|
|
Partial
Syllabus for| Winter Term| | 2007
SP 419| Gossip
& Shop Talk: Interpersonal Challenges at Work
Gisele Tierney
|
Course Description |
This is a course designed to address what is often called ~Sthe people problem~T in the workplace. Job descriptions, positions
& titles, even salaries probably take less of our attention on a day to
day basis than do the relationships and interactions we have with our
partners, colleagues, coworkers, employees or employers. It is not unusual to hear someone say, ~SThe pay is low and the hours are long, but I like the people who work with me.~T Or the opposite, ~SThe pay is great, but the people are so awful, I~Rm looking for work elsewhere.~T A
portion of this course could be characterized as a
~SParticipant-Observer~T experience, which means you will develop your skills
of observation while you interacting with others. You are also likely to
notice a bit of a change in some of your listening and speaking behavior through the exercise structure of this course, however because the term is
very short and communication behavior is habit, you can expect to develop
your observation skills rather than experience actual behavior change. This said, you can also expect to gain much
knowledge and increasing many levels of awareness about your communication habits by implementing this Participant-Observer perspective. We will explore choice in communication as in communicator choices: ·
In Message construction: Shop talk and gossip are terms we are using in this course to identify types of
messages exchanged in the workplace, more specifically as types of potential challenges in the workplace. What factors contribute to our choices of which type of message?| ·
In Message delivery: How do our messages influence our speaking and listening behaviors? · In Interpersonal influence: Why is communicator choice an interpersonal challenge?| o The challenge we will explore will include not
only difficult situations (for example: to gossip or not; or to gossip on task or off task), but also the personal challenge of
choice when to modify one~Rs
behavior and when to decide our manner of interaction.| o Also, the challenges of patience and impatience:| being able to be calm enough to choose what
we want to do, to say, to listen to; and to choose what we do not want to do, to say or to listen to in any given
situation. |
|
Course Content & Learning Objectives |
Course
Learning Objectives: To proficiently use theories of interpersonal, group and organizational communication in order to articulate, practice and study communicator competence in the workplace. 1. Articulation Competencies- Competently articulate specifics about communicator behavior. a. You will increase and/or improve your abilities to produce written and oral accounts of your speaking and listening experiences;
includes the skills of communication accuracy: describing specific
communication elements completely. b. You
will develop the ability to separate your observations of behavior from
assessments of it; and separate assessments from evaluations. c. You will increase and/or improve your abilities to assess and evaluate other~Rs
accounts of their communicating experiences, and provide people with
communication-specific feedback.| 2. Interaction
Competencies- To develop the awareness necessary to practice communicator competencies in the social context of the workplace. a. You will be able to accurately and assertively
report on your communicator strengths and weaknesses as a communicator in the
workplace. b. You will be able to provide useful, complex, and
appropriate feedback to others. c. You will develop the ability to determine when
behavior modification would be appropriate and realistic, and when it would
not be. d. Optional: You might increase your abilities to make necessary communicator choices during interactions; and possibly modify selected behavior over the term.
3. Field
of Study Competencies- To knowledgeably use theories of interpersonal, group and organizational communication in order to discuss and study communicator
competencies in the workplace. a. You will develop an understanding of the complexities of interpersonal communication within the workplace environment; incl. understanding the concept of strategic communication.| b. You will broaden your critical understanding,
interpretations and evaluations of gossip, shop talk and other interpersonal communication elements in the workplace. c. You will understand avenues people could take to reduce communicator challenges by skill development choices. |
|
Text |
Strategic Communication in Business and the Professions, 5th ed. Dan O'Hair, Gustav W. Friedrich and Lynda Dee Dixon Use of Text in our Course: 1. In
the traditional manner: understanding basic communication theories when
applied to the work environment. This text is complimentary to other
groups, organizational, etc. courses you have taken in Communication Studies and other departments. 2. For
use in postings: in some topics, you will connect your discussion to the
reading. 3.
Topic Ideas for your Research Project. 4.
