Business & Organizational Communication Portfolio

The creations I have chosen for my portfolio are:    The pitch video   Taking stress out of stressful conversations   Telling a tale   Modern organization   How to save the world (or at least yourself) from bad meetings    You can find these by going to the left-hand column , go to the labels tab, and click the portfolio button to see all the creations in my portfolio.     This class has been extremely helpful for my future. I am currently trying to start my own photography business and understanding what we have discussed in this class will be very useful in how I operate it and how I will interact with others. It has also taught me things about how to communicate with others in an organization. This coming school year, I will be helping with the CMU Athletic department’s social media team as part of my practicum, and I hope that what I have learned in this class will be helpful with that. Thank you for a great class, I hope to take ...

  Who: companies and organizations everywhere in the world, as well as branding companies must understand how branding works and how it has changed over the years with the addition of social media platforms being a new way to brand a product or company.   What: Branding a company/organization to promote their product or the company itself.   When: Everyday, especially when a new product rolls out or a new company is trying to become known.   Where: Everywhere, both the real world and on the internet.   Why: Want to promote the product or company for it to become successful in some way.   How: By using Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, Aristotle’s seven causes of human emotions, and any platform they can get their hands on. This being websites, radio, billboards, social media, apps and television.  

Crisis in a business is something that occurs almost every day. I recently watched the series Dopesick which was about Purdue Pharma during the roll of OxyContin and working on resolving the conflicts arising from lawsuits and the FBI. The shows depiction of how the company works on resolving the rising crises and conflicts coming towards them. From the very beginning, Purdue Pharma was shown to not care too much about the issues that their drug is causing. By the time this show takes place, the organization has paid out at least three lawsuits against them. Under the representation given, we can see from the beginning that they were bound to fail in the near future.  The company's action/risk plan was to pay out those who were suing the company, continue to bribe the FDA to approve their drug, and explain that OxyContin was not as addictive as it actually is. The show never shows the company start an investigation as to why people are misusing the drug and why there are soo many...

 Who: The company is involved and is facing the crisis. This includes the communication and legal teams along with the CEO and other board members. This also involves the people having the issues or side-effects with the product. What: There is an issue with a product that a company is releasing. Specifics vary from company to company and what the product is. When: Can occur either in the formation of the product or after it is released. This can be long or short term depending on the issue.  Where: Within the company and the public. Why: Because something went wrong or has caused side-effects or other health issues.  How: Someone has given a complaint about the product not working or has caused them health issues.

What: This chapter from HBR:10 Must-Reads on Communication discusses how we can work on making a stressful conversation easier to have. These conversations range “from firing a subordinate to, … receiving praise.” (HBR, 165) This chapter discusses how one can prepare for stressful conversations. The techniques given are identify , know how to react, and rehearse.   Who: The people involved in these conversations are often people of higher positions in a company or organization that must have a hard or stressful conversation with one or more of their employees. People, however, don’t necessarily need to be in power to have these conversations. It can occur between two employees where one of them either isn’t doing something properly or if they conflict with each other and do not want to bring it to their supervisor or manager yet, as they may want to try to resolve the issues themselves. These techniques are meant for those who are giving stressful conversation rather than the pe...

       In my four years at CMU, I have learned a decent amount of information about diversity in work and schooling environments. This has consisted mainly of the ways in which cultures differ in how they communicate and work in any environment. Last semester I had an assignment on how different cultures communicate where I observed three meetings of CMU's International Student Association, as almost everyone in the group came from a different country and culture.            Although that was a student led group, each meeting was ran in the same way a business would run a meeting as they had a person in charge and everyone had their own specific tasks and because of their diversity, they were able to think of diverse ways things could be done or alternative ways to improve something that they have already done.        Having a diverse group like this is beneficial in a work/schooling environment as ...

  Gender at work is something that has been discussed more recently throughout the year due to women wanting equal pay and no longer being the primary caretaker in their homes anymore. Women are constantly being discriminated and treated unequally at work. This comes in the form of pay differences among genders or women being overlooked for a position because they are seen as the primary caregiver in their family, no matter how much experience or hard work they do at their job. This free creation shows a man supporting his female coworker get equal rights in their company which many men should do. Although this stigma has been changing in the past few years, it still occurs and needs to be changed.  

    I was really glad that I said that James could show my pitch, as I learned a lot from the feedback. I learned that I am the only person in the class that was comfortable showing their video. Many people don't like watching what they make, or watching or listening to themselves, but thanks to my four years of being a communications student, I fine with it.      Some of the feedback that I received was that I used a lot of repetition. This allowed for the more important points to be emphasized. I did feel like I needed to emphasize the fact that it took me years to get to where I am and I am still learning.       I also learned that I would be presenting this pitch to photographers that are looking into getting into the sports side of photography rather than someone who is not a photographer as I discuss the technical side of photography by stating that you need to pay attention to the camera settings.      I really appreciat...

     This video is an explanation as to how the common good is being harmed by the government when they work with different industries. From inflations to environmental struggles, the common good suffers in the end. This issue is one that does not happen strictly in the U.S., but all around the world. People that are being harmed are suing the companies that are harming them but end up either losing or getting a settlement deal that if they take, will cost them their voice about discussing the matter. The only example I can think of that does not result in the people that were being harmed that did not end this way was the Erin Borkovich story from the 1990’s/early 2000’s as she won the case. There needs to be more stories like Erin’s and not like the family that was mentioned in the video. This shows how corrupt governments can be and are as well as how this system needs to change everywhere that occurs .

