At
my work, the associates are divided into the level of work they can do. It goes
from Level 1 to 7, then the manager positions. As we each train for the next
position up from ours, we get feedback every few times we train. We also get
feedback and compliments everyday we work and it helps us know how we are doing
as well as motivate us. I strongly believe that my job has helped me improve my
communication skills and also helped me help others improve theirs. I decided
to use a theory called symbolic interactionism of George Herbert Mead to
explain my experience with communication with coworkers. In Griffin’s book, A First look at Communication theory,
the symbolic interactionism theory is defined as the ongoing use of language
and gestures in anticipation of how the other will react; a conversation.
One
thing I love about my job is that I don’t do the same thing every single time I
work. I always work a different position or multiple in the same day. Not only
does it help pass time, but I get to get better at my communication skills with
each position. Like when I am on the register, I probably interact with more
than a hundred people in one shift. When I interact with customers, I use the
term “minding”, which is another word for thinking before you speak. I want to
offer the customers awesome customer service, because well, that’s my job. To
do this, I have to interact with them in a professional and friendly way. Some
customers are tougher to interact with than others and will give different
responses than others even if you act the same. This requires me to do a little
rehearsing in my head on how to act with certain types of customers. For
example, I would not act the same with an elder customer as I would with a
customer who is 10 years old. If a kid customer comes up to me, I will offer
them kid stickers and speak in a more upbeat tone. If I handed stickers to an
old woman or man, they’d give me blank stares. As the book also says, “humans
act toward people or things on the basis of the meanings they assign to those
people or things.”
I
train for my next level position a couple times a week and have received
feedback on my performance. I get comments on things I can improve on as well
as what I should keep doing. Not only do I receive these compliments after my
shift, but during the rush, managers like to compliment you if you are doing a
good job. That’s another one of the things I love about my job. The positive
atmosphere around me as I am working makes me feel like I can do a good job on
anything I do. The looking glass self term described in the book can help
explain the fact that I always have an image of myself I want to be. I don’t
expect to look like I am doing a perfect job every single time, but I like to
look like I am trying. The term is
defined as the mental self image that results from taking the role of the other
or being the objective self. According to the book, you see yourself how you
imagine others see you. If I feel as if I am doing a horrible job at my position
that is how I am going to come off as being.
The
symbolic interactionism theory is all about interaction between an individual
and the “other”. There are many ways to look at you as an individual at your
job, but I thought this was the best way to describe mine. Each day I learn to
communicate in better and efficient ways and thanks to this theory, I can
understand why workers communicate the way they do.
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