Hey all,
Hope you all my Podcast and our last assignment for this class!
Book Review for “Bullying Beyond the Schoolyard: Preventing And Responding to Cyberbullying” by Sameer Hinduja and Justin W. Patchin
Book Review
Bullying Beyond the Schoolyard: Preventing And Responding to Cyberbullying, by Sameer Hinduja and Justin W. Patchin, Corwin, Thousand Oaks, CA, 2015. 273 pages. Reviewed by Susan Schon
This textbook has allowed providing further research on the topic of cyberbullying and its entirety as well as giving the best explanation of how it happens as well as preventing it from increasing its severity in the youth. It has allowed to gain insight and provide resources to parents and school personnel to reach out and to be able to target the issue that continues to rise as technology advances. As news stations report with more and more accidents and suicides caused by traditional bullying as well as cyberbullying, it has developed my interest and curiosity on how to save the lives of the youth. I am a mental health advocate so hearing and seeing these stories become more prominent has me concerned about what kind of action is being taken to help reduce these statistics as well as the steps in bullying/cyberbullying prevention. From an outside perspective, it does not seem that the schools nor the parents are doing much to act into saving the youth. However, with discovering this book, there are a lot more complexities of bullying and cyberbullying prevention than we realize and the steps to intervene inside and outside of the educational system.
Sameer Hinduja is currently a professor at Florida Atlantic University and is a Co-Director of the Cyberbullying Research Center. He is specifically worthied to shown tremendous effort in talking about and researching cyberbullying as well as the best practices for social media. He is a constant inspiration for many with various experiences on training many stakeholders on the effects of cyberbullying as well as voicing it to the news. Some of the rewards he has received are Auburn University’s Global Anti-Bullying Hero, Florida Atlantic University’s Researcher of the Year Award, and many others. The second author, Justin W. Patchin is currently a professor at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire and is also the co-director of the Cyberbullying Research Center. He travels all over the United States to educate teachers, counselors, law enforcement about how teens mishandle social media and technology. Patchin was “…a Futurist in Residence in the Behavioral Science Unit of the Federal Bureau of Investigation where he educated officers about the role of law enforcement in preventing and responding to cyberbullying incidents.” (Free Spirit Publishing, https://www.freespirit.com/authors/justin-patchin/#). These two authors created this book to provide and inform parents, educators, and law enforcement on how to properly understand cyberbullying as well as preventing it from continuously happening. This book is to inform and educate others on the dangers of the online world but also that when using it properly, it can be beneficial to the youth.
This book has allowed multiple successful opportunities in defining and explaining how cyberbullying has become an issue within the youth and the way they use technology and social media. Hinduja and Patchin both break up the book with real-life examples that help provide insight on the realities of both traditional and online bullying. For example, in the very beginning of the book, they give a real-life example of a sixteen-year-old girl who was bullied enough to take her own life and continue to provide examples of others who have been bullied to break up the data and formal writing of the book. However, this book has also provided several insights on defining cyberbullying as well as the forms that cyberbullying can take place in order to start the process of preventing cyberbullying. For example, they include a bullet list some of the factors that contribute to the start of cyberbullying, “Anonymity and pseudonymity, Disinhibition, Deindividuation, Lack of supervision, Virality, Limitless victimization risk” (Hinduja & Patchin, 2015, Pg. 46) This allows readers to fully analyze why the aggressor participates in cyberbullying rather than traditional bullying which also helps differentiate on the ways it can be prevented in school and outside of school. Unfortunately, this list and the forms of cyberbullying don’t account for all of the ways and forms of cyberbullying takes place and would require further research.
Both authors express their concern and the importance of informing and educating the target audience of this book by explaining and providing critical data that might open the eyes of others to prevent cyberbullying from happening. They still express concern and explain that there is still plenty of research to do to further understand cyberbullying as a whole and what are the effects and true causes of it. For example, they identify through their research there are flaws to be notified, “…the utilization of online surveys has certain limitations that leave it to susceptible to criticism….there are drawbacks in any research endeavor, and ideally several approaches should be utilized to analyze a problem from different vantage points.” (Pg. 72) They express throughout the book that there should be constant and future research into each of the chapters which mean there will always be constantly evolving through the topic of cyberbullying.
