Near Field Communications

Partner with nearfieldcommunications.net

Amadeus Consulting Talks Mobile App Development: What is Near-Field Communication?

Author: Amadeus Consulting

An article in theJuly 1995 edition of Popular Science first covered commercial applications for a "digital wallet." Most of these concepts are still relevant today, and many are still in use. However, in the past 16 years since the article was published, there have been many improvements to the "digital wallet" concept. The most recent innovation includes adding near-field communication to smartphones on a broad scale.

This will enable not just digital wallets, but a broad range of innovative ideas that will create a new segment of smartphone app development.

Near-field communication (NFC) allows brief and semi-secure communication between two devices based on close proximity. NFC is a standardized form of data communication that generally uses radio frequency (RF) devices to communicate.

You may not know it, but you probably see this very often in shopping tags, stickers, key fobs, security cards, and in many other places. For example, if you buy a CD or DVD, you often see a sticker on the inside cover that, if peeled off, has a printed metal circuit. This is a radio frequency identification (RFID) tag.

NFC can take multiple forms, but often involves one device acting as target (storing the information to be read – usually read only) and the other acting as an initiator, which can wirelessly power the target to read the information it stores.

The benefit to putting NFC capability onto mobile phones is that you provide power to both ends. This means that instead of a target-initiator process which basically provides one-way communication, you can have a target-target process which allows peer-to-peer communication. Since both ends are powered, they can change and update the information that they send, rather than just acting as "read only."

NFC has a few limitations, but also many benefits. Specifically, it can only communicate across a very small distance, usually a few centimeters, which makes it very hard to intercept the data exchange. This means that users can "swipe" a NFC device (like a security card) across the reader and very quickly share small amounts of information.

What does NFC Mean for Mobile Payments?

The biggest benefit to NFC is that it allows users to use their phones to do much more than they can currently.

The most obvious example is through mobile payments. By incorporating NFC into mobile devices, users could simply swipe or tap their phones on electronic readers in stores instead of using a credit card or cash. According to Bloomberg, 35 million NFC phones will ship this year, and 70 million NFC phones will ship in 2012. They also estimate that by mobile payments will account for $245 billion by 2014, up from $32 billion last year.

Basically every major carrier, credit card company, mobile device manufacturer, and technology company has announced launching some sort of NFC mobile payment system this year. This includes Apple, Amazon, American Express, AT&T, Bank of America, Discover, HTC, Google, Microsoft, Motorola, Nokia, Sprint, T-Mobile, Verizon, and Visa, as well as many others. Many of these companies are also launching joint partnerships to try to create an industry standard system that involves manufacturers and retailers.

Some of these systems involve NFC compatible cash registers and a partnership with credit card companies to allow the phone to charge to an existing account. However some others would basically turn the phone into its own credit card and the charges would show up on your monthly phone bill.

Security and Privacy

Although no system is entirely secure, NFC does have many benefits. Most prominent is the physical proximity required for devices to be read. With certain hardware this can be extended to a few meters, however mobile systems will likely be limited to a few inches at most. This means that intercepting information exchange will be extremely challenging.

Secondly, these are not static RFID tags which store the same information all the time. The mobile device has the capability to write and rewrite information. This is important because if you are going to share sensitive information through NFC (a credit card for example), the information can be written, shared, and then erased very quickly. For example, if you wanted to make a credit card payment with your phone, you would open up your app and approve the charge. This would then load the information to be read by the NFC reader, and would erase the information once it had been shared.

In the meantime, all the information would be stored and encoded in a secure area to prevent anyone from reading it just by standing close to you with specialized hardware.

From a marketing perspective, this also gives retailers and others more information about who is buying their products, including basic information that may not otherwise be easily available. This is probably less information than is usually exchanged when you use a membership or discount card, but its universal use has the potential to raise privacy concerns for users as well.

Benefits of NFC

Beyond mobile payments, NFC has the potential to provide many benefits and conveniences to smartphone users. Once the hardware is in place it will largely be up to the mobile app developers to create and invent the software features, but there are many ideas already in place.

Exchanging Contacts

The short range peer-to-peer communication of NFC would allow phones to very quickly swap contact information, which could be very helpful at networking events or other meetings, rather than swapping physical business cards or manually typing in information.

There are a few other services that try to exchange information through the web, but these can be a bit slower and more difficult to use, as well as requiring a lot more typing and searching. A NFC system would make exchanging contact easy.

Accurate Check-ins

Social Check-in services like FourSquare, Facebook Places, Google Latitude, Ogwalla and many others allow users to share their location with friends by "checking into" physical locations. In turn, many of those places (restaurants, clubs, concerts, etc.) provide deals based on those check-ins. This is especially useful for rewarding the most loyal customers as well as providing incentives to new customers to visit.

However, verifying the user's location is dependent on GPS, which is not always accurate and can be easily spoofed. Using NFC for verification would provide much more guarantees, which would provide more incentive to businesses to use it in their social marketing efforts.

Easy Ticketing

Have you ever bought a ticket online and then had trouble printing it (or losing it) before the big event? NFC could provide a very easy way for users to buy a ticket online for movies, concerts, airlines, public transit, or just about anything else, and instantly have ticket verification on your phone.

In theory this would work by providing a secure code to the device that could then be "swiped" at the entrance through NFC. Not only would this save paper and the potential frustration or losing your ticket (unless you lose your phone too), but also save time by potentially letting you skip lines at the door.

Advertising

Many advertisements and billboards invite users to visit a website to find out more information. However, advertisers know that typing a URL on a phone is a clunky step and that most users simply won't do it. To overcome this, they have come up with a few tools which make that step a little bit easier. One of these is the QR code.

By scanning the code with the phone's camera, users will be taken instantly to the predefined URL. This also lets advertisers build in different URL tags with mark the specific advertising campaign and other important information so that they can track the impact of specific efforts.

However, even QR codes are a bit clunky and not every user knows how to use them, or has a device that can read them. By incorporating NFC into advertisements, especially storefronts, displays or other ads that have a close physical proximity to users, the user can simply hold their phone near the ad and quickly download the information. It could be a coupon, an image, a web link, or any bit of information.

Medicine

RF tags are already widely used in medicine and can do everything from track medications to report on blood sugar levels. There are currently a few different options that allow this information to sync with your phone, however many of these require additional hardware.

By integrating near-field communications directly into the device, it would make it much easier to build medical devices and services that can take advantage of it. For example, rather than taking a blood sample to test the sugar levels of a diabetic, an implanted device could transmit to the phone and provide easy and non-invasive updates.

Imagination

Once the hardware is in place, it is really up to the creativity and imagination of the developer. Each idea is developed as a software solution and becomes its own "app." The question for enterprising entrepreneurs is "what will you do with NFC?" Near-field communication simply provides the opportunity to quickly lock users together and share small bits of information. What that information contains is up to you.

Do you have an idea for a NFC Smartphone application? Our mobile app development team has the skill and experience to develop your idea into a successful application.

Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/gadgets-and-gizmos-articles/amadeus-consulting-talks-mobile-app-development-what-is-near-field-communication-4588483.html

About the Author

Steve Loper is the Senior Quality Engineer at Amadeus Consulting and has been with the company in various roles since 1995. Steve has been recognized by Microsoft as a "Most Valuable Professional" and led the project that won the Microsoft XP Solution Challenge. Steve is regarded as one of the top .NET application and SQL Server database architects in the country, and currently oversees client projects to ensure that a strong technical approach is put in place to address even the most complex issues. Steve blogs about current software and technology issues.

communicating

Author: stephen

Introduction

Communication

Communication is a process where by information is encoded and imparted by a sender to a receiver via a channel/medium. The receiver then decodes the message and gives the sender a feedback. Communication requires that all parties have an area of communicative commonality. There are auditory means, such as speaking, singing and sometimes tone of voice, and nonverbal, physical means, such as body language, sign language, paralanguage, touch, eye contact, by using writing.

It is thus a process by which we assign and convey meaning in an attempt to create shared understanding which requires a vast repertoire of skills in intra and inter personal processing, listening, observing, speaking, questioning, analyzing, memorizing, evaluating e.t.c.

It is through communication that collaboration and co-operation occur directly through education, and by practicing those skills and having them evaluated.

Types of communication

There are three major parts in human face to face communication which are body language, voice tonality, and words. Based analytical research

  • 53% of impact is determined by body language--postures, gestures, and eye contact,
  • 35% by the tone of voice, and
  • 18% by the content or the words used in the communication process

Though the percentage of influence may differ from variables such as the listener and the speaker, communication as a whole strives for the same goal and thus, in some cases, can be universal, methods of signals, such as voice sounds, pitch or intonation, gestures and written symbols which communicate, thoughts and feelings.

If a language is about communicating with signals, voice, sounds, gestures, or written symbols, then,can animal communications be considered as a language?” But animals do not have a written form of language communication, yet use a language to communicate with each another. In exsense, an animal communication can be considered as a different language.

Human spoken and written languages can be described as a lexemes (sometimes called system of symbols) and the rules by which the symbols are used. The word "language" is also refer to common properties of languages. Language learning is normal in human childhood. Most human languages use patterns of sound or gesture for symbols which enable communication with others who surround them. There are millions of human languages, and these seem to share certain properties, even though many of the shared properties have some exceptions. Though there is no defined line between a language and a dialect, but the linguist Bella is credited as saying that "a language is a dialect with a navy or an army". Constructed languages such as programming languages, and various mathematical formalars are not really restricted to the properties shared by human languages.

verbal communication

A verbal or dialouge is a reciprocal conversation between two or more entities (individuals, animals e.t.c).

The etymological origins of the word in Greek dialete ??? (diá,through) + ?????(logos, word,speech) concepts like flowing-through meaning) do not necessarily convey the way in which people have come to use the word, with some confusion between the prefix ???-(diá-,through) and the prefix ??- (di-, two) leading to the assumption that a dialogue is necessarily between only two parties.

 

Non-verbal communication

Non verbal communication is the process of communicating through sending and receiving wordless messages through gesture, body or posture languages, facial [removed]eye contact), object communication (clothing, hairstyles or architecture), or symbols or info graphics, as well as through an aggregate of the above, such as behavioral communication.

Nonverbal communication plays a key role in every person's day to day life, from employment to sexuality to parental responsiblities to romantic engagements.

Speech may also contain nonverbal elements known as paralanguage and prosodic features including voice quality, intonation, emotion and speaking style, rhythm, intonation and stress. Also, written texts may have said to contain nonverbal elements such as handwriting style, spatial arrangement of words, and the use of emoticons.A portmanteau of the English words emotion (or emote) and icon, an emoticon is a symbol or combination of symbols used to convey emotional content in written or message form.

Other communication channels such as telegraphy fit into this category, whereby signals travel from person to person by an alternative means. These signals can in themselves be representative of words, objects or merely be state projections. Trials have shown that humans can communicate directly in this way without body language, voice tonality or words.

 

Non-Human Living Organisms Communication (NHLOC)

 

Communication in many of its facts is not limited to humans alone, or even to primates but to every information exchange between non-living living organisms i.e. transmission of signals involving a living sender and receiver can be considered as a form of communication. Though, there is the broad field of animal communication, which encompasses most of issues of ethology. On a more basic level, there is cell signaling, cellular communication, and chemical communication between primitive organisms like virus, bateria, and within the plant and fungal kingdoms. All of these communication processes are sign-mediated interactions with a great variety of distinct co-ordinations.

Animal communication is at any behaviour on the part of one animal that has an effect on the behavior of other animals. And of course human communication can be presumed as a highly developed form of animal communication called zoosemiotics which is distinguishable from the study of human communication called anthroposemiotics

has played an important part in the development of ethology, sociobiology, and cognition (the study of animal). This is an evident that humans are able to communicate with animals, especially animals like dolphins and other circuses animals. However, these animals may have to learn the special means in which they can communicate. Animal communication, and the understanding of animal world in general is a rapidly (constant) growing field even in the 21st century so far, many prior understandings related to diverse fields such as personal symbolic name use, animal emotions, animal culture and learning, and even sexual conduct, long thought to be well understood, which have been well revolutionized. Communication is observed within the plant organism, i.e. within plant cells and between plant cells, between plants of the same or related species, and between plants and non-plant organisms, especially in the rootzone. Plant roots communicate in parallel with rhizobia bacteria, with fungi and with insects in the soil. This parallel sign-mediated interactions which are governed by syntactic, pragmatic and semantic rules are possible because of the decentralized "nervous system" of plants. As recent research shows 99% of intraorganismic plant communication processes are neuronal-like. Plants also communicate via volatiles in the case of herbivory attack behavior to warn neighboring plants. In parallel they produce other volatiles which attract parasites which attack these herbivores. In Stress situations plants can overwrite the genetic code they inherited from their parents and revert to that of their grand- or great-grandparents

Fungi communicate to co-ordinate and organize their own growth and development such as the formation of mycelia and fruiting bodies. Additionally fungi communicate with same and related species as well as with non fungal organisms in a great variety of symbiotic interactions, especially with bacteria, unicellular plants and insects. The used semi chemicals are of biotic origin and they trigger the fungal organism to react in a specific manner, in difference while to even the same chemical molecules are not being a part of biotic messages doesn’t trigger to react the fungal organism. It means, fungal organisms are competent to identify the difference of the same molecules being part of biotic messages or lack of these features. So far five different primary signalling molecules are known that serve to coordinate very different behavioral patterns such as filamentation, mating, growth, pathogenicity. Behavioral coordination and the production of such substances can only be achieved through interpretation processes: self or non-self, abiotic indicator, biotic message from similar, related, or non-related species, or even “noise”, i.e., similar molecules without biotic content.

 

Communication in relation to academic discipline

Communication as an academic discipline, sometimes called “communicology”, relates to all the ways we communicate so it embraces a large body of study and knowledge. The communication discipline includes both verbal and nonverbal messages. A body of scholarship all about communication is presented and explained in textbooks, electronic publications, and academic journals. In the book, researchers report the results of studies that are the basis for an ever expanded understanding of how we all communicate with one individuals or the next.

