norm is “to ensure survival is to be global” ().Hence, the modern world has witnessed the rise of a new breed of business organizations in the form of multi-national corporations, outsourcing firms, and business companies embarking on foreign operations. However, participating in the world market is not a simple step. The business firm has to take into consideration several factors to guarantee successful operation in the foreign land. One of these factors is the culture of the new country where the firm would operate. Culture dictates the various business customs and etiquettes that would guide business people in dealing with foreign colleagues and make the business operation responsive to the natural setting of the new country of operation.

 

BUSINESS COMMUNICATION CUSTOMS IN NORWAY

 

 

            The Norwegian culture places immense value to the “family, women, the Jante Law and egalitarianism.” Norwegians live by the rules of the Jante Law which dictates humility in all their human relations. They are modest people with simple interests and preferences and enjoy affection and affiliation with fellow people. Norwegians inherently manifest humility in their tendency not to render criticisms to other people, regard everyone as equal, avoidance of extravagant display of financial successes, and admonition for those people who boast their wealth or achievements. Norwegians also adopt the egalitarianism’s principles of respect and interdependence. They form personal affiliations based on good personality and admirable human characteristics and not on professional achievements or financial status.  They pursue simple things and modest goals in their quest for success. Norwegians believe that honesty and sincerity are essential ingredients for successful personal relationships ().

 

            The business culture in Norway is marked by four characteristics: “informal style, direct communication, individual interests/discretion, and transactional relationships” (). Partapuoli narrates that business communication in the Norwegian context takes place on “direct, person-to-person encounters when business affiliates travel and meet, or indirectly through modern communication channels such as fax, email and telephone.” Norwegians value time and are skillful in time management that they can initiate and facilitate business in the absence of face-to-face interactions.

           

            Norwegians follow an informal style in business communication. They are honest and frank business people who use straightforward language and direct communication (). They have the tendency to be curt and honest about their views and ideas relative to business matters. They do not have any hesitance or difficulty in expressing lack of interest or doubt on any particular business deal being contracted with them. Norwegians are also reserved in their communication patterns. They are mostly soft-spoken and often display “fewer gestures and less lively facial expressions” during personal or business interactions ().

 

            Furthermore, Norwegians participate in business transactions based on individual interests and personal discretion (). They are very observant of colleagues during any business encounters. They use the information obtained from the observation to formulate ideas about who they think would be effective colleagues and business partners (). Norwegians prefer to enter into business dealings or form business partnerships with those colleagues who have already earned their trust. Colleagues who have the greatest chance of earning their respect are those who consistently display professionalism in their daily efforts at the workplace, those who deliver excellent job performance, and those who show commitment and dedication to tasks and responsibilities by simply meeting set deadlines or showing confidence and self-assurance in the office (). On the other hand, Norwegians choose possible business partners based on their impressions during meetings with them. Business meetings with Norwegians are very influential in earning their trust for a business deal. A business meeting appointment with a Norwegian colleague should be scheduled as far as advance as possible since these people value time management. Business appointments are meticulously scheduled so as to set aside ample time for them. Appointments for a business meeting can be communicated through formal writing or through electronic means such as email and telephone. Formal written invitation to a business meeting with Norwegians should be addressed to the head of the division of a particular company even if the person writing the letter does not know the name of the officer. Norwegians also appreciate being sent a copy of the agenda prior to the actual meeting so that they can make the necessary preparations at their end (). During the actual business meeting, Norwegians place importance on “punctuality, greetings, detailed and well-researched presentations, and focus on the agenda” (). Lasky claims that Norwegians associate coming early to every business occasion with professionalism, seriousness with the business proposal, and trustworthiness. If somebody would be late in meeting a Norwegian colleague, the person has to call and explain the cause of the delay. Failure to do so connotes risk to a possible relationship. When greeting Norwegian colleagues, it is best to say “How do you do?” since there is no specific translation for “How are you?” in the Norwegian parlance or their distinct understanding of the English language (). Norwegians value information. They appreciate if their colleagues can provide them with well-designed presentations complete with figures, charts and explanatory statements. They are attentive listeners who would patiently listen to the person doing the presentation before expressing their reactions. Norwegians do not ask questions during business presentations as they think that interrupting someone who is talking is unethical. Thus, it is imperative to designate a portion of the meeting for an open forum to give way for Norwegian colleagues to raise their observations and inquiries. Norwegians pay attention to details and information because they use them as basis for pointing out the flaws in a business proposal, identifying any discrepancy in what their business colleagues say and what written materials state, assessing the viability of a business proposal, and in formulating decisions regarding the business proposal offered to them (). Also, Norwegians do not appreciate being invited to a business meeting during the vacation months of July and August, two weeks before and after Christmas, and the week before and after Easter (). Finally, Norwegians do not associate business with personal affairs. They expect that conversations during business meetings are focused on the agenda at hand.  They want sufficient time for every detail of the business matter to be tackled and evaluated before any deal is sealed. Norwegians who host business meetings make the set agenda central to all discussions. They signal the end of business discussion when they attempt to shift the course of the conversation to another topic ().

 

 

            Norwegians are transactional in their business affairs. They do not necessarily require long history of personal relationship in the conduct of business affiliations. Business is facilitated accordingly without letting personal affairs meddle with it. Nevertheless, they want trusted people as business colleagues. Thus, it is important that anybody who wants to transact business with Norwegians must provide personal information or applicable corporate details about the company that is being represented before the actual business encounter (Norway). asserts that Norwegians acknowledge the importance of nurturing relationships among business associates. Though they try to define clear boundaries between personal relationships and business partnerships, their warm nature as a people and their innate love for personal connections render great influence in their business transactions ().

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

New Communication and Media Technologies

Castellsian Concept: The logic of Networks

The logic of networks is incorporated by various industries because of today’s modern information age. Example: books that are now sold and purchased on the internet. This is called E-Commerce, where business is conducted using the internet. One example of a company famous in E-Commerce is Amazon. The company sells books on-line; also published articles can be read and purchased. The logic of networks, one of Castells’ concepts, reflects how Amazon is reinventing their business concept and strategy through on-line business. The internet, today, is also used in learning. Schools are now offering online courses to anyone. Here lectures are done through online communication. The interaction of teachers and students are web based. This new form of social network had been accepted because of convenience and portability it gives.

Castells’s theory of network society has a central position with modern dynamics that transform the conventional everyday life. As an assumption, system-wide networked culture opens new innovative business perspectives for various industries in constructing their business concepts and objectives. New foundation of higher communication technology shows how society is witnessing change. Network becomes a hierarchy that constitute to organized process. Like the internet, it is a large network of information around the world. Such information can constitute to other. Because this information is accessible to anyone in the world, this can bridge cultural gap between nation and people.