Needed for approximately one-third of the reference material for your Research Project. |
Grading Criteria
|
| Three Course Assignments |
Value in Course Grade
|
Due Dates
|
| Research Project |
33.33% |
Week 11
|
| Interpersonal Communication Project |
33.33%
|
Week 11 |
| Postings |
33.33%
|
Weekly
|
|
|
Research Project
33.33% of course grade
This assignment is based on Course
Learning Objective #3.
|
General Topic:
Interpersonal communicating is challenging in workplace environments for many reasons, many of which have to do with what is called, the people
problem. (The difficult relationships and/or difficult interactions we have with
our partners, colleagues, coworkers, employees or employers.)| You will use this general topic idea to conduct an academic investigation into the complexities of communication in the workplace. |
|
Interpersonal Communication Project
33.33% of course grade This assignment is based on Course Learning Objectives 1, 2 & 3. |
Overview of Project: You are going to complete a
comprehensive mapping of your
interpersonal communication behavior in the workplace environment by
completing many observation-based exercises.|
This Project will include specific writing and speaking development
skills.| Please read, The Myth of Awareness as the Goal of Observation, in the Syllabus link for
background information about this approach to the Project.|
The Project includes: 1.
13 Exercises in the Packet ~V some will be posting topics.| 2. Four
informal oral reports delivered to a Listening Volunteer. |
| Postings
33.33% of course grade Due:| Weekly This assignment is based on Course Learning Objectives 1,
2 & 3. |
You will participate in a
Virtual Study Group for weekly: ·
reports about your progress, findings, exercise completions, etc.| from the other two course assignments. ·
provide each other with feedback, direction, input, corrections, suggestions,
etc.| on their
progress. This is asynchronous
participation which means, similar to Internet message boards, you will communicate with your group members through delayed feedback and input.| This form of computer-mediated
communication (CMC) does not replicate the quick ebb and flow of face-to-face
(F2F) or Chat Room interaction, but it does carry some of the same interaction characteristics.| These are
useful for the study group experience you will have in this course.| The feature of group learning is not lost
in this fully online course, for two key reasons: 1. Use of CMC is almost requisite
in workplaces today.| Thus, learning
effective CMC interaction skills is becoming as important as is learning
public speaking skills or team decision making
skills.| In this posting assignment, the ~Svisibility~T of your work and that of your group members will provide the
basis for competent feedback exchanges with each other.| You will produce an informal type of
accountability with each other, similar to what work groups experience.| By providing adequate feedback, useful
suggestions, cautions on directions, a wide-range of insights, clarifying
writing, encouragement on ideas, etc., you and the members of your group will engage in the course material with each other, which in turn, will help you
produce quality work in the Research Project and the Interpersonal
Communication Project. 2. In addition, one of the more
difficult concepts to teach about communication is the understanding that our
own communicator behavior, style, practices, etc. are cultural norms.| It is very hard for students to understand
that no matter how personal it feels to us or no matter how much we think
this ~Sjust the way I am~T, we communicate similarly with the other members of
our culture. We learned our communicating style as we learned other cultural
(and social) norms.| This does not mean
we do not experience communicating personally. It means we experience our culture in very personal ways.| For
example, 99% of the students in this course over the years have reported they
feel guilty about their gossiping.|
These students have typically expressed their guilt in self-deprecating ways, basically stating their
gossiping demonstrated a personality flaw or personal bad behavior.| If approximately 500 students have thought
the same thing and written about it in the same way, how individually personal is this?| It becomes important
to examine the nature of gossip and the role it plays in the culture.| It is also important to understand why we,
a culture of people, feel bad about it. This culture is personal (similar to the personal
is political) is significant in a communication course because you need to be able to observe, assess and evaluate communicating in expansive and
complex ways. You need to be able to speak and write about communicating in
expansive and complex ways.| You need
to be able to take in the many factors contributing to the manner in which
people in this culture communicate with each other when they work together.
In a F2F course, this would be emphasized
repeatedly, thus our CMC classroom and the posting assignment itself will
serve to accomplish this. |
|
