Communication in the workplace

Here'a a great little article on what not to do in the workplace with much on communication.

Wedding Ritual

An interesting letter to Dear Abby stimulated a wonderful response. The writer laments the ritual at some weddings of the bride and groom stuffing cake into each other’s face. Abby then cites Curious Customs by Tad Tuleja and argues that this is a four-step ritual that “sustains masculine prerogatives in the very act of supposedly subverting them.” This ritual, Abby argues, “may be seen as a dramatization of the tensions in favor of the dominance of the male.” The letter and the response is likely to generate some great class discussion on rituals, weddings, and male-female relationships.

Shyness

Here is a super article on shyness by Susan Cain. Among the interesting points Cain makes is that shyness is not only normal but it "may be essential to the survival of the species." Cain argues that instead of encouraging normal people who are shy to view themselves as ill, we need to learn to appreciate the values that shyness brings to our culture and our species. The article is a wonderful supplement to the material we have in our textbooks.

College Rankings

Here's an excellent blog post on college rankings.

Conflict resolution

I'm pleased to say that The Communication Blog is included in the top 50 conflict resolution blogs--see link below to Top Blog. Although a commercial site, there is much here that is free and useful to communication instructors and students.

Communication Strategies: How to avoid ageist talk

Although used mainly to refer to prejudice against older people, the word ageism can also refer to prejudice against other age groups. For example, if you describe all teenagers as selfish and undependable, you’re discriminating against a group purely because of their age, and thus are ageist in your statements. Individual ageism is seen in the general disrespect many show toward older people and in negative stereotypes about older people. Institutional ageism is seen in mandatory retirement laws and age restrictions in certain occupations (as opposed to requirements based on demonstrated competence). In less obvious forms, ageism is seen in the media’s portrayal of old people as incompetent, complaining, and, perhaps most clearly evidenced in both television and films, without romantic feelings or sexual desires. Rarely, for example, does a TV show or film show older people working productively, being cooperative and pleasant, and engaging in romantic and sexual relationships. An excellent and welcomed exception is the gay relationship between Saul Holden (Ron Rifkin) and Jonathan Byrold (Richard Chamberlain) on Brothers and Sisters.

Popular language is replete with examples of linguistic ageism; “little old lady,” “old hag,” “old-timer,” “over the hill,” “old coot,” and “old fogy” are a few examples. As with sexism or heterosexism, qualifying a description of someone in terms of his or her age often demonstrates ageism. For example, if you refer to “a quick-witted 75-year-old” or “an agile 65-year-old” or “a responsible teenager,” you’re implying that these qualities are unusual in people of these ages and thus need special mention. You’re saying that “quick-wittedness” and “being 75” do not normally go together. The problem with this kind of stereotyping is that it’s simply wrong. There are many 75-year-olds who are extremely quick-witted (and many 30-year-olds who aren’t).

You also communicate ageism when you speak to older people in overly simple words, or explain things that don’t need explaining. Nonverbally, you demonstrate ageist communication when, for example, you avoid touching an older person but touch others, or when you avoid making direct eye contact with the older person but readily do so with others, or when you speak at an overly high volume (suggesting that all older people have hearing difficulties).

One useful way to avoid ageism is to recognize and avoid the illogical stereotypes that ageist language is based on and examine your own language to see if you do any of the following:

<  talk down to a person because he or she is older. Older people are not mentally slow; most people remain mentally alert well into old age.

<  refresh an older person’s memory each time you see the person. Older people can and do remember things.

<  imply that romantic relationships are no longer important. Older people continue to be interested in relationships.

<  speak at an abnormally high volume. Being older does not mean being hard of hearing or being unable to see; most older people hear and see quite well, sometimes with hearing aids or glasses.

<  avoid engaging older people in conversation as you would wish to be engaged. Older people are interested in the world around them.

Even though you want to avoid ageist communication, there are times when you may wish to make adjustments when talking with someone who does have language or communication difficulties. The American Speech and Hearing Association offers several useful suggestions (www.asha.org/public/speech/development/communicating-better-with-older-people.htm):

<  Reduce as much background noise as you can.

<  Ease into the conversation by beginning with casual topics and then moving into more familiar topics. Stay with each topic for a while; avoid jumping too quickly from one topic to another.

<  Speak in relatively short sentences and questions.

<  Give the person added time to respond. Some older people react more slowly and need extra time.

<  Listen actively.

Usually, terms designating age are unnecessary. There are times, of course, when you’ll need to refer to a person’s age group, but most of the time age is irrelevant—in much the same way that racial or affectional orientation terms are usually irrelevant. When necessary, older person is preferred to elder, elderly, senior, or senior citizen (which technically refers to someone older than 65).

Body Language

The second edition of Shelly Hagen's The Everything Body Language Book has recently been published. I had the privilege of serving as "technical reviewer." I think both students and instructors will find it an interesting read.

College rankings

Here's an interesting article posted on an interesting blog that you might be interested in.

Isn’t It Time?

With the recent display of ignorance of the United States Constitution and the Declaration of Independence demonstrated by Michele Bachmann, John Boehner, Herman Cain, and Sarah Palin—admittedly all Republicans but that’s really immaterial (I’m sure there are Democrats who fall into the
same category), isn’t it time for the voters to demand that candidates running for political office at least know what’s in the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence and have some basic knowledge of United States and world history? How about a simple test—constructed by a bipartisan group of history and political science professors—that candidates would have to take? There need not be a pass or fail or even a grade assigned, but the questions and the candidates’ answers would be published for all to see. Don’t we as voters have a right to know what these candidates know and what they don’t know? We demand that accountants, doctors, police officers, lawyers, and a host of other professional people in this country take tests as part of their admission to their jobs.  Why shouldn’t we expect that of politicians as well? Then, the voters—after reading their responses—can make up their own minds as to whether or not they wish to vote for them.

