COMM-2020: Exam #3

What are the four communication functions required for positive group outcomes? 

problem analysis, goal setting, identification of alternatives, evaluation of positive and negative characteristics of each alternative

Problem analysis:

determining the nature, extent, and cause(s) of the problem facing the group 

Goal setting:

establishing criteria by which to judge proposed solutions; need clear discussion;criteria must set forth minimal qualities that an acceptable solution must process

Identification of alternatives:

generation of options to sufficiently solve the problem 

Evaluation of positive and negative characteristics of each alternative:

testing the relative merits of each option against the criteria selected; weighing the benefits and costs 

What aspects are most important for achieving high quality decisions? 

Evaluation of negative consequences of alternative solutions 

What are the three types of communication in group decision making?

promotive, disruptive, counteractive

promotive communication

interaction that moves the group along the goal path by calling into attention one of the 4 functions

disruptive communication

interaction that diverts, hinders, or frustrates group members’ ability to achieve the four functions

counteractive communication

interaction that members use to get the group back on track

Why is reflective thinking important in group decision making? 

Shouldn't push “gut feelings” unless backed up with reasonable evidenc

Reflective thinking:

thinking that favors rational considerations over intuitive hunches or pressure from those with clout

What are some of the drawbacks of this functional perspective on group decision making theory?

Lack of testing in real life groups; should consider prior history and embedded networks 

Culture:

webs of significance; systems of shared meaning; surrounding environment that constrains a company’s freedom of action; image/character/climate that a corporation has

Metaphor:

clarifies what is unknown or confusing by equating it with an image that’s more familiar/vivid

Rituals:

texts that articulate multiple aspects of cultural life, often marking rites of passage or life transitions

Personal stories:

those that employees tell about temselves, often defining how they would like to be seen within the organization

Collegial stories:

positive or negative anecdotes told about others in the organization 

What method is commonly used by scholars who use this cultural approach to communication?

social scientific

What are some of the critiques of this cultural approach to communication theory? 

Lack of generalizability, subjectivity and researcher bias, limited ability to predict or explain causality, time-intesnsive and less efficient, potential to overlook power and structure

Constitution:

communication that calls organization into being; employee action and interaction creates the organization itself

Flow:

circulating fields of messages that constitutes organization 

What are the four flows of communication that create organizations?

membership negotiation, self-structuring, activity coordination, institutional positioning

Membership negotiation:

communication that regulates the extent to which a person is an irganization member

Self-structuring:

communication that shapes the relationship among an organization’s members

Activity coordination:

communication that accomplishes the organization’s work toward goals 

Institutional positioning:

communication between an organization and external entities 

What are the four principles that guide the four flows?

All four flows are necessary for organization; different flows happen in different places; the same message can address multiple flows; different flows address different audiences

two approaches to organizational practice

codetermination, managerial control

What is the difference between codetermination and managerial control? 

With codetermination, employees help shape policies and decisions, not just carry them out. With managerial control, management decides what happens and how it happens

What are the four different ways of making public/corporate decisions?

strategy, consent, involvement, participation

Strategy:

overt managerial moves to extend control, few benefits and several disadvantages

Consent:

unwitting allegiance to covert control, suppresses potential conflict, employees give without much in return

Involvement:

free expression of ideas, but no voice

Participation:

stakeholder democracy, creates better citizens and social choices while providing economic benefits

What is culture?

learned patterns of perception, values, and behaviors, shared by a group of people, that are dynamic and heterogeneous

What is accommodation?

the constant movement toward or away from others by changing your communicative behavior

Convergence:

adapt your communication behavior to become more similar to another person; mirror speech patterns; match the other person’s appearance and nonverbal behavior

Divergence:

A strategy of accentuating the differences between yourself and another person; speaks and gestures differently from the other person, or over-accommodate

What are the two types of divergence?

maintenance, over-accommodation

Maintenance:

persisting in one’s original communication style

Over-accommodation:

demeaning or patronizing talk; excessive concern paid to vocal clarity, simplification, etc.

What does Social Identity Theory explain?

Pressure to evaluate one’s own group positively through in-group/out-group comparisons leads social groups to attempt to differentiate themselves from each other

What motivates one to converge/diverge?