There is a deep connection between how a society process is structured, and the values that these process. The network society offers a flexible structure that reflects today’s information demand. For Castells, the worth of theory lies in the capacity to aggregate and to arrange empirical learning.

The internet is fast and evolving. The invention of the internet changed the convention way of human lining. In the society where in people learned the importance of communication and interaction had embraced modern information systems. Nowadays some industries are more focus on developing there technologies through acquisition of state of the art facilities and equipment. Technology had become a part of everyday lire. it had change the way on how we communicate and interact with others. Example: the internet changed the conventional way of communication by providing faster communicating medium through E-mails and Chats. Social interaction had become available and easy by using the Internet. Social interaction allows a person to grow and development their intrapersonal skills. It allows a person to socialize and expressed their thoughts and idea with other people. Like friendster groups; in which people are allowed network with friends in a new way. You can become a friend to someone because of a certain person/friend that connects you to the friend’s list as well. Friendster is a new social group that gives individuals the privilege of creating personal accounts, customizing blogs, and share photos, videos and profiles with others. Friendster had become a major cultural impact to the world. Because people can meet anyone in the world it offers unlimited social and cultural exchange. Youtube.com is also a website that enables user to share videos to all the users of the site. It is also a website that serves as a medium to bridge cultural gap.

An example of company that incorporates internet in their business is Amazon. The flow of network in Amazon website is simple. You just click on the book you wanted to browse and all the information regarding that book will be showed to you. You can also read some of reviews regarding the content of the book, and you can also search the content of that book before actually purchasing it on-line. E-commerce allows a company to conduct business worldwide, which is if the company is offering worldwide service. This helps business cater more customers.

This indicates that the Castells logic of networks is present and available in today’s modern era. Because technology is at constant changed, there can be some transformation through the network society in respect to organizational changes. The ideas behind this can be found in Manuel Castells’ interview – the man behind the logic of network concepts and ideas.

 

Castell’s interviews provide you with a summary of the important points from Castells, including his thoughts about issues involving the network society and the importance of digital communications and information flows. According to Castells, the network society itself is the social arrangement which marks what people have been calling the information society or post industrial society and can be a matter of changing the word world. Castell consider the global economy different form global market in terms of internationalized financial system and principles to values. On his interview Castell states that:

“the global economy is not the same thing as the world economy of a highly internationalized economy. It's not. Because the global economy is based on the ability of the core activities -- meaning money, capital markets, production systems, management systems, information -- to work as a unit in real time on a planetary scale. Meaning that, at this point, we can process, and we do, billions and billions of dollars in seconds. And that can change from values to values, from markets to markets, from currencies to currencies, which increases the complexity, the size, and, ultimately, the volatility of global financial markets around the world. Which makes, in fact, impossible any kind of autonomy of financial markets in one country or one place vis-à-vis what's happening in the global system; which, therefore, makes extremely difficult any kind of monetary and budget policy which does not take into consideration the global financial market.”

Castell points the connection and difference between the global economy and the world economy. What’s happening in the global market will have a relevant effect in the world market and the social community.

Identity in the Network Society

In addition to organizations having to adapt to this new reality of a network world, social groups have to respond and adapt to the new reality of the new network world. In a world of global flows of wealth, power and images, the search for identity becomes the fundamental source of social meaning. According to Castell, “it's a paradox that I found empirically in my research; I didn't start like this. I started from the technology side, the network side, and then I found that part of the story about the transformation of power did not correspond to that logic, but to the logic of resisting the domination of values implemented through these very effective networks and trying to provide alternative meaning.” Castell point is that power in a network corresponds to logic. These networks are powerful but they only include what are interesting from the point of view, interest, and the values of the sources that are in these network. Example: the network of a global capitalist includes the network of companies, countries, regions, and people that enhances the value of the capitalist network in terms of money-making.

            The reaction to these networks are asserted and/or defined as identity, which helps us understand the complexity and the actual happenings in the world. Using the computer doesn’t necessarily change the world. It’s about how the people use the computer and apply it to how they live. Example: an oil company can distribute computers in Nigeria, and this can be used by the people to organized protest movements, locally and abroad. Castells states that “the Internet's an extraordinary instrument for creation, free communication, etc., you can use the Internet to exclude, because you can exclude in terms of the access to the network, the digital divide. But you can also exclude in terms of the culture and education and ability to process all this information that has happened on the net, and then use it for what you want to do, because you don't have the education, the training, the culture to do it, while the elites of the world do.” According to Castell, the internet is a powerful tool for communication and creation. It can be used not just for good cause but also for other agenda. Sometimes, the internet can promote racism and exclude those people in the social network. A person can be excluded in the network if considered to be unsuited to the elites, etc.

            Castell wrote in his book, "Social movements in the Information Age are essentially mobilized around cultural values. The struggle to change the codes of meaning in the institutions and practice of the society is the essential struggle in the process of social change in the new historical context, movements to seize the power of the minds, not state power." He explains that In a so-called information society, minds are not only the most important economic asset -- companies with minds make money; companies with money and no minds lose the money -- it's the same thing in everything. The networks are not programmed by technology; technological tools are programmed by minds. So the human consciousness [is the source], because everything now depends on our ability to generate knowledge and process information in every domain and activity. Knowledge and information are cognitive qualities from the human mind. Yes, human minds usually are connected to bodies, which mean that you have to take into consideration the overall system of human existence, social services support, etc. But fundamentally, the human mind has always been, but more than ever now, the source of wealth, power, and control over everything. In a world where the peoples mind continuously shape existence, the ability  to influence and to change the categories on which we think becomes the essential battle. It’s a battle of the mind, politics, and economy because people will always decide for themselves on what they want and don’t want to buy. The world’s economy is a battle that only the best thinkers can win.

            Example of Castell about this idea is: “In the last thirty years there has been the most extraordinary cultural revolution in history: women have changed the way they think about themselves. Once women in industrialized countries, but also in most developing countries -- there is a process toward this thinking -- decided that the patriarchal family (the institutional domination of men over women and children in the family) is not correct, that men and women are equal and women have to develop their own interests and culture, have their own relationship to work, to everything -- once women have changed that, everything changes. The family changes; therefore, socialization of children changes; therefore, personality changes, sexuality changes, everything changes. And that's the process we are in. Environmentalists: if you introduce the notion that production is not just growth but sustainable development, everything from the way we work to the way we produce to the way we consume is affected by this cultural transformation. And in democratic societies, this, in fact, translates also into politics. It translates into choices”.