In conclusion, there are many unique factors that make it a book with significant value when compared to other books that discuss the same topic. For example, this book provides many real-life examples that provide support and a ‘reality check’ for people who are oblivious to the topic of cyberbullying. Another important factor that makes this book stand outside from the others is the number of resources put into each chapter as well as the back of the book that allows teachers and parents to use in the school and household environment to provide that education to the youth. You can easily access to these resources on the websites that these authors provide or modify the ones that they provide to personalize to the situation at hand which makes it easier to help educate the youth and others about ways to prevent cyberbullying from happening.
References
Free Spirit Publishing. (n.d.). Justin W. Patchin, Ph.D. Retrieved May 22, 2019, from https://www.freespirit.com/authors/justin-patchin/#
Hinduja, S., & Patchin, J. W. (2015). Bullying beyond the Schoolyard: Preventing and responding to cyberbullying (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin.
Hinduja, S. (n.d.). Dr. Sameer Hinduja – Bullying and Cyberbullying Speaker, Social Media Safety Expert, Researcher, and Author. Retrieved May 22, 2019, from https://hinduja.org/
Top 10 Best Practice for Communicating Organizational Identity and Brand
Have you ever been in a store that resonates you because of the way it looks? Or because of the exceeding customer service every time you’ve been there? Did you ever wonder why it’s the store you go in at least 3 times a week? That big sign above the store can tell you a lot on how they make you continually coming back into their store and buying their name brand products. However, you must look beyond the store’s logo and the visual appealing senses of the physical store. Of course, that is a part of how a store draws you in; using the four senses of what you favorite the most, “The nuance of an image, the delight of an unfamiliar taste, the memory of a familiar sound, the gentle caress of a soft fabric, the associations of an ancient smell-these are the cues which form indelible imprints on our emotional memories.” (Gobe, 2001, Pg. 3) However, that’s only the visible surface on why you keeping that $400 Coach purse, not because it compliments your outfit but it genuinely makes you happy.
This company has made you feel like you’re a part of them and what they believe in and this turns to be a truly great brand and identity. You’re immediately greeted by at least two customer service sales representatives, the environment is what you’d want your own closet to feel like, and life is great. As consumers, all we see is the external aspect of the store but internally those feelings we get are because of how they got together and communicated together, employees and stakeholders, of what their brand wants to stand for and why. The internal part of the company is one of the most important parts of the company; it’s the lungs to the heart, the soil to a plant, the milk to the cereal. You must first understand that brand doesn’t just mean the logo’s or the stamp that an organization uses, it means, “…a brand is a bundle of values and attributes that define the value you deliver to people through the entire customer experience…” (Yohn, 2014, Pg. 3) Once you understand this definition then, everything gets easier from here.
Top 10 Best Practices
1. Empowering the voice of your customer. As mentioned before, the voice of your customer and how they interact with your products or services should determine and define what your organization stands for and where. You want them to have a great experience the first time so they can keep creating those great memories and understand what you need to keep repeating instead of trying a surplus of different ways. That experience when they enter your organization should be the most memorable one, “Businesses must invest in defining not only a positive experience, but also a wonderfully shareable experience.” (Solis, 2013, Pg. 8)
2. Give knowledge to your employees. Without loyal and true employees, you not only do not have an organizational brand but essentially no business, no income. The way you treat and give knowledge your employees is what get when you receive customer feedback and progress on how well your organization is doing. It’s like going to school again, when creating a great brand for your organization you need to create a “test” for your employees to better understand your organization’s brand and identity. Yohn says that creating a toolbox and assessments that don’t create headaches will help in assisting on learning the brand.
3. DO NOT ADVERTISE. Advertising takes away your brand, it limits self-expression and doesn’t really do anything except takes a lot of money out of your organization’s pocket. Use your internal resources, especially with the help of social media, you not only can get your brand out there but you have the ability and advantage of the word of mouth from your loyal customers. Start internally, make sure everyone on the inside knows and understands your brand and then create a message for your external shareholders, such as stakeholders, people outside of your loyal customer fan base, and other external factors.
