Discussion on Louise Evan’s TED Talk
Tasks
Step 1 : After listening to and taking notes on Louise Evan’s TED Talk, think about your communication behaviors in the professional environment (or college setting). In a 150-200 word post explore which chair you typically revert to when you’re challenged by others. Why do you think you revert to this chair? Which chair do you think would better help you achieve your goals in a more effective way in the professional environment? How will you go about changing to that chair? Be specific. Explain.
Criteria
■ Complete Initial Response – 15 Points: Your initial response should demonstrate analysis (review the link labeled Analyzing versus Summarizing in Modules.) Your initial response should be fully developed addressing the question with adequate examples from the assigned reading and thoughtful explanation of why or how. A complete initial response is a minimum of 200 words in length.
■ Two comments to colleagues – 15 Points: After you complete your initial response to an online question, read at least 5 of your colleagues’ responses and choose at least two to provide a comment to. Often a student will choose to comment on a response that was most helpful to them in understanding the course material better or one that they found interesting or intriguing. Any comment to a colleague should adequately explain why you found your colleague’s response helpful, interesting or intriguing and be at least 100 words in length.
■ Appropriate Integration of Course Concepts and Terms – 10 Points: your initial response should appropriately integrate course terminology and concepts from class materials.
■ Organization, evidence of proofreading, spelling checked and proper capitalization – 5 Points: Your posts should demonstrate that you carefully proofread, be organized, free of spelling errors, typos and fragments and follow capitalization conventions.
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Discussion on the Benefits of Developing Communication Competence
Required Textbook: https://open.umn.edu/opentextbooks/textbooks/274
Tasks
Communication competence is defined as the, “knowledge of effective and appropriate communication paterns and the ability to use and adapt that knowledge in various communicatiion contexts.”
Step 1 : In a 200-300 word post answer the following questions:
1.) Explain why developing communication skills are important to you in your future professional career. Be specific.
2.) What area(s) of communication competence do you wish to improve (public speaking, conflict management, intercultural, or listening)? Why? Explain.
3.) Provide an example of how poor communication has personally impacted you in the professional or college environment. Explain.
Criteria
■ Complete Initial Response – 15 Points: Your initial response should demonstrate analysis (review the link labeled Analyzing versus Summarizing in Modules.) Your initial response should be fully developed addressing the question with adequate examples from the assigned reading and thoughtful explanation of why or how. A complete initial response is a minimum of 200 words in length.
■ Two comments to colleagues – 15 Points: After you complete your initial response to an online question, you should read through several of your colleagues’ responses and choose at least two to provide a comment to. Often a student will choose to comment on a response that was most helpful to them in understanding the course material better or one that they found interesting or intriguing. Any comment to a colleague should adequately explain why you found your colleague’s response helpful, interesting or intriguing and be at least 100 words in length.
■ Organization, evidence of proofreading, spelling checked and proper capitalization – 10 Points: Your posts should demonstrate that you carefully proofread, be organized, free of spelling errors, typos and fragments and follow capitalization conventions.
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Discussion on Listening
Tasks
An essential element to improving your communication skills is your ability to reflect on and become self-aware of your own mistakes and short-comings and take ownership of them. This discussion requires you to be honest with yourself and refrain from attributing blame to others. This assignment requires you to demonstrate self-reflection and accountability and explore specific ways to improve your active listening skills.
This discussion question has two steps:
■ Step 1 : Reflect on your listening behaviors in in the professional environment (or college environment). In a 200-300 word post identify two barriers to effective listening that hinder your ability to actively/mindfully listen. Explain. Using what you learned in either William Ury’s TED Talk, Celeste Headlee’s TED Talk, or the HBR article What Great Listeners Actually Do by Jack Zenger, identify two specific changes you will make in order to become a more active/ mindful/ genuine listener? Be specific. Explain.
■ Step 2 -: Read at least 5 of your colleagues’ initial responses. Choose 2 to comment to. Each comment should be at least 100 words in length and add to the conversation (reflect on their experience, add your own examples, ask questions, respectfully debate what is said, etc.) Often a student will choose to comment on a response that was most helpful to them in understanding the course material better or one that they found interesting or intriguing.
Criteria
■ Complete Initial Response – 20 Points: Your initial response should demonstrate analysis (review the link labeled Analyzing versus Summarizing in Modules.) Your initial response should be fully developed addressing the question with adequate examples from the assigned reading and thoughtful explanation of why or how. A complete initial response is a minimum of 200 words in length.