            The battle of the minds is not simply a social movement that changes the cultural code f the society, but changes the power that rephrase the categories with new words and images without changing the meaning of these categories. Talents and ideas are the sources of productivity and competitiveness in this battle. In the overall social organization, when people change their minds, it will determine how they will change their behavior. And the change in behavior would eventually affect the changes in the overall social organization.

            Castell’s analysis is subtle in the sense that a superficial look at the world suggests that the conglomerates and the mega-corporations are completely riding in the saddle and in charge of the direction of the society. "ecologists, feminists, religious fundamentalists, nationalists, and localists are the potential subjects of the Information Age." That they can, in essence, come up with categories of thinking and responses that affect the way technology changes the world around us.” There is a general misunderstanding that corporations run the world. Corporations only run their corporations. They don’t run the economy because they depend on the economy which is in general an uncontrollable system. They only depend on how investors perceive and value them in the global financial market because the truth is without investors there is corporation.

            The fate of the company is determines by the turbulences of information that control the financial markets, and the ability and the capabilities of companies to ride the subjectivity of financial markets. This means that, companies do not run the world, because they cannot even control the global economy. There are some factors and influences about this idea. There's not an executive committee of the capitalist class that doesn’t plan and run the world. But on the other hand, companies and governments don't run the world because more and more there are alternative actors, social movements of all kinds, identity, communal movements, as well as proactive movements such as environmentalists, women, etc., that ultimately shape the agenda of both corporations and government institutions. Governments in the world, at this point, have a tremendous crisis of legitimacy.

            Because of this illegitimacy of the government some or most of the citizens trust against their government is not that great. The complexity of our world is that the institutions of governments are crumbling, while on the other hand, networks of technology, capital, production are organizing our lives throughout the world and many, different alternative sources of values and interests are emerging as a response to this one-sided domination, because people do not have institutions through which they can process their claims and their demands.

            In the context of this new emerging world, an individual should be analytical. That individual should characterize, in social terms, in values and organization. Most people in today’s advance societies are building their projects as individuals, family, economy, in everything. These means we are in the world of in individuals. And the internet, rather create what we can call a virtual community, is provides a basis to increase the peoples sociability as individuals. On the other hand, people who don't feel strong as individuals tend to build trenches of opposition, and they then close the community. For instance: are religious fundamentalists and extreme nationalism. We have individuals and communities, and in between, the civil society and the state -- they don't vanish, but they are dramatically weakened. And the civil society and the state were, in fact, the institutions that emerged as forms of social organizations in the industrial age.

            Castell points that education is more important than ever in today’s era. Education should not be the conventional and traditional form of education. Education should be developed to what Castell calls a “self-programming capabilities”. That is, the ability for a person to adapt, and to learn how to use a person’s knowledge in the implementation of their project and task throughout their lives. Building the knowledge capability of a person need not to have lots of information, but that person should be capable to find information and know how to combine this information which would be very good and very strong in a broad educational training.

            On the other hand, regarding on the personality side of an individual, on a constantly changing world, it is necessary that a person’s education help provide that person with flexible and secure personalities. Flexible personalities will help especially the young people, because young people are going through extraordinary transformation in their lives. At the same time, in order to have a strong, relatively secure personality, an individual needs values. But not so many values, because many values cannot be strong. A few solid values such as "don't do to the others what you don't want the others to do you.” will be enough for a person to have a standard but solid value in life to follow.

The logic of the information age

The logic of networks comprises the innovative social morphology of the societies and the diffusion of networking logic considerably modifies the process and outcome with the process of construction, knowledge, authority and culture. While the networking appearance of social group has survived in extra period and places as the novel information technology paradigm provides the basis for its pervasive expansion throughout the complete societal structure.' (). This network logic and the form of organization induce a social willpower at superior level being one that was unidentified before. The fundamental influence of network flows will get further significance than the precise welfare they stand for, the flows of authority. It becomes imperative to be in attendance in a system and not be disqualified from it and single system might rule another fewer vibrant and influential network.

            The Information Technology, especially the IT Revolution became a network and an instrument for social movement for people to response in the crisis of the nation, democracy, civil society’s traditional institution, and patriarchy in large part of the world. Together these are causing a new social structure (a network society), a new economy (a global informational economy) and a new culture (a culture of 'real virtuality').  Information Technology became a network where people are interconnected. Individuality is part of the network where an individual tends to interact in this virtual society because they are not accepted as individual in the real society.

The world is connected in a network. We can say hat the world has been very much connected in a network because of the internet. Unlimited links to different sites are available through the net. Example of such websites which gives unlimited links to mostly anything in the world is Yahoo () and Google (). Yahoo is an email service provider with comes with almost everything; mailing, news, entertainment, everything; you can search to any topic that you want and the search engine will give you all the links that are in relevance to the topic you want to find. On the other hand, Google is just a search engine that gives different links to topics that are being searched. Some business firms have already incorporated the logic of network trough their business. The logic of network, one of Castells concepts, reflects how some firms are conducting business in the current market. Internet has been the very key that we can consider why the world can be look at as a network. Example of Firm that incorporated this network in their business is Amazon; a company that sells book; which buying of books can be done online by visiting the firm’s website ().  By doing such business through the net, the firm can accommodate foreign customers because business will be available worldwide. The firm will then cater to different regions, making the business global. One of Castells concepts, convergence of technology; in regards to business; has been used by firms in globalization because the internet reaches to anyone in the world it the perfect medium to conduct business. 

            The internet has become a convenient way to meet new people and keep in touch with family and love ones. Friendster, a website that is basically is a network of people under a server. The server is the Friendster mainframe, the network are the members. Friendster allows people to keep in touch with friends in a new way. It also allows a person to meet new people around the globe, but of course a person needs a friendster. You can become a friend to someone because that person is in the friends list of a particular friend of yours. Personal photos, blogs, videos, and profile can be shared and viewed by other members. In a way, this indicates a strong proof that the logic of networks is truly present and available for use in this modern trend. There can be transformation through the network society in respect to organizational changes.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Intercultural communication theories seeks to understand how people from different countries and cultures behave, communicate and perceive the world around them. Working in a multinational corporation

Management Organization

 

Table of Contents

            Introduction

            Discussion

            Conclusion

            References

 

           

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Introduction

            I agree that crisis and issues management as well as reputations management are linked as it implies imperative aspects that give organizations reasons to discuss certain issues concerned from within like when companies experiencing crisis in terms of operations and delivery for instance that incur motion issues within employees and the management and that the reputation of the company are to be in place . If presume to define corporate communication with these ideas in mind, there would say that it is the act of effectively conveying to a company’s stakeholders the corporate philosophy that the company regards as the ultimate expression of its corporate culture. Since corporate communication involves selectively communicating the company’s views and objectives to those stakeholders whom it regards as important, it can therefore be described as management strategy as managers consider corporate communication not as just an information activity but as a corporate management issue. If a corporation is to develop and expand its business, it must constantly be looking to the future (Source: )

