Blog Components

Creating a blog site was all new to me prior to this class. Even though I had previous experience creating web pages, I was a bit intimated when I first learned our class was going to be required to create a blog site. The purpose behind creating my blog is to give visibility to potential employers and other respectable audiences about my abilities and showcasing some of my writings that I have produced while attending Ashford University. With that said it took a variety of steps to create my blog site. I first had to determine the purpose. Next I had to determine the audience. Once I was able to determine the audience I then had the perfect idea for the design of the blog site. Having determined the audience also influenced the content of my blog site.

Coming up with ideas on what audience I was targeting for my blog was fairly simple. Given the fact the blog is to focus on my previous writings from classes I attended at Ashford University and having the opportunity to showcase some of my creative abilities within the website. With that I decided to target potential employers in the marketing job market.

The content of the blog site is the next step given the audience has been chosen. In this step I focused on content that would showcase some of writing and imagination abilities. Knowing that many employers seek people that have strong writing and communication skills I felt putting some of my literary work on display. This would give employers visibility to my communication and writing skills. Writing is a vast skill many employers seek for a minimum job requirement. I have been told employers also look at people’s writing to see if they have some type of an imagination. This can translate into someone being able to think outside of the box.

Determining the design of the blog site was a long drawn out process. Having experience from creating a blog site in week one of Communication Studies Capstone helped some with brainstorming ideas of the design. Also receiving feedback from my fellow peers on design ideas was useful. With that I decided to go with an earth tone color scheme. I have found this type of color scheme is user friendly, which means visitors are more likely going to take time and review the site. I decided to stay away from a series of lines in the backdrop because I intend for the viewers to focus on the content rather than fancy lines.

Having to complete an assignment of this magnitude was very useful. With my future endeavors I now know that I am capable of building a blog site. It came to the point where I felt this is not just an assignment. This is a piece of my future in which I am illustrating for others. Once the assignment became personal, I felt like I wanted to put everything I had into it.

Delivering Bad News Tactfully and Effectively To An Employee

In this particular situation I plan to utilize the S-TLC system which acronyms stand for Stop, Think, Listen, and Communicate. I feel this system would be most effective with this issue because given the structure of the system. It will give me a chance to approach the employee in the correct manner.

First STOP when you realize that a conflict exists, begin by saying: “Stop” Don't become so upset that you start to lose control of yourself. Instead, try to calm down and cool off. Try to control your mental faculties.

With that said my plan is to go to my office and gather the information on the employee’s behavior, work ethic and performance. Having the ability to sit down and gather my thoughts on how to approach the employee. Will give me a chance to calm myself and approach the employee in an orderly fashion.

Next Think. Think before you act!

Once I have compiled the information on the employee’s work behavior, ethic and performance. Now I have to think about the ultimatum that I am going to present to the employee. Once I have decided on the ultimatum. My next step is to tell the employee that we will need to have a talk regarding his/her current work performance in two days. This will give the employee an opportunity enough lead time to think about his/her current performance prior to our meeting.

Then you Listen. Listen before you say anything! The tendency of most people is to justify themselves the moment they hear criticism, rather than really listening to what the other person is saying. We believe that as important as what we say in a conflict is the ability to truly hear what the other person is saying.

The day of the meeting I first would call the employee into my office and ask he/she why was called into my office for performance issues. I would sit back and listen as well takes notes.

Finally you have to Communicate. Decide how to communicate and do it!

Once the employee was complete with he/she reasons on why the meeting was called. I would then pull out the performance records showing the employee he/she work contributions over the last month. I then would show the employee the expectations that he/she needs to meet in order to stay gainfully employed with the company. I would also show the employee what he/she counter parts has contributed to the company with an outlined performance graph exclusive of the employee’s names. I would then ask the employee if he/she would be able to perform on the expected level within 30 days. If so I would tell the employee he/she would have a job after the 30 day probation. If not he/she needs to seek employment outside of our company.