4. Don’t Listen to Society’s Big Mouth. When you go out somewhere you don’t want to see someone with the same Forever21 dress or Louis Vaton purse as you. That is one of the most defeating feelings especially if you’re in the same place, therefore, you don’t want a brand that follows the same trends as the company that sits two blocks from it. When your organization follows the outside trends or listen to society’s mouth; that’s when your brand and identity you worked so hard for, crumbles and doesn’t last. Making your own trend and being your own self is the whole point of having a brand and identity, “[Brands]…move away from the crowd and explore new territory because that’s a way to create greater opportunities for growth.” (Yohn, 2014, Pg. 83)
5. Align Your Stakeholders with Your Organization’s Brand. Stakeholders are significant in getting your brand’s message and identity out to the rest of the world. Acknowledging that you exist, which is why it’s important your “outsiders” know your brand as well. They actually should know your brand just as good as your employees do because what they think your brand is, is how it’s going to be interpreted to your customers. They want to make sure that your organization’s brand is worth investing in, so that means exactly what it says. Make it unique.
6. Avoid Selling Products, Sell Emotions. Yes, selling products gives you the money that you need in order to keep your business up and running but what if you have nothing to show for it? Your customers don’t care because your organization’s brand doesn’t care, and you can show that through both internally and externally. As employees, as the organization; you should care how your customer feels in general and about the product, “In essence, you want your brand to be tattoo-worthy. Or you want to ask yourself why it isn’t.” (Pg. 51)
7. The Comfort Feeling. I’ve implanted to you all about how important it is internally making sure your brand is exceeding and outsourcing your competitors but it’s also significant that your customer feels like they’re at home. The physical space of your organization and the way it connects to the four senses can have an ultimate effect on what we buy/use, how we buy/use, and much more. Allow your customers/clients to feel, smell, look, and touch your brand by setting up your organization’s space in alignment of your brand’s identity.
8. Engagement. Your organization’s brand should be able to engage in every way possible to your customer, to find out how they feel about your organization’s brand and its products. As social media increases and the amount of people that look at reviews from these multiple platforms, it’s important to make sure that customer’s reviews are satisfactory (preferably above satisfactory). However, make sure the way we respond to our customers should be in representation of the organization’s brand and identity and what they believe in.
9. Loyalty to Your Organization’s Brand. Make sure that your organization, internally and externally, stays loyal to what your brand and identity is saying. If an employer or stakeholder goes against on what the company believes in could lead to distrust with your customers and bring down the loyalty you’ve already built up and we don’t want to waste that greatness from these 10 great practices I’ve provided for you.
10. Last but Least: Love Your Whole Organization. It may seem obvious to most, but a lot of companies don’t put their whole heart into something that even started. Make sure that not only your employees and stakeholders understand and know what your brand and identity is but feel the same way about it; enjoying representing it towards customers and others.
Digital Presentation: Applying Theory to Practice
Facebook is a very popular social media platform across the nation as well as internationally, hosting more than millions of users to post statuses, pictures, videos, and much more. I’ve personally learned to trust this social media platform, probably way more than I should and I have used it since 2010. I’ve heard of problems in regards to glitches, advertisement issues, but nothing this serious to a security breach; the closest would be to spam on messenger that sends messages on your behalf by promoting something when it’s really not you. I’ve learned that no matter what, no matter what kind of technology and or security programs you have, hackers will find a way to access information. However, I also realized that responded in the time that Facebook does, entrusts and gives hope to a lot of Facebook users in which creates bonding capital within the social media community. Unfortunately, I didn’t learn what are the steps when it comes into finding out that there are hacker’s affecting millions of accounts. It would have been interesting because the target audience is so vast; globally big.
Additionally, I’ve learned through Putnam’s theory that social media influences building a community and trust within the community. They have a much larger impact than we realize with the right sources and community involvement when, for example, disaster strikes, is something that bonds everyone together (depending on the situation). This is where I understood more about Putnam’s theory about the need to rebuild community togetherness and trust towards and in society. Luoama-aho explains by having Putnam and his co-workers define his theory and what his work is about, “…define social capital as “features of social organization, such as trust, norms, and networks that can improve the efficiency of society by facilitating coordinated actions.” (p. 167)
With my vocal speech, I learned from last time to create a more detailed outline where I could properly speak without hesitation or hearing flip the pages through the microphone. With my outline, I included quotes the directly correlated with the theory I was using and put them on my outline so I could read them from there instead. I also learned to speak more confidently with my voice instead of holding back words and tone of voice back. When I recorded my voice, I learned how to upload it on PowerPoint and spread the voice recording throughout each slide instead of recording it on the actual PowerPoint. I definitely improved with my speech and being able to discuss all parts of this presentation. I feel as next time I will take the same steps and improve them even further by avoiding fillers such as “um”. I know that this may not be in relation to media production but since I feel confident about that, I thought I would use speech improvements instead.
