Communications

COMMUNICATIONS THEORY TEAM ASSINGMENT

WEEK 1
Communication is a problem
A. Communication often goes wrong. Describe a situation where communication went wrong. What went wrong and what were the consequences? Think about how information was communicated or failed to be communicated. What seemed to be the source of what went wrong? Was there something about the context or situation that contributed to the problem?

WEEK 2
Applying a Communication Model
A. Everyone experiences problems in communication. Looking at the model of communication in the textbook and thinking back to a problem in communication you have experienced, examine what went wrong in the communication. (Communications Exercise 1). What component or components of the model were involved in hindering the effectiveness of the communication efforts? Or might the model not really get at the problem. Reflecting on one of the additional readings, do they help clarify why the model might not effectively get at why you experienced a problem in communication?

Better communication is not always better

B. It is a commonplace that better communication is the basis of solving problems. But sometimes it isn’t. Sometimes better communication makes problems worse. Can you identify a problem that better communication might make worse? What is the nature of the problem that better communication might worsen it? How does the nature of the problem relate to the model in the textbook and what does that tell us about communication theory?

This is a problem that has substantial cultural components. In many cultures all problems are defined as a “failure to communicate” because defining a problem in this way saves the “Face” of the participants to the conflict. Understood this way the problem is not in the people but in the dynamics. It also suggests that when we think about communication and its problems we are forced also to think about meta-cultural issues. Can there be communication that is not bounded by cultural expectations?

WEEK 3
Communication and Identity
A. Everyone reveals and hides parts of themselves in communication. We do this because of who we feel we are and how we want to be perceived by others. But we also change what we reveal and hide as we move from one social context to another. Describe a situation where you changed what you communicated about yourself. Did it work? Did others perceive you as you wanted to be perceived? What was it that led you to be successful or unsuccessful in your communication?
Naming
B. One of the most powerful speech-acts is to name something. Every year in Newfoundland locals go out and kill baby seals and skin them for their pelts. Is this event an “annual seal harvest” (Canadian government) or a “baby-seal slaughter” (Greenpeace)? Who gets to decide and what happens to public discourse based on the definition? Can you describe a situation where you disagreed with another person or an agency regarding the definition of the situation or event? What difference did the definition make? Who “won” the disagreement? What impact did that have on the outcome of the event?

WEEK 4
Nonverbal Communication
A. Non-verbal communication is a central part of how we communicate with each other as individuals. Describe a situation where you deliberately used non-verbal communication to get your point across, or one where someone else used non-verbal communication to “speak” to you. Or examine a situation of cross-cultural failure or success at non-verbal communication. What happened? How many aspects of non-verbal communication were present? How much did you need to know cultural cues in order to make it work?

Listening
B. One book on the brain and hearing identified that most of our listening is for the absences, for the breaks in communication flow that suggest something important is happening. This is even true in conversations where we listen most to the places where something unexpected is going on, or where we disagree, or at the points something strange is taking place. Conversely, true listening is rare and takes immense concentration. Describe a situation where you truly heard something. What was it about you or the situation that led you to not just hear the sounds but truly listen to the other party? What led you to that situation? What was the outcome of attending?

WEEK 5
Interpersonal Communication
A. It has been said that it is through communication that we create each other. By that the author meant that we obtain our perceptions of others and determine how we interact with them on the basis of communication, and those perceptions shape how we think and feel about them. Then our subsequent communications influence the other to behave in keeping with our expectations. This is a mutual process whereby both parties transform the other. Think about a time when you were communicating with someone and you realized they were not perceiving you correctly as the type of person you are? What were the communication cues that told you that you were being misperceived? What did you do in response to correct that perception? Or did you? You might have changed your behaviour to correspond to that perception. What did you do? What happened? What was the long term effect?
Conflict
B. All conflict is mediated through communication. Sometimes communication itself causes conflict, perhaps by errors in communication, or perhaps by accurately communicating a potential problem between two parties and making it seem real. Think of a conflict situation you experienced. How was the process of communication involved? Could the problem have disappeared if communication had been handled differently? What was it about the communication process itself that contributed to the problem, if it did so? If it did not contribute directly, how was communication the vehicle for the conflict? Could the conflict have occurred if there had been no communication?

This exercise is worth 8% of your course mark.
Review the first five weeks of the course.

A. Each team member:

You are to develop three answers to the following question: What have you learned to this point in the course that is most important?

B. Each team member
You are is to develop three questions regarding information that you did not understand or would like to know more about.

C. The team is to compile all of the answers and questions into a single list and then answer the following two questions:

QUESTION 1: What commonalities are there to what students think is important to what they are learning?
100 WORDS

QUESTION 2: What commonalities are there about what was not well understood or what students would like to know

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