Friday, March 11, 2011
I Jumped!
The journey of creating this blog has been a rewarding one. Is there a Girl Scout badge I can add to my sash for learning to blog? If so, I have earned it! I can say that I know how to create a blog, which is a claim I could not make before beginning this course. It is reassuring to know that should I choose to continue to want to share my thoughts for others to see, that I can. I see this learning experience as extremely relevant. I have obtained knowledge that I know will be vital to me in the very near future. I’m so glad I took “the jump”!
Monday, February 28, 2011
Delivering Bad New Tactfully and Effectively
Delivering bad news is something that can be extremely uncomfortable. “The effective manager does not view conflict negatively but rather sees opportunities for personal and relationship growth in conflict management, (Cahn, 2007, p. 288).
I have been presented with the following situation...
“You are a department manager in a mid-sized company that provides technology support services. You have ten employees who are required to maintain a high level of technical expertise and deliver excellent customer service. One of your employees, who has been with the company for two years, is performing at a substandard level and you have received numerous complaints from customers and coworkers. In addition, this employee has displayed confrontational behavior which has created a hostile environment. You must now meet with this employee and deliver an ultimatum regarding the need for immediate improvement or dismissal.”
Below is how I would respond to this situation...
I would ask the employee into my office. I would start out my acknowledging that he has been with the company for two years and let him know I want to make sure he is with us as long as possible. I would be upfront with him and let him know of the complaints I had received from both customers and employees. I would ask him if he recognizes and can acknowledge that these issues are occurring.
I am anticipating that the employee may get defensive at first, so I need to make sure I would use the S-TLC system which stands for, Stop, Think, Listen, and Communicate, (Cahn, p. 69). In order for the employee to know I am not ganging up on him and that I am here to support him, I will ask him if he feels he needs any support to help him get the job done at the level that is expected of him. As his manager, there could a way of supporting him in a way that I am not yet aware of.
I will also let him know I notice that he has seemed frustrated and angry. I would try to understand where this hostility is coming from. I would let him know that it is effecting both customers and co-workers and that he needs to find a better and more effective way to communicate. We could talk together about ways to effectively communicate anger and frustration. I would let him know that if he cannot control his temper, that he will be terminated.
I would let him know my exact expectations of him. During this conversation I would also work with him in listing steps he needs to take to help him better meet the expectations of the job. I would be upfront in letting him know that if he is continues to fall short on the expectations that are clearly set, he will be terminated. This conflict approach is empathetic, but also straight to the point.
I feel that he will be receptive to my feedback since I am putting together a plan of action to help him improve his level of performance. I feel it is important to be forward and honest about the issues, but it is equally as important to present a possible resolution for the issues.
Resources:
Cahn, D. & Abigail, R. (2007). Managing conflict through communication (3rd ed.). Boston: Pearson.
I have been presented with the following situation...
“You are a department manager in a mid-sized company that provides technology support services. You have ten employees who are required to maintain a high level of technical expertise and deliver excellent customer service. One of your employees, who has been with the company for two years, is performing at a substandard level and you have received numerous complaints from customers and coworkers. In addition, this employee has displayed confrontational behavior which has created a hostile environment. You must now meet with this employee and deliver an ultimatum regarding the need for immediate improvement or dismissal.”
Below is how I would respond to this situation...
I would ask the employee into my office. I would start out my acknowledging that he has been with the company for two years and let him know I want to make sure he is with us as long as possible. I would be upfront with him and let him know of the complaints I had received from both customers and employees. I would ask him if he recognizes and can acknowledge that these issues are occurring.
I am anticipating that the employee may get defensive at first, so I need to make sure I would use the S-TLC system which stands for, Stop, Think, Listen, and Communicate, (Cahn, p. 69). In order for the employee to know I am not ganging up on him and that I am here to support him, I will ask him if he feels he needs any support to help him get the job done at the level that is expected of him. As his manager, there could a way of supporting him in a way that I am not yet aware of.
I will also let him know I notice that he has seemed frustrated and angry. I would try to understand where this hostility is coming from. I would let him know that it is effecting both customers and co-workers and that he needs to find a better and more effective way to communicate. We could talk together about ways to effectively communicate anger and frustration. I would let him know that if he cannot control his temper, that he will be terminated.
I would let him know my exact expectations of him. During this conversation I would also work with him in listing steps he needs to take to help him better meet the expectations of the job. I would be upfront in letting him know that if he is continues to fall short on the expectations that are clearly set, he will be terminated. This conflict approach is empathetic, but also straight to the point.
I feel that he will be receptive to my feedback since I am putting together a plan of action to help him improve his level of performance. I feel it is important to be forward and honest about the issues, but it is equally as important to present a possible resolution for the issues.
Resources:
Cahn, D. & Abigail, R. (2007). Managing conflict through communication (3rd ed.). Boston: Pearson.
Monday, February 21, 2011
Media Technology
I moved to the heart of Silicon Valley just three short months ago and media technology is all the buzz here. There is an ever-growing demand of media technology, and the different types of media technology are growing right a long with it.
Social media has allowed us to log on to a space and connect with new friends, reconnect with old ones, network with current or prospect employers, etc. Social networking has allowed us to extend a hand and keep up with “relationships” at a rate of thousands at a time. Social networking truly is for any and all audiences. Anyone that wants to connect for whatever reason is a potential audience member for a social network technology site.
Video Teleconferencing also known as VTC is a communication media technology that permits users at two or more different locations to interact by creating a face-to-face meeting environment. VTC systems transmit bi-directional audio, video and data streams during the session. Usage of VTC has expanded beyond corporation boardroom meetings, (National Security Agency, 2011).
