Chapter 2 Communication and Interpersonal Commnnication 53 sociocultural reality, and in the sense that, as it transpires, constraints on and affordances to people's behavior momentarily emerge. In this view, communication is not a neutral vehicle by which an external reality is communicated about, and by which factors of psychology, social structure, cultural norms, and the like are transmitted or are influentiaL The communication process: (a) exerts a role in the personal identities and self-concepts experienced by persons; (b) shapes the range of permissible and impermissible relationships between persons, and so produces a social structure; and (c) represents the process through which cultural values, beliefs, goals, and the like are formulated and lived. Thus, to study the consequentiality of communication is to envision a world composed of a continuous process of meaning production, rather than conditions antecedent and subsequent to this production. To study the consequen. tiality of commwucation is to take seriously-for purposes of description and analysis-a world sustained by persons behaving, engaged in the negotiation and renegotiation of messages, not a world of a priori (or a posteriori) cognitive states, cultural rules, social roles, or the like. REVIEW QUESTIONS h~ mean? 2. Explain what it means to say that the process of communication often has more impact than the content. 1. When Sigman says communication "matters," what does PROBES 1. What is the relationship between tlus short reading and my essay that begins this chapter? 2. Assume that you are a communication major and that you've decided to focus your undergraduate studies on communication. At a family gathering, an aunt or uncle asks you what you're studying and why. Using the readings in thls chapter, respond to your aunt or uncle. Fierce Conversations Susan Scott ~ san Scott is an executive educator who has helped clients around the world transform me cultures of their organizations. In this excerpt from her best-selling book, she explains 'tow, as I noted earlier in the chapter, conversations are the most important communication events people experience. As she puts it, "our work, our relationships, and, in fact, our very :i\ es succeed or fail gradually, then suddenly, one conversation at a time." 54 I l f Part 1 Foundations of Interpersonal Communication Chapter 2 Communk Although Scott's primary audience is businesspeople rather than college students, her main points apply to everyone. Regardless of your station in life, when you face an important challenge, your first step should be to resist what she calls the "accountability shuffle" of blaming others, and your second should be to "identify the conversations out there with your name on them and resolve to have them with all the courage, grace, and vulnerability they require." If life is good, you can also realize that you got here "gradually, then suddenly, one successful conversation at a time." And her advice applies as much to experiences at 'home as it does to experiences at work. Scott reinforces what other authors in this chapter have also said: Relationships exist in the conversations that make them up. Whether you're thinking about a dating relationship, a marriage relationship, a work relationship, or a family relationship, "the conversation is the relationship." Relationship problems begin in specific conversations, negative spirals can be tracked through conversations, and improvement can occur when conversations change. By "fierce conversation," Scott explains that she means intense, strong, powerful, passionate, eager, and robust conversation. "Fierce" does not mean angry or hostile; it emphasizes the importance of being genuinely present and authentic in as many as possible of the conversations you experience. Scott urges her readers to embrace the possibility that fierce conversations are opportunities to be known, seen, and changed. Near the end of this reading, Scott tells her story of discovering the importance of conversation while working with business leaders on issues that undercut their effectiveness. As she explains, her brief and superficial explanation of what she did for a living was "I ran think tanks for corporate leaders and worked with them one-to-one." But "what I really did was extend an intimate invitation to my clients, that of conversation." And most clients experienced significant improvement in their effectiveness and their job satisfaction. This reading ends with a challenge for you to begin working to make more of your conversations genuinely authentic or "fierce." The rest of Scott's 290-page book effectively details how to do this. But as a contribution to the second chapter of this book, I hope her words emphasize how crucially important it is for you to pay attention to the communication events that most define your reality and determine your success and happiness: conversations. Whether you i around, considerir discouraging, so lE munications." I'd 1 with the person w conversations in bE ... Qnce Y013.J skills an
Purchase answer to see full attachment