Reputation Management

I buy Grace everything, if its not made by Grace I buy Kraft; Lysol, Scotts and  I buy Colgate: Give me Digicel!! What accounts for that? Company reputation. Have you ever given any thought to why you buy the brands you buy? Yes, because they have a reputation of providing what you are looking for, whether it is top quality, cost efficiency or just an image company reputation matters. Most of us have little or no reason to think about all that, we just go in, pick it up and get the hell out: that's another big thing: when a brand's reputation is known it takes 66% less time to decide.

 A friend of mine told me a story about hosting some visitors from Barbados and Trinidad, and because of where they are from she assumed they would prefer Caribe Beers, but they declined. They wanted Red Stripe: and when asked why one man told her Red Stripe sponsors West Indies Cricket: simple. REPUTATION!!!!!

So what exactly is reputation?   According to what I learnt in Org. Comm  Reputation is the totality of emotional and intellectual disposition towards an organisation. Blah!!!! OK!!! A simpler explanation of reputation is that Reputation is what people think or say about you when you are not there, ain't that the truth?

That brings us to why reputation management is important: having a good reputation pans out (1)A premium you can charge for your products, (2) A reputation that enables you to attract and keep talent, (3) A competitive edge and, (4)Shorter purchase cycles.

Colgate may be a bit more expensive than many other toothpastes, but hey its Colgate, it offers more, it is better so the price difference is acceptable. :-) Colgate has become such a household name especially in the Caribbean that most people call all toothpastes Colgate, its as if when you google toothpaste its Colgate that pops up. REPUTATION!!!!

Another important thing about having a good reputation is it works well when you slip up, because your reputation for quality is known it is much easier for people to forgive you when there is a mishap. A classic example of this is the Tylenol case.

Managing your reputation is a huge part of managing your organization, as it is that element that creates a bond between the organization and you publics, it is that element that gets your products picked up over the competitors, it is that element that improves your profits and keeps your stocks climbing. Four out of Five days a week Grace tops the Winners on the Money Market Report::: Reputation!!!! 

Communication Breakdown

My son came home last week with an assignment on communication. I had a field day trying to get him to understand the concept of shared meaning between intelligences, after the first five minutes of trying to explain Prof. Aggrey Brown's definition of communication, it became very clear from his knitted brows that I was failing, miserably. Eventually the cup overflowed and Kaheim begged "Mommy, please just tell me how people communicate."

So I thought for a minute, apologised and tried again. I sought the simplest words and sourced the simplest diagram and this is what it broke down to

HOW PEOPLE COMMUNICATE:

COMMUNICATION CYCLE

 

Communication is a process that is used to share information or in other words exchange messages in an attempt to understand each other.

The communication process involves a SENDER a MESSAGE a CHANNEL a RECEIVER and FEEDBACK.

SENDER:

This is the person who starts the process. The sender thinks about what he has to say and how he wants to say it. He then decides on what he will say and formulates it into a message.

EXAMPLE: Jack wants his mom to know about the upcoming party at school.

  

MESSAGE:

This is what the sender decides to say.

EXAMPLE: Mommy, there will be a party at school on Friday and I would like to go.

CHANNEL:

This is the way that the Sender chooses to send the message. There are several channels for sending messages such as, telephone, e-mail, letters, and notes.

EXAMPLE: Jack will be in bed by his mom gets home from work so he writes his message in a NOTE and leaves it on the table

RECEIVER:

This is the person who gets the message.

EXAMPLE: When Jack’s mother came home from work she saw the NOTE on the table and read Jack’s MESSAGE.

FEEDBACK:

This is the message the receiver sends back to the sender after receiving the message. The feedback is either to ask for more information or share their idea or opinion on the message. The receiver also has to decide on how to send the feedback.

EXAMPLE: Jack mother writes a note saying “Yes Jack you may go but be home by 5.”

TYPES OF COMMUNICATION

There are two types of communication, verbal and non-verbal.

VERBAL COMMUNICATION is sharing or exchanging information by using words. Whether the words are written or spoken it is still verbal communication.

NON-VERBAL COMMUNICATION is the exchanging or sharing of information without the use of words. This includes body language, images and facial expression.

Body Language: This is the way in which people send messages without using words but by positioning their bodies or carrying out other actions to send a message.

EXAMPLE: A person might turn their back if they are not interested in something or hug themselves if they are cold.

Facial Expression: This is how a person sends a message using only their face to send their message,

EXAMPLE: A smile to show happiness, a frown to show sadness, rolling the eyes to show annoyance.

INFORMATION THE PRODUCT

Have you ever thought about information as a product? 

Recently during a class discussion, the lecturer, in an effort to help us understand the communication cycle, likened the communication cycle to that of a market. Crazy? I didn't get it instantly as my one tracked mind started wondering what is it that a communication process is trying to sell.

Information, DUH!!!! 

So here are the categories, let"s see if you can match the categories

A                                                         B

Receiver                                              Purveyor

Message/Information                           Packaging

Encoder/Source                                  Product

Channel                                              Placement

Method                                               Competition

Noise                                                  Consumer

Finished matching? Lets see if you got it.

In the context of a marketplace, the Source of a message is the Purveyor, who decides on the Packaging which the Method chosen to convey the Product which is the Information. After the Product is Packaged then the purveyor then decides on the appropriate Placement for the Product which is the Channel by which the Product will get to the Consumer who is the Receiver. As in any market place there will always be Noise like the Competitor which must be taken into consideration at all steps of the process.

