wEEk 9: Organizational Communication

Organizations are everywhere. Each of us is affected by and, in turn, affect organizations. As such, we are all "stake holders" in the complex, goal-directed, social systems we call organizations.



According to wikipedia:
Communication can be defined as "the transfer of meanings between persons and groups." The purpose of communication may range from completing a task or mission to creating and maintaining satisfying relationships.




In organizational communication, information can flow in several directions. Mainly downward communication, upward communication and horizontal communication. An organization is highly dependant on communication and it is built on a foundation of human commuication. As such, we can see how important and vital effective communication is.


Many companies have found out that knowing the personality of a person during the interview or prior to recruitment can help in overall communication when they join the company or avoid unnecessary friction due to miscommunication.


The following clip is a real test given by Human Relations Department at many of the major corporations today. It helps them get better insight concerning their employees and prospetive employees.

Do you finds this test amazingly accurate? Or do you just get to know yourself better?
In my opinion, I think that such a personality acessment can help an organization to make better decisions in the filtering process for prospective employees. It can eliminate a lot of unncessary internal friction and conflict due to personality clashes which can affect the growth of an organization very negatively. Overall, I think that it is a very wise approach in the recruitment process. What do you think of such an approach in respect to organizational communication? What are some of the drawbacks and flaws of such an approach? =)

wEEk 8: CMC and Cyber Dating

CMC stands for Computer Mediated Communication.

It refers to any form of communication using computers and computer networks, including emails, electronic conferences, messaging etc.

Let's take a closer look on Computer Mediated Communication through the short clip below:


Interesting issin't it? Does CMC has more pros or cons? The prescence of CMC has also affected personal identity and lifestyle. It enables a person to have multiple identities. It may be advantageous to those who have not been able to find acceptance because of their physical appearance or characteristics in real life to be themselves online. This results in the coexistence of two extremes: deception and self-revelation.


One common application of CMC is cyber dating. Let's have a preview of it:


This is one humorous aspect of CMC. CMC has given birth to cyber-dating which is very prevalent nowadays. But it does have its flaws compared to transactional communication, when we see the other party face to face and know exacly how the person looks like, the vibes that he or she gives and such. What are your views of CMC on cyber dating? Is it a blessing or a curse?

wEEk 7: Cultural Imperialism

What is cultural imperialism?


It is the one way flow of international messages or media products, especially news and television flows, from a few metropolises.


According to wikipedia, cultural imperialism is defined as the practice of promoting, distinguishing, separating or artificially injecting the culture or language of one culture into another. It is usually the case that the former belongs to a large, economically or militarily powerful nation and the latter belongs to a smaller less important one.


Before you get bored on definitions, let's look at a very humorous film that illustrates cultural imperialism gorgeously yet very entertaining.


Jamie Uys's humorous yet moving film The Gods Must Be Crazy narrates the story of what happens when a pilot flying across the Kalahari Desert of Botswana drops a Coca-Cola bottle into the midst of a tribal group. The confused aboriginals explain the object as a gift from the gods. But the bottle challenges and destroys the traditions and social mores of their world. To defy the object's destructive influence, the tribe sends out one of its members to toss the evil thing over the edge of the earth, a distance the clan believes is some twenty days' walk away. Uys's movie was so popular on the international market that its producers created a sequel. The Gods Must Be Crazy offered a conspicuous sample of American consumer imperialism and its victimization of the Third World. Released in 1981, the film struck a vital chord in the middle of what has come to be known as "The Grand Debate": Have Americans become cultural imperialists? Do manufacturers, policymakers, and other interest groups attempt to conquer and corrupt the rest of the world by flooding it with consumer products made in the United States of America?




Have Americans become cultural imperialist? What do you think? =)