Reference
Ruler, B. V. (2018). Public Relations and Social Theory: Key Figures and Concepts (Ø Ihlen & M. Fredriksson, Eds.). New York, NY: Routledge.
Click the link below to view my presentation
Oral Presentation: Cosmopolitan’s Article Recieving Negative Reactions
Response to Presentation
This presentation has taught me that language is a significant part of public relations as well as communications in general. The way we pose our language to the public is important and allows us to create symbolic power. When reading titles of magazines, we immediately want to be able to connect, be inspired, and ready to jump into reading what’s on the inside. However, Cosmopolitan made a harsh mistake on a title about an article with health-related issues. I learned that, is a dangerous territory and language is the key element in being able to shape and form a social world. Bourdieu is very focused on how the social world is created and reproduced by individuals and groups together. In addition, language is important to understanding and communicating symbolic power instead of symbolic violence. In addition, in part from theory, being able to respond in a timely manner in response to the social media backlash.
Unfortunately, I didn’t learn anything from the media production aspect, I’ve done so many projects where it involves in recording and posting on either social media, blogs, etc. Thankfully, my previous knowledge made it easier to record and post onto my WordPress. I think the most challenging part in doing the media production was being able to organize my thoughts and express them through the recording. I am usually very consistent when speaking but that’s usually in front of a group of people rather than just a microphone. In addition, I learned how to watch my time from this class and previous classes because I tend to go over because of the amount of information that has to be presented.
As mentioned earlier, I really pushed myself to watch the time I had during the recording as well as making sure I am including all the presented information. In addition, I believe that there are still areas of improvement when speaking through the microphone, for example, organization. I think there are areas of opportunities for me to have all the information I need in front of me and ready to be presented through any type of recording voice or video. I believe this will help me improve in my speech and clarification about the topic. For me, media production has many challenges but not so much in creating and being able to upload it but developing the content. To push myself even further would be to create organization in front of me as well as improving my speech when discussing the topic at hand.
References
Amatulli, J. (2017, April 11). Cosmo’s Headline About Cancer Survivor’s Weight Loss Is A Doozy. Retrieved September 23, 2018, from https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/cosmos-headline-about-cancer-survivors-weight-loss-is-a-doozy_us_58eced9ae4b0df7e204585a0
Ruler, B. V. (2018). Public Relations and Social Theory: Key Figures and Concepts (Ø Ihlen & M. Fredriksson, Eds.). New York, NY: Routledge.
Book Review: “Squirrel Inc.: A Fable of Leadership Through Storytelling”
Squirrel Inc.: A Fable of Leadership Through Storytelling is a Communication-related textbook, however, is being told in a narrative through the point of view of several squirrels that are employed at a struggling corporation that resists change and encourages only hard work. In the preface, the author, Stephen Denning, explains why he chose 1) an animal 2) and why he chose squirrels as the animal. The explanation is quite brilliant with a response and idea being in mind of previous animal fables and how they have been successful in telling the lesson learned, therefore, applying it to communication and the strategy of storytelling. In addition, previous research from the Harper’s Index intrigued our author, “It was the percentage of nuts that squirrels lost because they couldn’t remember where they had buried them. It was a remarkably high percentage, and the fact, if not the exact number, stuck in my mind.” (Denning, 2004, Pg. 5)
After that, he smoothly intertwined this fact throughout the rest of the textbook as well as connecting it to the side notes made with gestured nut pictures on the side of most pages. Denning uses this idea to not only make an ordinary textbook come alive but to also help students, practitioners, and more to use storytelling in the workplace, to change minds, help transition new ideas to the organization smoothly, and much more uses. He uses his characters through different ways of how storytelling can help their organization, Squirrel Inc, for example, the character, Sandra, is storytelling for the future. All of these characters play roles but are mostly separated by chapter in which they all hold speeches in a local bar. This book helps break down storytelling and how narratives can help corporations that need change but are too stuck in their ways of implementing it.
