Levi Weible Matthew Vetter English 3840J 11 April 2013 Communication in Development Introduction Communication is an unavoidable part of the

human experience. Whether through words, written text, body language, or another medium communication is everywhere. This communication, and who is communicating, comes to define people into groups. What makes humans so interesting and sets them so far apart from the rest of the animal kingdom is their simultaneous ability to be a unique individual and a member of a group. That ability comes from the need for deep communication and a sense of community. This communication comes in different shades just as unique as the people who use them. The jargon of engineers, the calls made by a quarterback at the line of scrimmage, the orders barked out by an ER doctor, and the words of a mother comforting her baby are all examples of the complexities and intricacies that make up language. Members of these groups have developed the ability to understand and communicate within their groups. These groups, referred to as discourse communities by many academics, are essential to understanding the depth of communication and the difficulty of learning the subtleties of language. Professional communication is necessary for the success of any group. James Thurber, a popular American cartoonist, once said, "Precision of communication is important, more important than ever, in our era of hair trigger balances, when a false or misunderstood word may create as much disaster as a sudden thoughtless act." Thurber understood the importance of every

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word. He understood the gravity that communication holds in every situation. Being able to understand language and communication is the key to understanding the members of a given community. But what happens when a new member is exposed? How do people react to the need for greater communication on a level they didnt know existed? What happens when these new members communicate without the proper communal language? These are the questions that ethnographers like Anne Beaufort try to answer. It is these questions and others like, how can we prepare new members to get into their community, that drive the academic world to focus so much time and energy on communication. The community of political science is no different than any other community. Although it is comprised of many smaller groups, the political science community relies heavily on communication to function as a somewhat unified and cohesive group. Most of this communication takes the form of academic writing. The community as a whole relies heavily on research articles in journals to communicate new ideas and strengthen old ones. However, there is some communication done within the subfields that does not involve academic journals. The goal of this ethnography is to find that communication, see how often it occurs, and to see the impact that this different communication can have on both the community members and the nonmembers that they interact with. Methodology By interviewing John via telephone , I was able to gain better insight and knowledge about the sub-community of international development. John, an alias, is an employee for a medium sized international development consulting firm based in Cincinnati, Ohio. He has been working there for several years and was willing to share some of the knowledge he has learned by working in the field with me. I asked him questions that dealt with intergroup communication

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and the writing style that he uses most. I then asked about the communication he has with people outside of his professional community. With these questions I hoped to drive at the centrality of communication and its importance in his work. I also asked him some more general questions about the field and why he was drawn to it. With these questions, I was hoping to find a little more about his personality and how that affected his communication with me, and the possibility that it could affect his work and the communication with his peers and clients. I also asked him some questions very specific to his position in his organization. As with most major international organizations, there are different levels of positions, a hierarchy. Each level of the hierarchy has a different level of influence and freedom to communicate. Each level also has different people who they communicate with. These range from difference in clients to differences in organizational personal (superiors, peers, and subordinates). Finding Johns position was critical to dissecting the information given to me as much as possible. Results I asked John what he thought the most important part of communication was, he told me , Letting people know what you know is key. He means having the ability to fully communicate your knowledge to someone else is a fundamental skill. He continued by explaining that working across language barriers can be very difficult, so complex ideas can become even more complex than originally thought. This requires a great deal of effort and attention paid to the communication part of the interaction with a potential customer or client. Making sure that the idea was simple enough to communicate but complex enough to solve the problem is a skill, which he says, he is still trying to master. Emails. Emails. Emails, Johns response to the question of the medium of his communication. I send around 50 emails a day, John explained. This pure volume of

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communication makes each interaction seem to blend together. Add to that effect the nonpersonal effect that emails can have and it's a huge task to stay engaged and keep things straight. John talked at length about the difference in his writing depending on whom the email was sent to. If it was a co-worker he knew well, the tone and formatting was more informal and relaxed, like a water cooler chat. However, if he knew that his email was going to be sent to a superior, John would change his tone and tighten up his formatting to look more professional. When disseminating information to his subordinates John would vary his style of writing depending on the content. Information about the company cookout would be much less formal than a change in company policy or the upcoming quarterly report. Communication to non-members was different. John mentioned that he did send many emails to people outside of his company, but the majority of his contact with non-members was done over the phone. I prefer to make phone calls with people, it adds a more personal touch to the whole situation. John fully believes that his connection with people is what drives his ability to help them. Interacting with people are why he got into the field of development in the first place. De-personalizing a conversation through an email makes him feel like he cannot truly understand the person on the other end, where they are coming from, who they are, what they need, etc. John continues to talk about how emails can be confusing and the wording can confusing. He says that even small mistakes can lead to very sticky situations where peoples feelings can be hurt. John is in middle management. This means that he has some people who work under him but major decisions are made higher up by upper management and executives. Some of what John does is coordinate projects and personnel. This responsibility is all about communication. John talks about the importance of timely communication, both in the sense of time and the