 

            Formulating a philosophy, vision or plan of what management hopes the company will one day become is a constant requirement for any corporation and is itself an important corporate activity. The prime concern is to develop the know-how to pursue a future oriented strategy and make a deliberate and conscious effort to use that know how skillfully.  As changes in personal values and behavior are producing changes in the communication of corporate values, a company will win business opportunities in the global marketplace only if it is able to anticipate these changes and has a clear vision of the future, one that is intelligible to society at large and acceptable to its stakeholders. New standards for assessing corporate performance such as rankings of the most admired, the most ethical and the most environmentally friendly corporations, for example, are now being published in most countries; companies are aware of these rankings and try to redefine themselves accordingly . To be more precise, the use of corporate communication to convey management’s clear vision accurately to the company’s stakeholders has made it possible to build a common ground between them.

            Management communication will try to persuade individual subordinates that the goals of the organization are desirable. Its specific purpose is to transmit authority and to achieve cooperation with the organization and more precisely: developing a shared vision of the company maintaining trust in the organizational leadership, managing the change process and motivating employees. In the face of this heterogeneous group of communications, it is essential to obtain a durable coordination between the different forms of internal and external communication. A strategic approach of corporate communication implies a new vision of the role of communication both within the organization and between the organization and its environment. Identity and image constitute two key concepts of corporate communication in the field of project marketing, the ultimate goal being the creation of a positive and durable basis for relationships with the multigroups on which the company depends. Concerning the particular dimensions of corporate communication, it appeared that the traditional communication mix arrives late after the management communication and the organizational communication. Concerning the tools, the relational network seems to be the best adapted to the particular situation and the targeting allows a good dispatching of the resources at this level.

Discussion

            It cannot be denied that within organizations, there is an increasing incidence of employees coming from different backgrounds, different national or ethnic cultures, different sexes, and so many other differences. Organizations must therefore learn to effectively manage a labor pool increasingly diversified by sex, social class and roles, and ethnic and national origins in order to remain competitive.

These employees from different national or ethnic cultures have different expectations of themselves, different culturally learned forms of behavior, and, consequently, different ways of handling potential opportunities. It is important that management must therefore be aware of the impact of these characteristics and stress the contributions of all employees and the opportunities that exist for all workers. Strategies for managing employees from different national or ethnic cultures should therefore be formulated for such a diverse workforce. This particular paper will talk about employees from different national or ethnic cultures and what best strategies are available for properly managing this diverse population of employees. This will focus within the economic, social and legal framework of the western countries.

A culturally diverse workforce has been an increasingly common scene nowadays. Companies and organizations will continue to face this scenario, or variations on it, with increasing frequency over the next several years. It is commonplace to see an office whereby on one desk an Asian is sitting and on the next desk is a Caucasian. Another example of a scenario where the workforce is made up of a culturally diverse population is in a hospital wherein the nurses and other health care professionals are Asians, Caucasians, Africans, and other nationalities. Managing diversity has therefore become an important part of the management’s priority.

With this increasing culturally diverse workforce, companies are starting to learn that diversions from the model of the successful employee as a forthrightly ambitious white male should not be taken as measures of the desire and ability to achieve. It does not take to be colored white in order to reign superior and achieve in a multi-colored workplace.

Modesty and other culturally learned forms of behavior can mask the true skills--including management skills--of the work force. To remain competitive and efficient, then, companies are beginning to realize that they must use their available pool of workers effectively. And in order to do so, companies must therefore be able to employ the best strategies of managing this culturally diverse workforce.

As the work pool increasingly includes people with diverse backgrounds, companies that stress the contributions of all its workers--not just those who are whites--will be ahead of those that do not make the effort. Many companies see this adaptation as a business issue. Every organization must be able to manage a culturally diverse workforce in order to continue to prosper and stay ahead in the business.

Given the potential for communication problems and interpersonal conflicts in a more diverse work force, effective interpersonal communication skills will, no doubt, continue to be extremely valuable within the context of improving organizational productivity (, , 1994). An effective strategy for managing a culturally diverse workforce must therefore focus first on the communication problems and interpersonal conflicts that are present in a more culturally diverse workforce.

Research on managing diversity suggest that for culturally heterogeneous work teams to perform well, all members should have ample opportunity to contribute, and interpersonal communications, group cohesiveness, and interpersonal conflict issues need to be successfully addressed (, , 1994). Management must therefore make this a strategy to give all the employees the opportunity to contribute regardless of their national and ethnic backgrounds. Interpersonal communications, group cohesiveness, and interpersonal conflict issues should also be successfully addressed by the management.

Understanding and valuing cultural differences also ranks in the top programs for current employees and current managers, indicating that personnel directors perceive that incoming employees to their organization understand and value cultural differences more than longer-tenured non-managerial and managerial employees (, , 1994). It is understood that people of different national and ethnic backgrounds will act differently and therefore should be given allowances in adjusting to a certain environment and culture within an organization. Management should understand and value cultural differences in order for employees of different ethnic and national backgrounds to be able to do well within a diverse organization.

The accuracy of these perceptions notwithstanding, one can only assume that the personnel directors are knowledgeable of the attitudes and values of their organizations' current employees. And based on this knowledge, it would appear that a priority program for their current non-managerial and managerial employee is training in understanding and valuing cultural differences (, , 1994).

Improving English proficiency ranks fourth in importance for incoming employees but ninth and tenth for current employees and current managers. This is not surprising, since a substantial number of incoming employees are expected to be foreign immigrants. Of interest, however, is the ranking of the bilingual skill training for English speaking employees, which ranks tenth and eighth for current employees and current managers, respectively. Apparently, the directors feel that their organizations expect incoming employees to do the adjusting where language differences are concerned (, 1994).

The major implication of significant increases in work force diversity is that the workplace will be fraught with a variety of different, and often conflicting, languages, values, beliefs, attitudes, and behaviors. A 1990 Business Week survey revealed that senior managers of 65% of responding organizations were highly concerned about the effect these differences will have on organizational activities and output. However, if the responses given by the nation-wide sample of personnel directors surveyed for this article can be generalized to the organizations represented in the Business Week survey, U.S. organizations are not adequately prepared to deal with the challenges these differences will create. Moreover, the percentage of organizations currently preparing to deal with these future challenges by providing and involving their employees in diversity training programs, is relatively small (, 1994).

