I found “Individualist cultures” (p.352) meaningful because I’m from different culture. It’s hard for me to do everything by myself, and I have never viewed the world by my personal own view. I want to know how people in individualist cultures create their views.
In my country (collectivist cultures), most people get information from television programs, newspaper, or online news. Most news casters tend to give some comments, and audiences tend to agree with them. Since most of us do not have extremely strong opinion, mass media dominates public opinion. It’s totally different from American culture.
I personally feel that Americans like to criticize other people whose opinions are different, so lots of TV shows have different point of views. I enjoy to see the same news in different shows (or articles), because they often have different opinions.
But I’m wondering how people in individualist cultures decide whether agree or disagree with others. In classroom discussions I had at SJSU, many students did not have strong point of views, and tend to follow the instructors’ opinions. (Only few students had strong opinions.) Then, I thought the way people in individualist cultures decide whether to agree depends on who is speaking. If people respect speakers, then they will agree with most cases regardless of their opinion. (This is my personal thought, so maybe wrong.) Please tell me if you know how people in individualist cultures make own decisions.
Tuesday, January 15, 2008
Chapter 10
I found table 10.2 “Learning the Language of Text Messaging” interesting because now I can understand something I ignored before in text messaging.
I often use text messaging because cell phone is the only tool I can reach my friend on campus. Some students always bring their laptops, but I’m not sort of person. Well, I have seen many students do text messaging on campus, so probably it’s becoming one of the best communication tools.
Basically, what’s the language of text messaging trying is to make words shorter or to show writer’s emotion. “:-)” means happy, and “:-))” means very happy. Did you know the difference? I thought my friend just put extra “)” when I first saw “very happy” mark.
It is quite interesting people mix real words and text massaging words because text massaging language sometimes make reader confused %-) For example, “WRK” means “work,” but this reduces only one letter, and WRK looks like an acronym. Probably, this kind of language makes messages look friendlier, and it is easier for writer to show their emotion.
But I’m still wondering when I can use this kind of language, and I’m not sure whether or not I can remember all of them… PLS teach me new languages of text messaging L8R. :-)
I often use text messaging because cell phone is the only tool I can reach my friend on campus. Some students always bring their laptops, but I’m not sort of person. Well, I have seen many students do text messaging on campus, so probably it’s becoming one of the best communication tools.
Basically, what’s the language of text messaging trying is to make words shorter or to show writer’s emotion. “:-)” means happy, and “:-))” means very happy. Did you know the difference? I thought my friend just put extra “)” when I first saw “very happy” mark.
It is quite interesting people mix real words and text massaging words because text massaging language sometimes make reader confused %-) For example, “WRK” means “work,” but this reduces only one letter, and WRK looks like an acronym. Probably, this kind of language makes messages look friendlier, and it is easier for writer to show their emotion.
But I’m still wondering when I can use this kind of language, and I’m not sure whether or not I can remember all of them… PLS teach me new languages of text messaging L8R. :-)
Monday, January 14, 2008
Chapter 9
I got interested in “Situational Leadership” from page 278. It says leaders should pay attention to their groups’ maturity so that their group members can effectively participate. I’m wondering how leaders can facilitate a group if they are not matured. I believe some people become leaders because they have outstanding knowledge, but not because they have good communication skills or they are matured.
If every organization follows this situational leadership theory, most companies would have a hard time to find good leaders because not many people have both good communication skill and outstanding knowledge.
If organizations are small, it is possible to find effective leaders because there are not many people. However, big organizations might have many ineffective leaders, I guess. In fact, when I worked at newspaper office, my manager was not matured because he always wanted to speak up his opinion, but not listened to his employees. I knew he had a good educational background and great career, but his communication style was not appropriate because most of his employees also had good knowledge. I felt like my manager was a good follower, and that’s why he became a leader. Though, he wasn’t a good leader because he always kept “telling” us; in other words, he did not pay attention to our maturity.
I agree with that effective leaders should follow situational leadership theory, but I don’t know how to communicate with leaders if they are not matured. I think many people have experienced such immature leaders,,,, how did you work in his/her team??
If every organization follows this situational leadership theory, most companies would have a hard time to find good leaders because not many people have both good communication skill and outstanding knowledge.