Considering this is a “textbook” for communication students and/or scholars, storytelling isn’t about riding off with prince charming or climbing down the princess’s long hair; it’s about having your listeners/followers be immersed in what you have to say. Denning has you understand this through all of his characters besides Howe (knowledge-based) which describe storytelling in different ways at a local bar. Each character has a purpose in pushing the narrative in this book and explaining various scenarios that might benefit or not benefit Squirrel Inc, “Dio said there are different purposes in telling a story, and for each purpose you tell the story in a different way.” (Denning, 2004, Pg. 9)
The owner of the bar is the narrator in the story, it’s who we are looking at in telling the story of this book. He is the analyzer of what all goes on in his bar but as well as Squirrel Inc., however, he has never stepped foot into the corporate-run business. In the eyes of you and me, the reader, he is the old wise owl. The one that doesn’t get involved with anything that the corporate world does, but instead observes its failures as well as the workers that come in and explain (or complain) on how the company is spinning downwards. As we see much of the narrator, it’s unfortunate we don’t get to see much of him in the eye of Squirrel Inc. The only insight we get about the company is from the preface and the complaints from the other squirrels; instead of this; it would be helpful if there were two points of view from the bartender and Diana, the executive manager of Squirrel Inc. If we were to get insights from inside the company as well as the outside perspective, I believe that the storytelling between Diana and the bartender would be clarified a little bit more. As a reader of this book, I would like to have seen more framing of the company instead of just flashes of how the company is declining.
Denning framed this book to explain how storytelling can be beneficial and useful to an organization that is steadily declining fast in its numbers and that resists change. Instead of using the writing in textbook form, he used storytelling (the main concept of the book itself) to explain how this concept can benefit a big, corporate organization. However, after each part of the story of the squirrels have been told, the author sets aside to put a textbook portion.* He analyzes and breaks down what his characters are saying by formally introducing storytelling and how it plays such a significant role in communication. With these breaks at the end of each chapter, he helps the readers summarize and understand what was being communicated between all the characters in the story.
Denning frames this book beautifully by explaining the concept of storytelling through the use of storytelling itself throughout the entire book. However, he also realizes his target audience, more considerably students, reading the book as well and make sure there are formal breaks in between chapters and allows them to make notes. There are other opportunities for the reader to understand such as the side notes to further understand the conversations between all characters, including the narrator.
He set up this textbook nicely because not only can you immerse yourself in the story of the squirrels and still understand the concept that is being identified but you can also break away from the story momentarily and take the time to write down key ideas and notes from the chapter. However, as mentioned before, I do believe that it would be more insightful to include two points of view: Diana’s and the bartenders. If the book was framed with two points of view, there would be a better understanding of specifically what ways the organization has struggled from the executive side and leave the bartender’s point of view as well.
CEO’s of any organization, undergraduate and graduate students, and practitioners can benefit from this book. This book opened my eyes to how CEO’s or presidents of a company can help themselves and their company to grow and use change as an advantage. Unfortunately, the CEO of Squirrel Inc was too stuck in his ways to be able to accept anything new, even if it did help the company and its customers. However, with the help of the bartender and the journey that Diana took; she realized storytelling was the essence of life for the company and its customers, “…What have these stories got to do with Squirrel Inc.? It one sense, nothing. But in another, they reveal what sort of perseverance will be needed to get Squirrel Inc. through its difficulties.” (Denning, 2004, Pg. 146) Diana came from saying “Stories aren’t serious…Squirrel Inc. would never go for anything like that” (Pg. 7) to overcoming all the pushbacks and becoming the CEO of the company slowly and progressively making change within the values. A CEO might learn from this book that no matter how resistant a company may be to change, there are always other ways to make it happen, such as storytelling.
This book also targets graduate and undergraduate students for the explanation and definition of storytelling. This target audience may learn the value of the trust as well as loyalty and honesty to get through hard times and succeed as a community. As Squirrel Inc. was floundering, the bartender had a sense of leadership and honesty to help the young executive out with ideas that might not have been thought or brought up to the company before. Students would learn that resistance to change could set up failure to the job you just acquired or even working in group projects or both.
I would highly recommend this book, especially to the right side of the brain kind of thinkers who like to create stories but to be able to structurally use it and justified in the workplace.
Reference Page
Denning, S. (2004). Squirrel Inc.: A Fable of Leadership Through Storytelling. New York, NY: Jossey-Bass.