Personnel directors, more than anyone else in organizations, are in a position to know what is needed to facilitate the transition to a more highly diverse work force. From their responses to our survey, diversity training is the key to minimizing any disruptions which may be associated with significant increases in work force diversity. Personnel directors have indicated, by their responses to our survey, the specific diversity training programs that should be given top priority in organizations. Their task now is to convince top management, in their respective organization, that significant increases in workforce diversity is a concern with far-reaching implications. Such increases have the potential to be a boon or a bust to organizations, as they strive to achieve their productivity aspirations (, 1994).

If organizations are to capitalize on the new ideas and creative talents which are argued to be latent in a highly diversity workforce, but cannot be tapped unless the workforce is cultivated by applying appropriate training programs, they must be proactive in their approach to dealing with this concern. Personnel directors can be, and rightly so, a catalyst for ensuring that their organizations take a proactive approach with respect to training programs. We can only hope that their responses to the survey, as reported in this article, will be instrumental in encouraging them to take the steps necessary to begin the process of preparing now for the inevitable: significant increases in workforce diversity (, 1994).

Some organizations have implemented various programs to educate, train and improve productivity of employees in diverse work settings. However, even in cases where the organizations have implemented programs to facilitate cultural awareness, effective utilization of employees and management of diversity, it is frequently observed that core information is still absent among employees regarding what diversity is and is not; along with basic differences of specific ethnic and cultural groups and most important for management executives, a context and framework for understanding the role individual self identify plays in behavior, human development and ultimately motivation for work (, 1994).

With regard to the dimension of race, ethnicity and culture, employers will find it beneficial to become more aware of the powerful influence ethnic, cultural and racial identity have upon all individuals and the impact such identity has in the development of self concept, individual pride, and motivation towards desired behaviors both internal and external to the work environment. When individuals (managers and general employees) are more secure in their identity they can act with greater freedom, flexibility and openness to others of either similar or diverse backgrounds and orientation (, 1994).

Developing a model or approach for training in diversity is as much as a challenge as the management of diversity within the company or organization. The reason is that all companies and organizations exhibit specialized differences in mission, corporate culture, overall goals and constituencies to whom they must respond. Given this it is unlikely that any one model or plan for diversity training would prove successful in all work environments (, 1994).

In addition, those approaches to training and diversity which currently exist tend to be limited by virtue of a narrowness of focus emanating from a unidimensional definition of diversity as gender oriented or culturally/racially oriented. The other dynamic dimensions of diversity (age, geographic orientation, linguistic orientation, physical orientation, etc.) tend to be excluded. Each company should develop and design its own diversity training and management program taking into account the spectrum of the diversity continuum (, 1994).

Given the general aspects of the systematic model noted here and the acknowledged need for tailor made programs within companies, a list of essential core components may be generated which can be utilized by businesses in the training program design and planning phases. These components should be viewed as core components with the use of organizational assessment strategies to identify specialized embellishments and enhancements that will combine to produce a successful total program for the particular work environment under review (, 1994).

Conclusion

Corporate communication promotes strong corporate culture; a coherent corporate identity; a genuine sense of corporate citizenship; an appropriate and professional relationship with the press; a quick and responsible way of communicating in a crisis or emergency situation; an understanding of communication tools and technologies; a sophisticated approach to global communication. Organizations committed to employees and to the community have a definite communication philosophy. Companies may refer to it as their communication policy, or their mission statement. The philosophy may be articulated through statements of commitment to employees, customers, and other stakeholders. The written statement of corporate commitment to goals and values is often the external manifestation of the communication philosophy. It is not necessary for a written statement to exist to have a philosophy, but if the written statement does not represent corporate behavior and values, its hollowness will be apparent to everyone. For companies operating globally, a strong corporate communication philosophy offers the foundation for an international code of ethics. Companies that have commitment to social responsibility are rewarded with greater name recognition, more productive employees, lower R&D costs, fewer regulatory hurdles and stronger synergy among business units (, 1994, 1997). Nevertheless, an organization’s culture plays a powerful role in its success, and in its failure as the discussion of a corporation’s culture offers a foundation for the understanding the group’s behavior and suggests ways to perpetuate or change the cultures (Source: ).

References

EXAMPLE, DEFINITION AND CLASSIFICATION ESSAY: INTERPERSONAL COMMUNICATION AND BARRIERS OF COMMUNICATION

Example, Definition, and Classification Essay: Interpersonal Communication and Barriers of Communication

 

Introduction

As people exchange ideas, a lot of barriers may affect their communication process such as ineffective listening skills, inconsistent verbal or nonverbal messages, and resistance to change, individual bias, time limitations, distractions, personal assumptions as well as differences in race, culture, age, and religion. Aside from these, gender differences in communication styles appear to be one of the most common communication barriers (, 1992). Every individual should then learn that misunderstandings can lead to ineffective communication between parties expressing their ideas and feelings in a relationship. While differences in communication styles commonly exist, these should not affect the process of effective communication.

 

Definition

Communication may be defined as the transmission of meaning and information from one person to another ( and , 1998). While the transmission itself may appear to be a simple task, the interpretation of the message being relayed through communication poses a challenge, particularly on the establishment of human relations. In general, communication becomes effective when both parties involved are honest and open to share information and have the ability to decipher the meaning of their messages. Effective communication must always be practiced as it is significant to individual health as well as for the creation of positive relationships. Specifically, the ability to communicate directly affects an individual’s stress levels, self-esteem and relationship quality ( and , 1998; , 1992).

 

Examples

Communication process occur everyday at every given point in time. From our homes up to our workplaces, people engaged with this inescapable process. Effective communication is a necessity in the workplace. Researchers and practitioners have long recognized communication skills are serious to job performance, career advancement, and organizational success (, 1989;  and , 1986; , 1987). People speak through face-to-face conversations, telephone, mail, and other vehicles of communication. Though, communication is not always verbally done. Communication is also present through signs, gestures, body movements, facial expressions, and codes (e.g. the Morse code or the sign language).

 

Classification

The process of communication can be done through a number of styles. However, regardless on whether the style applied is verbal or nonverbal, the communication process always involves a sender and a receiver. This process involves five steps: idea struck the sender, the sender then encodes the message, the message is carried through a channel, the receiver will have the message decoded, and a feedback will be given by the receiver ( and , 1998). It is then important to explore and distinguish various communication styles so as to lessen communication gap. It is not only important to know the ways and characteristics of effective communication; it is also relevant to understand and to gain knowledge regarding a number of communication barriers that make it possible to hinder effective communication styles and processes.

