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Materials required
Textbook Creme, P & Lea, MR 2008, Chapter 6: ‘Organising and shaping your writing’, in M Witsel (ed.) 2015, Communication in Organisations, 6th edn, McGraw-Hill Custom Publishing, Sydney.
Creme, P & Lea, MR 2008, Chapter 8: ‘Putting it together’, in M Witsel (ed.) 2015, Communication in Organisations, 6th edn, McGraw-Hill Custom Publishing, Sydney.
For those using the 5th edition:
Creme, P & Lea, MR 2003, Chapter 6: ‘Organising and shaping your writing’, in M Witsel (ed.) 2009, Communication in Organisations, 5th edn, McGraw-Hill Custom Publishing, Sydney.
Creme, P & Lea, MR 2003, Chapter 8: ‘Putting it together’, in M Witsel (ed.) 2009, Communication in Organisations, 5th edn, McGraw-Hill Custom Publishing, Sydney.
Assessment 2: Essay
Assessment
Group/
individualLearning outcomes
Grading indicator
Min Score
Weight
Length/
durationDue
Professional accreditation
Essay
Individual
1, 3, 5
Graded
N/A
30%
900 words
……..
N/A
The aims of this assessment task are threefold:
- Observe two or more people communicating with each other in a ‘live’ setting and to apply communication theories you have learned in Topics 1–3 to that event.
- Write an academic essay which:
- briefly describes the communication event
- analyses and evaluates the event by applying theories from Topics 1–3 to the event
- evaluates the usefulness (or otherwise) of these theories for this purpose
- conforms to the expected essay structure according to the relevant readings for Topic 6. These can also be found through the SCU Academic Skills website, http://www.scu.edu.au/academicskills. There you can click through to the Quick Guides and download the following:
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- Demonstrate correct in-text referencing and a correct reference list for at least five references according to the reference style described in the following Reading:
Summers, J & Smith, B 2010, ‘Referencing’, Communication skills handbook: How to succeed in written and oral communication, John Wiley & Sons Australia, pp. 17–38.
The essay question
Which communication theories that you have researched and applied, provide most insight into understanding the dynamics of the observed event?
Draw on the materials and subject matter of Module One and the skills developed through Module Two. With reference to at least three communication theories (or aspects of theories), analyse the communication event you have observed. In your essay compare and contrast the usefulness of the selected communication theories for analysing the event. Reference the essay correctly (using in-text referencing as well as a list of references at the end of your essay), in the style described by Summers and Smith (2010).
Step 1: Find your reference material
Before you write your essay you need to find at least five references which will help you to develop your argument and therefore your essay. You must use at least:
- a chapter from your textbook
- one of the readings in myReadings
- one journal article accessed through the Library databases.
In addition, you must choose two more from the following list:
- A newspaper article.
- A website.
- A chapter from an edited book.
- A chapter from a textbook.
- A report.
- A personal communication.
You will need to select reference material which is relevant and appropriate to the essay question and take notes with the purpose of answering your essay question.
Step 2: Observe a ‘communication event’
Choose a live setting which relates to your course where two or more people are interacting with each other (reality TV shows are not allowed). For example, if you are a business student, you might want to go shopping with a friend and observe an interaction between the salesperson and your friend. If you are a tourism or hospitality student you may want to observe an interaction between staff in a restaurant or hotel and a friend. Your tutor will have lots of ideas for settings and will discuss options with you early in the study period.
Observe the interaction, looking for evidence of aspects of communication theories that are covered in Topics 1–3. Take notes straight after you leave the interaction under headings, for example:
- The effects of non-verbal communication
- The messages that were relayed using paralanguage
- The effect of noise (mechanical, semantic and psychological)
- Perceived attribution errors
- Feedback
- Listening skills.
Step 3: Analyse the event
Using the communication theories you have selected, analyse the communication event and seek deeper insight into the event, and its participants.
Step 4: Decide on your position
After you have analysed the situation using the communication theories, decide on the position you will take on the essay question. How much more have you learned by applying the theories? In your essay, state which theories were most useful, or gave most insight, and why.
If you want to learn more about ‘position’, go to the Academic Skills website, download and read the following information sheet: ‘Developing an Argument: Essay’
Step 5: Write your essay
Using the resources which have been provided to you, plan, draft and write your essay.
The recommended resources are the relevant Readings for Topic 6, the Academic Skills Information Guides on essay writing:
- Interpreting the Assignment task: Essay.
- Essay Writing.
- Essay Writing Checklist.
- Developing an Argument: Essay.
- Introductions and Conclusions: Essay.
Your essay should contain the following structural elements:
- Introduction.
- Body.
- Conclusion.
- Reference List.
For such a short essay you do not need to use headings.
Within your essay you must refer to each one of your five references, using the in-text referencing style described in Summers and Smith (2010). You need to show that you can reference both a direct quote and a paraphrased idea.
Step 6: Write a reference list
Write a reference list for your references. Remember you have to include at least five references from various sources which conform to the author–date system described in Summers and Smith (2010).
