Assignment1_KalinDesrocher
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School
Athabasca University, Athabasca *
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Course
243
Subject
Communications
Date
Apr 3, 2024
Type
docx
Pages
3
Uploaded by DeaconBoulderTurkey40
Interpersonal communication is a major force in the creation and maintenance of professional relationships in our world. The gestures, tones, and forms of communication we use are crucial in the development of growth within ourselves, along with our relationships with others. I have had practice in my studies and my workplace to better understand the importance of interpersonal communication and relationships.
I have worked on the interpersonal communication practice of self-knowledge in my past. During my final year of high school, I had difficulty with applying myself to group projects. An example of this was with my final social studies project in grade twelve, where I found myself having difficulty working with others. I found this to be from the lack of communication I was giving. I did not explain to the group what my strengths were to better apply myself to the project, instead, I let them assign me a role that I had trouble executing. I was giving poor non-
verbal communication through my body language which led to a lack of engagement. Understanding and displaying my strengths would have helped me better utilize my time and improve my relationship with my peers. I have learned to make use of my strengths and identify what my weaknesses are, which will help me with future studies, including the communications in this course.
Another concept I have encountered in my professional work is the maintenance of my public persona, named “facework” by sociologist Erving Goffman (
Ametros Learning, 2022). I currently work at the Scotiabank Saddledome in Calgary, an event center that hosts events with upwards of 20,000 people. I am learning how to interact efficiently and effectively with diverse types of people at the Saddledome. During my time working at this event center, I have seen the advantages to managing my personality to better suit the environment I am in. I am rewarded based on the level of service I give and how well I adapt to customer requests. Attending a classroom that held little communication, I had trouble interacting with the scale of audience at the Scotiabank Saddledome. I spent time rehearsing potential interactions, practicing public communications, and researching advice that I could apply to these daily conversations I would encounter. This practice has allowed me to better shape my personality to the public and make me into the leader I am today. I have learned to properly apply “facework” into my interpersonal communications and gain experience to adapt to my workplace.
After being employed for 5 years at the Scotiabank Saddledome, I was promoted to a supervising
role in my department. The proper application of my interpersonal communications has allowed me to develop positive workplace relationships. My competency shown in my current position, along with the growth of my relationships with my superiors, has allowed for the advancement of
my role within the company. I had to shift my focus to being a leader while continuing to improve my interpersonal relationships. With people now looking at me for direction, I had to become more aware of my paralanguage and to continue to improve my facework. One new perspective I had to include in my practice is called the “Veil of Ignorance”. This ethical perspective was developed by philosopher John Rawls and is defined as a thought experiment that you should apply when making a decision that might affect other people (
Ametros Learning,
2022). In my new role, I now had to deal with the concerns and problems of other employees. I was recently met with a complaint from a suite holder on the poor level of service they were receiving. Instead of punishing the suite server like I originally thought I should do, I held a meeting with them and learned they were not taught properly on how to execute the job correctly. I worked with them to strengthen their practice and increase customer satisfaction. By applying the “Veil of Ignorance” I was able to give better feedback, avoid ambiguity, and become more approachable to others.
There will be a lot of similarities between my professional experience and my new management role at Instaway. I can apply my previous knowledge and applications of interpersonal communications to the course material. This course will allow me to better understand the scope of interpersonal communications and how to apply it to my future interpersonal relationships.
References:
Ametros Learning. (2022). COMM 243: Interpersonal communication. Instaway Managers Handbook. Page 3.
https://student.ametroslearning.com/#/learning/50866
Ametros Learning. (2022). COMM 243: Interpersonal communication. Understanding People’s Perspectives. https://student.ametroslearning.com/#/learning/50866
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