Discussion 1: Reflection and Shared Practice: Know Your Workplace Audience Even with the sender and audience (receiver) clearly identified, the flow of communication is rarely neat

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Discussion 1: Reflection and Shared Practice: Know Your Workplace Audience

Even with the sender and audience (receiver) clearly identified, the flow of communication is rarely neat. The audience filters the communication and reacts. Thus, if your message does not factor in the audience’s perspective—including knowledge, interests, needs, and expectations—you are less likely to achieve the intended purpose of your communication. When the purpose is to persuade or influence, you will undoubtedly have to overcome objections.

 

Assignment:

 

Review & Respond to at least two (2) of your peers’ posts in the following manner:

 

· Offer another stakeholder that relies on communications from the organization, and explain how their needs may differ further from what your peer identified and how you would suggest the organization address that stakeholder’s needs.

· Compare your example of an external communication with what your peer presented and explain what you learned about stakeholder communications.

· Offer an additional best practice to your peer and explain why you think it is a best practice for communication and in what scenarios.

 

· 3 – 4 paragraph response per each colleagues

 

· No plagiarism

 

· APA citing

 

 

 

 

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1st Colleague – Natasha Mills

Natasha Mills 

Know Your Workplace Audience

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Communication is one of the key areas that drive the operations of an organization. My past employer engaged in unending communication with various audiences both within and outside the organization. The internal stakeholders with which the organization communicated included employees, managers, investors, the board of directors, and the owners. The external stakeholders, on the other hand, were the customers, suppliers, the government, and the community. All these groups needed constant and more frequent communication. However, the nature of communication directed towards the internal stakeholders came out as informative and motivational, while that with the external stakeholders was considerably persuasive.

The communication needs of the audiences with which my past employer communicated differed. For instance, communication was significantly persuasive and followed the launch of a new product or service when the audience was customers. In most cases, it was always necessary to include a convincing tenet in the communication needs of groups of external stakeholders. The communication needs of the internal stakeholders were to inform. As a result, such communication processes were often laced with facts intended to motivate these audiences, such as investors and the board of directors, for approval processes. It is important to note that these communication processes used to occur after the organization identified a communication opportunity and determined its purpose (Quintanilla & Wahl, 2020).

Walmart recently posted a press release on the online platform of MarketWatch to inform stakeholders about the new environmental, social, and governance (ESG) approach they had adopted. The primary audience for this press release is the community or society. This assumption stems from the tone of the communication, as well as the nature of issues included in the press release, such as the Covid-19 pandemic, climate change, and the murder of George Floyd (McLaughlin, 2021). Hence, it is worth saying that the communication identified an opportunity in these social issues and used it to serve the purpose of its corporate social responsibility.

The issues that the press release addresses are relatively social, which leads to the speculation that the key target audience is the community or society within which Walmart operates. The community presents an external stakeholder whose communication needs are characterized by persuasion. On the contrary, the communication is filled with facts and data that make it more informative than persuasive. This prompts me to question the importance of the approach used to fulfill the communication needs of various stakeholders in any given situation. Is it possible that there is no difference when it comes to the communication needs of internal stakeholders and external stakeholders? This is because the element of persuasion can be used to fulfill the communication needs of internal stakeholders just as the informative approach can be used to communicate to external stakeholders, such as is evident in the case of Walmart’s ESG press release. These concerns reaffirm the recommendations by Cardwell et al. (2017) for the need to establish how organizations manage internal and external communication, particularly those regarding corporate social responsibility (Cardwell et al., 2017).

Whereas the communication was effective, it should have determined its clear purpose rather than just publishing facts and data (Quintanilla & Wahl, 2020). In other words, the press release lacks a well thought and formulated purpose, leaving it to the audience to decipher what the organization is trying to communicate. Therefore, the organization is merely communicating to inform the audience about the actions it has taken on the issues identified, leaving out the persuasion aspect. A recommendation to the organization would be to formulate a specific purpose in the form of a declarative sentence about the objective of the press release (Quintanilla & Wahl, 2020).

One best practice for mass communication for external stakeholder groups is to consider the medium of communication. The medium of the message controls and shapes the form and scale of human association and action with it (Reddi, 2019). This best practice also applies to internal communications significantly because internal stakeholder groups also need to associate with a passed message and take action. Another best practice is to incorporate ethos during mass communication. This best practice requires those communicating with external stakeholders to demonstrate goodwill, trustworthiness, and competence to support the credibility and believability of the information being shared with the audience (Quintanilla & Wahl, 2020). This aspect also applies to internal communications to a great extent. 

