Empowerment

The doctors employ empowerment as a tactic in our office to make each employee feel special and needed. Employment is described in chapter 9 (pg 292) as the "sharing of power and decision making with employees through delegation..." The doctors have created an environment where each employee is give a specific task that they are to perform in the office in addition to their regular job description. One person is in charge of making the schedule, one person is in charge of ordering medical supplies, office supplies, etc. This gives each employee an added sense of responsibility and importance.

Media Richness

Media richness is described in chapter 10 as "the multiple channels of contact afforded by a communication medium," (pg 334). Certain types of media are more "rich" in communication values than others; for example a letter is less personal than a face to face conversation. I use many types of media at work and the "richness" that goes along with them usually has to do with the level of importance or how quickly the problem needs to be addressed. If a patient is very sick the parent will call the office to make an appointment or sometimes walk in. This added contact allows us to gather more information about the patients condition in a timely manner than if they were to write us a letter or send a fax.

modesty

Modesty as described in chapter 9 (pg 284) as "personal humility about ones accomplishments and a profound commitment to the good of the company." the doctor couple that started the pediatric practice I work for are incredibly modest. Both of these doctors are extraordinary doctors, they led an interesting life and still sit on many medical boards. They are both incredibly knowledgeable about a wide variety of things health related and not. Surprisingly enough, despite both of them being these remarkable people, they have not let any of it go to their heads. They won several awards recently for being the best in the bay area and they just smiled, and filed it away somewhere. They are a walking definition of modesty and their good character is what the rest of us can only strive to exemplify.

Performance management

Performance management as discussed in our book in chapter 10 (p.321)is defined as "any system that track as gives feedback to employees about how well they are accomplishing objectives tied to their key dimension..." My employers use this technique at work frequently. Every month we have a meeting for the doctors to give us feedback as to how we are doing. Throughout the month if they notice that there is something that we need to be better about doing or they want to try something new in the system there is a list that records peoples concerns so that the doctors can address them at the next meeting. In addition to the once monthly meetings we have our review once a year. This review lets each individual know how they are doing, what their strong spots are and what they need to improve in.

Rapport Talk

Rapport talk as discussed on page 204 in chapter 7 of our book is how women construct relationships with their communication. As a women I know that I myself use this strategy when giving shots to patients. I will give advice on what works best for me when I get shots and let the little ones know that I know what they feel like and it will be ok after. For example, I received a tetanus shot several weeks ago and showed my bandaid to the patient and told her how my experience went after seeing that I was ok she calmed down enough to receive the shot.

communication network roles

Communication Network roles as covered in chapter 8 is described as "the location individuals occupy in the flow of interaction," (pg 262, Organizational Communication 5th ed. This has an impact in how successful an individual is at making connections in the workplace. For example a person who has a cubicle located next to the coffee pot will have a better chance at making friends with other employees who come to grab a cup than a person who is isolated in the basement. This also has to do with communication skills. An individual who is an easy conversationalist will have a better chance at making friends within the workplace than and individual who is shy. People who have been able to create more relationships in the workplace are less likely to leave and tend to be sought out for their input on work related issues.

communication imperative

Communication imperative as discussed in the online lecture is when people take the technologies available nowadays and use them to suit their own purposes; whether or not that was what they were designed for. I myself have used technology to suit my own needs take this class for example... We are using a website intended for sharing of personal ideas and we have turned it into a virtual classroom. That is not the exact intent that this website was intended for but we were given a model and adapted it to meet our needs. Communication imperative at its best.