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Squirrel Inc: A Fable of Leadership Through Storytelling
IKEA’s Women Empowerment: Textual Analysis Findings and Implications Presentation
Hello everyone!
I hope everyone has had a good semester in COM 610, I found this class to inform me about a lot of other theories and approaches that are involved in Communication as well as helping me improve on my research approaches.
This presentation below summarizes what I talked about in my Theoretical Framework paper. It talks about the PR kit I used for my “text” and how rhetorical analysis is a impact on that as well as using the human relations approach to describe IKEA’s way of using the PR kit.
Being able to research this has opened my eyes more to not only this organization but also the breaking of stereotypes in gender equality, especially internationally.
I hope you all enjoy, just click the hyperlink below!
Thank you!
“Fostering an Innovative Organization Using Systems Thinking” Blog Post 3
There are days in which we can control something and days we cannot control anything; rules that can be bent and rules that cannot be. As a creative consultant, there is the balance between implementing an innovative plan but still follow the rules of the organization. There is the bigger picture you look at, it’s beautiful and unique to its business but then there are the smaller details of the picture that keep it in its frame, in its lines. That is what “balance of creativity and constraint” does in the organizational communication, there are two ways in being successful while doing the organizational side and creativity side. It is possible to do both, but the people must be able to “…organize real and symbolic resources, deal with conflicting goals in relation to those resources, manage multiple meanings, and contend with an ongoing stream of information…” (Eisenberg, Goodall Jr. Trethewey, 2014, Pg. 38) However, sometimes it is harder to establish or even maintain the balance between both with one more leaning over the other. That is why there are ways in which it is possible to do constrain equality between both with the following: Peter Senge had brought up the learning organization approach in which one feature, “flexible mental models”, allow creativity and innovation for the company but also allow change and open communication for other employees. There is an openness to new ideas for the company, to be able to be creative but also understanding how it will benefit the company profitability wise. With this, you all must be on the same page; with technology improving by the minute IPad’s will be administered among the conference group where all devices will be in sync. In addition, you will be able to make changes/edits while others are making theirs.
In the 21st century, the technology increases which assists with the creativity that needs to be included in the business. To be able to increase the creativity as well as balancing with the constraint of organizational communication, you have to be able to: be open minded with all ideas from all members, use technological advancements to use creative ways of thinking, and be able to use the “selection” process to determine what works for the organization and what does not as well as what is the best reputational brand for them.
References
Eisenberg, E. M., Goodall, H., Jr., & Trethewey, A. (2014). Theories of Organizational Communication. In Organizational Communication: Balancing Creativity and Constraint (7th ed.). Boston, MA: Bedford/St. Martin’s.
Introduction/Rationale: IKEA Empowering Minority Women
Multicultural Communication is seen throughout all organizations, especially for diversity and inclusiveness. Organizations throughout the world use multicultural communication to provide and sustain all equality of work for everyone regardless of gender, race, age, etc. As seen today with current crisis within some companies such as Starbuck’s having resulted in racism externally; multicultural communication helps assist with these crises. However, multicultural communication is more than about equality within the workplace but also how it shows how various people work together to create relationships for them and for the organization. Within history the term “multiculturalism” has been defined by many organizations and scholars but this definition has been hardened by history, “Multiculturalism, as a demographic descriptive, continues to refer to the existence of ethnically or racially diverse segments within the population of a society or State (UNESCO, 2006, p. 16); therefore, multiculturalism and multicultural mean racio-ethnic diversity.” (Byrd, 2014, Pg. 2)
We look back towards the 1960’s for defining “multiculturalism” which stems from across the country and eventually developed in the United States. It was a movement in which during this time the United States was going through one of the most racially tensioned war, the Civil Rights War. The balance between intercultural communication and multicultural communication was blurred but eventually had a clear distinction between the two later defined by UNESCO.