 

One of the barriers identified was focusing only on one’s thoughts. Because of this, the person may not be open to other ideas. In order to remove this barrier, one should be accepting of the differences in ideas and be able to acknowledge the strengths and witnesses of each idea. Another identified barrier that is almost related to the previous one is selective hearing, wherein the person may listen to other ideas but only to those that the person likes; meanwhile, those that the person deems are unworthy are discarded from the memory. To avoid this, the person must force him-/herself to regard each idea and be able to listen to the sides of everyone in order to know how it will fare with the others as well as know the strengths and weaknesses of each side.

 

Another barrier to communication is when the person is insecure and suspicious of others, thus leading to questioning others’ motives and always being cautious of others. While the suggestions and ideas of the other person may be met, the decision to interact with that person will already be useless as the person who has a suspicious attitude will then refuse to accept them due to personal reasons. To remove this barrier, one must be able to trust others and be analytical, not mistrustful. In case one meets others that have this attitude, however, they must be able to gain the other’s trust over time and be able to know how to handle these kinds of people in order for communication to flourish between them.

 

Finally, another barrier to communication is being secretive. Through this, communication will not occur and a relationship will not be built. This is one of the most difficult barriers to overcome, and mostly has something to do with the personality of the person. In order to overcome this, the person with the secretive attitude must learn to divulge some information and be able to trust others. With this, more relationships will be built and strengthened, especially with the establishment of communication between the two or more parties.

 

Conclusion

Chaotic amount of available facts that explains a phenomenon are made clear through detailed analyses and interpretations guided through the use of rational explanations. Understanding is the ultimate goal of learning. The role of communication in making learning possible has long been acclaimed as the most efficient way of sharing and acquiring facts and information. The relevance of being a knowledgeable individual has likewise been appreciated and credited in evaluating a person. Hence, it is highly important to be gain knowledge on how to manage effective communication in order to facilitate learning and understanding.

 

References:

INTERCULTURAL COMMUNICATION

Intercultural Communication

1. Introduction

The continuing growth in international business relations increases the occurrence of business negotiations among people from different countries and cultures. This creates significant challenges for international managers unfamiliar with the norms of different groups. Many of the difficult challenges in conducting international human resource management arise from the differences in the country’s culture. The cultural characteristics of the country and multinational enterprises vary significantly. Oftentimes, these differences clash and are even worsen with lack of knowledge and sensitivity of business people towards these differences. As a result, the frequent mistakes both in the business and personal interactions take place. Even when the differences are understood, some mistakenly assume that their own way of doing things is the best way to conduct a business. Thus, decisions are made that alienate the foreign counterparts or the people to whom they interact form other countries.

1.1     Intercultural Communication Theories

Intercultural communication is basically the communication between different cultures which is also known as cross-cultural communication. Intercultural communication theories posit that globalizing forces of economic integration, tourism and migration are important forces that provide a rationale for increased intercultural communication. However, this form of communication is complex for a number of reasons. First it is difficult to communicate across social boundaries because of factors such as social stereotypes. Second, the concept of culture itself is already complex. It is a socially sensitive subject such as people who tend to approach it from the viewpoint of their own culture ( & , 2002, ). 

1.2 Definition of Culture: Defining Culture

Culture provides predictability of humankind. Since human life can be quite inefficient, culture offers predictable pattern so of behavior that leads to cooperative expectancies. Each culture provides predictability, thus changing culture can quite become difficult unless the cultural value being changed  has proved to be of less value or not useful to the group. Cultures also test ideas and introduce changes. For instance, the introduction of English on a worldwide basis for business and international trade has threatened some cultures (, 2004,  ).

Culture is the most important issue in the successful conduct of both the international business and international HRM. The knowledge and understanding of culture affects the outcome of business more than any other aspect. The absence of insights into the ways of others it is less likely to develop credibility and inspire a workforce. The culture affects how businesses are run, what characteristics are to look for in the selection of employees and how to manage them and work with teams.

2.        Cultural Assumptions

            Every culture has its own set of values that determines goodness and badness. For instances, Japanese people assign goodness to collectivism while Americans value individualism. Such values are related to cultural assumptions but refer to the existence of phenomena rather than the assignment of value to them. So in terms of the said example Americans assume the existence of individual identity as necessary for individualism to exist while the Japanese assume the existence of collective consciousness as necessary for collectivism occur. There are five dimensions of cultural assumptions: relationship of people to the environment,  to each other,  to activity, to time and to the basic nature of human beings (, 1998, ).

3.         Significance/Importance of Intercultural Communication in Multinational Corporation

            One of the major factors influencing companies to go global is to exploit market opportunities. However, operating in these countries requires multinational corporations to communicate cross culturally. It is for this reason that intercultural communication becomes important to multinational corporations.

By understanding the cultural uniqueness of a country, one will be able to use the most effective message, format and channel of communication to deliver that specific message.

 For instance, Chinese expatriates work on both high context (Chinese) and low context culture (Americans). High context cultures depend greatly on non verbal communication while the low context cultures depend on verbal communication. The negotiation behavior in a high context culture involves social and economic status and other implicit cultural norms. They use contracts to reflect relationships while low context used contracts to define relationships (, 2000, ). Moreover, high context negotiators treat their counterparts as persons and take on informal settings to settle important issues. The process of building relationships is more important than technical or formal solutions. Such understanding of cultural differences will enable multinational corporations to negotiate and transact effectively with a particular culture.

3.1             The Influence to People Around the World

Intercultural communication is influences and changes  ones’ view of other cultures through increased exposure to people of other cultures and co culture. At a larger context, it helps in the discovery of shared humanness through examining, allowing and respecting differences. In addition to the building understanding through valuing differences, cross cultural comparison supplies the necessary information to help people who are learning to live and work in new situations.

4        The Practice of Intercultural Communication in Multinational Corporation

            In MNCs, businesspeople from different cultures interact. They step outside their cultural and business environment and create new context. With this, MNCs understand the impact of key organizational concepts such as hiring practices, promotion policies, decision making, negotiation styles, regulations and business laws on the intercultural communication process. They bring with them their own corporate cultures and from these cultures emerges a new transaction culture. It is through intercultural communication that they are able to understand the way of doing business in a particular cultural setting.

5.       Key Elements of Intercultural Communication

            According to  (2004)  intercultural communication consists of three major elements: (1) worldview (2) language and (3) nonverbal communication (particularly the use of space and time). Worldview is the orientation of people to things and issues with the concept of being. Another significant element is language which is the medium through which a particular  culture expresses its worldview. The importance of language is greater especially when cultures speak different languages.  The differences in meaning across culture can also become significant when each culture uses the same language. For example,  a British may tell an American to put things in the boot. The American may not understand that the British told him to place the things in the trunk of the car. Finally, nonverbal behaviors differ from culture to culture. For instance, in the Chinese cultures, continued eye contacts are strongly emphasized. Americans on the other hand, consider such gesture as a sign of aggression

6.       Identifying Cultural Conflicts

In the context of intercultural encounters, conflict is perceived as the actual incompatibility of values, expectations, processes or outcomes between two or more parties from different cultures over substantive issues. Intercultural conflict usually starts off with miscommunication which leads to misinterpretations and pseudo conflict. If the miscommunication goes unmanaged this can lead to interpersonal conflict (, ).    

