Don't mind me...

So, I am sitting here in Panera, having a nice up of coffee and handing in my final paper/project for class. It has just occurred to me that this will be the last paper that I will ever have to hand in for the rest of my life. It is weird but I feel such a weight lifted off my shoulders. I feel free, happy, sad and every other emotion you can think of right now. I am so excited to be entering a new chapter in my life and looking towards the doors that will open (hopefully) for me now that I have a degree. I can now plan on my future and the successes that will hopefully find me so that my daughter and I can have a great life :)  However, I will miss meeting new people in each of my classes and learning different things every 5 weeks. What am I going to do with this extra free time that I will have? Anyway, I am just blabbing, don't mind me...

On another note, it is the day after the Superbowl.  My city, the Pittsburgh Steelers fought it out til the end but did not bring back what would have been the city's 7th Superbowl trophy. That's okay fellas, you had to share the spotlight at some point.  I think mother nature was a Steelers fan because ironically, today is cold, rainy and miserable. Mother Nature must still be drowning her sorrows!! Although I am a die hard Eagles Fan, I live in Pittsburgh so it was pretty neat to live in a city where the team actually advances to the Superbowl. One day Philadelphia, you will make it past the playoffs...again, I am just ranting, don't mind me...

It's about that time to wrap it up for the day, but I will be back. Something that has caught my interest and what my next blog will be about is this whole 2012 end of the world thing...believe or not to believe? 

The Final Stretch!

So, we are down to my final week of class, actually,  4 days left to be exact! Come Monday, February 7th I will be an official Ashford University Graduate (considering I pass this class with flying colors !)  This class was a joy to be in and my classmates were great. This class opened me up to something I never thought I would ever do; BLOG. Now that I was introduced to this whole new way of world of communication, I think that I will continue to blog after this class is over! Learning how to blog, will give me the opportunity to share my thoughts and stories for others to read and comment on. It will open up many discussions and I hope to inspire others as well. So, cheers to the final days of blogging for this class but for many more blogs to follow in the future!!

Jackie

Communication Organizations

Below are five Communication Organizations that people are a part of who want to excel in the communication field and in their personal or business life. Definitely check them out if you are interested in becoming a part of these growing and excellent organizations!



The International Association for Conflict Management
 “The International Association for Conflict Management was founded to encourage scholars and practitioners to develop and disseminate theory, research, and experience that is useful for understanding and improving conflict management in family, organizational, societal, and international settings.”
http://www.iacm-conflict.org/

 The Association of Marketing and Communication Professionals
 The AMCP began in 1995 to honor outstanding achievement and service to the communication profession. According to its mission, “the Association fosters and supports the efforts of marketing and communication professionals who contribute their unique talents to public service and charitable organizations. Each year, the efforts of generous marketing and communication professionals are acknowledged through grants and special recognition.”
http://www.amcpros.com/about.php

The American Communication Association
The American Communication Association was founded in 1993 and is a not for profit virtual professional association. ACA is committed to enabling the effective use of new and evolving communication technologies to facilitate instruction, research, and criticism; it offers a technologically-supportive venue for all who study the ways in which humans communicate. www.americancomm.org/


The Association for Women in Communications
As stated on their website, their mission reads that “it is a professional organization that champions the advancement of women across all communications disciplines by recognizing excellence, promoting leadership and positions its members at the forefront of the evolving communications era.”
www.womcom.org/ 

The National Communication Association
The National Communication Association advances communication as the discipline that studies all forms, modes, media and consequences of communication through humanistic, social scientific and aesthetic inquiry. The NCA serves the scholars, teachers, and practitioners who are its members by enabling and supporting their professional interests in research and teaching. NCA promotes the widespread appreciation of the importance of communication in public and private life, the application of competent communication to improve the quality of human life and relationships, and the use of knowledge about communication to solve human problems.
http://www.natcom.org/

Delivering bad news- We have all been there!