■ Two comments to colleagues – 20 Points: After you complete your initial response to an online question, you should read through several of your colleagues’ responses and choose at least two to provide a comment to. Often a student will choose to comment on a response that was most helpful to them in understanding the course material better or one that they found interesting or intriguing. Any comment to a colleague should adequately explain why you found your colleague’s response helpful, interesting or intriguing and be at least 100 words in length.
■ Appropriate Integration of Course Concepts and Terms – 20 Points: your initial response should appropriately integrate course terminology and concepts from class materials.
■ Organization, evidence of proofreading, spelling checked and proper capitalization- 10 Points: Your posts should demonstrate that you carefully proofread, be organized, free of spelling errors, typos and fragments and follow capitalization conventions.
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Discussion on Listening
Tasks
An essential element to improving your communication skills is your ability to reflect on and become self-aware of your own mistakes and short-comings and take ownership of them. This discussion requires you to be honest with yourself and refrain from attributing blame to others. This assignment requires you to demonstrate self-reflection and accountability and explore specific ways to improve your active listening skills.
This discussion question has two steps:
■ Step 1 : Reflect on your listening behaviors in in the professional environment (or college environment). In a 200-300 word post identify two barriers to effective listening that hinder your ability to actively/mindfully listen. Explain. Using what you learned in either William Ury’s TED Talk, Celeste Headlee’s TED Talk, or the HBR article What Great Listeners Actually Do by Jack Zenger, identify two specific changes you will make in order to become a more active/ mindful/ genuine listener? Be specific. Explain.
■ Step 2 -: Read at least 5 of your colleagues’ initial responses. Choose 2 to comment to. Each comment should be at least 100 words in length and add to the conversation (reflect on their experience, add your own examples, ask questions, respectfully debate what is said, etc.) Often a student will choose to comment on a response that was most helpful to them in understanding the course material better or one that they found interesting or intriguing.
Criteria
■ Complete Initial Response – 20 Points: Your initial response should demonstrate analysis (review the link labeled Analyzing versus Summarizing in Modules.) Your initial response should be fully developed addressing the question with adequate examples from the assigned reading and thoughtful explanation of why or how. A complete initial response is a minimum of 200 words in length.
■ Two comments to colleagues – 20 Points: After you complete your initial response to an online question, you should read through several of your colleagues’ responses and choose at least two to provide a comment to. Often a student will choose to comment on a response that was most helpful to them in understanding the course material better or one that they found interesting or intriguing. Any comment to a colleague should adequately explain why you found your colleague’s response helpful, interesting or intriguing and be at least 100 words in length.
■ Appropriate Integration of Course Concepts and Terms – 20 Points: your initial response should appropriately integrate course terminology and concepts from class materials.
■ Organization, evidence of proofreading, spelling checked and proper capitalization- 10 Points: Your posts should demonstrate that you carefully proofread, be organized, free of spelling errors, typos and fragments and follow capitalization conventions.
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Self Reflection on Culture
Tasks
This assignment requires you to analyze versus summarize. In order to succeed on this assignment it is important that you review and understand the difference between analyzing and summarizing. For more information on this distinction please see Guide | Analyzing versus Summarizing.
Think of a culture different than your own that you will likely have frequent interaction within the career you choose during the next one to five years. Do not choose a culture that you would prefer to have interaction with. Rather, choose a culture that you will have interaction with.
In a 3-4 page double-spaced response with 1″ margins using size 12 font (times new roman or similar), address each of the following questions:
STEP 1. Identify three value dimensions of this culture that are different from your own culture. Think about values and behaviors and business protocol. Explain.
Here are a few sources to help you learn more about the culture:
Go to Hofstede Compare Countries
https://www.hofstede-insights.com/product/compare-countries/ to compare Hofstede’s value dimensions of different countries. Begin by selecting a country and then select a comparison country. Please keep in mind that Hofstede’s research is limited and is not intended to tell the whole story of any culture. We are more than our culture, and Hofstede would agree. The cultural patterns Hofstede identifies are meant to provide a very simple snap shot (a glimpse) of a culture. These snap shots are not a complete picture. There will always be exceptions. This research is shared to help you identify possible differences and think about ways to adjust and be flexible to people different than yourself.
Culture Crossing
http://guide.culturecrossing.net/
There’s an explanation of the six cultural (value) dimensions on the Hofstede site: https://www.hofstede-insights.com/models/national-culture/
After reading about them and identifying the culture you’d like to compare your own to, feel free to use the link provided on the assignment: https://www.hofstede-insights.com/product/compare-countries/
These articles might also be helpful:
https://freakonomics.com/podcast/season-11-episode-18/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qKViQSnW-UA
If you choose to explore generational differences, here is a resource that may help: https://www.purdueglobal.edu/education-partnerships/generational-workforce-differences-infographic/
STEP 2. Identify two biases you hold about this culture. Be specific. Explain.