6.1     Resolving Cultural Conflicts

            Effective conflict management requires people to communicate effectively, appropriately and creatively in different world views and ways of dealing with a conflict situation. This requires sensitivity to the differences of low context and high context communication patterns and to attune them to the appropriate negotiation rhythms of individuals (, , ). It is also important to be aware of the goal oriented and process oriented conflict negotiation pathways and requires careful attention to the close relationship between cultural variability and different conflict communication styles.

7.  Core Factors that Enhance and Hinder Effective Intercultural Communication

            One of the detriments to communication is language. Aside from the verbal language, understanding non verbal behavior is also a requirement since non verbal cues constitute the majority of the individual’s communication process. However, the meanings attach to these forms of communication vary from culture to culture.

Stereotyping is also one of the common factors that hinder the effective communication. It is a generalization about a group of people based on their membership. It assigns identical characteristics to any person within the group regardless of actual variation among members of that group. Research suggests that stereotypical beliefs are rigid, unresponsive to reality and resistant to changes ( & , ). There are four ways in which stereotyping damages communication:

• It can be assumed that the widely held beliefs are true when in fact they are not.
• If a stereotype is accepted, then it is likely for one to believe that every person in that group conforms to that stereotype.
• Stereotypes lead to self fulfilling prophecies. That is, if one is labeled according to the stereotype then he will behave towards that label.
• Behaviors are likely to be interpreted according to the stereotype which ignores other possible interpretations of their behavior.

One of the steps is to avoid ethnocentrism. This is the belief that one’s own race is superior to others, a natural attitude inherent in all cultures.  For example, it is logical to think that time is money and that it should not be wasted. This is why American business people in Asian countries feel irritated over the time spent over coffee or other social rituals before business transactions are initiated. In such cultures, time is viewed differently and personal relationships must be established before negotiations may proceed. Ethnocentrism causes people to judge others by their own values. People with such attitude expect others to react and act as they would. As a result, misunderstandings may occur (, 2006, ). Ethnocentric reactions can be reduced by acquiring knowledge of other cultures and developing an increased intercultural sensitivity.

Developing intercultural competence also requires changing attitudes. One must remember that culture is learned and it is through interaction with can new attitudes be learned and behaviors can help bridge the gap between cultures. Tolerance is a desirable attitude that can help achieve intercultural proficiency. Closed minded people cannot look beyond their own ethnocentrism. But as global markets expand and the society becoming more diverse, tolerance becomes especially significant. Being tolerant also involves patience. If a foreigner is struggling to express himself in English, Americans must avoid finishing the sentence for them and provide the word which they assume is wanted (, 2006, ). When words are put into the mouths of foreign counterparts, they often agree out of politeness but the word may not express their thoughts.

Lastly, the messages must be adapted to the intercultural audiences whether they may be verbal or non verbal. As opposed to non verbal skills, verbal skills can be mastered if one studies hard enough. On the other hand, non verbal skills are much harder to learn. They include areas such as eye contact, facial expressions, posture, gesture and the use of times, space and territory (, 2006, ). Thus, it is necessary to be conscious of the use of language as they may be interpreted differently in other cultures.

8.         Conclusion

Communicating cross culturally requires a great deal of cultural adjustments. It is necessary that managers grasp a degree of understanding as to the culture of the people and the environment they will work on. The lack of knowledge and insensitivity to the culture will likely to result in frequent mistakes both on business and personal interactions. Thus, a framework of the possible barriers and implications of decisions must be studied in order to deal with future problems. With the greater awareness and understanding of the culture from these countries, managers will be able to acquire the ability to coexist peacefully with people even if they do not necessarily share their values. In this respect, culture plays a pivotal role in effective communication. By understanding the cultural uniqueness of a country, one will be able to use the most effective message, format and channel of communication to deliver specific messages and work harmoniously with people of differing cultures.

9.        Recommendations

• Understand the culture of other people. This would enable one to communicate effectively without appearing offensive or disrespectful of the culture

• Create awareness of one’s culture and how it contrasts with others. People must also refrain from ethnocentric attitudes and respect differences in culture in terms of values and traditions
• Recognize the barriers in accommodating intercultural communication and overcoming them. As discussed above, some of these barriers may occur naturally and it takes conscious effort to surmount them. However it may be difficult, it is necessary to become intercultural competent because this will lead to a more productive and effective working relationships in a diversified workplace.

 

 

 

 

References

Books

 

Skill Builder

Skill Builder

 

            Communication involves the expression or the transfer of messages or information from the speaker to the listener or receiver of the information. The use of communication enables an individual or groups of individuals to express and receive information and other relevant ideas that would provide one an increase in knowledge, learning, improvement, and development. Communication is not only perceived as a form of expression by human beings, but communication is a form of transfer of information and commands exhibited also in the plant and animal kingdoms. In all aspects, communication is being done through several and various means and tools, thus, making the transfer of information faster, clearer, and more effective.  

 

Communication involves two types, namely, the verbal and non verbal communication. Verbal communication refers to the strategy of how specific messages through speaking and listening, thus, involving the direct conversation of the speaker and the listener. On the other hand, the non verbal communication implies the message through body movements, including hand gestures, facial expression, distance and many others. In having real life conversations, both the verbal and non verbal communication are being used, and as such, their use depends on a variety of factors, including the person or the listener, the emotion of the speaker and the listener, the personality of the person, the occasion, and the message being sent. Most importantly, communication is important in the workplace, as it fosters productivity of any employee. In this regard, this essay aims to describe the impact of non verbal communication through effective and ineffective examples of behaviors in the workplace environment.

 

 

A.         Voice

            In expressing non verbal communication, the pitch, tone, voice quality, and the manner or rate of speaking help in conveying a particular message to a listener or receiver. In this regard, the different aspects of voice must be effectively used to achieve effective communication.

 

Ineffective Example of Behavior

A specific manager uses a sarcastic tone of voice in answering the questions of her subordinates to show them of her superior knowledge of the team’s activities.

 

Effective Example of Behavior

            A specific manager explains instructions to his subordinates using a dynamic and intelligent, but authoritative voice to impart knowledge and to show that he demands compliance with his instructions.