Communication happens at many levels even for one single action, in many different ways, and for most beings, also in certain machines. If not all, fields of study dedicate a portion of attention to communication, so when speaking about communication it is very important to be sure about what aspects of communication one is speaking about. Definitions of communication range widely, some recognizing that animals can communicate with each other as well as human beings, and some are more narrowly only including human beings within the parameters of human symbolic interaction.

 

Visual communication

The evaluation of a good visual design is based on measuring comprehension by the audience, not on aesthetic or artistic preference. There are no universally agreed-upon principles of beauty and ugliness. There exists a variety of ways to present information visually, like gestures, body languages, video and TV. Here, focus is on the presentation of text, pictures, diagrams, photos, et cetera, integrated on a computer display. The term visual presentation is used to refer to the actual presentation of information. Recent research in the field has focused on web design and graphically oriented usability. Graphic designers use methods of visual communication in their professional practice.

Visual communication as the name suggests is communication through visual aid. It is the conveyance of ideas and information in forms that can be read or looked upon. Primarily associated with two dimensional images, it includes: signs, typography, drawing, graphic design, illustration, colour and electronic resources. It solely relies on vision. It is form of communication with visual effect. It explores the idea that a visual message with text has a greater power to inform, educate or persuade a person. It is communication by presenting information through visual form.

 

No one would talk much in society if they knew how often they misunderstood others. – Diplomat Chris E

Many of the problems that occur in an organization are the direct result of people failing to communicate. Faulty communication causes the most problems. It leads to confusion and can cause a good plan to fail. Communication is the exchange and flow of information and ideas from one person to another. It involves a sender transmitting an idea to a receiver. Effective communication occurs only if the receiver understands the exact information or idea that the sender intended to transmit.

Studying the communication process is important because you coach, coordinate, counsel, evaluate, and supervise through this process. It is the chain of understanding that integrates the members of an organization from top to bottom, bottom to top, and side-to-side.

 

 

The Communication Process

Communication: That is what we try to do Speak to those near us

First, information exists in the mind of the sender. This can be a concept, idea,

Information, or feelings know as ”Thought”

Next, a message is sent to a receiver in words or other symbols

Known Encoding

Lastly, the receiver translates the words or symbols into a concept or

Information that he or she can understand known as Decoding.

During the transmitting of the message, two elements will be received: content and context. Content is the actual words or symbols of the message which is known as language - the spoken and written words combined into phrases that make grammatical and semantic sense. We all use and interpret the meanings of words differently, so even simple messages can be misunderstood. And many words have different meanings to confuse the issue even more.

Context is the way the message is delivered and is known as paralanguage - it is the nonverbal elements in speech such as the tone of voice, the look in the sender's eyes, body language, hand gestures, and state of emotions (anger, fear, uncertainty, confidence, etc.) that can be detected. Although paralanguage or context often cause messages to be misunderstood as we believe what we see more than what we hear; they are powerful communicators that help us to understand each other. Indeed, we often trust the accuracy of nonverbal behaviors more than verbal behaviors.

Some leaders think they have communicated once they told someone to do something, "I don't know why it did not get done. I told Jim to it." More than likely, Jim misunderstood the message. A message has NOT been communicated unless it is understood by the receiver (decoded). How do you know it has been properly received? By two-way communication or feedback. This feedback tells the sender that the receiver understood the message, its level of importance, and what must be done with it. Communication is an exchange, not just a give, as all parties must participate to complete the information exchange.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Barriers to Communication

Nothing is so simple that it cannot be misunderstood. - Freeman Teague, Jr.

Anything that prevents understanding of the message is a barrier to communication. Many physical and psychological barriers exist:

Culture, background, and bias - We allow our past experiences to change the meaning of the message. Our culture, background, and bias can be good as they allow us to use our past experiences to understand something new, it is when they change the meaning of the message that they interfere with the communication process.

Noise - Equipment or environmental noise impedes clear communication. The sender and the receiver must both be able to concentrate on the messages being sent to each other.

Ourselves - Focusing on ourselves, rather than the other person can lead to confusion and conflict. The "Me Generation" is out when it comes to effective communication. Some of the factors that cause this are defensiveness (we feel someone is attacking us), superiority (we feel we know more that the other), and ego (we feel we are the center of the activity).

Perception - If we feel the person is talking too fast, not fluently, does not articulate clearly, etc., we may dismiss the person. Also our preconceived attitudes affect our ability to listen. We listen uncritically to persons of high status and dismiss those of low status.

Message - Distractions happen when we focus on the facts rather than the idea. Our educational institutions reinforce this with tests and questions. Semantic distractions occur when a word is used differently than you prefer. For example, the word chairman instead of chairperson, may cause you to focus on the word and not the message.

Environmental - Bright lights, an attractive person, unusual sights, or any other stimulus provides a potential distraction.

Smothering - We take it for granted that the impulse to send useful information is automatic. Not true! Too often we believe that certain information has no value to others or they are already aware of the facts.

Stress - People do not see things the same way when under stress. Our psychological frames of references - our beliefs, values, knowledge, experiences, and goals, influence what we see and believe at a given moment.

 

These barriers can be thought of as filters, that is, the message leaves the sender, goes through the above filters, and is then heard by the receiver. These filters muffle the message. And the way to overcome filters is through active listening and feedback.

Active Listening

Hearing and listening is not the same thing. Hearing is the act of perceiving sound. It is involuntary and simply refers to the reception of aural stimuli. Listening is a selective activity, which involves the reception and the interpretation of aural stimuli. It involves decoding the sound into meaning.

Listening is divided into two main categories: passive and active. Passive listening is little more that hearing. It occurs when the receiver of the message has little motivation to listen carefully, such as when listening to music, story telling, television, or when being polite.

People speak at 100 to 175 words per minute (WPM), but they can listen intelligently at 600 to 800 WPM. Since only a part of our mind is paying attention, it is easy to go into mind drift - thinking about other things while listening to someone. The cure for this is active listening - which involves listening with a purpose, It may be to gain information, obtain directions, understand others, solve problems, share interest, see how another person feels, show support, etc. It requires that the listener attend to the words and the feelings of the sender for understanding. It takes the same amount or more energy than speaking. It requires the receiver to hear the various messages, understand the meaning, and verify the meaning by offering feedback. Below are some few traits of active listeners:

1.    Spend more time listening than talking.

2.    Do not finish the sentences of others.

3.    Do not answer questions with questions.

4.    Are aware of biases. We all have them. We need to control them.

5.    Never daydreams or become preoccupied with their own thoughts when other talks.

6.    Let the other speakers talk, Do not dominate the conversations.

7.    Plan responses after the others have finished speaking, NOT while they are speaking.

8.    Provide feedback, but do not interrupt incessantly.

9.    Analyze by looking at all the relevant factors and asking open-ended questions. Walk others through by summarizing.

10.             Keep conversations on what others say, NOT on what interests them.

11.             Take brief notes. This forces them to concentrate on what is being said.

 

      Feedback

Knowledge When you know something and say what you know and when you don't know something, say that you don't know. – Engr. A.T

The purpose of feedback is to alter messages so the second communicator will understand the intention of the original communicator. It includes verbal and nonverbal responses to another person's message.

Providing feedback is accomplished by paraphrasing the words of the sender. Restate the sender's feelings or ideas in your own words, rather than repeating their words. Your words should be saying, "This is what I understand your feelings to be, am I correct?" It not only includes verbal responses, but also nonverbal ones. Nodding your head or squeezing their hand to show agreement, dipping your eyebrows shows you don't quite understand the meaning of their last phrase, or sucking air in deeply and blowing it hard shows that you are also exasperated with the situation.

Carl Rogers listed five main categories of feedback. They are listed in the order in which they occur most frequently in daily conversations. Notice that we make judgments more often than we try to understand:

1. Evaluative: Making a judgment about the worth, goodness, or appropriateness of the other person's statement.

2. Interpretive: Paraphrasing - attempting to explain what the other person's statement means.

3. Supportive: Attempting to assist or bolster the other communicator.

4. Probing: Attempting to gain additional information, continue the discussion, or clarify a point.

5. Understanding: Attempting to discover completely what the other communicator means by her statements.

Imagine how much better daily communications would be if listeners tried to understand first, before they tried to evaluate what someone is saying.

Non verbal Behaviors of Communication

 

To deliver the full impact of a message, use nonverbal behaviors to raise the channel of interpersonal communication:

1. Eye contact: This helps to regulate the flow of communication. It signals interest in others and increases the speaker's credibility. People who make eye contact open the flow of communication and convey interest, concern, warmth, and credibility.

2. Facial Expressions: Smiling is a powerful cue that transmits happiness, friendliness, warmth, and liking. So, if you smile frequently you will be perceived as more likable, friendly, warm and approachable. Smiling is often contagious and people will react favorably. They will be more comfortable around you and will want to listen more.

3. Gestures: If you fail to gesture while speaking you may be perceived as boring and stiff. A lively speaking style captures the listener's attention, makes the conversation more interesting, and facilitates understanding.

4. Posture and body orientation: You communicate numerous messages by the way you talk and move. Standing erect and leaning forward communicates to listeners that you are approachable, receptive and friendly. Interpersonal closeness results when you and the listener face each other. Speaking with your back turned or looking at the floor or ceiling should be avoided as it communicates disinterest.

5. Proximity: Cultural norms dictate a comfortable distance for interaction with others. You should look for signals of discomfort caused by invading the other person's space. Some of these are: rocking, leg swinging, tapping, and gaze aversion.

6. Vocal: Speaking can signal nonverbal communication when you include such vocal elements as: tone, pitch, rhythm, timbre, loudness, and inflection. For maximum teaching effectiveness, learn to vary these six elements of your voice. One of the major criticisms of many speakers is that they speak in a monotone voice. Listeners perceive this type of speaker as boring and dull.

Hints on Speaking

Speak comfortable words in other to comfort others

When speaking or trying to explain something, ask and ensure that the

Listeners are on track with you.

Ensure the Listeners has a chance to comment or ask questions.

Try to put yourself in the other person's shoes, consider the feelings of the

Listeners. Be clear about what you say.

Make sure your words match your tone and body language (Nonverbal

Behaviors). Vary your tone and pace.

Do not be vague, but on the other hand, do not complicate what you are saying

With too much detail.

Do not ignore when you see any sign of confusion.

Communication Per Say (a few random thoughts)

 Paul Martias

In the mid 1980s, Paul Martias studied emotions and discovered six facial expressions that almost everyone recognizes worldwide: happiness, sadness, anger, fear, disgust, and surprise. Although they were controversial at first (he was booed off the stage when he first presented it to a group of anthropologists and later called a fascist and a racist) they are now widely accepted. One of the controversies still lingering is the amount of context needed to interpret them. For example, if someone reports to me that they have this great ideal that they would like to implement, and I say that would be great, but I look on them with a frown, is it possible that I could be thinking about something else? The trouble with these extra signals is that we do not always have the full context. What if the person emailed me and I replied great (while frowning?). Would it evoke the same response?

Emotions

Trust your instincts. Most emotions are difficult to imitate. For instant, when you are truly happy, the limbic system and other parts of the brain, which are not under voluntary control, control the muscles used for smiling. When you force a smile, a different part of the brain is used - the cerebral cortex (under voluntary control), hence, different muscles are used. This is why a clerk, who might not have any real interest in you, has a "fake" look when he forces a smile.

Of course, some actors learn to control all of their face muscles, while others draw on a past emotional experience to produce the emotional state they want. But this is not an easy trick to pull off all the time. There is a good reason for this part of our emotions evolved to deal with other people and our empathic nature. If these emotions could easily be faked, they would do more harm than good.

So our emotions not only guide our decisions, they can also be communicated to others to help them in their decisions - of course their emotions will be the ultimate guide, but the emotions they discover in others become part of their knowledge base.

We often hear that the content of a message is composed of:

55% from the visual component 38% from the auditory component 7% from

language

However, the above percentages only apply in a very narrow context. A researcher named Martin was interested in how listeners get their information about a speaker's general attitude in situations where the facial expression, tone, and/or words are sending conflicting signals.

Thus, he designed a couple of experiments. In one, Martin and Fernando (1989) researched the interaction of speech, facial expressions, and tone. Three different speakers were instructed to say "maybe" with three different attitudes towards their listener (positive, neutral, or negative). Next, photographs of the faces of three female models were taken as they attempted to convey the emotions of like, neutrality, and dislike.

Test groups were then instructed to listen to the various renditions of the word "maybe," with the pictures of the models, and were asked to rate the attitude of the speaker. Note that the emotion and tone were often mixed, such as a facial expression showing dislike, with the word "maybe" spoken in a positive tone.

Significant effects of facial expression and tone were found in that the study suggested that the combined effect of simultaneous verbal, vocal and facial attitude communications is a weighted sum of their independent effects with the coefficients of .07, .38, and .55, respectively.

Mehrabian and Ferris also wrote about a deep limitation to their research: "These findings regarding the relative contribution of the tonal component of a verbal message can be safely extended only to communication situations in which no additional information about the communicator-addressee relationship is available. yet the percentage derived can vary greatly depending upon a number of other factors, such as actions, context of the communication, and how well they know that person.

 Trying to speak of something as missiles as communication in technical terms seems to be another form of math and science argument, i.e., math and science and technology are the answer to all of our problems

But what forms of human behavior are not missiles? Learning is not antiseptic, yet it is discussed all the time, we do not leave it to the academics, such as Leadership and management seems to be even messier, yet we categorize it, build models of it, index it, chop it and slice it and dice it, build pyramids out of it, and generally have a good time discussing it. But when it comes to "communication," we call it too messy to play with and use it to communicate almost every single day of our lives, which is much more than we will ever do with learning or leadership.