Reference:

Cahn. Managing Conflict through Communication, 3rd Edition. Pearson Learning Solutions 5.4).

World Health Organization

Subject: World Health Organization

Objective: To evaluate http://www.emro.who.int/stb/Index.htm website

1. World Health Organization’s website is sponsored by the American Medical Association.

2. After reviewing the website it seems the company is not trying to target a particular group to sell its products.

3. I have found the site to be very informative with regard to a variety of illnesses and disease that are currently plaguing the world.

4. Included in some of World Health Organizations tabs are links to cures and ways to prevent some disease and viruses.

5. The site also outlines the following:

A. Providing leadership on matters critical to health and engaging in partnerships where joint action is need

B. Shaping the research agenda and stimulating the generation, translation and dissemination of valuable knowledge;

C. Setting norms and standards and promoting and monitoring their implementation;

D. Articulating ethical and evidence-based policy options;

E. Providing technical support, catalysing change, and building sustainable institutional capacity; and

F. Monitoring the health situation and assessing health trends.

Technical Issues:

1. The website should look at a platform of where all of its links are in one central location instead being scattered around the page.

2. Having the subjects placed in Alpha order would help with the navigation throughout the website.

3. Different color schemes should be used to callout important topics of facts.

4. More images, pictures, and audio to keep site visitors attention.

5. Utilizing a larger font throughout the website would help with reading the text.

Reference:

World Health Organization. (2010). World Health Organization. Retrieved from http://www.who.int/about/contacthq/en/index.html

Modern Media Technology

Smartphones: The sky has become the limit when talking smartphones. Smartphones today seem to have limitless capabilities. Ten years ago we had a hard time with trying to find the power up button on our cellphones. With some smartphones today you have the ability to power up your phone with a simple voice command. You now have the ability to track your phone down if it happens to get lost or stolen due to an internal GPS chip installed within the phone. Who’s to say having fancy lenses and editing software installed on your smartphone may put your local photographer out of business ten years from now. Another function is the ability to watch a live broadcast streaming over your digital signal. Yes many people love the technological advances that have come with smartphones. Is it really worth people losing their jobs one day? With live broadcast on smartphones, will there come to a time when a cable man is not needed? Or having the ability to deposit checks from you phone, will that cost a bank teller her job? There has to come to a time when enough is enough. How many more applications do we really need for our phones? How many different ways do we really need to dial out? At some point we should just accept smartphones for what they are and stop trying to evolve them into something greater. It might come to a point when the smartphone will be doing the thinking for its user.

Satellite/Cable Television: A few months back everyone that has cable television was required to all their local cable provider and request a digital box. So they had the ability to view high definition television. Without this box people are not able to even receive a signal with a basic antenna. Where do we go from here? Now satellite companies have deals that you more than likely will never see again. Due to the fact many people are now getting rid of their satellite and cable television due to the tremendous pricing offered with online broadcast. For example Netflix now has day to day television shows that are now offered. What is the point of having cable when you can pay a small fee of $9.00 a month to receive the same if not better options. Satellite and Cable television no longer have and endless lifespan.

Laptops/Notebooks: These two items also have a short lifespan. People now a days are getting away from you standard bulky laptops and slender notebooks. You now find people utilizing their cell phone as a means of getting tasks completed. With keyboards and software preloaded onto many smartphones. Sooner rather than later people will not have a need for these devices. With the instant gratification world we live in today. Smartphones are taking over the technology world. Many laptops can not offer wi-fi nationwide. Bur with a smartphone you can be almost anywhere in the world and have a signal.

MP3: These devices are growing by the minute. With the variety of software and programs now being offered with the purchase of a MP3 you can not go wrong. It was a time when the vinyl record was trending. Then you had the CD in which you could load about 23 songs on. Now you have MP3 players now in which have about 6GB of memory which can hold about 30,000+ songs. Now ask yourself, do you really want to walk around with every CD you have in your collection in a duffle bag? Or do you prefer to have a small handheld device in which you could easily store in your pocket?