As history as shown us, there are a lot of sexism barriers in the workplace between women and men; however, not only are there barriers between the two genders but trying to include minority women in the workplace. In the United States, there has been a lot of significant issues in equality in the workplace for women and minorities. Men do get higher wages than women do as well as easier access to promotions as well as earning a position as a CEO. In a research study conducted by J.R. Elliott and R.A. Smith (as well as others listed in the study) look at in their paper “Race, Gender, and Workplace Power” several hypotheses that describe how men (especially white) gain more authority, corporate power than women (and minorities) do. These hypotheses are supported, such as McGuire looks at ranking, “The implication is that workers, not just employers, use race and gender to rank network members, and this ranking influences the type and amount of assistance available to members of different groups.” (Elliott, Smith, McGuire, 2004, Pg. 2)
However, not all organizations look at overpowering one over the other; I found on a blog post, posted by IKEA, that they support women, especially minority women in other countries of their work and creating self-employment for them in their own country. Their own brand of social entrepreneurship is part of their organization to support environmental challenges and helping women in the workplace. This organization has gone above company policy and has understood the defining term of “diversity and inclusiveness” as well as breaking the barriers of minority women in the workplace. This will help me understand how multicultural communication works in multitude of ways through various communities as well as providing equality through the workplace.
References
Byrd, M. L. (2014). Multicultural communication. In S. Thompson (Ed.), Encyclopedia of diversity and social justice. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers. Retrieved from http://ezproxy.queens.edu:2048/login?url=https://search.credoreference.com/content/entry/rowmandasj/multicultural_communication/0?institutionId=4379
Elliott, J. R., & Smith, R. A. (2004). Race, gender, and workplace power. American Sociological Review, 69(3), 365-386. doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/000312240406900303
IKEA, People & Communities. (2018, May). INNEHÅLLSRIK Social Entrepreneurs [Press release]. Retrieved from https://www.ikea.com/ms/en_US/media/pressroom/INNEHALLSRIK/INNEHALLSRIK-Press-Kit.pdf
Now if you click the hyperlink below it will tell you all the information that goes through the human relations approach through IKEA’s Social Entrepreneurship Partnership with several countries around the world. However, it also tells you about ethnic women in the workplace and being able to empower themselves through chance and independency.
Click on the link to read more about it
“Are Today’s HR Practices Really Living Out the Ideologies of the Human Resources Approach?”
Topic: Are Today’s HR Practices Really Living Out the Ideologies of the Human Resources Approach?
Human resources are one of the most commonly used and efficient ways companies have up-kept their reputations as well as employees. It is the balance between the good of the employees and the “machine” of the organization. There is a both in the human resources compared to the human relations approach or the classical management approach. It really is the base of where problems that come together and are resolved with group discussions, meetings, publicity and then is put to the test.
With most modern-day workplaces with a separate department for human resources, it is necessary for big industries for the employees and their managers to communicate. An example of a company that would it be absolutely necessary for a human resources department is that of all department stores such as Macy’s, Belk’s, Dillard’s, etc. Not only are they world known but are such big stores it would be hard to account for everyone when using a human relations approach. The human resources approach has dramatically changed in what it is trying to accomplish. It seems that today, it is more focused on the publicity aspect as well as the reputational risks of the business which seems to go back more to the classical management approach. However, not all has changed throughout the face of human relations in which in Kathrine Miller’s book explains what the 21st century organizations are looking at and are implementing, “These programs all emphasize team management and the importance of employee involvement in ensuring product or service quality and organizational productivity.” (Miller, 2009, Pg. 20) Unfortunately, as other theorists supported the learning environment of the human resources approach; that is not as common in today’s modern organizations. It is direct and fast paced with little teachable moments during the 8-5 workday.
“Human Resources” is the balance of human relations and the classical management approach, it looks at ways where the business/organization can thrive through successful human interaction and “machine” like system, focusing on the labor of the employees. This approach is highly useful in ways where the organization can keep its reputation as well as giving employees a comfortable work environment. For example, Google is known to be one of the top places to work for with its core work ethics as well as its colorful and inviting aesthetic exterior and interior. The company looks at its growth with exceeding labor and reflects that back onto the employees. Human resources is an approach that helps both the organization and its employees.
One of Google’s conference rooms
References
Eisenberg, E. M., Goodall, H., Jr., & Trethewey, A. (2014). Theories of Organizational Communication. In Organizational Communication: Balancing Creativity and Constraint (7th ed.). Boston, MA: Bedford/St. Martin’s.
Laignel, E. (2014, July 23). [Google’s Conference Room]. Retrieved May 26, 2018, from http://time.com/3024615/inside-googles-new-york-city-office/
Miller, K. (n.d.). Human Relations and Human Resources Approaches. In Organizational Communication: Approaches and Processes (5th ed., pp. 33-56). Lyn Uhl. (Original work published 2009)
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