POWER
Power structures are important for any well functioning organization and allow people to interact and cooperate in an environment where they can feel safe and confident. However, an abuse of power or an overreach by someone in power could yield negative results, it could lead to suppression of people or ideas and this would be bad for the organization because of all the unwanted effects that come along with it. It could lead to employees not feeling satisfied in their occupation or just not motivated to work as well as the loss of valuable insight from people on the lower levels of the company, in the long term this means that the company will have a hard time pleasing its customers and keeping up with the competition, lower level employees interact with the product or service on almost a daily basis and for that reason are often the most valuable sources of data and a rich source of new innovative ideas. A meritocratic power system with a balance of authority would be more ideal.
Reciprocity
Decision Making
I see myself as a controller and that means I want to be informed but I do not enjoy being told what to see or think. Most sales pitches I come across nowadays feel very generic and serve only one purpose, getting the agents sales number up. There is a lack of honesty and a disappointing tendency of salesmen treating their interactions with customers like a game with them winning and the customer losing. I would prefer a salesperson that simply provides relevant facts and figures and let the product or idea sell itself.
Authority
I find it interesting that a practitioner of a certain trade can gain their clients trust by simply posting a certificate on the wall, and in the 21st century too. I say 21st century specifically because it is now easier than ever to forge documents or simply get phony certifications from the comfort of one’s home. However, it is also a lot easier to do some digging to find out whether the certifications are authentic. So, I find it a little bit unreasonable and a little irresponsible to trust a piece of paper on the wall. (Unless the studies were conducted over 20 years ago)
Power of Talk(Linguistic style)
Journey of a thousand steps
We always plan things for most things do not work out as planed. Sometimes its because the plan was just not good and other times its because certain situations have changed. The point is we have a hard time executing our plans and its not really our fault in the real world there is just too many variables to account for, the scenarios are not neatly set up like those in our heads. The journey of a thousand steps is a good hedge for any plan, since no matter how meticulously checked there will always bee variables unseen. The only way to counter the unavoidable is to be flexible and ready to change whatever must change, as long as the end goal is reached it doesn’t really matter what kinds of steps were taken (with the appropriate legal and ethical considerations taken into account.)
Silence(not always a choice)
Strategy-Spontaneity
A look into whether strategy or spontaneity is preferable:
Spontaneous acts can be exciting and might even be necessary in social life. It makes life interesting and can help us get past our inhibitions and make the most of opportunities available to us.
Strategic planning and acting on the other hand help us understand the risks that come along with our decisions, as well as allowing us to see the best objective route to success.
In our group discussion we concluded that an emphasis on spontaneity would be appropriate in our personal lives but that in a more professional environment strategic planning would be best for everyone involved.
Spontaneous acts can be exciting and might even be necessary in social life. It makes life interesting and can help us get past our inhibitions and make the most of opportunities available to us.
Strategic planning and acting on the other hand help us understand the risks that come along with our decisions, as well as allowing us to see the best objective route to success.
In our group discussion we concluded that an emphasis on spontaneity would be appropriate in our personal lives but that in a more professional environment strategic planning would be best for everyone involved.
PASSION SPEECH
We hear that history repeats itself and indeed it often seems so, but why? Is there a mysterious force out there moving things cyclically, not likely since we don’t always see a clear pattern all the time. If an individual were to unwillingly repeat a mistake knowing they shouldn’t we might not consider them to be ok we would try to get them help. Well, our history is a shared past we have accounts of and so we shouldn’t be repeating it. So, going back to the original question we have to wonder what stays similar across the ages what allows us to make similar mistakes across cultures and eras, the answer is simple, our biology. Society may advance and we may have advantages over our ancestors(technological) but at the end of the day we are anatomically the same beings, with the same physiological and psychological needs.
Communicating who I am
When I was presenting as some of you may remember from Tuesday my audio wasn’t the best, and there’s two parts to that story. Growing up I was a shy kid and I would only communicate with people I knew in close circles, I didn’t have a lot of experience with public speaking, or even small talk with strangers. As I got older, I became more confident simply because I had to, but early years of being shy sort of left their mark. I have trouble regulating the volume of my voice, with a whisper seeming to be the default most of the time. Tuesday however was due to technical difficulties I can confidently say.
Conflict Resolution
Sales pitch
Gender in the workplace
Why is gender in the workplace a frictional issue? To answer this we must ask another question, how did gender become a tool for discrimination?
Well until very recently people carried out specified gender roles and the social construct did not allow for a lot of movement, but in the mid to late 20th century equality movements called these norms into question. About a half century later there are still some countries where things have not changed but most nations guarantee equality. The problem now is that we see some disparity in compensation and treatment based on gender. A widely accepted explanation for this has been that the stereotypes based on traditional gender roles still linger. But this is just a statistical fact, why would there be conflict over it, well I think its because we haven’t done a good enough job at getting people to understand how far reaching this problem is. People need motivation to empathize if they are to support a movement and they can’t support what they can’t relate to.
Well until very recently people carried out specified gender roles and the social construct did not allow for a lot of movement, but in the mid to late 20th century equality movements called these norms into question. About a half century later there are still some countries where things have not changed but most nations guarantee equality. The problem now is that we see some disparity in compensation and treatment based on gender. A widely accepted explanation for this has been that the stereotypes based on traditional gender roles still linger. But this is just a statistical fact, why would there be conflict over it, well I think its because we haven’t done a good enough job at getting people to understand how far reaching this problem is. People need motivation to empathize if they are to support a movement and they can’t support what they can’t relate to.
Leadership
Communicating difference(Honesty and Harmony)
Feedback is important in any workplace and we Want employees trying to help each other but this requires a challenging level of honesty and transparency. If the person being criticized takes offence at the comments, there will be conflict. It is unfortunate that we miss out on a lot of helpful guidance because of this, but it is the price we pay to protect others. The question is how much are we willing to pay and in what circumstances? It is good to have workplace harmony but not at the cost of functionality, it’s just not sustainable.
Stressful conversations
When having a stressful conversation, it is important to remember that the facts are already their, the person delivering the speech is only a messenger. whether we like it or not we have to have these conversations. It goes back to the week we talked about silence in the workplace, delaying the conversation could lead to greater conflict down the road. So, if you are the audience simply prepare yourself for a different reality and if you are the one speaking try to communicate the reason(s) for why the conversation needs to be had.
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