Cardwell, L. A., Williams, S., & Pyle, A. (2017). Corporate public relations dynamics: Internal vs. external stakeholders and the role of the practitioner. Public Relations Review, 43(1), 152-162.

McLaughlin, K. (2021, July 8). 2021 ESG Reporting Details Meaningful Progress in Key Areas. MarketWatch. Retrieved from  https://www.marketwatch.com/press-release/2021-esg-reporting-details-meaningful-progress-in-key-areas-2021-07-08?siteid=bigcharts&dist=bigcharts&tesla=y

Quintanilla, K. M., & Wahl, S. T. (2020). Business and professional communication: KEYS for workplace excellence (4th ed.) Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications.

Reddi, C. N. (2019). Effective public relations and media strategy. PHI Learning Pvt. Ltd..

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2nd Colleague – Douglas Hayes

Douglas Hayes 

RE: Discussion 1 - Week 4

COLLAPSE

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My last employer was a head start organization, and we communicated to internal departments and outside partners. Pre-covid 19, we talked to our internal departments and partners by either Email, conference call, or face-to-face communication every month. After covid, it changed to just Email and virtual meetings twice a month. I had problems presenting because I started last January, and I met some of the partners I will be working with. I was not able to establish what Business and professional communication say as Ethos or credibility with people. As an educator, I enjoy talking to people; however, it is different in front of people instead of virtual communication. I read people's verbal reactions but also nonverbal reactions to what I am saying. Virtual communication has very little nonverbal communication, and it is harder for me to communicate in that way.

First were our internal departments, which communicated with each other by Email and virtual meetings, and I felt like both communication platforms were helpful to get information to each department, training, and communicate to parents and the administration. Using Email and virtual meetings were able to get the information to each other; however, there were many problems. The personability of doing training online does not allow the trainee to get a personable experience. I was also not able to make a connection with my parents because of their lack of technology. We were dealing with low-income families, and they did not have the technology to get onto Zoom.

Secondly, we communicated with our outside partners with emails, virtual communication, and face-to-face communication. These worked well in communicating the children's needs, sharing data, and communicating the wants and needs of the partners. For this, the platforms worked well, and we were able to get the needed reports to our grant provider.

A concern with externally communicating with Zoom is "Zoom fatigue." They use Zoom Fatigue because Zoom is the most used virtual platform, but it could as quickly be known as virtual communication fatigue. As CNN says, "that grid of faces simulates an encounter where you're faced with a confrontation in a small space. In similar situations, like an elevator, people usually keep their eyes on the ground and avoid close confrontation. But a Zoom call "smothers everyone with gaze," so thought they are just staring at a camera, it simulates a confrontation and triggers your fight-or-flight instincts." (Mora, 2021) Most of us do back-to-back zoom calls, so we cannot get out of this flight, or fight mode can cause significant problems. Mentally we are not as creative as CNN describes it 'This can limit our mental ability. We stay still so we do not leave the frame, which causes our minds to act differently than when we can move around. In fact, "people who are walking, even when it is indoors, come up with more creative ideas than people who are sitting." So video conferences stop us from thinking outside of the box." (Mora, 2021) We are also hurt physically described by Health essentials "During the fight or flight response your body is trying to prioritize, so anything it does not need for immediate survival is placed on the back burner. This means that digestion, reproductive and growth hormone production, and tissue repair are all temporarily halted." (Hollowc2, 2020) Heath essentials also say that "Typically, it takes 20 to 30 minutes for your body to return to normal and to calm down." (Hollowc2, 2020) CNN article recommends that you get up and walk around after every meeting to calm your body, minimize the zoom box, and schedule more phone call meetings if possible.

 

References:

 

Hollowc2. (2020, September 15). What happens to your body during the fight or flight

response? Health Essentials from Cleveland Clinic. https://health.clevelandclinic.org/what-happens-to-your-body-during-the-fight-or-flight-response/.

 

Mora, D. (2021, March 13). How this year of working on zoom has affected your BRAIN | CNN

BUSINESS. CNN. https://www.cnn.com/2021/03/13/us/zoom-fatigue-trnd/index.html.

 

Quintanilla, K. M., & Wahl, S. T. (2020). Business and Professional Communication (4th ed.). Sage publishing Ltd.

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