 Thus, what can be concluded is that when people communicate, listeners derive information about the speaker's attitudes towards the listener from visual, tonal, and verbal cues

 http://latestnewscomm.blogspot.com

 

Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/information-technology-articles/communicating-1119324.html

About the Author

it is time you start communicating http://latestnewscomm.blogspot.com

The impact of demographics variables on emotional intelligence and communication effectiveness on job satisfaction

Author: hassan

1. INTRODUCTION

Today emotional intelligence is a popular topic of many discussions among academic scholars and corporate executives. What exactly is emotional intelligence, and what role does it play in business and in education? In this paper, I will attempt to answer these questions by providing definitions and a brief history of emotional intelligence (EQ); by discussing the key components of emotional intelligence. This paper seeks to accomplish four objectives. The first is to provide meaning of emotional intelligence (EI), communication effectiveness, motivation, job satisfaction, and demographic variables. The second is to develop an integration model showing the relationships among EI, communication effectiveness, motivation, job satisfaction, and demographic variables. The third is to invest in people through EI activities, communication effectiveness and motivation, job satisfaction, and demographic variables programs. Lack of recognition of the interconnection among EI, communication effectiveness, motivation, job satisfaction, and demographic variables in the literature motivated the authors to write this paper.

At present, there is very little empirical literature on EI within the context of the educational administrations, particularly on relationships EI, communication effectiveness, motivation, job satisfaction, and demographic variables and how manager's EI is affected on communication effectiveness and  job satisfaction, that have attracted considerable attention in the organizational literature.

In the next section, we review the literature on theories of EI, communication effectiveness, motivation, and job satisfaction, and of the link between them. This review leads to the development of the hypotheses in this study. Finally, we discuss our conclusions.

Emotional intelligence in organization setups has undergone dramatic switches in the last few decades. All over the world, organization environments have seen drastic changes as a result of the late 1990s developments in organizational behavior. The beginning of the 20th century saw the emergence of the notion of emotional intelligence. By the 1990s it became a topic of great interest. The first author on EI as a science was, Daniel Goleman, a psychologist who wrote for the New York Times. He modeled and extended the concept of EI in his book, ‘Emotional Intelligence: Why It Can Matter More Than IQ for Character, Health and Lifelong Achievement' which he wrote in 1995. Ever since, the concept of EI took a broader perspective and was reported in Funder standing (2004) series and in articles, the importance of EI became well established.  (This discussion of "emotional intelligences" is available at http://www.funderstanding.com/eq.cfm.)

Emotional Intelligence transformed progressively from a mere notion into a dominant theory in many research areas within which its effects on human behavior were analyzed. Recently, EI received much interest in effective communication. Results of these studies indicated that emotional intelligence played a pivotal role in human communication. The need to establish the relationship between EI and effective communication was recognized. This relationship was further emphasized by many EI theorists who asserted that managers who are emotionally intelligent communicate well with people (Goleman, 1995; Mayer, Salovey & Caruso, 2004; Weisinger, 1998).

There is a significant gap in the quantity of literature examining the relationship among emotional intelligence, job satisfaction, communication effectiveness, and motivation. One study, the first of its kind, examined the interaction effect of managers' EI and employees' EI on job satisfaction (Sy, Tram, & O'Hara, 2005). Further, empirical support is limited that gives special attention to how managers with high EI offer unique contributions to their organizations (Carmeli, 2003).  More research is needed to further examine the relationships between emotional intelligence and the work environments that affect job satisfaction and performance (Sy et al., 2005). Concerning job satisfaction, existing research has examined the relationship between present-tense emotions and job satisfaction (Niklas & Dormann, 2005), self-esteem and job satisfaction (Alavi & Askaripur, 2003), self-esteem, generalized self-efficacy, emotional stability upon job satisfaction and job performance (Judge & Bono, 2001), and finally, the effect of EI upon job satisfaction and performance (Sy, et al.). Concerning organizational commitment, one study was done examining the relationship between EI and occupational stress and organizational commitment (Nikolaou & Tsaousis, 2002). Two research studies, however, were found that examined the three components of EI, job satisfaction, and organizational commitment (Carmeli, 2003; Petrides & Furnham, 2006). But no study has examined the relationship among emotional intelligence, communication effectiveness, job satisfaction, and motivation together.  On the other hand, no study has examined the interaction effect of managers' EI and employees' EI on job satisfaction and communication effectiveness. The combination of these four variable will invariably lead to higher levels of both success and life satisfaction. This comprehensive study will seek to expand our understanding and identify the nature of the relationships among the four factors of emotional intelligence, communication effectiveness, motivation, and job satisfaction within the educational administrations. Even though, emotional intelligence is crucial for the sustainment of communication effectiveness and job satisfaction, there have been very limited studies done on this subject, resulting in vital aspects like motivation to go on unnoticed. In order to fill in this gap, this study will be conducted in Iran-based educational administrations.

1.1 Problem Statement

The problem to be addressed in this study was the lack of communication effectiveness and job satisfaction in educational administrations of Iran. Sharma (2006) reported that attrition rate and absenteeism are major problems in the organizational environment due to ineffective of communication and lack of job satisfaction. Also, In 2000, statistics from the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) 2000 Retention Practices Survey revealed a turnover rate of 21 to 26% in organizations due to lack of communication and job satisfaction. Voluntary turnover increased across the board for 2003 to 2004 from 19 to 20% (NOBSCOT Corporation, 2006). Twenty-one percent of respondents reported poor communication and unsatisfied conditions of job as major reasons for the problem of turnover rate. Smaller organizations experienced a national turnover rate of 17% in the United States (SHRM, 2000). If individuals are not satisfied with their jobs and communications are not effective, problems often arise in effectiveness and satisfaction throughout the organization (Herzberg, 1974).                                                                                                                                                              

Ineffective communication, lack of communication or inadequate communication causing disturbance, employee turnover, disorder, failure to achieve goals, and damage to the image of the organization (Chang, 1993). Another study illustrates that lack of effective communication may lead to; misunderstandings, lack of information, decrease in employees' performance, and decrease in company's turnover in organizations and on the other hand lead to incompetence, poor teamwork and disrespect (Maxfield et al., 2005). Also lack of communication effectiveness and job satisfaction in organizations led to high stress, monotony, poor fit between employees and the job, inadequate training (Missouri Small Business Development, 2002).                                 On the other hand, lack of job satisfaction also lead to lower productivity, higher absenteeism, increased work errors, poor judgment, defensive behavior, hostility, reduction in creativity, and job turnover. Hinshaw, Smeltzer, and Atwood (1987) view low turnover as the product of job satisfaction and commitment, which are in turn influenced by organizational factors such as routinization, instrumental communication, and integration within the organization as well as demographics and the environmental factor of alternate job opportunities. Another example shows lack of job satisfaction in organizations due to absent and leaves the job (Hackett & Guion, 1985, Carsten & Spector, 1987). A 2003 study conducted by Grebner et al. (2003) involving 234 call center agents revealed lower job satisfaction primarily due to lower levels of job control and task complexity. This finding is consistent with earlier research by Victor Vroom (1964), which established that a distinct inverse relationship exists between job satisfaction and attrition. Locke's (1976) value theory also proves instructive when considering workplace attrition, as this theory differentiated between needs and values and suggested that needs are inborn and exist separate from an individual's desires. Mobley's research (1977) also linked job dissatisfaction to attrition, suggesting that employees typically progress through a series of steps prior to quitting: thinking about quitting, considering the cost of quitting, looking for a new job, and eventually quitting.

The question arises, what factors influence job satisfaction and communications effectiveness in organizations? A review of the literature indicated that there are numerous factors such as job performance (Sy et al., 2005; Judge & Bono, 2001), organizational commitment (Carmeli, 2003; Petrides & Furnham, 2006), emotional intelligence (Bar-On, 2005; Schein, 2004; Güleryüz, Güney, Aydin & Asan, 2008; Carmeli, Yitzhak-Halevy and Weisberg , 2009), communication  (Pettit et al., 1997; Pincus, 1986), and motivation (Anthony and Govindarajan, 1998; Edmondson, 2003).

Also literature review showed that emotional intelligence- one of effective factors- is a considerable factor in today's volatile environment and additionally studies on this factor very limited and we found  that motivation that it is very vital with regard to emotional intelligence with communication effectiveness and job satisfaction have not seen in previous studies. According to Mathews (2002), numerous professions showed a dire need for some levels of emotional intelligence. The education system is one of those within which, the individuals could reap great advantage from the knowledge of emotional intelligence owing to recurrent human communication that existed among them. Also, the administrative centers of these education administrations sense a need for both the managers and employees to create working associations with others.  This is because, the administration centers have to deal with important people and matters related to key professions. These managers and employees, according to Matthews (2002), partake in a profession in which there exists a high probability that a high level of emotional intelligence is required due to their everyday interaction with their customers, educators, supervisors and co-workers. In line with all reasons above, the objective of this research was to study emotional intelligence on communication effectiveness and job satisfaction; on the other hand, identifying motivation – existent gap- which may impact the  relationship between emotional intelligence with communication effectiveness and communication effectiveness with job satisfaction. We believe that this research will provide additional insight on this topic.

1.2 Gap of Study

Both communication effectiveness and job satisfaction researches are considerable researches domain for emotional intelligence. Studies of this domain can be categorized into two fields: the first field regarding factors which influence communication effectiveness and job satisfaction, the second field with regard to communication effectiveness and job satisfaction impact on emotional intelligence.

The majority of communication  effectiveness and job satisfaction researches studies investigate by; Rivers, 2004; Webster's Dictionary, 2001; Hauser, 1996; Wilson, 1998; Nancy Harper, 1979;Fitzpatrick, 1999; Knapp & Miller, 1994; Vickrey, 1995; Hackman & Johnson, 1991; Luftman, 2004; Asimov, 1987; Hiam, 1999; Schermerhorn, Hunt & Osborn, 2003. And for job satisfaction major areas explored are such as: Spector, 1997; Arches, 1991; Acker, 1999; Tett & Meyer, 1993; Butler, 1990; Cranny, 1992; Oshagbemi, 1999; Locke, 1976; Lawler, 1981; Miner, 2005.

The review of literature showed much study on the relationship communication effectiveness  and job satisfaction with emotional intelligence like ; Goleman, 1998b; Mayer, 2004; Weisinger, 1998; Deeter-Schmelz & Sojka, 2003; Ikemi & Kubota, 1996; Bar-On, 2005; Goleman, 2001; Schein, 2004; Kotter, 1996; Ashkanasy & Tse, 2000; Bass, 2002. Sy, 2006;  Villard, 2004;  Sporrle & Whelp, 2006; Chiva & Alegre, 2007; Zeidner, Matthews, & Roberts, 2004;  Chan, 2006; Kafetsios & Zampetakis, 2007;  Güleryüz, Güney, Aydin & Asan, 2008; Carmeli, Yitzhak-Halevy and Weisberg , 2009;  Güleryüz, 2008; Bar-On, 2004; Chiva & Alegre, 2008;   Kafetsios & Zampetakis, 2008;  Hwang, 2007; O'Hara, 2006.

Research done till date in the field of education administration show a keen interest in knowing all about effective communication and job satisfaction. The resulting knowledge gain on human nature could lead to important elucidations and assumptions about effective skills to improve communications and job satisfaction among managers and employees.  As an example, if a person is able to identify the communication signals of another, this could improve the quality of communication between them. Also, managers and their employees could be taught to identify various communication indicators others express. If the level of emotional intelligence is identified within each employee by the education administration executive, he/he could aid them more profitably.

Various perspectives of human behaviors such as communication and job satisfaction can be illustrated by this study of emotional intelligence. Certain occupational areas are implementing the measures of emotional intelligence measures to foresee employees' performance. Yet, in specific professions such as the teaching profession, specific emotional skills are exceptionally significant to job satisfaction. Other occupations exist where specific skills may be attractive but not imperative. A brain surgeon or mechanical engineers, for example, do not need the same emotional intelligence participation with others than the emotional intelligence the managers and employees in education administrations require to possess so as to surpass in job satisfaction. The formal appraisal of these skills would appear important for professions in which emotional abilities are clearly essential. Thus recognizing the fact that, different jobs do call for different levels of social and emotional involvement and activity, is of dire importance.

Administrators in several jobs sense an increasing need to have recurrent interchanges that is both emotionally positive and supportive with employees and teachers, Even in educational administrations, one generally tends to interact emotionally with others, teachers not only need to assess the reactions of others and attempt to influence other's emotions and motives but they also need to talk with others face to face and exhibit optimistic behaviors.

Numerous communal establishments, such as corporations and organizations, are commencing explorations with EI, even though it is a fairly innovative concept and it continues to advance in the research arena. It is supposed that, by recognizing the manager and employee's  level of emotional intelligence, a difference in corporations and organizations could be achieved companies attempt to develop the quality of the executives and co workers' lives which is said to affect their output level, which, in turn, amplifies profits (Brophy,1996). However, it should be stressed here that, emotional intelligence should be recognized as early as in the educational setting when these prospective social contributors are not yet key administrators or workers in the educational management. After completing the research illustrated above, several apparent gaps were found to exist in the area of the proposed research topic: relationship between emotional intelligence, communication effectiveness, job satisfaction, and motivation in educational administrations of Iran.  As well, there are gaps in the literature due to a lack of investigation into a potential relationship between emotional intelligence, communication effectiveness, job satisfaction, and motivation in educational administrations of Iran.

The main gaps of this study including:

1. There is not any study related to relationship between emotional intelligence, communication effectiveness, job satisfaction, and motivation together. In current research, the researcher combines four main variables together for examine them.

2. Observing little studies on relationship between emotional intelligence and communication, but no study has examined relationship between emotional intelligence and effectiveness of communication. According to the process improvement literature, there are a small number of previous research papers studied the area of emotional intelligence with communication skills, styles, interpersonal, verbal and non verbal, and competence concept. Research that is published helps to address the gaps of not having information on emotional intelligence and communication effectiveness.

3. Another gap is that there has been no study on communication effectiveness as mediator in relationship between emotional intelligence and job satisfaction.