If organizations are small, it is possible to find effective leaders because there are not many people. However, big organizations might have many ineffective leaders, I guess. In fact, when I worked at newspaper office, my manager was not matured because he always wanted to speak up his opinion, but not listened to his employees. I knew he had a good educational background and great career, but his communication style was not appropriate because most of his employees also had good knowledge. I felt like my manager was a good follower, and that’s why he became a leader. Though, he wasn’t a good leader because he always kept “telling” us; in other words, he did not pay attention to our maturity.
I agree with that effective leaders should follow situational leadership theory, but I don’t know how to communicate with leaders if they are not matured. I think many people have experienced such immature leaders,,,, how did you work in his/her team??
Sunday, January 13, 2008
Chapter 8
I found “Virtual Teams” (p.241) meaningful because I think I’ll experience virtual teams in the future. One of my Japanese friend works at IBM Japan, and he told me about the experience of the virtual team.
When he joined the virtual team, he did not have much job experience and never been to abroad, so he had no idea how he could communicate with other team members. As our text book says, he had a language barrier and different working habits. While he wanted to complete tasks early, his team members in other countries did not start it until due was coming. He was very frustrated because he could not communicate with his team members, and he asked him supervisor whether or not he could have different team. Then, his supervisor suggested him to meet with team members.
After my friend met his team members and shared some conversation, his working style changed. He could understand other members’ working behavior, and he could work much better.
He said, it was very important to have face-to-face communication at least once because he could not have effective communication otherwise.
I can’t imagine that I work with somebody who I’ve never seen, and it would be so hard for me to built trust in virtual teams. I’m kind of curious to know how people in virtual teams feel while they work with people whose faces are unknown. Well, I’m now communicating with somebody I’ve never met.
When he joined the virtual team, he did not have much job experience and never been to abroad, so he had no idea how he could communicate with other team members. As our text book says, he had a language barrier and different working habits. While he wanted to complete tasks early, his team members in other countries did not start it until due was coming. He was very frustrated because he could not communicate with his team members, and he asked him supervisor whether or not he could have different team. Then, his supervisor suggested him to meet with team members.
After my friend met his team members and shared some conversation, his working style changed. He could understand other members’ working behavior, and he could work much better.
He said, it was very important to have face-to-face communication at least once because he could not have effective communication otherwise.
I can’t imagine that I work with somebody who I’ve never seen, and it would be so hard for me to built trust in virtual teams. I’m kind of curious to know how people in virtual teams feel while they work with people whose faces are unknown. Well, I’m now communicating with somebody I’ve never met.
Thursday, January 10, 2008
Web lecture#1
I found critical approaches to organization, especially “workplace surveillance,” interesting because it seems like such organizations do not trust their employees or they follow theory X management style.
I think most people do not prefer to be monitored all the time, but they need to be directed if they have theory X behavior.
Though, if organization uses workplace surveillance, their employees cannot like their work place because they are under theory X management style, which is usually for people who dislike of work.
I’m not sure whether I can connect theory X and workplace surveillance together, but their concepts look similar. Well, I think organization can effectively use theory X management style when they also use workplace surveillance by computer systems.
I have never worked at this kind of organization, so I can’t talk about their productivity. But it’s hard for me to imagine their productivity becomes better because employees would get too much stress. In my personal opinion, this style can be used only when all employees cannot perform well in theory Y management style.
I think most people do not prefer to be monitored all the time, but they need to be directed if they have theory X behavior.
Though, if organization uses workplace surveillance, their employees cannot like their work place because they are under theory X management style, which is usually for people who dislike of work.
I’m not sure whether I can connect theory X and workplace surveillance together, but their concepts look similar. Well, I think organization can effectively use theory X management style when they also use workplace surveillance by computer systems.
I have never worked at this kind of organization, so I can’t talk about their productivity. But it’s hard for me to imagine their productivity becomes better because employees would get too much stress. In my personal opinion, this style can be used only when all employees cannot perform well in theory Y management style.
Wednesday, January 9, 2008
Chapter 6
I found “five types of social power” meaningful because I can understand the reason why people get more power over others. In the examples on text book, person A has some sort of power over person B, and I have been person B for most of my life.
In my first blog, I talked about my supervisor at previous working place tried to use incentive as reward for extra work, and this reflects to the first type of social power, “reward power.” When my supervisor gave me incentives (reward), my motivation went up, but the productivity of mine fall when he stopped giving me rewards.
I haven’t experienced “coercive power” in the organization, but I think my mom had coercive power over me because I did homework in order to avoid punishments from her.