If I had en employee who performed at substandard level and received numerous complaints from customers and coworkers as well as displayed confrontational behavior that created a hostile environment, I would handle this situation very carefully. I would first gather any pertinent information to this situation, including all complaints from the customers and co-workers so I have evidence to support my case. Once I gathered the complaints I would than gather any information I could find related to his work performance so I have something to show to the employee how his work has only been fair thus far. I could also pull out files or get information about other employees and how their performance exceeds expectations so that he can see where he stands in the company. Not necessarily to compare and make him feel bad, but to show what the company expects from its employees and where he can grow and improve as an employee. Once I feel comfortable enough with all the information I have gathered, I will than choose a good time and place to call the meeting. At the meeting, I would start off by saying something along the lines of, “You have been here 2 years and there has not been a problem/concern until now…this is something that can be easily handled we just need to address it now…” I would continue on by stating the problem and the reasons why we are here. After I explain the problem, I would listen and let him explain his side of the story. If there is any dispute about the reasons I gave him, I would have proof of complaints to show him as well as information about his work performance.  I would not let this come to a “he said, she said” conversation, I would base it solely on the facts that I have gathered. I would let him know what we expect out of our employees and that if he feels he can not give that to our company than he must consider other options of employment. I would let him know I would rather us come to an agreement where we are both satisfied but would understand if he feels differently. If he feels that he can do better, control his behavior and acknowledges his actions, than we will focus on solutions in making room for improvement both in his performance and behavior. Throughout this whole meeting, I would be very careful on my wording and my tone of voice. If I felt that at anytime either of us was getting loud or getting to emotional, I would have stopped the meeting and allowed us to stop, think and gather our thoughts until we felt we could continue on in a professional manner.  Once we both came to an agreement on how to handle the situation, the meeting would end. I feel that the way I approached this situation would have worked very well. I gathered important information that would have backed up my argument, picked the right time and place to have the meeting, I planned my approach, focused on facts and not emotions, I listened to the other person, I gave options as well as explored other options.

Media Technology

I am guilty of using 3 of these technologies; Skype, Facebook and Email. I think these are great ways to keep in touch with people you do not see often as well as communicating with people from all over in a matter of seconds. I am looking forward to seeing what the future has in hold in the way of communicating!

Skype- This media technology is fairly new, at least it is new to me! I recently started to skype because I live away from my family and friends so it is a nice way to communicate with them and actually see them! My 2 year old loves to skype with her grandpa and grandma whenever we do not have the chance to travel back home! You can video chat with anyone around the world and the best part about it, it’s FREE! You can even skype on your IPhone or ITouch.

 Facebook- Over 500 million people have a Facebook page. I initially started out as a Myspace person and than my sister introduced me to Facebook and I thought it was much better than Myspace because of it’s layout and design. Myspace now is more geared to young artists and entertainers. Facebook is more personable, you can share photos and videos, connect with old friends, update your status, share information about yourself (just don’t share too much!) and keep in touch with your family and friends. It’s nice to have somewhere to post pictures and videos so family who may not be able to see me or my daughter much can keep up to date by looking at my profile page! Facebook can also be used to network yourself for jobs.

 You tube- You tube has started careers for many people; most recently the homeless guy with the golden voice-what a story! You tube is a place where people can post videos of anything they want from how to tie a tie to singing to videos showcasing talents. There are quite a few success stories of people becoming famous because of the amount of views there video had. This is a great way to showcase your talents either of yourself or your child. People can comment on videos, offer advice, or just share a video that they can relate with.

 E-mail/G-Mail – I was trying to think of some other media technologies other than the obvious ones and I think that email is a big media technology millions of people use and are familiar with! E-mail is a great way to communicate quick and with anyone around the world. People use email to keep in touch with friends and family as well as it being used in the work place to send out memos or information. It’s simple, fast and effective.

Article

I found this article and I thought it was interesting as it relates to my first post!

http://shine.yahoo.com/channel/sex/are-you-a-passive-aggressive-texter-2438181/

It's not what you say.....

So this is my first ever blog. I knew nothing about blogs other than reading other people's blogs. I was never the type of person to take time out of my busy schedule to write, especially if I wasn't going to get a grade for it!

However, I mine as well give it a shot, I may actually like blogging and continue to blog well after I have finished this class. As I was coming up with an idea of what to write about in my first blog and how I can relate it to communications, my  grandmother text'd me; and than I knew exactly what to write about. Technology has completely changed the way in which we communicate with one another today. Face to face communication is becoming obsolete, even oral communication is slowly diminishing. With text messaging, e-mail, and instant messaging people are using these ways to communicate rather than talking in person. I know I am guilty of having conversations via text messaging and I think it is pretty funny that my almost 80 year mother now text messages all the time, but I feel that technology has taken over our communication. Let me bring up another issue with text messaging. After a few texts back and forth with my grandmother, she got mad at me because of a what I thought was an innocent text message, she apparently took the wrong way. I asked her what I said that was wrong and she said it wasn't what I said but how I said it; meaning the tone of my text. I was speechless. How can a text have a tone! I did not respond and just sat there thinking how if I just picked up the phone rather than text messaging, we could have avoided this little argument! Why do we today avoid talking in person and resort to using technology to communicate ? I understand using technology to communicate with others around the world, but I have seen people who are sitting right next to each other text each other! Just remember, it's not what you say but how you text it!

Jackie