  For this free creation, I wanted to show that you shouldn’t hit the yes button on a meeting invite without having most if not all the information about the meeting beforehand. The speaker in the TedTalk video explains that by accepting the invitation, we are being polite to the point where we say yes and move on. This action has now become known as the term MAS or Mindless Acceptance Syndrome. MAS has created a new fundamental belief where people believe that they are “powerless to do anything other than go to meetings and suffer through these poorly run meetings to live another day” when, we are not. So don’t live in MAS, hit the maybe/interested button and get the information you need about the meeting before accepting or going to it.  

      I grew up in a school division where you went to school with the same people from Kindergarten through grade 12. By the time we were in high school, all of my friends and I started to drift apart, and the majority of my grade did not like each other. Once I got to grade 12, I was still friends with maybe 2 of my childhood friends, and I did not want to go to the same university as the people I wasn't friends with any more. Granted at the time I wanted to do something that no one else in my class wanted to do so I probably wouldn't have seen them much anyways. Fast forward a couple of months into grade 12, one of my mom's former coworkers told her to check out CMU's website, unknowingly one of my friends' older sister told me to check it out as well. From there we saw that CMU offered everything that I wanted to do, so we booked a tour and applied at the end of it. Fast forward to that following September to first year orientation. The only person I knew was a ...

  Power is something that occurs in every work or school environment. I have noticed recently that there is a power/control of technology in my school environment between profs and I. Some profs know and understand how to use the tech given to them while others ask me to step in and help them navigate the issues they have. This was also the case at a former job that I had, as because of the nature of my degree and age, I had the most knowledge about technology there and would always be asked to help at my store or over the phone with a different store. Although this power occurred, I use(d) it in a way that I can help and teach those that do not know how to use it.   

  What information management challenges occur in my job? Some of the challenges that chapter 5 explains are “outdated systems” and “no knowledge of information management by senior management”. I have delt with both as a photographer . Outdated systems are not fun, as you try to do a cool edit, but do not have the right software to do it, you run into the challenge of not being able to do it to either yours, your bosses, or clients' standards. Being able to have the most recent software is always something good to have and useful to learn. My boss is giving me the chance to run the company's social media page this coming fall, however my boss was a business major and does not know how to properly manage the page, which makes it harder for me to take over and learn from what has been successful and what needs to change. This means that there is no knowledge of i nf or m ation management . I personally believe that right now the social media account is not successful becaus...

This is an image of one of the characters from the show Pretty Little Liars telling someone to be quiet with the don’t sign over it that says, “Don’t be silent”. I chose to do this as when we choose to be silent, we are allowing something, usually negative, to happen. When someone chooses to be silent, they are not only hurting themselves, but also the company they work for. HBR: 10 Must-Reads on Communication says explains that “Silencing (yourself) doesn’t resolve anything; rather than erase difference, pushes them beneath the surface.” (pg. 97) So by creating this “sign” you are doing the right thing by speaking up/out about the issue(s) at hand.    

The Modality or input of this image would be: photograph What is the realness of the image: 95% of the image is real. The other 5% is photshopped as the Olympic rings were not originally in the photo. What claim or story does the image show: This photo is of Tyson Langalaar. He used this image to let his friends and followers know that he had made it onto team Canada's Olympic Speed Skating team for the 2022 winter Olympics in China. It shows him skating in front of the Olympic rings to show what event he is in and to show that his many years of hard work and training have payed off as he will be competing in the Olympics for Team Canada.

This creation was created in the Linguistic style of communication. This communication style depends on a person's personal speaking style, whether that means that they are direct, indirect, the word choice they use, questions, and many other characteristics to how one speaks to someone else. The linguistic style often takes the form of a conversation. I have chosen this image to create my visual creation because it is two former coaches from the Dallas Cowboys having a conversation about what play they should run next. So, I turned it into a meme with the linguistic style by adding words that usually signal a conversation between two people and that would also prompt a conversation rather than a yes or no answer.  

  What motivates me to do my job? The human relations theory of management explains that recognition and attention keep employees motivated. What motivates me is the feedback that I get from my boss or the ability to do what I want within the job description itself, as well as the people that I work with . I get motivated by the feedback of what I can do better or how I am doing an excellent job of. I also get motivated by t he attention that I get from friends and the people that I have worked with . Although attention and recognition are good motivators, it is not always the case, as people can be motivated by money, promotions, and other things that could be more beneficial to them than attention or recognition.   Will be edited later

What persuasion environments have I worked in? I have worked in situations that have run  a few different principles. One of these principles is the Principle of Liking. This principle revolves around people liking those who like them. In my experience, this only works for a short amount of time before something goes wrong or actions show the opposite of first impressions. This is never a good setting to be in as it usually leads to the manager trying to be your friend rather than your boss, which in turns puts less importance to a job well done and the business itself.  I currently work in a social proof and reciprocal settings. The reciprocity setting is good to be in because you get what you want to receive. If I want feedback, I go and ask for it or my manager calls me in to give me feedback they think I need, and we both give and receive each other respect for any aspect of the job. In the social proof setting, "People follow the lead of similar others." (HBR) In my curr...

This visual creation is from Chapter 3. This encompasses bureaucratic management form. This visual creation shows a manager welcoming and explaining the rules of the new person's job, and the new person saying they will follow them. This shows the rules and procedures of the position in the company, hierarchy of authority between two employees, and a description of what the new hire will be doing. Many organizations usually do this process either in the interview/hiring process or during the first day on the job. These are important aspects of this form of management as without them, you would have a different management style.  

This visual creation encompasses my understanding of the controller leader from Chapter 2. A controller wants to know everything and have all the information, so they can build off what they must persuade others. This visual creation is from a scene in  It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia  where this character is looking for a specific person to give mail to but could not find them. So, he goes down a rabbit hole to find all the information he can about the person to find them, just like a controller is trying to find out if they have all the information that they can use.