It is hard for me to define the difference between “referent power” and “expert power” since I easily get impressed when I see expert people. Probably, “referent power” doesn’t require specific knowledge, but leadership or good communication skill. On the other hand, “expert power” requires specific and detailed knowledge, but not charismatic people skill. Well, both of them would happen regardless of working status or positions.
In Japan, elder people tended to have “legitimate power” over younger people because elder people basically had higher positions than younger people in the Japanese traditional business organizations. Although some young people had great skills and knowledge, they were not able to democratically talk with elders. It’s because elder people had extreme “legitimate power.” Most Japanese organizations today have different style though.
In my first blog, I talked about my supervisor at previous working place tried to use incentive as reward for extra work, and this reflects to the first type of social power, “reward power.” When my supervisor gave me incentives (reward), my motivation went up, but the productivity of mine fall when he stopped giving me rewards.
I haven’t experienced “coercive power” in the organization, but I think my mom had coercive power over me because I did homework in order to avoid punishments from her.
It is hard for me to define the difference between “referent power” and “expert power” since I easily get impressed when I see expert people. Probably, “referent power” doesn’t require specific knowledge, but leadership or good communication skill. On the other hand, “expert power” requires specific and detailed knowledge, but not charismatic people skill. Well, both of them would happen regardless of working status or positions.
In Japan, elder people tended to have “legitimate power” over younger people because elder people basically had higher positions than younger people in the Japanese traditional business organizations. Although some young people had great skills and knowledge, they were not able to democratically talk with elders. It’s because elder people had extreme “legitimate power.” Most Japanese organizations today have different style though.
Tuesday, January 8, 2008
Chapter 5
I found “advanced communication and information technologies (ACITs)” meaningful because I think future business will use ACITs more frequently. Most college students today have internet access today, and SJSU requires students having own email address. We register classes and pay tuition online, and this class actually exists virtually.
When I took business organizational behavior class, my group decided to communicate virtually, and we had face-to-face meetings only twice. We made a yahoo group account as a place in which members can share the information. We could post anything like our outline of the project, resources, comments, and etc.
It seemed like we saved a lot of time because we could access all members anytime, but most of us were frustrated. Since we were inexperienced in computer mediated communication, most of us spend too much time in front of computer; this computer mediated network dominated our personal lives. Actually, we didn’t save time, but spent more time than other groups. Furthermore, when one member tried to make a joke, others took it seriously, and we had a big conflict.
From this experience, I would say people need to know how to communicate online before they start using it. I tend to check my text message or email box too many times a day, which implies that I do not have private time.
I’m curious to know how people in online class live with computer mediated communication. Are you addicted to them like me?
When I took business organizational behavior class, my group decided to communicate virtually, and we had face-to-face meetings only twice. We made a yahoo group account as a place in which members can share the information. We could post anything like our outline of the project, resources, comments, and etc.
It seemed like we saved a lot of time because we could access all members anytime, but most of us were frustrated. Since we were inexperienced in computer mediated communication, most of us spend too much time in front of computer; this computer mediated network dominated our personal lives. Actually, we didn’t save time, but spent more time than other groups. Furthermore, when one member tried to make a joke, others took it seriously, and we had a big conflict.
From this experience, I would say people need to know how to communicate online before they start using it. I tend to check my text message or email box too many times a day, which implies that I do not have private time.
I’m curious to know how people in online class live with computer mediated communication. Are you addicted to them like me?
Sunday, January 6, 2008
Chapter 3
I found “McGregor’s Theory Y Management” meaningful because it describes why people (including me) cannot motivate themselves sometime. When I was a high school student, I had experienced a couple of part time jobs, but I’d never loved my working place because I was just looking for money. I worked simply because I wanted to buy something, but not because I liked my job like “Theory X.” When I worked at a manufacturing company, my supervisor didn’t like me because I needed to be directed every single time, and he always got mad at me. Most of my colleagues there also felt bored and didn’t want to work hard because we could get same wage regardless of how many products we made. One day, our supervisor proposed a revision of the wage system. While he gave us incentives for extra works, our productivity raised. However, our supervisor stopped giving us incentives because he thought we had responsibility to try our best anytime. Well, as you can guess, our productivity fall down, and he got mad again. Since most of employees in this company disliked work, it was difficult to use “Theory Y” management style. I think most people cannot work so hard at minimum wage, especially when they are teen, so managers should follow “Theory X” in such situations. Managers need to know what their employees are looking for.
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