Explore the Web site of the National Communication Association, the largest U.S. organization dedicated to communication. http://www.natcom.org
Read The National Commission on Writing’s findings about the importance of communication skills in business. http://www.writingcommission.org/pr/writing_for_employ.html
The National Association of Colleges and Employers offers news about employment prospects for college graduates. http://www.naceweb.org
Dale Carnegie, author of the classic How toWin Friends and Influence People, may have been one of the greatest communicators of the twentieth-century business world. The Dale Carnegie Institute focuses on giving people in business the opportunity to sharpen their skills and improve their performance in order to build positive, steady, and profitable results.http://www.dalecarnegie.com
Purdue University’s Online Writing Lab (OWL) provides a wealth of resources for writing projects. http://owl.english.purdue.edu
To communicate ethically, check your facts. FactCheck is a nonpartisan project of the Annenberg Center for Public Policy at the University of Pennsylvania.http://www.factcheck.org
To communicate ethically, check your facts. PolitiFact is a nonpartisan project of the St. Petersburg Times; it won a Pulitzer Prize in 2009.
Chapter 2
Delivering Your Message
Good communication is as stimulating as black coffee and just as hard to sleep after.
Anne Morrow Lindbergh
The meanings of words are not in the words; they are in us.
S. I. Hayakawa
Getting Started
INTRODUCTORY EXERCISES
1. Can you match the words to their meaning?
___ 1. phat
A. Weird, strange, unfair, or not acceptable
___ 2. dis
B. Something stupid or thoughtless, deserving correction
___ 3. wack
C. Excellent, together, cool
___ 4. smack
D. Old car, generally in poor but serviceable condition
___ 5. down
E. Insult, put down, to dishonor, to display disrespect
___ 6. hooptie
F. Get out or leave quickly
___ 7. my bad
G. Cool, very interesting, fantastic or amazing
___ 8. player
H. To be in agreement
___ 9. tight
I. Personal mistake
___ 10. jet
J. Person dating with multiple partners, often unaware of each other
2. Do people use the same language in all settings and contexts? Your first answer might be “sure,” but try this test. For a couple of hours, or even a day, pay attention to how you speak, and how others speak: the words you say, how you say them, the pacing and timing used in each context. For example, at home in the morning, in the coffee shop before work or class, during a break at work with peers or a break between classes with classmates all count as contexts. Observe how and what language is used in each context and to what degree they are the same or different.
Answers 1. 1-C, 2-E, 3-A, 4-B, 5-H, 6-D, 7-I, 8-J, 9-G, 10-F
Successful business communication is often associated with writing and speaking well, being articulate or proficient with words. Yet, in the quote above, the famous linguist S. I. Hayakawa wisely observes that meaning lies within us, not in the words we use. Indeed, communication in this text is defined as the process of understanding and sharing meaning.[1] When you communicate you are sharing meaning with one or more other people—this may include members of your family, your community, your work community, your school, or any group that considers itself a group.
How do you communicate? How do you think? We use language as a system to create and exchange meaning with one another, and the types of words we use influence both our perceptions and others interpretation of our meanings. What kinds of words would you use to describe your thoughts and feelings, your preferences in music, cars, food, or other things that matter to you?
Imagine that you are using written or spoken language to create a bridge over which you hope to transport meaning, much like a gift or package, to your receiver. You hope that your meaning arrives relatively intact, so that your receiver receives something like what you sent. Will the package look the same to them on the receiving end? Will they interpret the package, its wrapping and colors, the way you intended? That depends.
What is certain is that they will interpret it based on their framework of experience. The package represents your words arranged in a pattern that both the source (you) and the receiver (your audience) can interpret. The words as a package try to contain the meaning and deliver it intact, but they themselves are not the meaning. That lies within us.
So is the package empty? Are the words we use empty? Without us to give them life and meaning, the answer is yes. Knowing what words will correspond to meanings that your audience holds within themselves will help you communicate more effectively. Knowing what meanings lie within you is your door to understanding yourself.
This chapter discusses the importance of delivering your message in words. It examines how the characteristics of language interact in ways that can both improve and diminish effective business communication. We will examine how language plays a significant role in how you perceive and interact with the world, and how culture, language, education, gender, race, and ethnicity all influence this dynamic process. We will look at ways to avoid miscommunication and focus on constructive ways to get your message delivered to your receiver with the meaning you intended.
[1] Pearson, J., & Nelson, P. (2000). An introduction to human communication: Understanding and sharing. Boston, MA: McGraw-Hill.
No comments:
Post a Comment