Fallacy of work-life balance and video - Essay Example

September 8, The Fallacy of "Work-Life Balance" The presentations on “The Fallacy of "Work-Life Balance"” by Stewart D. Friedman are structured in video form and through a written discourse. It is the goal of the current discourse to write a comparative analysis of Friedman’s video presentation with the written chapter in terms of presenting and identifying ways by which the argument heard from the video presentation differs from the written format. First and foremost, the contents from both the video presentation and the written chapter are exactly the same.

Meaning, what were explicitly verbalized in the video presentation is transcribed verbatim in the written chapter. It is actually a very short discourse that only took Friedman about one minute to deliver orally. The disparities between the two mediums of communication could be evaluated in terms of the impact to the audience; the clarity within which the message was sent; the ability to emphasize some points; and the overall effectiveness in understanding the message that was originally intended to be relayed.

The video presentation accorded the audience with the opportunity to see or visualize the author as he relayed the information or contents verbally. The author delivered the message in a manner where he seemed to be relaying the information to another person, someone he was looking at (and not the audience). His face was actually positioned not directly to the audience; but somewhat skewed to the right where he seemed to be looking a person or the camera which was positioned accordingly. However, the video presentation accorded the audience with verbal cues that enhanced or highlighted some portions of his message through the manner of speech: pausing between phrases or sentences; movements of his head; changes in posture (slight shifts in his seating position); and modulation of his voice or tone that assisted in conveying the appropriate message.

With the written discourse, the information could also be clearly understood. However, the intensity of stressing some points could not have been properly established, since it would depend on the readers’ competencies to effectively understand. For instance, this narrative discourse would be comprehended differently between a reader with a high school level, as compared to that of a university graduate, or a professional. Likewise, readers from diverse cultural, ethnic or racial background whose native language is not English could have some challenges in comprehending the message accurately.

In addition, the readers could have just breezed through the whole narrative discourse, without pausing or appreciating emphasis to major contentions or arguments. But the obvious advantage of a written discourse is the ability it accords to the readers to see and review the contents immediately at a certain point in time. Unlike in the video presentation, if you want to recall what Friedman said at the beginning, the audience would have to rewind or replay the presentation, as needed. Overall, one is convinced that between the video presentation and a written discourse, it is usually more effective to understand the message being relayed and be persuaded, accordingly, through a visual presentation.

The verbal cues are actually assisted by non-verbal patterns, such as facial expression, gestures, postures, emphasis, and eye contact. Thus, Friedman’s message was actually simple, he was asserting that the term “work-life balance” needs to be streamlined or refocused to emphasize “four-way- wins”, which allegedly capitalizes on leadership “to better integrate the different parts of your life, all four: work, home, community, and self” (Friedman, The Fallacy of "Work-Life" Balance" 872).

Works CitedFriedman, Stewart D. "Author Stewart Friedman on the Fallacy of "Work-Life Balance"." 2013. Amazon.com. 11 April 2013 .Friedman, Stewart D. "The Fallacy of "Work-Life" Balance"". Book Title. Date. 871-872. Print.