Thread 5 - Ref

Running head: WEEK 5 PRACTICAL CONNECTION 1

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WEEK 5 PRACTICAL CONNECTION

Week 5 Practical Connection Post

Brooke Caminita

University of the Cumberlands

Week 5 Practical Connection

This week’s focus was on chapters 11 and 12, Communication and Leadership, respectively. Communication is transmitting information from one person to another in order to be on the same page. Robbins and Judge (2018) explain, if there was a such thing as “perfect communication,” then “a thought would be transmitted so the receiver understood the same mental picture the sender intended” (p. 171). Unfortunately, we do not live in a perfect world so there are barriers in communication, such as: filtering, selective perception, information overload, emotions, language, silence, communication apprehension, and lying (Robbins & Judge, 2018, p. 180-182). To provide an example, language would be the different meaning of words due to personality or age. Understanding the direction of communication is important, as there are several types involved: downward, upward, and lateral. Chapter 11 also goes into detail about the modes of communication and what type of situation is appropriate for each. The modes include, oral, written, and non-verbal. For example, written communication would be best for the transfer of “complex and lengthy” information (Robbins & Judge, 2018, p. 177).

Going into detail about chapter 12, Leadership, several factors and concepts play a part. Several theories are mentioned, in particular behavioral theories of leadership stood out most to me. It means that people can be trained to become leaders, through education and experience. I’m sure there are several instances in which an individual who is now a leader, was not before and lacked several leadership qualities. I believe the qualities can be learned through education and then applied to the workplace and projects. Another thing I found to be a major part of this chapter is on trust. Trust is needed as a leader or follower, and has been proven to increase participation, make employees more involved and motivated, and provide better performance (Robbins & Judge, 2018, p. 201).

Putting all the mentioned knowledge and concepts into practice, I first think of how learning the different modes of communication will be beneficial in my workplace. For example, we do surprise birthday celebrations for each employee and in order to inform everyone without spoiling the surprise or forgetting anyone it is best to use a premade email list and remove the employee the surprise is for. The premade email list is for the employees in my business unit and is very beneficial because it ensures no one is forgotten, and also saves a large amount of time when creating emails that everyone should receive. In addition, I believe I have not always been a natural leader, but by taking this class and learning all the concepts and acquiring beneficial knowledge, I feel like my leadership skills have improved and I will continue to show this in projects and in the workplace. When I get into a managerial position, I will motivate my employees with this knowledge of leadership skills and practices because I believe it can all be learned if they are willing. Creating a workplace with excellent communication and leadership skills is a major thing, and unfortunately some workplaces lack this due to lack of education. I hope to encourage adding this kind of information into recruiting and orientation when employees are first hired so they begin their career with the necessary information to succeed. To reiterate, a lot of employees may not have taken a class like organizational behavior, therefore informing them of concepts like these is important and they will probably find it very interesting. My final thought for this assignment is to post weekly concepts on the community board at work. A short, fun, encouraging, and informational statement can go a long way.

References

Robbins, S. & Judge T. (2018). Essentials of Organizational Behavior. Boston, MA: Pearson.