4. Another gap in this study refers to motivation as moderator variable. There has been no study on motivation as moderator variable on relationship between emotional intelligence and communication effectiveness.

5. Another gap in this study refers to motivation as moderator variable. There has been no study on motivation as moderator variable on relationship between communication effectiveness and job satisfaction.

6. Observing little studies on relationship between demographic factors, emotional intelligence, and job satisfaction together. The gap in the current research is that there are limited studies due to the emotional intelligence and job satisfaction with usage control variable.

Thus, there are obvious gaps in the literature for an emotional intelligence, communication effectiveness, job satisfaction, and motivation in educational administrations of Iran. The current study was developed with the intention of filling that research gaps. Due to these gaps, in educational administrations research, the study was absolutely necessary and certainly timely. For these reasons, the researcher believes that there is benefit in conducting this research.

It is worthy to note motivation in current study is very vital in existing literature and have been studied with regard to various factors such as organization performance, leadership, and arguments imply the influence this factor on the relationship between emotional intelligence and communication effectiveness; on the other hand, relationship between communication effectiveness and job satisfaction. As a result, the researcher will fill the mentioned gap with focus on motivation as moderating factor on the link between emotional intelligence and communication effectiveness and job satisfaction.

1.3Significant to Academic Study

After observing several apparent gaps were found to exist in the area of the proposed research topic: relationship among emotional intelligence, communication effectiveness, job satisfaction, and motivation in educational administrations of Iran.  As well, there are contributions in the current research.

This study hopes to make the following contributions to knowledge:

1. The main contribution in current study is motivation that this researcher for filling these gaps, used motivation factor as a moderator variable in the relationship between emotional intelligence and communication effectiveness; and also, relationship between communication effectiveness and job satisfaction. In light of this contribution, it is assumed that if one has a high degree of emotional intelligence, one through motivation will have a higher degree of job satisfaction.

2. The second main contribution in current study is communication effectiveness that this researcher used communication effectiveness factor as a mediator variable in the relationship between emotional intelligence and job satisfaction. In light of this contribution, it is assumed that if one has a high degree of emotional intelligence, one through communication will have a higher degree of job satisfaction.

3. Another contribution in current study is that the issues of conceptual and construct validity make this study important. In conducting this study, it is hoped that the findings will add to the accumulation of empirical evidence on the determination of the discriminant validity of emotional intelligence. With claims that emotional intelligence is important in communication and job satisfaction, a study employing communication, job satisfaction, and motivation variables will be useful in providing evidence for the predictive validity of the construct.

4. Performing this research in educational domain. This contribution in current study is that needs to be addressed is that there has been no study on the relationship between emotional intelligence, communication effectiveness, job satisfaction, and motivation in educational administrations domain. There are studies in different domains such as: political, social, economic, and etc.  This research studied in educational domain. A review of the existing literature for the four associated areas of study revealed that there was no previous research into domain of education.

5. Since this study was done in Iran, the data collected will contribute to the intercultural component of the emotional intelligence and communication effectiveness data set. Results from this study may also contribute to the enrichment of the intercultural communication literature.

6. Researchers of emotional intelligence frequently conclude that managers with high emotional intelligence are also good communicators with employees. This study hopes to contribute to the understanding of the relationship between employees and managers' communication effectiveness and emotional intelligence.

7. The current study can promote the implementation of district job satisfaction factor that could potentially enhance or improve the level of emotional intelligence and communication effectiveness in managers and employees.

8. The last contribution in this study is that there has been no study on the relationship between demographic factors and emotional intelligence in educational administrations. Existence of control variables (gender, age, education level, job position, and work experience) in current study makes this study important.

Thus, the fundamental principle of this investigate study was to explore emotional intelligence, communication effectiveness, job satisfaction, and motivation using a group of managers and employees from educational administrations of Iran; to explore correlations between emotional intelligence, using the Bar-On EQ-i, communication effectiveness, using communicator Competence Questionnaire (CCQ), job satisfaction using Job Satisfaction Survey (JSS), and motivation using Motivation Sources Inventory (MSI)in educational environment of Iran. It occurred that emotional intelligence; communication effectiveness, job satisfaction, and motivation were relatively weakly associated with one another utilizing this sample group. Further studies should be conducted that will assist to re-evaluate the way managers and employees interact with in the educational environment. Further studies should focus on finding better ways for managers and employees to manage or communicate their emotions. A way managers and employees explore more about their emotions is by motivation that could motivate them to appreciate the significance of effective communication.The significance and need for this study greatly benefits those occupied in the educational environments. It may also help educate managers and employees about the necessity of raising their own level of awareness of emotional intelligence and explore various ways they deal with coworkers, teachers, parents, and others. The result of this study could possibly extend to the development of emotional intelligence, communication effectiveness, job satisfaction, and motivation in educational administrations. In other words, the study could promote the implementation of district motivation variable that could potentially enhance or improve the level of emotional intelligence, communication effectiveness, and job satisfaction in managers and employees. In which case, the need for survey emotional intelligence, communication effectiveness, job satisfaction and motivation to gain effectiveness and satisfaction in educational administrations might be greater. The following question was considered.

1.4 Significant to Practice

In this comprehensive study, we will study the effect emotional intelligence on communication effectiveness, the effects of emotional intelligence on job satisfaction, the influence of communication effectiveness on job satisfaction, and finally, effect of motivation on relationships between emotional intelligence and communication effectiveness and also communication effectiveness with job satisfaction.  Hopefully, with this study we will be able to accurately understand the concept of emotional intelligence, communication effectiveness, job satisfaction, and motivation, along with a better understanding of their interaction. It would really help managers and employees of organizations to sustain communication effectiveness and job satisfaction in today's organizational environment if there is good understanding of these factors and their relationships. We will examine emotional intelligence by looking at from its five components, which are intrapersonal, interpersonal, adaptability, stress management, and general mood. With the findings from this study, managers and employees will be able to identify the components that are vital to them in sustaining communication effectiveness and job satisfaction, which also gives managers and employees the knowledge and understanding they need in dealing with emotional intelligence. The findings from this study will be able to assist managers and employees of educational administrations to decide on the factor that affects their motivation more. It is also hoped that managers and employees will have better insight and knowledge on how to support their motivation in their organizations, which have not been studied before in the earlier literatures. Organizations will be able to better their effectiveness with this study because as it has been mentioned earlier, high emotional intelligence leads to enhanced communication effectiveness and job satisfaction of the organization.

 

2.  LITERATURE REVIEW

2.1. Definitions of Emotional Intelligence

The study of emotional intelligence evolved from works by such theorists as Gardner (1983) and Williams and Sternberg (1988), who proposed broader approaches to understanding intelligence. Salovey and Mayer (1990) coined the term "emotional intelligence" and included Gardner's intrapersonal and interpersonal components in the construct. Goleman (1998) popularized emotional intelligence in the business realm by describing its importance as an ingredient for successful business careers and as a crucial component for effective group performance.

These theorists and many others defined and explained the concept of emotional intelligence. In the course of this research, I found at least a dozen definitions of emotional intelligence (EQ). Here I will include the four most popular ones. Emotional intelligence (EQ) can be defined as:

"the ability to monitor one's own and others' feelings and emotions, to discriminate among them, and to use the information to guide one's thinking and action" (Mayer & Salovey, 1993).

"the intelligent use of emotions: you intentionally make your emotions work for you by using them to help guide your behavior and thinking in ways that enhance your results" (Weisinger, 1998).

"the ability to recognize and respond to the emotions and feelings of others, as well as the skill to help others manage their emotions" (Schmidt, 1997).

"the ability to: 1) be aware of, to understand, and to express oneself; 2) be aware of, to understand, and to relate to others; 3) deal with strong emotions and control one's impulses; and 4) adapt to change and to solve problems of a personal or a social nature (Reuven Bar-On, 1988).

Thus, the definition of emotional intelligence as the range of abilities, talents and skills that are non-cognitive but can affect a person's ability to manage the environmental demands and pressure successfully by Bar-on was found to be suitable for this study.


2.2 Research on Emotional Intelligence

Many experimental studies are being conducted in an effort to prove and check the reliability and validity of emotional intelligence ever since its importance has been felt and spread. Eventually, significant amount of research arose to promote educational success. The need to study a larger range of possible predicators relating to educational achievements and its associations with various other factors, were increasingly being sensed by researchers such (McCallum & Pipeer, 2000).One of these factors researchers were looking into was the ego defense mechanisms and the effect of social and emotional ability. Even though studies on the relationship between emotional intelligence and academic achievement have not been fully investigated, the credibility of this construct to subsist in numerous researches has been noted. An examination on the association between the subsets of emotional intelligence namely; emotional awareness, emotional regulation, and emotional knowledge and behavioral processes related to adaptive performance illuminates how emotional intelligence fits within the design of the total personality (Pellitteri, 2002).    In a bivariate correlation analysis that was performed by Pellitteri that resulted in contrary outcomes than what were assumed. In this study, emotional knowledge was associated with both adaptive and maladaptive defense styles and with general intelligence. The study comprised 107 subjects of ages ranging from 18 to 52 years, out of which; 22 were men and 85, women. They were selected from three major ethnic groups of 37 Hispanics, 29 Africa American and 26 Caucasian that comprised 35,27 and 24 percent of the total population respectively studying at two universities in the north eastern urban area. All of the participants have registered in the college as postgraduates, or graduate students. The investigators ensured that the population had an adequate reading level to complete the required tasks of the study and used the Multifactor Emotional Intelligence Scale (MEIS) as a means of measure. This model of emotional intelligence has four components. It consisted of 12 task-oriented, group administrated, subtests represent ting the four main components of the 1997 model (Pellitteri, 2002). Factor analysis of the MEIS revealed that the subtests of two of the components loaded onto one factor (Pellitteri, 2002). Because of times constraints on the participants, only seven of the 12 subtests were used. There was one total score of EQ and the three emotional intelligence components (emotional perception, emotional regulation, and emotional knowledge). The internal reliability of item to total correlations was established by retaining items that were correlated with their corresponding defense at a significant level of .001 or greater (Pellitteri, 2002). The validity of the ego strength questionnaire was established through a four-factor solution that was correlated in expected directions with the measure of ego strength, with Loginger's measure of ego development, with each other, and with the patient-on patient group of samples. As a result, it was seem that the adaptive defense styles were correlated with overall emotional intelligence but not with the emotional perception and regulation components (Pellitteri, 2002).Thus, the research illustrated the intensity with which emotional intelligence could affect a person's life.

The following review on literature focuses on the instrument of Bar-On EQ-I which this study aims to use. Among the research done till date on this instrument, one focused on the relationship between emotional intelligence and age. The population sample of 3,891 for this study consisted people from ages 20 to 50 who were divided into five specific age groups representing groups of 20 years and under, 20 to 29, 30 to 39, 40 to 49 and 50 and above age groups though overall, only a small significance was revealed among those groups of various ages, the groups with older people particularly in their forties and fifties, scored higher in their overall EQ score than the younger subjects. As a result, it was concluded that as people grow older, their emotional intelligence also increases (Bar-On, 1997; Bar-On, 2002, pp.81-84).

Bar-On and Parker (2000b) conducted a study that laid emphasis on the role of gender and its influence on emotional intelligence. The population comprised 9,712 children and youth who were divided into groups of 4,635 males and 4.625 males and 4,547 females with ages ranging from 7 to 18 years. A gender by age group was compared using a series of two-way ANOVA with the Bar-On EQ-I youth Version (Bar-On & Parker, 2000b). The results demonstrated that emotional intelligence was significantly higher among the oldest group of subjects. Bar-On also conducted a study of emotional intelligence in 1996 and how it was connected to occupational satisfaction, commitment, and competence. In this study, a very modest relationship between emotional intelligence scores and job satisfaction among a population of 314 participants comprising nurses, teachers, college students, and sales people, was concluded (Bar-On, 1997). As a result, about 20% of the variance in work satisfaction and the following subscales score: self-regard, social responsibility, and reality (Bar-On, 1997) was noted. Additionally, emotional intelligence predicted a measure (self- report) of the perceived competence on the job (Bar-On, 1997). Thus, people who showed a higher level of self-regard, social responsibility, and reality scored higher on the emotional intelligence subscales. The study thus demonstrated that people possessing emotional intelligence constructs enjoyed their employment status to a higher regard than those who scores were lower in these aspects.  In addition, it was concluded that separate components showed that successful students scored higher in some specific areas of adaptability, interpersonal, and stress management.

2.3 Bar-On Theory of Emotional-Social Intelligence and the EQ-i

Researchers like Darwin, Thorndike, Wechsler, Sifneo, and Applebaum had influenced development of the emotional-social intelligence (Bar-On, 2005). The central constituents in the emotional-social intelligence meaning and concepts were founded on the works of these researchers. Recognizing the various abilities in EI, Bar-On divided them into five sets which he considers as:

(a)  Ability to distinguish, recognize and communicate emotions and feelings

(b) Ability to recognize how others sense and relate with them

(c) Ability to deal with and manage emotions

(d) Ability to transform, adjust and unravel problems of an individual and interpersonal nature; and

(e) Ability to create positive influences and be self-motivated (Bar-On, 2005, p.3).

