Cooperation Between Government and Adults - Term Paper Example

? Cooperation between Government and adults From the Age of 18 to 25 Insert Insert Insert Section April 18, Introduction There are various means of communication between public officials and residents of Aberdeen Township community. All of them aim to incorporate people aged between 18 and 25 in politics. Our question is whether this means are actually adequate and sufficient. Communication is the transfer or movement of information from one person to another. According to Karen (3), good communication involves the source of information, the message in the information, the communication channel used, the receiver of the information, the reply gotten from the information and the context in which communication takes place. It can be either in form of words- written or spoken, gestures and body language, tone, pitch and timing of voice, symbols and listening (Phillips 3). Communication can also be done through the way we dress, the things we wear like wedding rings, the tattoos we make on our bodies, the types of cars we drive and so on (Karen 3). There are various practical points which if adapted can make an interpersonal communication better. According to Black (1), these can include speaking for one’s self, discussing ones feelings, revealing ones intentions, explaining what you mean, speaking specifically, getting straight to the point, asking one’s self whether what you want to communicate is relevant and listening carefully to others when communicating. Communication is a two way process-involving sharing of information and it is very important in enabling someone to get along well with others and getting this done (Phillips 3). It depends with size and nature of the audience so what can be good for one individual can be very inappropriate for a crowd or a group of people (Vanita 6). According to Boone and Kurtz (297), every communication takes place in some sort of situation or cultural context, which can influence on how well the process will work. For example the way two people might speak to each other in an office is different from how the same two people will be expected to speak to each other on a party gathering. Good communication is very important either to a normal person, a leader, a family, an organization or even to a nation. According to Phillips (3), ability to communicate well results to relationship growth, personal growth and even personal happiness in general. The process by which communication skills are developed is not that much understandable. It is believed that communication skills grow throughout someone’s life form learning how to express one’s self by an infant to the ability to write, speak, listen, read, understanding symbols etc. of a well educated adult (Caputo et al 115). Background (community chosen) Aberdeen Township is a town in Monmouth County of the state of New Jersey with a population of 17454 persons per the 2000 USA census. It has a total area of 7.8 sq. miles of which 5.5 sq. miles is land and the remaining is water. It is believed that water makes up around 28.61% of the total area of this town. This township has got 6421 households and 4770 families as per the 2000 USA census and a population density of 3152 people per sq. mile (Aberdeen 1). This community uses the Council Manager form of governance in which a policy making power is concentrated on the council with the mayor presiding its meetings and a municipal chief executive and administration officer appointed to manage it. It adopted this name about 35 years ago and has grown to become a suburban Township with a mixture of residence, light industry, and shopping centers. This community has several boards, which assists the management in making and implementing policies. Some of these boards include Aberdeen Green Team, Community Development Board, Environmental & Shade Tree Advisory Board, Planning Board, Recreation Advisory Board, Senior Citizens Advisory Board and Zoning Board of Adjustments (Aberdeen 1). The Township has two volunteer fire companies that are the Aberdeen Township Hose and Chemical Co. and the Cliffwood Volunteer Fire Co. It also has two first aid squads that respond to community’s emergency medical needs and a full time security department for ensuring safety of the residents (Aberdeen 1). Means of Communication There are various means of communication between public officials of this community and the community members. The communication means differ with age of the intended group of audience and the intention of communication. The most common means used to communicate to people aged 18 to 25 and trying to incorporate them in political decision-making are use of websites and newsletters, use of email alerts and use of organized events and celebrations. Public officials ensure that necessary information about the politics of this community is availed on various websites. This ensures that people of this age bracket, since they are the ones who like using the internet a lot, access the necessary information about community politics. Internet can only be effective to a small group of community members who have surfing as their passion. Although it is believed that people aged between 18 and 25 visit the internet very often, most of them are only interested in the social websites, and therefore they always fail to visit government websites. Another bad thing about this mean of communication is that it is one way where as communication should be a two-way traffic (Phillips 3). On basis of this, we cannot regard this as a good mean of communication. Therefore, it is inefficient since there are still a lot of people aged between 18 and 25 who are not aware about the ongoing progress in the society. Public officials also use newsletters which can be sent to an individual on subscription. These newsletters are sent by either mails or emails. Although this might consist more and detailed information about certain political issues than a website, it is also one-way communication and thus very ineffective. Newsletters are also provided to individuals when they visit public offices. As it has been for years very few people aged between 18 and 25 visit public offices and neither do they subscribe for these newsletters. Therefore, in most cases they are locked out of information for lack of visiting these public places. In addition, this means of communication being a one way, makes it hard for public officials to get the response of people in this age bracket who happen to read this newsletters. With the improved technology, email alerts have become part of the communication process. This means of communication that was recently introduced can be used together with the newsletter. In this case, an email alert containing the newsletter is sent to almost everybody that holds an email address. A good thing about email alerts is that it is two way as the email holder can send a reply on receiving the alert. This is somehow better than the use of the websites. One of its disadvantages is that very few individuals pay attention to emails that they do not know the senders and of those very, few will reply to those emails. Another problem with email alerts is the security issue. As we are aware, issues of politics are very sensitive and thus they should be passed from one person to another in the most secure way. This mean of communication also is a very inefficient one and thus should either be modified or supplemented with a new one. Another method the public officers in this community use to communicate to people in this society is through addressing public gathering during events or celebrations. These celebration and gatherings are like the Aberdeen Day celebration, Memorial Day celebration, Spring Beach Clean-Ups, and football and athletics competitions. A good number of people aged between 18 and 25 attend such event thus, information can be effectively passed to this kind of people during the events. But also not only this kind of people attend those events and thus the information ends up getting even to the ears it was not intended for. This mean can be a two way where the public official after addressing the gathering, gives room for questions. Although in most cases this is what the public officers do, very few among the targeted audience gather enough confidence to ask questions or even express an opinion. Like the other means, this mean has also failed to yield the required results and thus this community has failed to integrate people belonging to this age bracket in the political decision-making. Recommendation We cannot have a perfect means of communication that address these issues. A good combination of the available means as well as introduction of other means like the use of social media can yield better results. The community leadership also needs to incorporate representatives of this group of people in various boards involved in policy development. The few representatives selected from the group can act as a link between the remainder and the public officers and thus promote a two way communication which will absolutely yield the necessary results. Another option is establishing resource centers for this group of people and organizing forum for this group of individuals. According to Karen (3), when communication goes wrong, the relationships follow suit. Therefore, lack of effective communication between public officials and people belonging to this age bracket makes the relationship between them very poor and if not rectified their relationship will continue to worsen. Works Cited Aberdeen. Township of Aberdeen. Web.18 April 2012. < http://www.aberdeennj.org/demographics.html> . Black, Sabrina D. Can Two Walk Together?: Encouragement for Spiritual Unbalanced Marriages. Chicago: Moody Publishers, 2002. Print. Boone, Louis, E. and Kurtz, David, L. Contemporary Business ITunes Flash Cards/Self Test App. Danvers: John Wiley & Sons, 2011. Print. Caputo, John et al. Effective Communication Handbook. Twickenham: The Dramatic Lines Press, 2003. Print. Phillips, Annie. Communication and the Manager’s Job. Abingdon: Radcliffe Medical Press Ltd, 2002. Print. Stainsby, Karen. Develop Your Interpersonal and Self-Management Skills: A Practical Resource … Norfolk: Biddles Ltd, 2007. Print. Vanita. Effective Communication in Human Resource Development. Delhi: Nice Printing Press, 2003. Print. Read More