 

 

B.         Dress

            One basis for the feedback and expression of one’s self is through clothes or dresses that a particular individual wears. Clothes or dresses play an important role as it indicates the social status, personality, and characteristics of an individual. In the workplace environment, clothes or the manner of dressing of a particular employee helps one to distinguish his or her position in the company, or his or her sense of responsibility or dignity.

 

Ineffective Example of Behavior

            A particular employee wears party clothes and not corporate attire during an important board meeting at the office. 

 

Effective Example of Behavior

            The Chief Executive Officer of a particular international company wears corporate attire during a meeting with international business executives in a specific 5-star hotel.

 

 

C.         Face and Eyes

            This involves the facial expressions and the eye contact of the speaker with listeners. This aspect of non verbal communication helps one determine and understand the message of the speaker, as this somehow helps one to sense the sincerity and the conviction of the speaker. Facial expressions vary depending on the emotion of the speaker. Eye contact is a form of social communication, as it somehow determines the interest of the listener or regard of the speaker to his or her listeners.

 

Ineffective Example of Behavior

            An employee shows a stern facial expression with less frequent eye contact with his manager to show his lack of interest with the topic discussed in the team meeting.    

 

Effective Example of Behavior

            A speaker of a conference maintains eye contact with his audience and displays a convincing facial expression to show his knowledge of his report.                     

 

 

D.         Posture and Movement

            Posture determines one’s degree of formality or relaxation in different positions, either standing, sitting, or lying. This aspect is important in conveying messages, such as the interest of a particular individual or the person an individual relates to in the working environment. On the other hand, movement pertains to the forward, backward, vertical, horizontal or side-to-side gestures of an individual, which may somehow correspond to his or her personality that may determine what an individual can do in an organization.

 

Ineffective Example of Behavior

            A particular employee slouches while sitting and makes noise with his fingers on the table during a board meeting.

 

Effective Example of Behavior

            An applicant sits erect during an interview, and stands straight when introduced to her immediate supervisor. 

 

 

E.         Personal Space and Use of Distance

            Personal space and distance pertains to the distance between an individual and other individuals, and influences one’s ability to convey and receive messages from others. This affects one’s level of comfort in communicating, and in sending signals to other individuals. The use of space depends on the relationship of an individual with another.

 

Ineffective Example of Behavior

            A regular employee speaks to a new hired employee face-to-face.

 

Effective Example of Behavior

            A supervisor speaks to his new secretary with a distance of 1-meter apart.

 

 

F.         Physical Environment and Office Culture

            The physical environment in the office affects the level of comfort of an individual, thus, molding and shaping the culture of a specific working environment. This pertains to how one arranges objects or spaces in the office, which may affect the communication process in the workplace.    

 

Ineffective Example of Behavior

            Placing a wall between the work station of employees to maintain order and quiet in the workplace.

 

Effective Example of Behavior

            Providing a lounge from where employees can relax and interact with one another during breaks.

Invitation to Insight

 

Non-verbal communication is communicative because it reinforces a verbal message. Non-verbal communication usually accompanies the verbal, and is valuable way of enriching a message. Non-verbal communication’s functions include

 

1. Used to repeat the verbal message

2. Used to accent a verbal message

3. Complements the verbal message

4. Regulate interactions

5. Substitutes verbal message

 

Non-verbal communication is ambiguous because

1. Non-verbal messages exert a great deal of influence on how we think and behave, they act subconsciously upon us, and typically go unnoticed.

2. Silent speech communicates enormous amounts of information, which means that it is difficult to both recognize explicitly and to control. It is for this reason that when our body languages contradict each other, others will believe the body language.

3. Despite being our predominant or sole mode of communication up to the age of three years, non-verbal communication, after that time is lost under the weight of words, even though we remain extremely sensitive to its influence subconsciously (2004).

 

Non-verbal communication is ambiguous. It is hard to read just what a particular gesture means. When non-verbal message is in conflict with the verbal message, people will believe the non-verbal message. Non-verbal communication can mean different things depending to the sender and the receiver of the non-verbal message.

 

My Observation of the Manager

 

Posture

The manager maintains a good posture that for me conveys self-assurance and confidence.

 

Sitting

The manager’s sitting posture – arms at side, hands on the lap and feet set firmly on the ground, conveys confidence and ease.

 

It also conveys his control over the situation. I see it also as a sign of control.

 

Standing

The manager positions himself in a spot where he can be clearly seen. He does not stand behind chairs or tables. The manager stands up straight therefore he is able to transmit more confidence. I also notice that when the manager is talking to a taller person, he tends to move back until his gaze is level with the other person.

 

Walking

I notice that the manager has a slow style of walking. He walks slowly, deliberately and walks tall. When he strides into a room, he pauses in the doorway, and seems to let everyone in the room view his picture of power. He takes time entering offices and sitting down. He moves smoothly, fluidly and coordinately. He conveys the silent message of relaxed confidence, authority, determination, dominance and directness.

 

Occupation of Space

He seems to take more space and have few reservations about invading the space of others. He freely walks into a subordinate’s office/ cubicle. He is accorded more space in the meeting table. He seems to be at ease and comfortable. He posses an air of power and dominance. He does not back off and yield space to others, instead he expects others to give him more space.

 

 

 

Positioning

During a meeting, the manager sat at the head of the table. This position for me conveys importance. He also maintains a clean and tidy office, which I think, is a sign of a logical and ordered mind.

 

 

Eye Contact

The manager keeps a steady and sustained eye contact. I think that is powerful. When he is speaking to a group, like in a meeting, his gaze includes everyone and then he establishes eye contact with individual members.

 

Facial Expression: Smile

The manager’s smile projects warmth conveys confidence and establishes rapport. He does not smile much, so when he does, the employees around him feels more relaxed and at ease. I think he smiles to put his employees at ease.

 

Handshake

The manager’s handshake is brief and firm. His clasp communicates confidence. He also maintains eye contact during the handshake.

 

 

A coworker’s observation of me

 

During a meeting, I ask a coworker to observe my behavior and non-verbal messages. After the meeting, I ask him about his assessment.

 

During the meeting, he noticed that I once or twice tapped a pencil. He believed this to be a sign of tension and nervousness. I usually do this when I am thinking or contemplate about something. Therefore, the message that he received and his assessment of my gesture was different from my intention.

 

He also noticed that I was sitting in an erect and straight position. When I asked his assessment of this, he said that I appeared stiff, serious, and uncomfortable. His assessment was partly true. I was serious but I never felt uncomfortable or stiff.

 

He also noted that I sometimes nod my head, smile and focus my gaze on the speaker (manager). He believed this to be a sign of attentiveness, interest and eagerness. His assessment was correct.