Interpersonal Communication Theory and Social Penetration Theory - Report Example

Introduction to Communication (E-Journal) Name Institution Date Introduction to Communication (E-Journal) Category 1: Communication Skills My Communication Strength My key communication strength is being a good public speaker. During public speaking, I normally create emotional connection in several ways with the audience which triggers an emotional response from the audience. Basically, as a good public speaker, I have the ability to tell stories to the audience whenever I am speaking to the public. Normally, audience show up for information, but they normally remain and listen to the speaker for the stories. Whenever I am speaking to the public, I normally share a story of either struggle or triumph or even my personal path at the begging of the speech and this captivates the audience. According to Jaffe (2006) the audience might not be thinking exactly like the speaker but thorough a shared story the audience is able to feel and connect with the speaker. Additionally, I normally share the information openly, honestly and generously with the people I am speaking to. As Orman (2010) suggests, the more the speaker give to the audience, the more an audience connects with the speaker and the more the audience will take away. In order to achieve this, the speaker has to truly understand his/her audience. Therefore, through sharing the information generously with my audience, I am always able to know who the audience is really is, if the audience responds better to a high-energy motivational speech or a more subtle speech and how the audience learns. Orman (2010) further argues that the better the speaker knows his/her audience, the more likely he/she will deliver the information in a way that is meaningful to them. As a result, during public speaking I normally show my commitment to my audience through divulging everything and not holding anything back. Finally, I am also very confident and this is a key aspect, for any good public speaker. Basically, a timid public speaking does not capture or engage the audience and therefore it does not motivate the audience. However, at times I can be very anxious whenever I am speaking to the public. But to tackle this and whenever I am feeling intimidated during public speaking, I ensure that my nervousness does not show. This is because what one feels is primarily internal and other people cannot sense the fear if one does not let on. Additionally, the speaker is always in control of his nerves. To counter and improve this, I practice my speech again and again before the material day, and as any good public should, the confidence flows naturally (Jaffe, 2006). Self-disclosure is the key to penetration theory and communication is the key to self-disclosure. Therefore, according to penetration theory, I should ensure that I intentionally make information about myself known to my audience. Therefore, I aim to improve my public speaking by ensuring that I combine humor and humility and tell my audience about my own human frailties, weaknesses, and mistakes. As a result, when the audience acknowledges that as their speaker I am not afraid of sharing with them my strengths and my weaknesses as well, a same and intimate climate is created. To improve this area, I will be telling my audience humorous stories about myself or use my own personal achievements and failings to demonstrate some points and this basically can be entertain and illuminate my audience as well (Jaffe 2006). Category 2: Interpersonal and Group Communication Interpersonal Communication Theory: Social Penetration Theory Social penetration theory suggests that relationships turn out to be more intimate with time when partners reveal more and more information about themselves. Altman & Taylor (1987) define social penetration as a process that shifts a relationship from non-intimate to an intimate relationship. According to the social penetration theory, this process takes place mainly through self-disclosure. In addition, the theory is guided by presumptions that a relationship develops in a systematic and predictable manner and this encompasses deterioration of the relationship, or growing apart of the parties in the relationship. What’s more, the social penetration theory also suggests that relationships progress through four phases prior to being stable and the partners are normally highly intimate and maintain open communication as well (Altman & Taylor, 1987). The first stage is orientation of interaction which is assumed to mostly occur in public places and during these first incidents; people make only a small part of themselves to be accessed by others. The second stage is “exploratory effective exchange” where people begin getting a feel of another person’s personality. At this instant, people let down their guard and start exploring each other. The third stage is “affective exchange” where communication is deeper than in the second stage and interactive engagements are freer willing and more casual. Barriers are broken and parties learn a lot about each other. Normally, “affective exchange” is the transitional phase where the highest level of intimacy is possible (Littlejohn, 2002). The final stage is “stable exchange” which is the highest level a person can attain in a relationship. Here, there no secrets and people share everything and one can reliably interpret and predict the feelings and behavior of the other person (Taylor, & Altman, 1987). Example of Theory Application in My Life During my senior year of high school I decided to become a member of a choir called State Choir. The first day, I sat in a room full of 30 other youths who I knew nothing about, apart from may be their names. At present, it is unbelievable that one of these people is now my best friend and my housemate as well. Just like any other relationship, we started at the beginning. The first day we sat in together and told our names, hometown, and our educational dreams to others. From that day, we started seeing each other almost daily for practice and hence we became more comfortable in talking to each other and sharing and laughing about things like school and family. Progressively, we learnt to respect the personalities and interests of others and thus we became closer and started meeting evening when not practicing. We would party, or watch movies together. As earlier said, one of them is currently my best friend and my housemate. Currently, we talk openly about everything and I can tell what annoys or pleases my friend. Linking the Theory and the Example The example indicates the process of two people who moved from a non-intimate to intimate level in their relationship. In particular, the example indicates that self-disclosure played a big role in developing our friendship. Initially, we did not share private things. The four stages of social penetration are evident in this example. The orientation stage was during our first interaction when we only learnt basic information regarding each other. The exploratory affective exchange stage took place when we spent more time together practicing and began talking and sharing stories with each other. The effective stage occurred when we became comfortable enough with each other to spend time together even in activities outside our practice. The stable exchange stage is demonstrated when we turned out to be best friends and housemates. This indicates that we feel very comfortable with each other, and have an open and intimate relationship (Taylor, & Altman, 1987). Category 3: Intercultural and Online Communication Intercultural Communication Intercultural Communication Competence within the Context of Intercultural Communication Intercultural communication competence is the capacity to comprehend cultures, and this includes one’s own culture, and utilization of this to understand to communicate with individuals from other cultures effectively. Additionally, intercultural communication competence also includes understanding how gestures and the