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| Subject | Essay Writing | Pages | 8 | Style | APA |
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Answer
Communication
Interpersonal communication is the process of creation and sustenance of meaning through message transaction between people (West and Turner, 2009, 10). In this context, the communication process is an ongoing activity with no definable end. The message includes both the verbal and non verbal aspects which are simultaneously shared between people. Communication can also be described as a social process. When viewing it as a social process, West and Turner 2007, 7 define communication as an interaction of people who have different intentions, motivations and abilities. Whichever definition is used, communication involves a sender, channel, receiver and noise as the basic components. To effectively communicate all factors involved in communication must be put into account. This paper analyses an exchange between an Indian customer and a saleslady in a clothing store. It will determine the effects of non-verbal communication, the effect of noise, perceived attribution errors, feedback and listening skills.
An elderly Indian man was observed having what seemed like an agitated conversation with a clothing store saleslady. The old man was greeted by the lady she asked him how she could help him. He told her in a thick Indian accent that he wanted a pair of blue shirts. She repeated his answer and he shook his head from side to side while saying yes. The saleslady looked confused and asked him again and he did the same thing. After a few more attempts to understand the old msn the lady decided to show him some blue shorts. By then both looked agitated and a supervisor had joined them. The supervisor calmly talked to the old man who looked more at ease as the conversation progressed. He was assisted in making a choice and finally he made the purchase.
The exchange between the elderly Indian man and the Australian saleslady was unsuccessful. Although in the first part the conversation went well despite the accent, the nonverbal aspects were the major hindrance. Nonverbal communication not only involves body language particularly gestures but include numerous other vocal and non vocal attributes (Witsel, 2009, 18). The frustration in the old man was evident in his tone as well as his facial expression. Despite the saleslady’s effort to remain professional, it was evident that she was struggling as tried to keep her voice calm. (Verluyten, 2009, 62) called the tendency to use our norms and values to interpret and predicts the behaviors of other people as “Self Reference Criterion”. An action or words are assigned meaning that was not intended by the sender but was as a result the receiver using their norms and values.
Noise is “anything that interferes with accurate transmission or reception of a message” (West and Turner, 2009, 13). When the elderly man started shaking his head from side to side, the saleslady got confused. In India, shaking head from side to side signals yes while in Australia it means no. the lady therefore misinterpreted the message. Although the lady could initially understand the customer despite the accent, as the conversation progressed and misunderstanding occurred, the old man’s accent got thicker. As she kept repeating wrong things to him, he grew more frustrated, his voice got louder and the tone became stern. His inability to articulate his needs due to his accent caused physiological noise which is inability to share meaning to failure of the sender to articulate his/her message.
In order for communication between people from different cultures to be effective, it is imperative that the culture where people come from be taken into account. Culture influences a person’s perceptive and interpretation of message. People from different cultures can assign different meaning to similar message. According to West and Tuner 2013, 11, communication is an action that takes place in a context. Cultural context are norms, roles and patterns of communication that can be identified with a specific culture. This case, shaking head sideways means different thing to the salesperson and the customer. Had the saleslady understood the gesture, the conversation would not have become so bad. For effective communication to be achieved the actions associated with both the sender and receiver and the barriers that are likely to be encountered should be fully understood (Martin & Nakayama, 2007, 2).
Listening is perceived as a process of listening, receiving, decoding, interpreting and taking action on the message in interaction model of communication (Narula, 2006, 16). The elderly intended for his message to reach the saleslady who would then undergo the whole process of listening with the end results being purchasing of a pair of shirts. However, the feedback he got was not what he expected. This was as a result of a problem during decoding the message. In order enable effective communication, self-awareness is critical. It is knowledge about self including characteristics. A higher level of self awareness leads to a better self concept .self concept is how you view yourself.
In the exchange between the sale lady and the elderly man, the most influential aspects were the non verbal cues. This is especially important as they were from different cultures but spoke a common language. Attribution error that was from misinterpreting a simple gesture turned an otherwise successful communication downhill.
References
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Li, H. (2015). Communication - WikiofScience. [online] Wikiofscience.wikidot.com. Available at: http://wikiofscience.wikidot.com/quasiscience:communication [Accessed 18 Dec. 2015]. Martin, J & Nakayama, T 2007, Chapter 6, ‘Nonverbal communication issues’, in M Witsel (ed.) 2009, Communication in Organisations, 5th edn, McGraw-Hill Custom Publishing, Sydney. Munodawafa, D. (2008). Communication: concepts, practice and challenges. Health Education Research, [online] 23(3), pp.369-370. Available at: http://her.oxfordjournals.org/content/23/3/369.full [Accessed 18 Dec. 2015]. NARULA, U. (2006). Handbook of communication models, perspectives, strategies. New Delhi, Atlantic WEST, R. L., & TURNER, L. H. (2013). Introducing communication theory: analysis and application. West, R. and Turner, L. (2007). Introducing communication theory. Boston: McGraw-Hill. WEST, R. L., & TURNER, L. H. (2009). Understanding interpersonal communication: making choices in changing times. Boston, Thomson/Wadsworth. VERLUYTEN, S. P. (2009). Intercultural communication in business and organisations: An introduction. Leuven, Acco.
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