Letter of Advice

COM 200: Interpersonal Communication Weekly Guidance

Week 5

Week Overview:

Welcome to the last week! Thanks to everyone who participated and completed the work in Week 4. This week we are going to discuss communication in different environments-the workplace and online.

In preparation for this week’s Discussion Board and Assignments, read Chapter 10 of your textbook, Making Connections: Understanding Interpersonal Communication. In addition, I would also like to direct you to the Course Materials tab on the left- hand side. This contains additional resources that will be of great use to you when completing assignment. Take a few moments to look over those materials as you begin this chapter.

Discussion Posts Expectations:

To participate in the following discussions, go to this week’s “Discussion” link in the left navigation.

Communication Competence: We have finally come full circle in our journey through communication. You have learned a lot of skills in the last few weeks as you studied about your self and your communication with other people. As you writing this discussion question, think about where you started in this journey and where you are now in terms of your communication. Lastly, think about where you want to go from here. What other communication skills would you like to work on?

Intellectual Elaboration:

Relationship Disengagement:

In Week 3, we talked about how relationship begin and how to maintain those relationships. This week we are going to talk about the stages of coming apart. The basis of this elaboration is Knapp's model of relational development. The first stage of coming apart is differentiating. This is when you begin to see and hear the couple becoming distant and disengaging. You can particularly hear this in the language that they use towards each other. The use of "we" and "us" that you heard in the intensifying stages are replaced with "I" and "me." Language towards the two parties may go from informal to more formal terms of address. The second stage of coming apart is circumscribing. This is when you see couples starting to limit their topics of discussion. Topics of discussions are become limited and the quantity and quality of conversations decreases. The couple carefully control the areas of discussion and restricts communication to safe topics. Eventually circumscribing (or limiting topics) leads to stagnation which means that the relationship is not moving forward. Actually the relationship is not moving at all. Once that happens, avoidance soon follows. The avoidance that happens can be either physical or psychological (working later at the office or the silent treatment). Ultimately, if the relationship continues on this path, the relationship will terminate. Relationships can terminate right after a greeting or after 20 years of intimacy.

With that said, here are some principles on how relationships move within these stages:

1.Movement is generally systematic and sequential.

2.Movement may be forward

3.Movement may be backward

4.Movement is always to a new place

Communication Competence:

Like I said, we have come full circle in our journey about communication. One thing that I want to mention about communication competence is that communication competency includes speaking ethically. The National Communication Association has come up with 9 ethical communication guidelines. You can find those guidelines at this link: NCA Credo of Ethical Communication (NCA Credo of Ethical Communication, 1999)

What are your thought on these principles?

What makes a person a competent communicator?

Additional Resources (Web Links, Videos, & Articles):

Communication Competency Scale: Communication Competency Scale

The nice thing about this scale is that you can compare your competency at the beginning of the five weeks to your competency at the end of the five weeks. Hopefully the score of the latter is higher than the former.

References:



NCA Credo of Ethical Communication. (1999, November). Retrieved December 5, 2014, from National Communication Credo of Ethical Communication: http://www.natcom.org/uploadedFiles/About_NCA/Leadership_and_Governance/Public_Policy_Platform/PDF-PolicyPlatform-NCA_Credo_for_Ethical_Communication.pdf