Thus, emotional-social intelligence, then, is a cross-section of interconnected emotional and social capabilities, skills and catalyst that establishes how successfully we comprehend and articulate ourselves, recognize others and communicate with them while managing our daily demands (Bar-On,2005.p.3). Consequently, the theoretical framework for the Bar-On model and its measurement called the EQ-I, are based on these sets of abilities. Bar-On (2000) asserts that the EQ-i was framed to gauge a person's emotional and social intelligence and not personality traits or cognitive capacity. Yet, research has shown that the EQ-I has a somewhat reasonable relationship with other personality trait measures (e.g. Conte, 2005). Other research stated that, Bar- On's model of emotional intelligence focused on non-cognitive personality traits (Newsome et al., 2000). Meanwhile, Bar On reiterated that his construct had sufficient empirical evidence to prove its validity as he had based the concept of his model on the results of various researches conducted around the world during a period of 17 years (Bar-On, 2000). Finally, he developed his theory of Mixed (trait) theory by identifying five variables

intrapersonal: The intrapersonal score is a value which represents the Manager's ability to know how he acts or responds to emotions. It includes the measurements for the subscales of self-awareness, assertiveness, independence, and self-regard.

interpersonal: The interpersonal score is a value which represents the Manager's ability to identify or know how his emotions affect, or is perceived by, others. It includes the measurements for the subscales of empathy, social responsibility, and interpersonal relationships.

adaptability: The adaptability score provides insight into the Manager's ability to be flexible and realistic. It includes the measurements for the subscales of reality testing, flexibility, and problem solving.

stress management: As expected, this score reflects the Manager's ability to deal with, and adapt to, stress. It includes the measurements for the subscales of stress tolerance and impulse control.

general mood: General mood evaluates the Manager's attitude and perceptions of life and people. It includes the measurement for the subscales of optimism and happiness.

2.4 Definitions of Communication Effectiveness

According to Campbell (1989) communication effectiveness is deliberate behavior aimed at augmenting the result of an interpersonal meeting. Similarly, the expression "communication effectiveness" is often replaced by, "effective communication" (Gudykunst, 1993, 1995, 2005a). In other words, communication becomes valuable when the people involved in the communication can augment understandings and decrease misunderstandings.

Fisher reiterated that effective communication is an important factor in any work place, relationship as well as in everyday life but difficult to attain (Fisher, 1999). Since communication is the means by which any manage can increase his knowledge and skills of communicating effectively, it can be used to unite the manager to his workers and decision making to induce teamwork in organizations (Thamin, 1992). Each concept possesses certain limitations to effective communication but according to the literature review, six factors that could help improve communication effectiveness were: effective listening, feedback, understanding, influencing, oral and written, and clarifying. All these aspects would be discussed in detail henceforth.

effective listening: An effective listener is one who pays attention to what the speaker saying without interruptions noting all the details while listening for key words of interest to enquire about later and retains his verdict until this speaker has presented all of his or her ideas (Greenberg, 1999).

feedback: Feedback takes place when the receiver of a communication sends a message back to the sender. The best method to receive the message properly is through a feedback (Greenberg, 1999).

understanding: The extent to which people make sense of what they see and hear to participate completely in a communication and respond shrewdly, according to the conditions is based on understanding.

influencing:the meaning of influence is being able to move things ahead, without pushing, forcing or telling others what to do.

oral and written: Communication consists of oral communication, body language, listening, inflection, and written communication and thus, multi faceted.

clarifying: The extent to which a person uses cautious and penetrating questioning methods to effectively interpret the words and actions of the other person in order to understand his/her meaning is called clarifying.  

2.5 Definitions of Job Satisfaction

Job satisfaction is a recurrently researched subject in work and organizational literature and has been investigated by several disciplines such as psychology, sociology, economics and management sciences. An employee's affective reaction to his job in terms of how much it satisfies his desired outcome is called job satisfaction. He compares it with the actual outcome. (Cranny et al., 1992). Overall, job satisfaction is actually how much a person likes his/her job (Spector, 1999). It may also relate to a person's emotional attachment to one's job "… viewed either in its entirety (global satisfaction) or with regard to particular aspects (facet satisfaction; e.g. the employees' view of the quality of supervision" (Tett & Meyer, 1993, p. 261).

2.6 Definitions of Motivation

Motivation has been defined as the inner condition of man that swells in vigor to become active. It is also defined as something that encourages a person toward certain goals or that which influences a person's learning strategies and cognitive process (Ormrod, 1995). It is very essential to comprehend and maintain the motivation in a job, since it will influence employees and managers in deciding the time and energy spent in work action (Fisher & Cole, 1993). At an individual level, occupational motivation is defined as the intrinsic enthusiasm that promotes the continuous engagement in one's occupation or the "exceptional moments" (Csikszentmihalyi, 1997, p. 29) in one's career. Central to this definition is the notion that motivation involves voluntary actions that are goal directed (Halbeslem & Bowler, 2007).

 

3. LITERATURE REVIEW ON THE LINK BETWEEN EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE, COMMUNICATION EFFECTIVENESS, JOB SATISFACTION, MOTIVATION AND DEMOGRAPHIC VARIABLES

Both communication effectiveness and job satisfaction researches are considerable researches domain for emotional intelligence. Studies of this domain can be categorized into two fields: the first field regarding factors which influence communication effectiveness and job satisfaction, the second field with regard to communication effectiveness and job satisfaction impact on emotional intelligence.                                               The majority of communication  effectiveness and job satisfaction researches studies investigate by; Rivers, 2004; Webster's Dictionary, 2001; Hauser, 1996; Wilson, 1998; Nancy Harper, 1979;Fitzpatrick, 1999; Knapp & Miller, 1994; Vickrey, 1995; Hackman & Johnson, 1991; Luftman, 2004; Asimov, 1987; Hiam, 1999; Schermerhorn, Hunt & Osborn, 2003. And for job satisfaction major areas explored are such as: Spector, 1997; Arches, 1991; Acker, 1999; Tett & Meyer, 1993; Butler, 1990; Cranny, 1992; Miner, 2005.

The review of literature showed much study on the relationship communication effectiveness  and job satisfaction with emotional intelligence like ; Bar-On, 2005; Burleson & Caplan, 1998; Schein, 2004; Kotter, 1996; Ashkanasy & Tse, 2000; Bass, 2002. Sy, 2006; Villard, 2004;  Sporrle & Whelp, 2006; Chiva & Alegre, 2007; Zeidner, Matthews, & Roberts, 2004;  Chan, 2006; Kafetsios & Zampetakis, 2007;  Güleryüz, Güney, Aydin & Asan, 2008; Carmeli, Yitzhak-Halevy and Weisberg , 2009;  Güleryüz, 2008; Bar-On, 2004.  Research done till date in the field of education administration show a keen interest in knowing all about effective communication and job satisfaction. The resulting knowledge gain on human nature could lead to important elucidations and assumptions about effective skills to improve communications and job satisfaction among managers and employees.  As an example, if a person is able to identify the communication signals of another, this could improve the quality of communication between them. Also, managers and their employees could be taught to identify various communication indicators others express. If the level of emotional intelligence is identified within each employee by the education administration executive, he/he could aid them more profitably. Various perspectives of human behaviors such as communication and job satisfaction can be illustrated by this study of emotional intelligence. Certain occupational areas are implementing the measures of emotional intelligence measures to foresee employees' performance. Yet, in specific professions such as the teaching profession, specific emotional skills are exceptionally significant to job satisfaction. Other occupations exist where specific skills may be attractive but not imperative. A brain surgeon or mechanical engineers, for example, do not need the same emotional intelligence participation with others than the emotional intelligence the managers and employees in education administrations require to possess so as to surpass in job satisfaction. The formal appraisal of these skills would appear important for professions in which emotional abilities are clearly essential. Thus recognizing the fact that, different jobs do call for different levels of social and emotional involvement and activity, is of dire importance.

Administrators in several jobs sense an increasing need to have recurrent interchanges that is both emotionally positive and supportive with employees and teachers, Even in educational administrations, one generally tends to interact emotionally with others, teachers not only need to assess the reactions of others and attempt to influence other's emotions and motives but they also need to talk with others face to face and exhibit optimistic behaviors. Numerous communal establishments, such as corporations and organizations, are commencing explorations with EI, even though it is a fairly innovative concept and it continues to advance in the research arena. It is supposed that, by recognizing the manager and employee's  level of emotional intelligence, a difference in corporations and organizations could be achieved companies attempt to develop the quality of the executives and co workers' lives which is said to affect their output level, which, in turn, amplifies profits (Brophy,1996). However, it should be stressed here that, emotional intelligence should be recognized as early as in the educational setting when these prospective social contributors are not yet key administrators or workers in the educational management. After completing the research illustrated above, several apparent gaps were found to exist in the area of the proposed research topic: relationship between emotional intelligence, communication effectiveness, job satisfaction, and motivation in educational administrations of Iran.  As well, there are gaps in the literature due to a lack of investigation into a potential relationship between emotional intelligence, communication effectiveness, job satisfaction, and motivation in educational administrations of Iran.

4. RESEARCH MODEL

Based upon the studies and researches, it can be concluded that communication effectiveness and job satisfaction are affected by many factors. To name a few factors, job performance, organizational commitment, emotional intelligence, motivation and leadership can influence communication effectiveness and job satisfaction. For this study, we have focused on emotional intelligence due to some reasons that we have mentioned previously. By reviewing much literature, it was found that emotional intelligence brought about a positive effect on communication effectiveness and job satisfaction. In relation to communication effectiveness and job satisfaction, many researchers have categorized intrapersonal, interpersonal, stress management, adaptability, and general mood as components of emotional intelligence. We are going to examine all the mentioned components against other constructs. Additionally, we have found a gap after examining and reviewing the literature on this subject. In order to fill in the gap, we have included motivation construct in relation to emotional intelligence with communication effectiveness and job satisfaction. Also, we studied relationship between demographic variables (i.e., age, gender, job position, work experience, educational level) and emotional intelligence. We will discuss the arguments and support for the construct in more detail in next section. Figure 1shows the research model.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Figure 1. The research model

5. DISCCUSTION

5.1The relationship between Emotional Intelligence and Communication Effectiveness

Theorists who advocate emotional intelligence reiterated that EI leads to enhanced effectiveness in communication (Goleman, 1998; Mayer et al. 2004; Weisinger, 1998).To demonstrate their point; one instance was pointed out wherein salesman required a high degree of emotional intelligence to be successful. They either consciously or unconsciously relied upon some dimensions of emotional intelligence to accurately understand and respond appropriately to customers' verbal and nonverbal signs (Deeter-Schmelz and Sojka, 2003). In another instance, it was indicated that workers sensed a better and nicer manager when he was trained in emotional intelligence (Ikemi and Kubota, 1996. p.116). There has been clear evidence of some similar essential factors that bond emotional intelligence with communication effectiveness in the field of EI theories. One of these similarities is the construct of cognitive complexity which has been referred to, in Hale's research, as being effective in promoting communication effectiveness. Also, Saine believed cognitive complexity could lead to the transfer of information while Watson & Behnke realized its effectiveness in group problem solving activities (Hale, 1980, Saine, 1976, Watson & Behnke, 1994).

Bar-On (2005) "to be emotionally and socially intelligent is to effectively understand and express oneself, to understand and relate well with others, and to successfully cope with daily demands, challenges, and pressures." (p. 3). Goleman (2001) the social awareness of emotional intelligence has directly relationship with people and groups precisely and communication such as "the empathic individual can read emotional currents, picking up on nonverbal cues such as tone or facial expression" (p. 35-36), while the relationship management focus on inducing attractive responses in others tune their own responses to move relations in the best way "… effective in give-and-take of emotional information …skills at handling difficult people…" (p. 37). Mayer et al. (2004) "the high EI individual, most centrally, can better perceive emotions, use them in thought, understand their meanings, and manage emotions better than others … tends to be more open and agreeable …" (p. 210). As shown, these theories focus on the significance of understanding and relating with others which has near connection with case of communication where adaptation and proper use of knowledge and skills are essential when interacting with other person.

Recent research in the area of emotion intelligence has also led to a link to communication. Andersen & Guerrero (1998) suggest that emotions intelligence are inherently communicative and provide six principles that illustrate how communication is necessary to the process of emotional experience. These six principles include: (a) Emotions evolve as communicative actions, (b) emotional expression is shaped through socialization processes, (c) the primary elicitor of most emotion is interpersonal communication, (d) schemata affect how and when emotions are communicated, (e) an inherent feature of emotional experience is emotional expression, and (f) emotion generates other emotions and interaction chains.

The above literature demonstrates that emotions and communication are often associated with interpersonal interactions. Anderson and Guerrero believe that the future welfare of the human race, may depend somewhat on a better understanding of emotions and communication and thus it is essential to expose the future managers to the concept of emotional intelligence and communication so as to ensure the prosperity of mankind (Anderson & Guerrero, 1998,p.89). The focus of this study will continue with emotional intelligence and communication effectiveness in the educational administrations. In summary, a communication view of emotional intelligence on the interaction and relationship components of the process. The view holds that emotional intelligence is outcomes of the communicative process. It follows that to improve manager effectiveness requires a significant emphasis on communication effectiveness since according to this view; it is through communication effectiveness that emotional intelligence occur. Figure 2.1 show his relationship:

 

 

Figure 2. Communication Effectiveness View of Managers and Employees with Emotional Intelligence

As a result of this, the following hypothesis is proposed:

H1: Emotional intelligence is positively associated with communication effectiveness.

H1a: Intrapersonal (as an aspect of emotional intelligence) is positively associated with communication effectiveness.

H1b: Interpersonal (as an aspect of emotional intelligence) is positively associated with communication effectiveness.

H1c: Adaptability (as an aspect of emotional intelligence) is positively associated with communication effectiveness.

H1d: Stress management (as an aspect of emotional intelligence) is positively associated with communication effectiveness.

H1e: General mood (as an aspect of emotional intelligence) is positively associated with communication effectiveness.

5.2The relationship between Emotional Intelligence and Job Satisfaction

Several studies have been conducted on the relationship between workers EI and their satisfaction at their workplace especially during the 21st century. Some of the significant  studies that related these two constructs to job performance were by Bellamy and Bellamy (2003), Sy et al, (2006), Wong and Law (2002) and Villard (2004) . Another research on this relationship is by Patra who proved that those employees with EI find their place of work satisfying and this influenced their satisfaction and overall productivity that led to efficient management and organization development (Patra, 2004).

