The Meaning of Openness - Case Study Example

Demonstration on openness The meaning of openness is creating a new effect especially between two parties by filling the gap, which existed between them. Where there is lack of openness much time is wasted. The following stories give examples of lack of openness (Goldwin, 2005, p. 24). Think of a situation whereby our friends and we are going to hang out at some gorgeous place we have previously heard of it. We are pretending to know much about the place hence they expect us to take them there. Due to lack of openness, we are lost on our way to the area of visit and we keep on moving. This is senseless because we might end up wasting the whole day instead of just buying a map to get the correct direction. Another case can be during examinations (John O. Greene, 2004, p. 506). Many students panic during the examination and end up performing poorly. The panic makes the students not to spare some time and go through the paper, read the questions comprehend what they are required to do and then start answering the questions. Instead of doing this, they jump into the first question (Kupach, 1987, p. 167). Sometimes one may find himself doing the opposite of what he is expected to do i.e. when driving we might realize that our vehicle is running short of fuel and that’s when we increase our speed towards the refueling station hence in the real sense we are supposed to lower the speed as much as we can so that we may manage to reach the refueling station. Joining of the gap between effect and cause thus a new effect is created is not of any difference from our daily lives. The kind of lives whereby when we break up in our relationship we don’t want to speak the truth of what made us break up i.e. there is always a cover of anything which happens unless it is a good thing (Goldwin, 2005, p. 18). However, another thing that describes openness is the facts arising whereby it has been noted that when we are talking to our friends about long time stories especially when we were kid, the response will always depend on whether whatever we are talking about was pleasing the friend those olden days. If it is not pleasing, the definite response will be negative but if it is pleasing, we are going to get a positive answer (John O. Greene, 2004, p. 908). The responses attained from long time stories are mostly likely going to be far from the current stories or original topic. Additionally, in our working places we find that during meetings, we participate by thinking of what to say as one of us is speaking out his/her thought. When in the same meeting one of us happens to speak out the truth, especially where the truth has been shuttered for long, the possibility is that others will get courage for speaking the truth thus being more open and industrious to the organization (Kupach, 1987, p. 89). However, in order to break some patterns we need to be courageous. Imagining of yourself being an athlete, the first thing you do is to close your eyes before the race starts barely thinking (Goldwin, 2005, p. 9). We also realize that when a great speech is about to be made, there is likelihood that the speaker will pause for a moment. It is believed that a pause brings about effectiveness. Openness impact on personal communication style In openness, there is a listening and telling dimensions and it can as well be defined as an interpersonal condition whereby, the people in this condition are in a group expressing their thoughts to the their friends (Weller, 1989, p. 82). Some of the things they express are - how they do things, facts, benefits, their feelings, values, ideas and there is the story recipient willing to listen to them. Curriculum was made to affect three domains of leadership that are believed to affect levels of openness and trust and human relations (Kupach, 1987, p. 199). These domains include: - group management, interpersonal communication and conflict management. Lack of interpersonal communication enhances lack of us being open and at the same time, we will really have no trust in anyone. In addition, we need to be able to manage a conflict that can affect the openness and trust levels although it is challenging and risky to deal with as well as being open and trustworthy. However, when we are able/have the ability for group management or successful work, levels of openness and trust should increase (Kupach, 1987, p. 108). There are 30 behaviors observed in-group openness as an instrument that are used in measuring the two factors in openness. The factors as previously stated are a listening and a telling dimension. Before experimental curriculum was in traduced, group openness and trust scales were administered to students. To put in to practice there are five personal communication skills provided. Trust building is one thing that is usually emphasized in meetings and how it is necessary empowers others by opening up the communication process. There are nine types of power introduced and put into practice and it is used in empowering the subordinate staff. Some types of powers used in motivating the employees include; morrow power, personality, information, ego and expertise since they help employee take an outline of action (Weller, 1989, p. 87). The perspective of analysis of the data attained during a research of impact of openness to communicational style is that there can be use of statistical test to differentiate between the post and pre score on both trust and openness. By use of this, we can also be able to determine an individual behavior which seems to be much interesting. Another interesting thing is on the behavior of willingness sharing important criticism and openness telling dimensions which happens mostly due to gender difference (Mark L. Knapp, Guide to Publishing in Scholarly Communication Journals, 1987, p. 34). Among all the telling dimensions of openness I have read, there is an exception of the behavior men are open in i.e. they do not keep positive thoughts to themselves while on the other hand, females like complementing others rather than criticizing them and are termed to be more sensitive although they don’t like sharing positive denigration. To my conclusion, I believe that openness is the progress to the world of having the best personal communication style (Kupach, 1987, p. 130). References Goldwin, K. (2005). Openness and internal conflict. Journal of openness and conflict, 50. John O. Greene, B. R. (2004). Handbook of Communication and Social Interaction Skills. Journals of personal communication, 1056. Kupach, W. (1987). Interpersonal communication skills. Journal of interpersonal communication, 256. Mark L. Knapp, J. A. (1987). Guide to Publishing in Scholarly Communication Journals. Home and school communication journal, 67. Mark L. Knapp, J. A. (2002). Handbook of Interpersonal Communication. Journals on ipersonal communication skills, 315. Weller, M. (1989). The openness-creativity cycle. Journal of Interactive Media in Education, 121. Read More