This assignment has two parts. Part I: Compare traditional communication tools w

Question

This assignment has two parts.

Part I:

Compare traditional communication tools with social media communication tools in no more than 175 words. What are the pros and cons of each?

Part II:

Review the following scenario:

Your coworker's office is situated next to yours. One day she comes into your office and informs you of a huge project that is in the process of being assigned from upper management to your department's manager. Within forty eight hours, your department manager contacts you through a text message informing you of your inclusion in this project. Unfortunately, your manager included very minimal information about project specifics, so you do not know enough to get a solid start.

Your manager is highly political and does not pay much attention to detail. Also, he does not like his personnel reaching out to individuals outside of the department, especially his counterparts.

On the other hand, you do have good relationships with other departmental managers.

Discuss in 525 to 700 words the following:

Explain how you would go about gathering the information needed to start your project, while navigating the tough political map.

Select one of the communication tools from Part I to deliver your message, and explain the rationale behind your selection.

Describe how you would use the selected communication tool in the given scenario to deliver your message.

Explanation / Answer

The traditional communication tools are through narrating poems, stories, festivals, music, dance, drama, role-modeling, storytelling and enacting in street-plays etc. But social media tools are print media or visual media. Print media includes Newspapers, hoardings, Pamphlets or Brochures etc and visual/audio media includes internet, TV, Radio etc. Both media have their own advantages and disadvantages. Social media tools are very interactive, flexible and feedback system is available which are not there with traditional communication. Even, social media tools can be customized, and their access costs are also low compared to traditional costs. In traditional communication, the format is fixed, and it covers very limited locations. Through social media, it is world-wide broadcasted. The social media requires a lot of resources like TV, laptops and uses mostly machines but traditional communication media uses manpower more than machines. The data security is a big challenge in social media which is least in traditional communication media.

When my department manager is highly political and does not provide detailed information about the upcoming project and is expecting to start the work with minimal information, then the first thing officially should be done is asking for clarification on the specification of the project. The manager does not like to interact much with individuals outside the department, so getting the right information is difficult. Officially if I contact with the managers of another department, my manager might feel bad, so taking care of all these things, I can gather information from the co-workers in the group. Again, asking details with full consent from trustworthy people is important. When I am working for the company, I cannot leave my tasks incomplete as this may have negative consequences for my company.

Extracting the required information can be done by exchanging some offers instead of help, making them understand the importance of your knowledge of the project, and lastly based on your social informal data. In this scenario, I would opt for informal communication in the traditional media i.e. having face to face meetings where things can be clarified. The reason behind this selection is clarity and in direct-communication mistakes are less.

In face to face interaction, the emotions, body language, and reactions are visible, doubts can be clarified, the expectations from the project is well-understood, the importance, timeliness of the project is understood. It also helps in building rapport, mutual understanding, and trust. It is more productive and efficient. It helps in persuading, conveying, and 100 percent engagement. It also shows that you value the other person much more, you care for them and pay complete attention to them. It also enhances credibility and in a private setting shields confidentiality. It helps you in holding no records in a personal face to face communication. In this digital age, maintaining relationships have faded, it could bring people together by sharing the feelings, perception and improving the sense of community. It also fosters innovation as some brainstorming sessions are obvious when we have a healthy discussion. Even, a sensitive issue like this scenario can be handled calmly.    

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