To conclude, most studies provided significant evidence that higher emotional intelligence levels were related to more flexible managers as they are able to understand the reasons behind stress and thereby plan ahead to avoid the resultant unconstructive consequences of stress (Cooper & Sawaf, 1997). Furthermore, Shimazu, Shimazu, & Odahara all feel that these managers will probably control emotions in others too. Their ability is very useful in group settings where employees with high EI can use their skills to promote constructive interactions that help increase their own self-esteem, as well as the self-esteem of the group, and add positively to the experience of job satisfaction overall (Shimazu, Shimazu, & Odahara, 2004).  On the other hand, those with lower emotional intelligence levels are probably less conscious of their emotions and quite incapable of managing their emotions in complicated circumstances. These workers ultimately augment their level of stress and thereby reduce their level of job satisfaction. As a result of this, the following hypothesis is proposed:

H2: Emotional intelligence is positively associated with job satisfaction.

H2a: Intrapersonal (as an aspect of emotional intelligence) is positively associated with job satisfaction.

H2b: Interpersonal (as an aspect of emotional intelligence) is positively associated with job satisfaction.

H2c: Adaptability (as an aspect of emotional intelligence) is positively associated with job satisfaction.

H2d: Stress management (as an aspect of emotional intelligence) is positively associated with job satisfaction.

H2e: General mood (as an aspect of emotional intelligence) is positively associated with job satisfaction.

5.3The relationship between Emotional Intelligence and Motivation

Many research like those of Goleman and Lanser have showed a relationship betweenemotional intelligence and motivation (Goleman, 1998b, Lanser, 2000). They reiterated that through the positive and negative aspects of working life we can comprehend motivation which is an essential factor of emotional intelligence. Also, Dijk and Freedman proved the relationship between emotional intelligence and motivation in a study that concluded that those who require extrinsic support for motivation are always are helpless without the consent or reward system of other (Dijk and Freedman, 2007, p.17). Some of  the studies  that dealt with emotional intelligence and have examined the role  that emotional intelligence play in  motivation, self regulation and variety of achievement behaviors were by Frijda 1994 and Zurbriggen & Sturman 2002, Ellis & Ashbrook, 1989; Fatt & Howe, 2003; Glaser-Zaikuda, FuB, Laukenmann, Metz & Randler, 2005; Goleman, 1995; Mayer and Salovey 1993; Pekrun, Goetz and Titz & Perry, 2002. Most of these studies showed a relationship between emotional intelligence and motivation. For example, a study by Wong and Law showed that workers EI influenced their job satisfaction and performance (Wong and Law, 2002).

Thus, the literature review concluded that emotionally intelligent employees are efficient enough to distinguish emotions, control them and employ them to improve performance in others as compared to those employees that possessed lower emotional intelligence capabilities. In addition, employees who possessed EI were found to be able to look at their responsibilities in a constructive manner so as to enhance motivation. As a result of this, the following hypothesis is proposed:

 

H3: Motivation is positively associated with relationship between emotional intelligence and communication effectiveness.

H3a: Motivation is positively associated with relationship between intrapersonal (as an aspect of emotional intelligence) and communication effectiveness.

H3b: Motivation is positively associated with relationship between interpersonal (as an aspect of emotional intelligence) and communication effectiveness.

H3c: Motivation is positively associated with relationship between adaptability (as an aspect of emotional intelligence) and communication effectiveness.

H3d: Motivation is positively associated with relationship between stress management (as an aspect of emotional intelligence) and communication effectiveness.

H3e: Motivation is positively associated with relationship between general mood (as an aspect of emotional intelligence) and communication effectiveness.

5.4The relationship between Communication Effectiveness and Job Satisfaction

Many public and private organizations have started to study their communication systems in order to appraise their effects on the effectiveness of their companies. This initiative commenced with studies related to communication effectiveness and its relationship to job satisfaction (Weigel, 1994). Among the earliest analysts who conducted significant research into the connection between communication satisfaction and job satisfaction was Herzberg in 1960s (Downs and Hazen, 1977). From then on, many other related studies such as those conducted by  Faicione, McCroskey, & Daly, 1977; Pettit et al., 1977; Pincus, 1986; Richmond & McCroskey,1976; Wheeless and Wheeless, & Howard, 1984 have been recorded. In the 1970s, more substantial results into this area of research were produced. One such study revealed that the employment of effective communication by the employees and managers in an organization as well as their job satisfactions are vital features that contribute to the success of any organization whether public or private (Druker, 1988).                      Kim believed that when the relevant individuals in an organization participate in strategic planning process with the influence of effective communications, job satisfaction is amplified (Kim, 2002). Other researchers have mentioned over 500 studies where there were significant associations found among communication, productivity and job satisfaction within  working environments  (Downs, Clampitt and Pfieffer ,1988). Thus, it can be concluded that, the two variables of communication and job satisfaction are directly related to a company's efficiency and achievements (Young, Worchel, & Woehr, 1998). As a result of this, the following hypothesis is proposed:

H4: Communication effectiveness is positively associated with job satisfaction.

5.5The relationship between Communication Effectiveness and Motivation

In this day and age, motivation and communication have been found to possess a significant relationship in the majority of establishments. Literature revealed that, though motivation has played an important role in the enhancement of communication effectiveness the relationship between the two construct were rarely studied. Some of these studies, have concluded those who were inherently motivated had the habit of looking at an organization's communication environment as being more honest than externally motivated ones (Krivonos ,1975).Thus, motivation, in a later study was recognized as one of the ways to for attain communication effectiveness (Locke, 1976). To reiterate this point, another study concluded that without an adequate measure of motivation, communication probably would not take place effectively (Scott, 2008).

5.6The relationship between Job Satisfaction and Motivation

Literature review revealed that primary study into the complex nature of satisfaction and motivation and provided knowledge into many general predicaments. For one, the relationship that exists between job satisfaction and motivation has often misinterpreted. Though in past literature, job satisfaction and motivation were not the same, they were shown to be related and somewhat depended upon one another in recent literature. One researcher linked basic psychological issues to organizational and industrial settings when dealing with motivation and job satisfaction (Wofford, 1971) .It was also assumed that these two constructs   were both simple and comp

Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/human-resources-articles/the-impact-of-demographics-variables-on-emotional-intelligence-and-communication-effectiveness-on-job-satisfaction-4498732.html

About the Author

Can A Degree in Mass Communication And Journalism Give a Boost to Your Career?

Author: iLead India

Mass Communication and Journalism refers to comprehensive collection and dissemination of news through print and electronic media. A career in Mass Communication and Journalism is a prestigious profession, as well as a highly paid one. This is mainly because the journalists are playing an integral role in development and growth of an economy. According to a recent press release by the Network of Women in Media, India, nearly 120 women journalists across the country met from 5th to 7th February 2010 for the eighth annual conference of the Network of Women in Media, India to discuss intervention on key issues confronting the country, such as attacks on tribal women. A career in Mass Communication and Journalism not only gives the chance to enjoy a successful and respectable profession, but also allows contribution towards national causes.
As more and more career-oriented youngsters aspire for a career in Mass Communication and Journalism, the demand for such courses have gone up rather quickly. With the recent popularity of electronic media, the number of business undertakings engaged in this particular field has gone up, resulting in the increase of employment opportunities for aspiring journalists and media personalities.
Some of the courses which are generally offered by institutes across the country in this particular field are
·    Diploma in Journalism
·    Diploma In T.V Journalism and Presentation
·    M.A  Journalism
·    M.Phil  Journalism
In the last two decades, the scenario of Mass Communication and Journalism in Kolkata has changed a great deal, and many students are enrolling themselves into this field of study in order to add an edge to their career. Any candidate equipped with a recognized degree in Mass Communication and Journalism would always be ahead in procuring employment. Among noteworthy institutions providing services in the field of media studies in India are
·    IIMC, New Delhi
·    Symbiosis Institute of Mass Communication, Pune
·    Mudra Institute of Communications, Ahmadabad
Since business management institutes are well-versed in providing all forms of business management training courses, they have engaged themselves in rendering services in the field of Mass Communication and Journalism. The Institute of Leadership Entrepreneurship and Development (iLEAD) has earned reputation in the providing quality education in the field of media and journalism. People looking for a career in media and journalism can visit iLead website for further information.

Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/college-and-university-articles/can-a-degree-in-mass-communication-and-journalism-give-a-boost-to-your-career-3330068.html

About the Author

The author is a prolific writer on a wide range of topics pertaining to education, including higher studies, post graduate courses, academic institutions, MBA education and more.

Matform's Self-Adhesive Labels for Superior Communications Systems

Author: Sheila Drummond

Self-adhesive labels manufactured by Matform, of Chichester, West Sussex, UK,  could be destined for sophisticated communication equipment  in mission critical environments such as counter-terrorism or war-zones.

Matform have completed a series of orders to produce 1500 logo and ID labels for Vocality, a globally recognised company, which manufacture telecommunications products for the defence and satellite communications markets.

Vocality, whose UK base is in Shackleford, near Godalming, Surrey, build ultra-portable network routers and secure voice over IP devices for government, news broadcasting and defence applications.

The majority of Vocality applications are those where size, reliability or performance in harsh or restrictive conditions are critical driving factors.

Since 1995 they have delivered thousands of satellite optimised solutions for the world's most technically challenging applications in some of the most hostile and demanding environments such as covering events in the Middle East, as well as providing field communications for broadcasters covering major national or news events from the 7/7 bombing to the recent Royal Wedding.

Matform were appointed to manufacture and supply more than 12 different types of self-adhesive labels across a range of products. They were produced on reverse printed PVC with 3M double sided adhesive on the back.

Vocality's Production and Supply Chain Manager, Ben Bowers, said he had been searching for a company within the vicinity who could deliver quality and cost-effective labelling solutions.

"Matform's prices were very competitive; the quality of their work was very good and the turnround was fast," he commented. "Vocality is not a manufacturer who believes in delivering second rate. Our products look, feel and operate as a highly engineered product and our labelling must match this level of quality".

Matform supply a variety of Labels including Self Adhesive Labels, Metal Labels, Warning Labels, Barcode Labels, Sticky Labels and Product Labels

Whatever your requirements for labels, Matform can produce them.  If your labels need to be hard-wearing and durable - no problem!

Matform make labels for customers that are suitable for the most demanding environments and we are confident we can meet your labelling needs.

The range of applications for our labels is huge but if for any reason you can't find the exact label you require, then we can design it for you!

Examples of labels we produce include: product labels, metal labels, PAT labels, bespoke labels, window labels, packaging labels, chemical labels, security labels, barcode labels and full colour digital labels.

www.matform.co.uk

Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/industrial-articles/matforms-self-adhesive-labels-for-superior-communications-systems-4857369.html

About the Author

Near Field Communications is coming in Next-gen iPhone, iPad

Author: wholesaleeshops

iPhone users may soon be able to pay for purchases by merely getting within range of a reader. A new prediction from Envisioneering Group director Richard Doherty indicates such technology is coming in the next-generation version of the iPhone and the next-generation iPad, both of which are expected to debut this year.http://www.wholesaleeshop.com.au/laptop-battery/dell-inspiron-1525.htm

The wireless technology is NFC, or Near Field Communication, and it may already be built into things you carry on a daily basis. Some credit cards come with an RFID chip that can be read at places like convenience stores and gas stations, which often have an NFC reader located just above the normal credit card reader. You can tap or wave your card near the reader and have your purchase amount deducted without having to swipe.

That's largely the extent of the NFC exposure we get here in the US, though other countries (particularly Japan) have been much more progressive in rolling out devices and phones with NFC built-in. If Apple were to implement NFC in the iPhone, it would likely work in the same way—your credit card information would be stored somewhere the phone can access it, and when you wave your phone near a reader (say a vending machine, or the checkout line), your purchase would be deducted instantly.

In addition to offering a handy way to pay for things, NFC in the iPhone could also give Apple an opportunity to offer even more targeted ads. As another analyst—Crone Consulting head Richard Crone—told Bloomberg, Apple could personalize its iAds to specific stores or products that Apple knows the customer already buys. Why does this matter? Ad rates (that is, those paid by the marketing companies) could skyrocket once they're more aware of the products that each customer is into.

Welcome to wholesaleeshop.com.au

WholesaleeShop.com.au

wholesale high quality Touch Screen LCD Monitors, Laptop Computers, Laptop Batteries, LCD Monitors, USB Monitors, ON-Camera Field HD Monitors, Cool Accessories for eBay sellers, distributors, store owners, retailers, drop shippers and small wholesalers at competitive prices.

Doherty added that he believes Apple has already created a payment terminal prototype for small businesses that would be able to scan iPhones and iPads with NFC built-in. He says Apple is either heavily subsidizing the terminals or giving them away for free in order to get the tech off the ground.

Although this latest prediction comes courtesy of the not-always-reliable analyst community, the rumor that Apple has been working on incorporating NFC into the iPhone has been around for more than a year. For one, Apple has applied for a number of patents that involve NFC technology, though patents aren't always the best indicator of what will actually make it to market. However, Apple also hired an NFC expert as product manager for mobile commerce in August of last year, giving the speculation a bit more substance.iphone near field thumb from http://www.wholesaleeshop.com.au

As a result, we would hardly be surprised to see NFC surface in an iOS device sometime in the future, though whether it'll come to both the iPhone and the iPad remains to be seen.

Other Business News:

Dell inspiron 1525 battery | Dell inspiron 1720 battery | Dell inspiron 500m battery| Dell inspiron 5160 battery | Dell inspiron 6000 battery | Dell inspiron 600m batteryDell inspiron 6400 battery Dell inspiron 910 Battery

Read More:

http://www.wholesaleeshop.com.au/Wholesale-Electronics-News/near-field-c...

To read more good posts, please follow us on Twitter: http://twitter.com/wholesaleeshopbatteryfast.com twitter Notebooks Maybe replaced by Tablets in 2011 by wholesaleeshop.com.au Thank you!