What is Cognitive Dissonance?

Wow!! such big words>>> NOT REALLY!


Psychologists say that when a person is confronted by ideas or facts that are at odds with his pre-existing notions, what results is "cognitive dissonance.


Cognition is simply "a piece of knowledge" and Dissonance is "disagreement or inconsistency"


Not so daunting now, is it?


The term Cognitive Dissonance though relatively new to me and many others is actually an old theory developed by Leon Festinger in (1957) and is concerned with the relationships between cognitions.
The cognitions (pieces of knowledge) of which we speak can be of any kind, can be pieces of knowledge about self, about others, about some thing or another however there can be dissonance or disagreement between two or more pieces of knowledge.


So, How does Cognitive Dissonance tie in with Organizational Communication?


It being that "Cognitive dissonance is the mental conflict that people experience when they are presented with evidence that their beliefs or assumptions are wrong." Montier (2002), cognitive dissonance in communication serves as "static" or noise in a form that distorts the message or prevents it from being received totally. 
This is as basic as static during a conversation over a bad telephone line: the message is distorted or not received at all. What cognitive dissonance does is prevents the person from even hearing certain words or phrases which are not in sync with their reality or their perceptions. Simply put a person has a mental block against new information being received which goes against the grain or is inconsistent with the perceptions previously held or rigidly subscribed to.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=korGK0yGIDo
Cognitive Dissonance is very present in Organization and is often a major barrier to communication in an organization.

Syria, Al Qaeda, and cognitive dissonance for fans of intervention

Syria, Al Qaeda, and cognitive dissonance for fans of intervention

YOU KNOW YOU ARE LIVING IN 2005 (2010) when...
1. You accidentally enter your password on the microwave.
2. You haven't played solitaire with real cards (ON THE COMPUTER) in years.
3. You have a list of 15 phone numbers to reach your family of 3.
4. You e-mail (BBM) the person who works at the desk next to you.
5. Your reason for not staying in touch with friends and family is that
they don't have (BBM OR WHATSAPP) e-mail addresses.
6. You pull up in your own driveway and (PING) use your cell phone to see if
anyone is home to help you carry in the groceries.
7. Every commercial on television has a (FB & TWITTER ICON) web site at the bottom of the
screen.
8. Leaving the house without your 2 cell phoneS, which you didn't have the
first 20 or 30 (or 60) years of your life, is now a cause for panic and
you turn around to go and get it.
10. You get up in the morning and go (ON YOUR SMART PHONE) on line before getting your coffee.
11. You start tilting your head sideways to smile. : ) STOP LAGHING AND SIMPLY SAY LOL
12. You're reading this and nodding and laughing.
13. Even worse, you know exactly to whom you are going to forward this
message.
14. You are too busy to notice there was no #9 on this list.
15. You actually scrolled back up to check that there wasn't a #9 on
this list.
AND NOW U R LAUGHING at yourself.


2012 VERSION OF Jerri Hudson 2005 EDS.
Neosho GED online facilitator & instructor
Crowder College
crowdercollege@yahoo.com

Objectives of Communication

What do you hope to achieve when you communicate? What you have identified is called your communication objectives. Whether we realize it or not, every time we communicate we do so with a specific objective or sets of objectives in mind. Communication objectives differ based on the communicator, the situation or the context in which we communicate.
Though this is so, there are four broad objectives we have in mind when we communicate. Common to all communicators is the desire to be RECEIVED (heard or read), to be UNDERSTOOD, to be ACCEPTED and, to get ACTION (change of behaviour or attitude).
Do you agree? Whether we communicate to persuade, inform, entertain or educate we must first be received, understood, accepted before we can achieve the desired course of action .
In essence communication cannot occur unless the four basic objectives are met. Yet this is not something we think about actively or consciously when we communicate. However we should, as the communication objectives has great influence on the communication process. This is so as your message is tailored and transmitted in a manner fitting the desired objectives.
For eg.  Having written an article which you hope to have published in one of our major newspapers

Independence vs Interdependence

"Interdependence is a higher form of being than Independence". The adage came as quite a shock when my lecturer, Gerry McDaniel, uttered it. No, not because it was uttered by Gerry, I had already gotten over that shock. What was shocking was how fitting it was in my current situation and how it expressed perfectly what I had been experiencing for little over a month but was unable to explain.


He says his mother told him, hmm I wish my mum had told me that. See, having gotten pregnant at 16, I have been on a constant quest to gain and prove my independence. In relationships it has always been important to profess and maintain that I don't need anyone and remain independent of my parents and everyone else. This, in my mind being a mark of fulfilment, of being a higher being.


Recently, I have been engaged in a relationship in which fighting to prove my independence doesn't seem as compelling as I have stepped comfortably into the realm of what I can now identify as interdependence. Truly interdependence is a higher form of being, of being me without worrying about losing my "me-ness". Finding perfect comfort in being corrected or advised and assisted, being fully respected for my advice, support and suggestions by someone I respect equally, these I do believe are marks of interdependence. I have come to realize how empty success or victory can be without someone to share it with.


Independence which I once craved and praised now seems lonely in comparison to my new found interdependence. Achieving things and making strides on my own are great, don't get me wrong, but having someone to share the glory with, having someone to lean on, someone who leans on me in return is simply a greater, simply a higher state of being.