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ability to be short and to the point. Being able to not waste peoples time shows way more about respect for them than most people realize. Sometimes its important to sweat the little things. John talks about the importance of the mutual respect when it comes to communicating. Without the respect, John says, there is no way that they will trust you or that you can rely on them. Analysis I found the results of the interview very interesting. I wasnt sure what to expect from John but the information I got was very helpful in gaining a better understanding of the importance of communication. Several of Johns statements made it very clear that in the field of international development communication is a valuable resource that enables business to be done. This is an important feature to know about this community. When looking at a community communication from the outside it is easy to miss some of the minor communication that goes on more often than the more visible forms of communication. These minor communications, like Johns emails, are very telling in what is important in communication. Johns insistence on the personal communication aspect of his job shows that the community also places a high level of importance on personal communication. This is an interesting dynamic of this community. Although it is clear that interpersonal communication is needed for every community, the special emphasis in this case shows the centrality of communication for the international development community. The complexity of the details mixed with the need for better understanding across possible language barriers has created an odd situation for people in Johns position. The information inside of the discourse community must be communicated to the people outside of that community. Unfortunately, they do not share the same lexicon of jargon. This severely cripples the ability for verbal and written communication. This effect can be overcome by more time and preparation by John. By boiling

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down the big idea into smaller simpler ones John is able to bridge the gap between the communities. Inter-community communication is far simpler than communication to the people outside of the community. John explains that emails are the most used mode of communication inside of his company. This shows the reliance on written texts to disseminate information. The formality of the emails seemed to vary depending on the content and who the email was sent to. This seems to be a dangerous way to send emails based on an article in Technical Communication in the Workplace on emails and text messages in the workplace. They mention that emails should always be thought of as going past the person who it is originally sent to. John does have some sense of this when he writes more official emails to either his superiors or subordinates. However, when the topic in the email is light or it is to someone who John knows well personally he doesnt seem to worry if his tone is formal or not. Johns position in the company is telling of the influence that he has through his communication. When a president of a company or a community speaks, people listen. That person holds a position that demands respect and holds a lot of influence. This influence makes their communication more difficult because the weight of their words is huge. John talked about how each word must be thought out, each phrase must be analyzed, and every possible meaning must be thought of before it is published. No company, or organization, would want to send the wrong message by not seeing a possible connotation of their written texts. This is especially important when communicating within a company. Having everyone on the same page is crucial for a successful organization. This holds true for John as well. When he is required to send information to colleagues and subordinates, he is very careful on his wording. This is one reason that John prefers phone calls to emails when handling sensitive information.

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Phone calls give John the more personal connection that he desires with the mobility that emails provide. With the increased usage, and availability, of cellular telecommunications, John is able to talk with people around the world with ease. This allows John to feel more connected to the people he is working with and allows him to better understand them and for them to better understand him. These phone calls also allow for questions to be asked and immediate responses to be given. This instant feedback is important in the creation of new knowledge. This large community of political science thrives on the creation and reaffirmation of knowledge. Both of these things have to happen on a personal level before they can be happen on a community wide level. Without people like John, the practical aspects of the political science field would never get tested and knowledge would grow into a theoretical realm instead of one based on evidence and historically accurate facts. Conclusion Communication is essential for success in any area, especially in a field that relies on interpersonal communication. International development, as a sub-group of political science, requires a high amount of communication. Through my interview with John I was able to gain a better view of how important communication was to him and the pride that he put in his ability to communicate with others. The types of communication did vary and he was very open in saying that he had a tough time adapting to the different structures of communication. Discourse communities, like international development, thrive on the intricacies of intergroup communication and strong out of group communication.

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Works Cited Gurak, Laura, and John Lannon. Strategies for Technical Communication in the Workplace. Pearson, 2013. Print. Williams, John. Telephone interview. 6 April 2013.