 

Article Source: http://wholesaleeshops.articlesbase.com/communication-articles/near-field-communications-is-coming-in-next-gen-iphone-ipad-4107974.html

About the Author

WholesaleeShop.com.au works for providing high quality goods to all businessmen, such as eBay sellers, distributors, store owners, retailers, drop shippers and small wholesalers at competitive prices. Abiding by the principle of "Super Quality, Satisfactory Services", we are striving hard to be your good business partner. With our joint efforts, we are convinced that the business between us would bring much benefit to both of us.Dell pc764 battery,Dell vostro 1500 battery

Communication made easy with BlackBerry

Author: Paul Alvarado

Communications with BlackBerry has been made such a fashion that some terms were coined for users of BlackBerry chatting. Chatting and flirting through a BlackBerry is called Blirting, one of the repetitive injuries is called BlackBerry thumb and being drunk and messaging is called drunk-berrying. These are just a few to mention. The main purpose of BlackBerry was to use it by the professionals to get themselves out of office and have a personal life and yet be on call. This was a success up to a level because what they ended up being was on call 24 hours a day as they could work anytime anywhere. So let's talk about the technology that a BlackBerry phones especially the new BlackBerry Bold Touch 9900 uses for its communication.        
             
A BlackBerry phone actually does what a PDA does in general. However use of a PDA when compared to using a BlackBerry phone seems cumbersome mainly due to the time consuming process of transferring data to a computer. The sync process has to be done manually whereas this does not happen in a BlackBerry Bold Touch 9900 where push technology takes care of it automatically. The desktop software automatically pushes the email or calendar updates or any other documents to the user through the internet or cell phone network. This really helps a busy person whose profession does not allow him or her to be physically present in the office or one who travels frequently.
           
Communication has been made easier, friendlier and with more pleasure especially with the touchscreen and user friendly keyboard of BlackBerry Bold Touch 9900. The touchscreen has touch sensitive navigation that makes using the phone for all the emailing, chatting and documenting so much smoother. Also voice activated features such as calling, searching and web browsing has really turned the face of communication.
        
The memory of this Smartphone is organised in such a way that it keeps the personal contents separate from the business content and they are handled quite separately. All your chatting, emailing, personal contacts, personal pictures and videos and gamming are stored and dealt with separately so that it does not get mixed up with you business data and you do not end up sending some personal things to your business contact. With the 5MP camera you can have fun taking pictures and recording videos. These can be directly shared from your phone or can be transferred to your computer using a Media Sync in your Desktop software.
          
BlackBerry Bold Touch 9900 has all the wireless and Bluetooth features and the GPRS that assists in communicating with other devices. These communications are completely made secure. However there is an additional feature here called the NFC (Near Field Communication) that uses RF and device pairing and happens over a short distance only. However this is the most secure form of data transfer. This is communication at its most simplest and most sophisticated.
          
Keep in touch with your office work and at the same time take time to enjoy life with your loved ones with the aid of BlackBerry Bold Touch 9900.

Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/cell-phones-articles/communication-made-easy-with-blackberry-4957700.html

About the Author

You can get a Blackberry Bold Touch contract right now, or perhaps you would prefer a LG Optimus 3D contract.

What does Near Field Communications (NFC) mean and what is its significance?

Author: Kevin Lee
NFC is a wireless technology that communicates wirelessly in both directions over a short range between two devices. NFD can used in many fields such as purchasing goods or ticketing information, according to Radio Frequency Identification RFID technology, The potential of services such as NFC are attracting business and consumer attention.
NFC has an advantage in usabilty and security over blue tooth even if their maximum speeds are slower. Near Field Communications is a wireless technology that operates over short distances; devices can implement this technology to permit an user to, for example, store credits to be used to securely and instantly pay for public transport, eliminating inconvenient additional steps. In addition, NFC uses less power than Bluetooth and can work when one of the devices is off.
NFC has the potential to integrate a wide spectrum of devices due to it's flexibility. NFC provides reliably secure and fast transactions for transport, electronic identification and access control. At the cutting edge of technology, our fobs can be found in phones, devices and PC peripherals. Since it requires a mobile, it is likely that Near Field Communications will become common in the market.

With more than 4 billion mobile devices on the market, NFC has not even approached its full potential. But, while the important barriers to growth still remain the same, the mobile industry is working together to address them and move NFC from the pilot stage to full scale commercial roll-outs. By the year 2014, one sixth of mobile phone users will have NFC-enabled units that will enable them to conduct small-scale transactions, according to the estimations of industry analysts at Juniper Research.
Collaboration between various players from different sectors of the mobile ecosystem is needed to make NFC an essential requirement of our everyday lives.

There must be partnerships between mobile operators, manufacturers, service providers and third parties. NFC has partnerships with Banka Koper, Mastercard Europe and Mobitel in Slovenia. There subscribers can pay for things by a simple tap.
Many businesses. like Sagem Wireless, are dedicated to leading the field in developing new devices that use Near Field Communications. Sagem Wireless is using NFC to give retirees more freedom in their transactions. As an example, NFC is used by the phone to enable simple calling as well as to allow access to data services by permitting users to wave their Cosyphone past shortcut cards that are pre-configured and customized in order to call friends and family, or services like doctors and grocery shopping.
Customized Cards for a calender or diary is another option available to users. Waving the device past the cards can send personalized texts, like happy birthday or happy anniversary.
Without the backing of other major interests in this field, the implementation
of the NFC may no be able to move forward. NFC needs mobile network operators since technology is creating new connected services, therefore enabling new revenue streams to be accessed though the mobile network.
NFC services are more likely to grow with the support of mobile operators.
Equally important are banks and credit card companies who want to deliver the expected levels of security for simple but suitable payment transactions using NFC.

Despite the hurdles to widespread acceptance of NFC in connected devices, 2010 was a key milestone to determine the future industry leaders in mobile network operators, device manufacturers and service providers.

With the emergence of Near Field Communications, there are new things pertaining to mobile devices that need to be learned. The expansion of the Smartphone has caused the public to want more mobile data services. At the same instance, monetising mobile usage through new products and services has become a core market driver, and lifestyle brands and mobile operators alike are seeing the revenue potential of creating devices which can drive m-commerce and data usage. Through personalized services which target the specific needs of different communities, this company is looking to reclaim their audience from the Smartphone and generic App store and to develop their own pricing structure by offering connected lifestyle devices and benefits.
NFC is a technological revolution that makes brands and operators to have a connection with their target communities through these new services.
Near Field Communications enabled mobile devices have the potential to transform the way we pay for goods and services and are an integral part of our connected lifestyles.
NFC has been a pioneer in contactless ticketing pilots across the globe. The convenience of making payments over the mobile phone has caught the fancy of the users.

Trials in some European nations have found that NFC devices improve the "smart" card experience. NFC enables its users to do much more than just touching in and touching out, they can also check and modify their balance, and retrieve travel information
Payment methods: There are other options for NFC enabled cell users to pay their monthly bill. The NFC device can handle multiple credit and debit cards, giving the user access to a wider range of payment options. Obviously, for the "virtual wallet" to be fully accepted, stores, restaurants, bars and other merchants must gradually adopt new payment devices that support NFC. Global events like the 2012 London Olympics can kick-start this process, by having plans like smart tickets for the Olympic Games, which can create a contactless payment and help to make the Olympic Village cashless.

Juniper Research say that while the Asian market is already established in making contactless payments, by 2014 these services will take off in North America and Europe as well, totaling $110 million. Trials at Disneyland Paris (France) and Australia's Telstra have been a success.
We want to share our mobile devices which are packed with photos, videos, games and other content. The users can access the music, videos and pictures simply at their fingertips, thanks to the NFC technology. All levels of society will find this useful: from kids sharing videos to video-conferencing in the boardroom.

By creating posters and promotional materials ,which are NFC compatible, marketing and advertising industries are being changed by NFC. When end users see posters that have products peaking their interests advertised on them, they will be able to whip out their phone and download information for their use and to send to their friends. By sharing data with each other, marketers can reward their customers for answering about their personal preferences.

An example of this would be working with the art musuem, the Centre Pompidou, in Paris. The project is called Smart Muse. When visitors wave Sagem Wireless NFC-enabled mobile phones at exhibits that have NFC tags, the visitor can get details on the artist and his work, see videos and hear interviews. Social networking sites such as Facebook will allow users to share information and opinions about the exhibit. The system will be launched to coincide with the new Teen Gallery's which will make an entry later this year.
At the same time, Nice, a city located in southern France, will have the distinction of becoming the first city to widely use NFC technology, including the implementation of an NFC tour guide of its historic old city center. The Smart Muse project, funded by a grant from France's Ministry of Economy, provides tags and contextualized-location and time-based-content management systems.
There are no limits in site when it comes to NFC technology. With the continuing development of infrastructure, more apps will be created as technology improves. As the number of NFC users increases, mare applications will arise.

Near Field Communications supports multiple transactions on handsets with the first applications being implemented in the transportation sector. Pilot programs across the world have all yielded positive results. With more and more NFC compatible devices being launched by device manufacturers, mobile operators and service providers need to work closely to put in place the infrastructure that will facilitate and drive rollout of the technology.

Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/technology-articles/what-does-near-field-communications-nfc-mean-and-what-is-its-significance-4244679.html

About the Author
We have a good resource of information on the Near Field Communication technology which is also known as (NFC) Near Field Communication.

Benefits of Living in a Master Planned Community

Author: Flynna Sarah

Staying in a master planned communities appear to be very attractive to most of hopeful homebuyers.  This is merely for the reason that they do not need much of maintenance and the fact that you enjoy a stress-free lifestyle.  Thus, aspiring home buyers easily accept the idea of living in a master planned community is a better alternative.  This community gives several housing choices with recreation, facilities, support services and open space.  This is the perfect option for new homeowners who are always busy.  And the objective for these developers of master planned communities is to maintain a pleasant living condition in the future.

If you think of staying in a master planned community, always keep in mind that the location of your house is one of the primary criteria.  Factors like the accessibility of your work place, the schools near the community, the kind of neighborhood and the available recreation amenities must all be considered in your evaluation.  They will aid you in making your decision procedure faster.

Determine the kind of neighbors you have.  Are they warm and accommodating?  Do they have homeowner’s association which handles all the issues circulating around the community?  Matters such as these can also help you evaluate the actual environment that you will be having once you stay there.  To help you understand what it is like living in master planned communities, you can check some of these benefits.

Architectural concept- communities like these maintain particular guidelines for their houses and community amenities.  This assures that homeowners will have top quality home designs that go with the rest of the houses in the neighborhood.  They are conceptualizing an integrated theme but with a minor touch of variety to add uniqueness to the entire place.  Primary specifications on the community remain the pleasant integrity of the streets, landscape and facilities.

Facilities that encourage quality of life-master planned communities assure that they will create a convenient living for all homeowners.  Their newly-built homes do not need much of exterior maintenance and thus homeowners can have enough quality time with their loved ones and friends during weekends or holidays.  High-end amenities like pools, tennis courts, hiking and biking trails, recreation centers, gym, sports field and golf courses are some of the things you can take advantage of when you stay in a master planned community.

Best investment for the future- when you choose to live in a master planned community; you have actually acquired the best investment since the houses in such community maintain their value.  The benefits they have like convenient to work, school and amenities, will allow the homeowners consider them as the most likeable place.  The homeowner’s association imposes fees that are truly an investment in the future and develop the ongoing maintenance of community landscaping, swimming pools, parks, recreation centers and other common area facilities.

It boosts your confidence when you know that you stay in a well-planned residential community.  They give you much more than a comfortable house in friendly a neighborhood.  They have the best place to stay—whether if you are still starting out as a family, raising children, learning a new life as newly weds or merely making the most of your retirement.  Master planned communities are surely worth their price.

Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/real-estate-articles/benefits-of-living-in-a-master-planned-community-1109438.html

About the Author

Looking for more real estate properties? Check these sites b>Spacious Four-Bedroom Alta Mesa Homes for Sale , b>Ancala Golf Real Estate and b>Anthem Homes for Sale with Private Pools .

A Conceptual Framework in Professional Learning Communities as They Impact Strategic Planning in Education by Queinnise Miller & Wm. Kritsonis, PhD

Author: William Allan Kritsonis, PhD

Queinnise Miller & William Allan Kritsonis, PhD 

 

Introduction

Unprecedented change is taking place in schools all over the world. Schools are increasingly being managed like businesses. Without effective strategic planning principals will be involved in crisis management (Van der Linde, 2001).  As schools engage in strategic planning, professional learning communities should be heavily depended on to help districts move from infancy to maturity in their quality of instructional and overall educational success.  By using the Ways of Knowing Through the Realms of Meaning (Kritsonis, 2003) as a guide for professional learning communities this will increase the success of professional learning communities and their impact on strategic planning. 

 Purpose of the Article

The purpose of this article is to explore professional learning communities while taking a look at how they impact school improvement and their place in strategic planning in education.  This article will address how the Ways of Knowing Through the Realms of Meaning (Kritsonis, 2003) is implemented in the core of professional learning communities.  By utilizing the six realms in professional learning communities, leaders and teachers will be able to achieve the highest excellence possible in educational achievement.

  Professional Learning Communities

 Professional Learning Communities (PLC) has over the last few years been almost a house hold name among educators of all levels.  In fact, the term has been used so ubiquitously that it is in danger of losing all meaning (DuFour, 2004).  Each word of the phrase "professional learning community" has been chosen purposefully. 

Dufour and Eaker state:

 A "professional" is someone with expertise in a specialized field…….... "Learning" suggests ongoing action and perpetual curiosity….. In a professional learning community, educators create an environment that fosters mutual cooperation, emotional support, personal growth as they work together to achieve what they cannot accomplish alone (as cited in Thomas, Gregg, &  Niska, 2004).

   Most all professional learning communities follow the same protocol.  Within each community the teacher as well as leaders is encouraged to pursue personal and professional development, integrating it as part of their regular job responsibilities.  For example, the Alief ISD implements PLC time into the school week by creating a weekly early release day for students and utilizing that extra hour for mandated sessions for teachers to be in their specified professional learning community. Within professional learning communities, leaders have incorporated professional development by asking teachers to discuss and share differing classroom applications.