Online Media Databases are something I am personally familiar with. My last employer was an Online Media Database company. An Online Database is a place where any type of information can be stored in large amounts on the web. The information can be accessed from anywhere as long as you have Internet.
As we’ve learned since day one of this course blogs are an ever-growing form of media technology. It may be interesting for you to know that “like with the start of many things, early bloggers did not have a name for what they were doing. While it took some time for the genre and the name to develop, blogging has been around since the beginning of the Internet,(Blogstar, 2011). Now that people have gotten the word out that you can blog about anything and everything, thousands of us are creating blogs to share our thoughts and opinions about a topic we are passionate about. The audience for blogging is anyone that wants to have a voice and be heard.
Social media has allowed us to log on to a space and connect with new friends, reconnect with old ones, network with current or prospect employers, etc. Social networking has allowed us to extend a hand and keep up with “relationships” at a rate of thousands at a time. Social networking truly is for any and all audiences. Anyone that wants to connect for whatever reason is a potential audience member for a social network technology site.
Video Teleconferencing also known as VTC is a communication media technology that permits users at two or more different locations to interact by creating a face-to-face meeting environment. VTC systems transmit bi-directional audio, video and data streams during the session. Usage of VTC has expanded beyond corporation boardroom meetings, (National Security Agency, 2011).
Online Media Databases are something I am personally familiar with. My last employer was an Online Media Database company. An Online Database is a place where any type of information can be stored in large amounts on the web. The information can be accessed from anywhere as long as you have Internet.
As we’ve learned since day one of this course blogs are an ever-growing form of media technology. It may be interesting for you to know that “like with the start of many things, early bloggers did not have a name for what they were doing. While it took some time for the genre and the name to develop, blogging has been around since the beginning of the Internet,(Blogstar, 2011). Now that people have gotten the word out that you can blog about anything and everything, thousands of us are creating blogs to share our thoughts and opinions about a topic we are passionate about. The audience for blogging is anyone that wants to have a voice and be heard.
Resources:
National Security Agency: Retrieved on February 16, 2011 from http://www.nsa.gov/ia/_files/factsheets/Video_Teleconferencing.pdf
Blogstar: Retrieved on February 17, 2011 from http://www.blockstar.com/blog/blog_timeline.html
Monday, February 14, 2011
Creating your Blog
Purpose, design, content, and audience are important when putting together any writing piece that is meant for others to see. This is true when it comes to blogs as well. Many different blogs address many different content focuses and are meant to appeal to many different audiences. No one blog looks the exact same, but with each blog I come across they all seem to serve the same high level purpose. That purpose being to share thoughts, opinions, ideas, feelings, and facts about a particular subject. How wonderful it is that we have the option of freely sharing anything we want in the cyber world through bloggling. It is a wonderful way to connect with yourself and others around you.
It is important to choose the purpose of your blog. Purpose is the foundation of everything. It allows you to keep a focus on what you are trying to achieve in your blog. The purpose of my blog is to meet and exceed the goals placed by our instructor for this class. It is to demonstrate my understanding of communications to the best of my ability.
Design is also important when creating a blog. Your design should be an expression of your purpose and is meant to create the tone of what you are writing. I chose a blue sky and dandelion as my background design. To me, that added a calming tone to my blog. I hope it allows readers to feel at ease when they are reading my posts. It is important to pick colors and fonts that are easy on the eye, so the reader doesn’t feel strained when they are reading your posts.
The content and audience go hand in hand. You want to make sure your content will appeal to who you want your audience to be. For this particular blog my content will be about communications and will fall within the guidelines given to me by the professor. The audience will be my classmates and my professor. I need to make sure that I address all of the questions put in front of me in a detailed manner so my audience can understand my message.
It is important to choose the purpose of your blog. Purpose is the foundation of everything. It allows you to keep a focus on what you are trying to achieve in your blog. The purpose of my blog is to meet and exceed the goals placed by our instructor for this class. It is to demonstrate my understanding of communications to the best of my ability.
Design is also important when creating a blog. Your design should be an expression of your purpose and is meant to create the tone of what you are writing. I chose a blue sky and dandelion as my background design. To me, that added a calming tone to my blog. I hope it allows readers to feel at ease when they are reading my posts. It is important to pick colors and fonts that are easy on the eye, so the reader doesn’t feel strained when they are reading your posts.
The content and audience go hand in hand. You want to make sure your content will appeal to who you want your audience to be. For this particular blog my content will be about communications and will fall within the guidelines given to me by the professor. The audience will be my classmates and my professor. I need to make sure that I address all of the questions put in front of me in a detailed manner so my audience can understand my message.
I'm gonna jump...
A few years ago a girlfriend of mine introduced me to the term "blog". She showed me the one she had created. She stated it was a place she had created where she could go in and share her thoughts, feelings, and opinions, and get feedback from peers. My first thought to myself was, "Why on earth would you want to publicly state your thoughts, feelings, and opinions? Doesn't that make you feel incredibly vulnerable?" My second thought to myself was, "Gosh I wish I was important enough that people would want to listen to my thoughts, feelings, and opinions about a particular subject". The whole concept was very intimidating to me. It still is. I must admit when I first read through the syllabus in this course, anxiety immediately overcame my whole body. Even though we were given resources to learn how to create a successful blog, I still had major doubts that I could do this. This is completely out of my comfort zone, but as I have learned over the last couple of years sometimes you just have to take that leap of faith and jump. With that said, I'm gonna jump!
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