Personal identity salient (desire for approval --> convergence); social identity salient (need for distinctiveness --> divergence); initial orentation

initial orentation:

an individual’s predisposition toward focusing on either individual identity or distinctive group identity

What factors impact initial orientation?

Collectivist cultural context, distressing history of interaction; negative stereotypes; norms for treating other groups of people; high in-group solidarity

What is the significance of a recipient’s perception of accommodation?

Objective vs. Subjective accommodation

Individualistic culture:

ties between individuals are loose; individual goals prevail over group goals; “I-conscious”

Collectivistic culture:

people are integrated into strong, cohesive in-groups; group goals prevail over individual goals; “We-conscious”

What is self-construal?

The degree to which people conceive of themselves as relatively autonomous from, or connected, to others; the varied self-images within a culture

Face:

the projected image of oneself in a relational situation; face can be lost, repaired, or given

Face concerns:

whose face a person wants to save/protect/honor (self, other, or mutual)

Facework:

specific verbal and nonverbal messages that help to construct, repair, or give face

Face restoration:

self-concerned facework strategy used to preserve autonomy and defend against loss of personal freedom

How does one’s culture and self-construal relate to their face concerns?

Individualistic: autonomy, self-worth, focus on “self” face;

Collectivist: modesty, generosity, focus on “other” or “mutual” face

What are conflict management styles?

How one approaches a specific conflict situation depends on the relationship with the counterpart, severity of the problem, attribution of responsibility, personality, etc.

What are the main categories and specific conflict styles?

Dominance (defend, emotional expression, aggression);

Avoidance (give in, pretend, third party);

Integration (apologize, problem solve, private talk, remain calm, respect)

How do face concerns relate to conflict management styles?

Self-face = dominance (win-lose); other-face = avoidance (lose-win); mutual-face = integration (win-win)

What is context collapse?

How technology blurs and/or destroys the boundaries between contexts

What is an affordance?

Characteristics of technology design that encourage or discourage actions

What are the key affordances of social media?

Persistence, scalability, searchability, profiles, networks, feeds

How does context collapse relate to one’s identity performance on social media?

As context collapses, it is harder to perform your identity for different audiences at the same time

Frontstage:

identity performances that are carefully controlled to satisy the audience 

Backstage:

identity performances that are less controlled and more authentic than frontstage

invisible audience

even the performer can’t see the audience; the audience that lurks without liking, commenting, or sharing

imagined audience

the audience people think about when they’re uncertain of who is in their audience

What are the two strategies for managing context collapse?

tailoring performance, segmenting audiences

Tailoring performance:

strategies that focus on executing a performance suitable for all audiences (self-censorship, monitoring and scrubbing info, balanced presentation, encoded signals)

Segmenting audiences:

strategies that focus on controlling the size and scope of the audiences (privacy settings, limiting connections, secondary profiles and alternate accounts, different audiences on different social media, private messaging) 

What is the general focus of U&G?

How people consume different messages for different reasons; How the effect of a given message is unlikely to be the same for everyone

What are the five assumptions of U&G?

People use media for their own purposes; people seek to gratify needs; media compete for our attention and time; media affect different people differently; people can accurately report their media use and motivation

What is a typology?

Classification scheme that attempts to sort out many instances into a smaller set of categories

What are the eight motivations why people watch television?

Passing time, companionship, escape, enjoyment, social interaction, relaxation, information, excitement

What are parasocial relationships?

A sense of friendship or emotional attachment that develops between TV viewers and media personalities

motivations for podcasts

let people engage while commuting or doing household chores

motivations for snapchat

ease and convenience, behind-the-scenes, vicarious experience, unique points of view

motivations for diet and fitness apps

recordability, network connections, credible, easy to understand, trendiness 

motivations for YouTube

like a radio, like a TV, creating their own content, social connections, educational opportunities

motivations for TikTok

entertainment, diversity of content, information, social connection

What are some criticisms of U&G?

Quantitative over qualitative research; Lack of explanation or predictive power (mainly descriptive); testability questioned (do people accurately report their reasons for media use?); moving from people using media to satisfy a need to media affordances (U&G 2.0)