distance between speakers differ from one culture to another. Therefore, for a person to be interculturally competent in communication, one should be able to communicate effectively and properly with individuals of other different cultures. This means that valued rules, norms, as well as expectations of the relationship are not dishonored and values goals are achieved during communication. While interacting with individuals from different cultures, an individual who is interculturally competent comprehends the culture-specific concepts of perception, thinking, feeling, as well as acting (Rathje, 2007). Strategies that Better Enable Intercultural Communication Competence Cultural Awareness and Sensitivity Cultural awareness and sensitivity enables people to understand core cultural difference and therefore gain knowledge about different cultures. Accordingly, this enable people to respect people coming from different cultures, value the differences, in addition to appreciating the different cultural differences. Normally, being culturally competent entails learning how to communicate and interact with individuals from different cultures and therefore cultural awareness and sensitivity is important in making people aware of different cultures and their values. For example, when one is adequately aware of a different culture, he/she will avoid using words that conflict the other person’s culture or will avoid doing things that conflict people coming from different cultures. Additionally, cultural awareness and sensitivity enables one to interpret events from different cultures and take the necessary action (Sandín, & Aneas, 2009). Develop Intercultural Sensitivity One should focus on reducing differences with people from different culture. This can be achieved through bringing diverse groups from different cultures within social situations and thus enables people to see that their difference are not threatening to each other. As a result, people are able to accept their differences and adapt their behavior to suit the styles of a different culture. Through adoption of aspects of a different culture into one’s own culture, one enriches his/her culture identity and ability to succeed within any situation and diverse cultures. Additionally, people should acknowledge their differences with people from different cultures and therefore discourage behaviors that make people from different culture feel excluded and thus prevent stereotyping. The first step here entails acknowledging and accepting the differences. For instance, the kinds of food that people at create an expression of cultural identity and thus people should focus on sharing their favorite foods. Likewise, the customs allied to gifts exchanges, like symbolism, obligations are different between cultures and thus such activities should be encouraged (Sandín, & Aneas, 2009). Focus on Behavior Handling interecutural communication entails including everybody within the process. Therefore, during interactions, people should focus on observable behavior and not attitudes. Therefore, people should choose their words carefully when communicating, stop making assumptions regarding intentions and make adjustments to make even people from the different culture, accepted and with this people learn to negotiate effectively with individuals from different cultures/backgrounds (Sandín, & Aneas, 2009). Category 4: My Profession Professional Profile My Communication Profession: Public Relations Specialist A public relations specialist creates and maintains a positive public image for his/her employer or client. A public relations specialist writes material for media releases, plans, and directs public relations programs for the client or company, and this involves even raising funds. Therefore, the professional of a public relations specialist involves management of the spread of information between a person or a company and the public. Accordingly, this profession can comprise a company or a person gaining exposure to their audiences utilizing topics of public interest and news items that do not need direct payment. The goal of public relations in an organization is to influence and convince the public, investors, and partners, workers, in addition to other stakeholders to maintain a given perception about the organization, its leadership, products or political decisions (Seitel, 2007). Basically, the regular activities of a public relations specialist include speaking during conference, helping an organization to win industry awards, working with the media/press, as well as employee communication. Therefore, a public relations specialist should be able to express him/herself concisely, be a good listener and be good at asking questions. Therefore, this profession requires one to be effective in communication skills, such as presentation skills, being able to phrase important question, being a good listener, being a good public speaker, not talking more than necessary, and understanding the audience and tailoring what to say, among other communication skills (Seitel, 2007). Two Roles to Carry Out in My Everyday Practice Public Relations This will involve crafting press releases that resemble a compelling news story and informing the public the significance of the company’s product or services. The objective is to fulfill the journalist's requirement for news whereas improving the client's image to the public. Additionally, one spends time cultivating relationships with journalists and other members of the mass media. A public relations specialist also contacts the journalists to know what the journalist is looking for about the company. Moreover, a PR specialist organizes and holds press conferences when suitable. It also involves managing crises for instance creating crisis management plans, for responding quickly and proactively in case of a break of story that has the potential of damaging the company’s or client’s public image (David, 2006). Media Relations This will involve training organizational workers on how to communicate with the media effectively, in particular during print or Television interviews. For example, this involves advising clients not to lie during their interviews, and instead say “no comment”, to always be prepared with few simple, key messages, to utilize “blocking and bridging” technique to steer answers in the right direction, and to look comfortable during interviews. Media relations will also involve creating media kits for the company or the client. This is because journalists may request for a media kit in order to follow up a press release. The media kit should have everything that the journalist requires to understand who the client or the company is, and what it does. Therefore, the media kit will include creating executive profiles, giving quick facts about the company or client, photographs, detailed product descriptions, recent press releases, in addition to business card of the public relations specialist (David, 2006). References David, P. (2006). Towards relationship management: Public relations at the core of organizational development. Journal of Communication Management. Vol. 1/3. Jaffe, C. (2006). Public Speaking: Concepts and Skills for a Diverse Society. New York: Cengage Learning. Littlejohn, W. (2002). Theories of Human Communication. Albuquerque: Wadsworth Group. Orman, M. (2010). Skills in Public Speaking. New York: PHI Learning Pvt. Rathje, S. (2007). Intercultural Competence: The Status and Future of a Controversial Concept. Journal for Language and Intercultural Communication. Vol. 7/4. Sandín, M, & Aneas, M. (2009). Intercultural and Cross-Cultural Communication Research: Some Reflections about Culture and Qualitative Methods. Qualitative Social Research. Vol. 10/1. Seitel, P. (2007). The Practice of Public Relations. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Prentice Hall. Taylor, D. & Altman, I. (1987). Communication in interpersonal relationships: Social penetration processes. Interpersonal processes: New directions in communication research. Read More