WEEK 18
TUESDAY 10th MAY 2011
SWAT IT COMMS.
12:30-15:30
Welcome to Week 11 gang. Good to see some of you are still hanging in there. Today we are continuing on with Identify attitudes, values and beliefs of others as well as: Identify appropriate behavioural conventions and communication situations.
Inappropriate work related behaviours can include
•being aggressive when communicating with co-workers
•self-centred behaviour such as not considering other co-workers
•inappropriate touching in the workplace
•criticism of co-workers
•showing disrespect towards supervisors or managers
•refusing to participate in work activities
•being rude or abrupt to customers.
Interacting according to social rules
•the concept of personal space such as, how close is appropriate to stand next to others at work
•when and how to show emotions with potential to become frustrated and aggressive easily
•how to interpret and respond to nonverbal communication such as facial expressions and body language
•what is appropriate physical contact with other employees within the workplace
•the type or amount of personal information which should be disclosed to the general public or co-workers.
•the concept of personal space such as, how close is appropriate to stand next to others at work
•when and how to show emotions with potential to become frustrated and aggressive easily
•how to interpret and respond to nonverbal communication such as facial expressions and body language
•what is appropriate physical contact with other employees within the workplace
•the type or amount of personal information which should be disclosed to the general public or co-workers.
Social values and behavioural conventions
Watch out when offering a banana to a Russian woman it can create problems!
In Russia, I was led to believe that the polite thing for a man to do when offering a banana is to peel it for the lady. Sometime during my third trip to St. Petersburg I was politely disabused of my notion.
"Oh no, Harry," my Russian friend graciously corrected me. "In Russia, when a man peels a banana for a lady it means he has a romantic interest in her." How embarrassed I felt. And here I had been proudly telling everyone about this titbit of cultural understanding.
Online
People from different cultures have their own rules and conventions when addressing and greeting each other or when meeting new people. Not knowing how to address someone properly can create an embarrassing situation for both parties. This can be a problem when dealing with a multitude of cultures and people online. Online networking is an important feature most workplaces and business have. It’s very common to complete an application or form online, to subscribe to some services, newsletters, etc.
So when creating an online form, it’s important to remember that some names might need more space for example Spanish people usually have two surnames; Chinese names are listed in a different order; the forms should be set up to allow unicode characters as some languages have accents.
There are types of behaviour that are always inappropriate in your workplace. However, you may ask yourself, how can I identify this behaviour? In some cases you may be to report them. Keeping inappropriate behaviour out of the workplace will raise employee morale and create a positive working environment.
1. Know that jokes about someone's gender, race, cultural background, religion or other personal characteristics are very inappropriate.
2. Remember that touching someone else's body or making comments that are sexual in any way are always inappropriate behaviours.
3. Understand that dating among colleagues is usually inappropriate. However, this often depends on the company. In most cases though, relationships between a manager and an employee are inappropriate because they can cause problems in the workplace.
4. Consider possible instances of discrimination. Discrimination based on age, gender, disability, national origin, race and religion is always inappropriate in the workplace.
Sometimes people just don't take inappropriate workplace behaviour seriously, and the only way to get them to stop is to report them to a supervisor. If someone's behaviour hurts your feelings or makes you uncomfortable, you don't have to put up with it in the workplace. There are laws regulating workplace behaviour to protect workers.
Social norms are the accepted behaviours within a society or group. This sociological term has been defined as "the rules that a group uses for appropriate and inappropriate values, beliefs, attitudes and behaviours.. They have also been described as the "customary rules of behaviour that coordinate our interactions with others. Respect for the social norms maintains one's acceptance and popularity within a particular group.
By ignoring the social norms risks one becoming unacceptable, unpopular or even an outcast from a group. Many social norms are established and maintained through body language and non-verbal communication between people in their normal social discourse.
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