   From those interactions, teachers are enhancing their professional knowledge in a more informal approach to professional development.  True professional learning communities follow different protocols to evoke dialogue between team members.  In some professional development settings, teachers are asked to read books or educational articles as a catalyst to encourage reflection, inquiry, and sharing. Individual and team judgment is valued more than rules, policies, forms, and procedures. Most importantly, everyone is encouraged to take responsibility for their own learning and development and this is considered to be a norm of the school's culture (Thompson, 2004).  

 These concepts of professional leaning communities may sound simple to implement, this is not always the case.   Implementing professional learning communities is  challenging.   For  starters,  they  require a  deep  cultural  change  within  the  school  ( Honawar, 2008). 

   How Professional Learning Communities Impact School Improvement

There are cascades of strategies, theories, district initiatives, and many other ideas to improve student learning.  Teacher collaboration is hailed as one of the most effective ways to improve student learning (Honawar, 2008).  This can be debatable like most issues.  According to Thomas, Gregg, and Niska (2004), many K-12 school are working to become  professional learning communities in the hope that student learning will improve when adults commit themselves to talking collaboratively about teaching and learning and then take action that will improve student learning and achievement.  Other leaders in the field such as Mike Schmoker (2004) believe that “…the most promising strategy for sustained, substantive school improvement is building the capacity of school personnel to function as a professional learning community” (pg. 424). 

For former superintendent Richard DuFour (2004) in Educational Leadership, attributes the successes and record gains in his near Chicago school district to goal oriented collaborative teams.  DuFour believed that collaborative teams were the engine behind each schools improvement efforts.   Mike Schmoker said:

 In the nearby but less advantaged Chicago Public Schools, those with strong professional learning communities were four times more likely to be improving academically than schools with weaker professional communities.  We can no longer afford to be innocent of the fact that “collaboration” improves performance. (pg. 431)

 Such simple effort, teachers teaching one another the practice of teaching, leads to what has to be one of the most salient lists of benefits in educational literature:

 Higher-quality solutions to instructional problems,

  • Increased confidence among faculty,
  • Increased ability to support one another’s strengths and to accommodate  weaknesses,

 More systematic assistance to beginning teachers, and

  • The ability to examine an expanded pool of ideas, methods, and materials (pg. 430).

 We believe that an unknown author said it best, “I cannot improve my craft in isolation from others.”

 The Role Professional Learning Communities Have in Strategic Planning

 For some people, the term strategic planning brings to mind a disciplined and thoughtful process that links the values, mission, and goals of a school system with a set of coherent strategies and tasks designed to achieve those goals (Reeves, 2007). According to Weindling (1997) strategic planning "is a means for establishing and maintaining a sense of direction when the future has become more and more difficult to predict" (as sited in Van der Linde, 2001, pg. 536). 

Professional learning communities embodies this process and allows for a triangulation of planning, goal setting, and result evaluation.  Communication is the element that makes strategic planning such a success.  Through professional leaning communities, this element of communication is evident as teachers begin to talk and create communities that focus on the specific needs of a campus, department, or classroom. 

Implementing “Symbolics” in Professional Learning Communities

The first realm of meaning is symbolics. “These meanings are contained in arbitrary symbolic structures, with socially accepted rules of formation and transformation, created as instruments for the expression and communication of any meaning whatsoever (Kritsonis, 2007, p. 11).

Professional Learning Communities use communication as the backbone in which its purpose is fulfilled.  Within professional learning communities this first realm is evident with the “ordinary language” that is required for effective communication to take place.  In all professional learning communities, there is a discourse employed in the everyday speech and writing of education.  Without the knowledge of this language and the knowledge of its meaning, educators within these communities cannot make progress in their journey to student improvement.  “A person knows a language only if he understands its meanings” (Kritsonis, 2003, p.109).  Gamble (2008) postulates that teachers must learn the vocabulary and apply the concepts of a PLC.  They must talk the talk and walk the walk in lesson preparation and lesson presentations. Teachers must model the dynamics by stating clearly the objectives to the students, and make frequent use of formative assessments, using graphic organizers whenever possible. The use of graphic organizers is the implementation of symbols, which according to Kritsonis comprise another of the outer faces of language.  These symbols are spoken sounds or written marks that convey the meaning to be communicated (Kritsonis, 2007). 

The realm of symbolics expresses that different languages reflect multiple ways of organizing experiences.  This is implemented in professional learning communities,  by the collaboration  effort between  teachers as they share experiences

              The Implementation of “Empirics” in Professional Learning Communities

 The second realm empirics, includes the sciences of the physical world, of living things, and of man. These sciences provide factual descriptions, generalizations, and theoretical formulations and explanations that are based upon observation and experimentation in the world of matter, life, mind, and society. (Kritsonis, 2007, p. 12)

 As educators collect and analyze data from students to produce better results they are functioning in the empirical realm. 

The educators involved in professional learning communities essentially become scientific researcher for what is effective and what is not effective in the instructional setting.  By becoming researchers their scientific inquiry is aimed at bringing some order and intelligibility out of what appears to be a miscellaneous and unrelated profusion of phenomena (Kritsonis, 2007). Gamble (2004) suggest that schools develop a professional library by researching the great "movers" in the field (i.e., Dufour, Hord, Martin-Kniep, Sergiovanni, and others). Acquire materials by these authors and get them into circulation. 

As teachers gather data, it is important for them to remember that principles, generalizations, and laws are not directly inferred from data of observation and observations do not test the truth or falsity of hypotheses, but rather their scope and limitations.  By being aware of these limitations identified by observation, educators are able to put in place future interventions for those students affected by those limitations. 

The Implementation of “Esthetics” in Professional Learning Communities

“The third realm, esthetics, contains the various arts, such as music, the visual arts, the arts of movement, and literature” (Kritsonis, 2007, p. 12).  Esthetics looks at not only knowledge in a mathematical and empirical manner, but explores understanding that may be used for the arts and other non-empirical fields.  Often students cannot be calculated in a scientific manner.  Kritsonis continues,

 There are beauties that occur in the learning of all students that can only be understood in the wholeness of the student both empirically and non-empirically.  Each individual student is like a fragile art piece.  Each work of art contains its own meaning and speaks for itself. (2007, p.279)

  By understanding the whole student and the varieties present in each student, professional learning communities can have a more holistic view and dialogue on what is working for different pieces of beautiful artwork. 

It is important for educators to consistently take into consideration the differences and beauty that every student processes.  Professional learning communities are a good platform for this to occur being that they are able to share experiences and assess students from differing paradigms. 

The Implementation of “Synnoetics” in Professional Learning Communities

The fourth realm is synnoetics.  Synnoetics refers to meanings in which a person has direct insight into other beings (or oneself) as concrete wholes existing in relation (Kritsonis, 2007).  Engagement is a crucial part in having an effective professional learning community.  It is the engagement between team members within the professional learning community as well as the engagement between the teacher and the student that drives the collaboration effort that in turn promotes student achievement.  Kritsonis (2007) says that synnoetics meaning requires engagement and that there is no such thing as absolutely solitary existence. The very concept of isolation has significance only against a background of other from whom one is separated (Kritsonis, 2007).  People may differ about how to ensure “quality,” but most would agree that quality teachers know how to craft engaging and effective learning experiences, despite constant changes in student populations. They need to be knowledgeable and they need to know how to use their knowledge. Ongoing  professional learning  simply must  be integral to their work (Wood, 2007).  Educators are charged with not only educating students academically, yet also, helping them gain self knowledge and guide them in how to use both their academic knowledge as well as their self knowledge.  One goal of professional learning communities is to help teachers also gain knowledge of teaching practices as well as a personal knowledge about who they are and the roles they play as educators in a school.  While professional developments are great avenues for this task, most time smaller professional learning communities can be more effective.  Kritsonis (2007) posits that personal knowledge is not always developed though formal instruction. 

The Implementation of “Ethics” in Professional Learning Communities

Ethics, according to Dr. William Allan Kritsonis, is that which “includes moral meanings that express obligation rather than fact, perceptual form, or awareness of relation” (Kritsonis, 2007, pg. 13). Morality, according to Kritsonis, is simply that “which reflects inter-subjective understanding.  Morality has to do with personal conduct that is based on free, responsible, deliberate decision” (Kritsonis, 2007, p. 13).  As educators ethics and morality should be the ordinary language and the business of everyone.  Each day parents entrust us with the lives and futures of their children.  Any act or decision made for our students from the smallest of them such as school materials used to the biggest such as assessment choices should be the most moral and ethical one.  Gamble (2008) suggest that one should become an instructional leader in your school by advocating, in theory and practice, one of the "best practices" models called a professional learning community. 

 According to Kritsonis, ethical considerations enter into every department of ordinary life.  Therefore, education cannot and will not escape the responsibility of ethics, or right actions, against students.  By forming professional learning communities, teachers should ensure and hold each other accountable for ethical behavior toward students.  The improvement of conduct depends upon the habit, in making each decision, of bringing into consciousness a range of different possibilities from among which a selection can be made (Kritsonis, 2007).  This is the essence of what a professional learning community should do. 

 The Implementation of “Synoptics” in Professional Learning Communities

Synoptics refers “to meanings that are comprehensively integrative” (Kritsonis, 2007, p. 13).  Synoptics covers the realms of “history, philosophy, and religion” (Kritsonis, 2007, p. 13).  Professional learning communities implement this realm of meaning with its integrative characteristics of guiding, teaching, and learning as educators. 

In  professional learning  communities, educators must  also look at the history of what has been successful in obtaining student achievement for all students.  By looking at the past, educators are able to better chart their path to the future.  Along with looking at the past, professional learning communities should frequently  reference the vision the school is attempting to bring to realization.  At the very least, faith refers to an ideal and a hope for maximum completeness, depth, and integrity of vision (Kritsonis, 2008). 

The synoptic view addresses the entire range of all that is encompassed in the expressible education experiences.  Fidelity must be given to a data-driven curriculum, to clear and specific objectives, and to a mindset of deep purpose for meaningful planning and collaboration.  The focus must be to move students, as well  as faculty, into truly becoming lifelong learners (Gamble, 2007).

 Concluding Remarks

             In conclusion strategic planning is imperative for school leaders to obtain gains in student achievement.  Doug Reeves (2007) stated: 

School leaders should embrace the importance of strategy by developing  plans that are  focused and brief  and that  provide consistent monitoring and evaluation. Most important, the teachers and leaders who implement strategic plans should begin the process with the confidence that their professional practices truly influence student achievement. (pg. 87)

             This process can and will be enhanced through quality professional learning communities where teachers and leaders can begin effective and action oriented dialogue about student achievement and what works and what is not working in classrooms all across the nation.  The continued implementation of the Ways of Knowing Through the Realms of Meaning by Dr. William Allan Kritsonis will produce more coherent results when seeking holistic achievement of students. 

  

REFERENCES

 Bonstingl, J. (2009, January). Strategic planning during tough times. Leadership, 38(3), 8-10. Retrieved July 8, 2009, from Academic Search Complete database.

DuFour, R. (2004, May). What Is a Professional Learning Community? Educational Leadership, 61(6), 6. Retrieved July 7, 2009, from MAS Ultra - School Edition database.

Gamble, J. (2008, March). Professional learning communities. School Library Media Activities Monthly, 24(7), 17-17. Retrieved July 8, 2009, from MasterFILE Premier database.

Honawar, V. (2008, April 2). Working smarter by working together. Education Week, 27(31), 25-27. Retrieved July 8, 2009, from MasterFILE Premier database.

Kritsonis, W. (2007). Ways of knowing through the realms of meaning. Houston, TX:

            National FORUM Journals.

Nebgen, M. (1991, April). The key to success in strategic planning is communication. Educational Leadership, 48(7), 26. Retrieved July 8, 2009, from Middle Search Plus database.

Reeves, D. (2007, December). Making strategic planning work. Educational Leadership, 65(4), 86. Retrieved July 8, 2009, from Middle Search Plus database.

Schmoker, M. (2004, February 1). Tipping point: From feckless reform to substantive instructional improvement. Phi Delta Kappan, 85(6), 424. (ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. EJ700581) Retrieved July 7, 2009, from ERIC database.

Thompson, S., Gregg, L., & Niska, J. (2004, November). Professional learning communities, leadership, and student learning. Research in Middle Level

            Education Online, 28(1), 35-54. Retrieved July 8, 2009, from Academic Search Complete database.

Van der Linde, D. (2001, Spring2001). Strategic quality planning for teachers in the new millennium. Education, 121(3), 535. Retrieved July 8, 2009, from MasterFILE Premier database.

Wood, D. (2007, September). Professional learning communities: Teachers, knowledge, and knowing. Theory Into Practice, 46(4), 281-290. Retrieved July 8, 2009, from doi:10.1080/00405840701593865

 Dr. William Allan Kritsonis, Professor and Mentor

 

 

 

www.nationalforum.com

National FORUM Journals Worldwide Website

Article Source: http://williamallankritsonisphd.articlesbase.com/college-and-university-articles/a-conceptual-framework-in-professional-learning-communities-as-they-impact-strategic-planning-in-education-by-queinnise-miller-wm-kritsonis-phd-1394976.html

About the Author

Dr. Kritsonis Recognized as Distinguished Alumnus In 2004, Dr. William Allan Kritsonis was recognized as the Central Washington University Alumni Association Distinguished Alumnus for the College of Education and Professional Studies. Dr. Kritsonis was nominated by alumni, former students, friends, faculty, and staff. Final selection was made by the Alumni Association Board of Directors. Recipients are CWU graduates of 20 years or more and are recognized for achievement in their professional field and have made a positive contribution to society. For the second consecutive year, U.S. News and World Report placed Central Washington University among the top elite public institutions in the west. CWU was 12th on the list in the 2006 On-Line Education of “America’s Best Colleges.”

Syndicate content