Blog Post #8
1) Based on the principles of communication accommodation theory, I could offer several useful suggestions to a person going on a job interview. For example, I would advise an interviewee to utilize convergence during their interview process in order to appeal more attractive and similar to the interviewer. Convergence is, "a strategy of adopting your communication behavior to become more similar to another person (Griffin, Ledbetter, Sparks, 2019, pg. 424). However, I would advice the interviewee to carefully sparingly use convergence because it may be misused as a result of stereotyped perceptions of the interviewer themselves or the company at which they are interviewing at. Also, I would advise the interviewee to participate in divergence. Divergence is "a communication strategy of accentuating the differences between you and another person (Griffin, et al., 2019, pg. 425)." Participating in divergence during the interview process would cause the interviewee to potentially stand out among other interviewees or simply between themselves and the interviewer. Divergence reinforces individual identity. Coming from my own personal experience, when I interviewed at Tops, I used convergence in order to seem more professional and distinguished to the interviewer. Luckily, this worked in my favor, and I got the job as a cashier.
The image I provided below provides a the most simplistic definition of CAT:
2) There have been several instances in my life where I felt as though someone else's face was threatened, so I used multiple face strategies in order to help the person maintain their face. For example, during my junior year of college, I convinced one of my friends to rush and join my fraternity in order to pull them out of their shell a little bit. However, before he even attended any rush events, I knew his face was threatened because he was extremely quiet, introverted, and anti-social. In order to help prepare him for rush, I utilized face-giving in order to defend and support his need for inclusion (Griffin et al., 2019, pg. 439). I told him that it is acceptable to be introverted as long as he was friendly and introduced everyone to everyone. I explained to him that if he maintained his usual face of being extremely quiet, then his projected self image may not come off very well among the active brothers.
3) Going back to the example that I used in my previous answer, when I convinced my friend to rush my fraternity, I utilized several aspects of both face-negotiation theory and communication accommodation theory. For example, I used face-giving as a method to support and defend my friends need for inclusion because prior to him joining the fraternity, he was very quiet, anti-social, and struggled when it came to meeting new people. I essentially "gave him a face" by participating in divergence whenever I was around him. I did this by being very outgoing, talkative, and including him in conversations with brothers at various rush events. I was practicing divergence by acting completely opposite of how he acted. Overall, CAT influenced my decision to use the face-giving facework strategy because I knew I had to act differently from my friend in order to show him that it was okay to be outgoing, and that people will like him for who he is.
Below I have included a link to a video that further breaks down Face-negotiation theory:
Hey Josh great job on your blog post. I also believe that an interviewee should use convergence during an interview. You make a really good point by explaining that convergence shouldn't be misused. You also do a good job of explaining how divergence can be useful in order to set yourself apart from others by showing your individuality. Face is "The projected image of one's self in a relational situation" (Griffin, pg436). Your example of helping your introverted friend does a good job of showing how face can be threatened and how face-giving can be used as a strategy against this. I also like how you use this example in the last question to show how divergence can be used as a face-giving strategy.
ReplyDeleteHi Josh,
ReplyDeleteHappy last blog. I agreed with your points about how an interviewee should use convergence. Also, I liked how you advised them to use convergence sparingly and be careful to not use stereotyped perceptions. Another piece of advice for the interviewee you could offer is to be careful of over accommodation and to watch out for excessive message repetition (Griffin, et al., 2019). This is especially important in an interview setting because people tend to get nervous and partake in over accommodation. I enjoyed your explanations of divergence and use of your job experience as well. In terms of your take on face negotiation theory, I too had a very similar experience. Last semester I had a friend go through recruitment and I also engaged in face-giving to support her need for inclusion in the sorority (Griffin, et al., 2019). The whole process can be very intimidating so I am sure he appreciated your face work to guide him along the process. Great job on this post and thank you for sharing.