Please note, there is a difference between biases and opinions. Here is some explanation:
Bias
■ A bias is the tendency to think in a certain way based on a person’s learned worldview.
■ A bias is an inclination, slant or prejudice toward a certain group, thing, or topic.
■ Bias is a judgement often uncorrelated with data. It tends to restrict the acknowledgement or the acceptance of different viewpoints and is not likely to change even if new information is presented.
■ A bias can be an unconscious, cognitive process that we are often not aware of.
■ Once we identify a bias we hold, we often are not eager to share it freely with others.
Opinion
■ Opinion is one’s interpretation of data or information. There could be alternative opinions about the same event based on different interpretations.
■ An opinion is a viewpoint that can be neutral or biased.
■ Opinions are something we are consciously aware of and often share freely with others.
■ Unlike biases, opinions might easily change in light of new information.
Your task in this assignment is to identify biases.
STEP 3. What are three important ways in which you will become more flexible in order to promote intercultural competence with a person from this culture? How will you go about monitoring your ethnocentrism with this culture? Explain. Be specific. Provide an example.
Feel free to use any suggestions made by the following resources:
Valerie Alexander’s TED Talk – How to Outsmart Your Own Unconscious Bias
The Forbes article How to Succeed in a Cross-Cultural Workplace
Yassmin Abdel-Magied’s TED Talk
Valerie Hoek’s TED Talk
The Danger of a Single Story TED Talk
The Power of Outrospection – RSA Animate video
Use first person: Since this paper requires you to explore aspects of you, it is appropriate to use first person throughout.
Criteria
■ Completeness – worth 30 Points and based on: a.) every question in the Task section of the assignment is addressed, b.) reflection demonstrates analysis (as opposed to summarizing), c.) reflection shows adequate depth and thoughtfulness.
■ Appropriate Application of Course Concepts and Terms – worth 30 Points: use of course terminology and concepts demonstrates your knowledge and understanding of the subject matter.
■ College Level Writing – worth 15 Points: Self-reflection is carefully proofread, organized, free of spelling errors, typos, run-on sentences, and fragments and follows capitalization conventions. =====> I would like to reflect on the culture of Japan, which I expect to interact with frequently in the next one to five years in my career. After researching on Hofstede’s value dimensions, I have identified three value dimensions of Japanese culture that are different from my own culture.
Power Distance: Japan has a high power distance, which means that there is a clear hierarchy in the society and people are used to the unequal distribution of power. On the other hand, my culture has a low power distance, where people are more likely to question authority and have a more democratic approach to decision-making.
Masculinity vs. Femininity: Japan has a high level of masculinity, which means that the society values assertiveness, achievement, and competition. On the other hand, my culture has a low level of masculinity, where the society values cooperation and nurturing relationships.
Individualism vs. Collectivism: Japan has a collectivist culture, where the group is valued over the individual and people are expected to act in the interest of the group. On the other hand, my culture is individualistic, where people value independence and personal achievement over group goals.
I have two biases about the Japanese culture that I need to work on overcoming. Firstly, I have a stereotype that Japanese people are reserved and formal, and it might be difficult for me to build relationships with them. Secondly, I have the notion that the Japanese work culture is extremely demanding and people are expected to work long hours, which may create challenges for me in terms of work-life balance.
In order to promote intercultural competence with the Japanese culture, I will become more flexible in the following ways:
Adapting my communication style: I will be more mindful of my nonverbal cues and tone of voice to make sure that I am not being too direct or aggressive, which might be perceived as rude in their culture.
Being respectful of hierarchy: I will be conscious of the clear hierarchy in their culture and try to address people in the proper manner.
Understanding the importance of group goals: I will be aware of the importance of group goals in the Japanese culture and try to align my personal goals with the goals of the group.
In order to monitor my ethnocentrism with the Japanese culture, I will make an effort to understand their values and beliefs through books, articles, and by talking to people who have lived in Japan. I will also make an effort to challenge my biases and ask questions to learn more about their culture, instead of assuming things based on my own cultural experiences.
By becoming more flexible, understanding the differences in values and beliefs, and challenging my biases, I can develop intercultural competence with the Japanese culture and have successful interactions with them in the future.