     It’s a simple idea that might even encourage candidates to actually read the Constitution, for example, and to brush up on United States history. More important, it would weed out people who are simply unqualified to hold political office.

Communication Strategies: How to avoid talking like a racist

According to Andrea Rich “any language that, through a conscious or unconscious attempt by the user, places a particular racial or ethnic group in an inferior position is racist.” Racist language expresses racist attitudes. It also, however, contributes to the development of racist attitudes in those who use or hear the language. Even when racism is subtle, unintentional, or even unconscious, its effects are systematically damaging. Here is an all-too-brief consideration of some of the ways we might talk about race without offending others.

     Like sexism, racism exists on both individual and institutional levels. Individual racism involves the negative attitudes and beliefs that people hold about specific races. The assumption that certain races are intellectually inferior to others or that certain races are incapable of certain achievements are clear examples of individual racism. Prejudice against groups such as American Indians, African Americans, Hispanics, and Arabs have been with us throughout history and is still a part of many people’s lives today. Such racism is seen in the negative terms people use to refer to members of other races and to disparage their customs and accomplishments. Institutionalized racism is seen in patterns such as de facto school segregation, companies’ reluctance to hire members of minority groups, banks’ unwillingness to extend mortgages and business loans to members of some races or to charge them higher interest rates, and racial profiling.

     Examine your own language for possible racism which may include: using derogatory terms for members of a particular race; maintaining stereotypes and on the basis of these perceive and interact with members of other races; including reference to race when it’s irrelevant, as in “the racialname surgeon” or “the racialname athlete”; and attributing an individual’s economic or social problems to the individual’s race rather than to, say, institutionalized racism or general economic problems that affect everyone.

According to some research, most African Americans prefer African American to black, although black is often used with white, as well as in a variety of other contexts (for example, Department of Black and Puerto Rican Studies, the Journal of Black History, and Black History Month). The American Psychological Association recommends that both terms be capitalized, but the Chicago Manual of Style (the manual used by most newspapers and publishing houses) recommends using lowercase. The terms Negro and colored, although used in the names of some organizations (for example, the United Negro College Fund and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People), are no longer used outside these contexts. People of color—a literary-sounding term appropriate perhaps to public speaking but awkward in most conversations—is preferred to nonwhite, which implies that whiteness is the norm and nonwhiteness is a deviation from that norm.

White is generally used to refer to those whose roots are in European cultures and usually does not include Hispanics. Analogous to African American (which itself is based on a long tradition of terms such as Irish American and Italian American) is the phrase European American. Few European Americans, however, call themselves that; most prefer their national origins emphasized, as in, for example, German American or Greek American.

     Generally, the term Hispanic refers to anyone who identifies as belonging to a Spanish-speaking culture. Latina (female) and Latino (male) refer to persons whose roots are in one of the Latin American countries, such as Haiti, the Dominican Republic, Nicaragua, or Guatemala. Hispanic American refers to U.S. residents whose ancestry is in a Spanish culture; the term includes people from Mexico, the Caribbean, and Central and South America. In emphasizing a Spanish heritage, however, the term is really inaccurate, because it leaves out the large numbers of people in the Caribbean and in South America whose origins are African, Native American, French, or Portuguese. Chicana (female) and Chicano (male) refer to persons with roots in Mexico, although it often often connotes a nationalist attitude and is considered offensive by many Mexican Americans. Mexican American is generally preferred.

     Inuk (plural Inuit), also spelled with two n’s (Innuk and Innuit), is preferred to Eskimo, which was applied to the indigenous peoples of Alaska and Canada by Europeans and literally means “raw
meat eaters.”

     The word Indian technically refers only to someone from India, not to members of other Asian countries or to the indigenous peoples of North America. American Indian or Native American is preferred, even though many Native Americans do refer to themselves as Indians and Indian people. The word squaw, used to refer to a Native American woman and still used in the names of some places in the United States and in some textbooks, is clearly a term to be avoided; its usage is almost always negative and insulting.

     In Canada indigenous people are called first people or first nations. The term native American (with lowercase n) is most often used to refer to persons born in the United States. Although technically the term could refer to anyone born in North or South America, people outside the United States generally prefer more specific designations such as Argentinean, Cuban, or Canadian. The term native describes an indigenous inhabitant; it is not used to indicate “someone having a less developed culture.”

     Muslim (rather than the older Moslem) is the preferred form to refer to a person who adheres to the religious teachings of Islam. Quran (rather than Koran) is the preferred spelling for the scriptures of Islam. Jewish people is often preferred to Jews, and Jewess (a Jewish female) is considered derogatory. Finally, the term non-Christian is to be avoided: It implies that people who have other beliefs deviate from the norm.

     When history was being written from a European perspective, Europe was taken as the focal point and the rest of the world was defined in terms of its location relative to that continent. Thus, Asia became the East or the Orient, and Asians became Orientals—a term that is today considered  inappropriate or “Eurocentric.” Thus, people from Asia are Asians, just as people from Africa are Africans and people from Europe are Europeans.

     There is much more than can be said here and I invite others to add their own thoughts.