Commitment - Consistency Theory

How committed are you? Be it to a brand of detergent or your significant other, an individuals’ commitment is influenced by countless factors. Commitment can begin as a handshake or a small donation or even a junk e-mail with an interesting subject line. Once something reaches the threshold of capturing attention it can grow to be much more.

I believe Commitment - Consistency Theory is best represented in a children’s book If You Give a Mouse a Cookie by Laura Joffe Numeroff. Giving the mouse a cookie encourages the mouse to ask for a glass of milk and many requests follow that. Similarly, agreeing to sign a petition may result in e-mails that request donations or further involvement and interaction. “Freedman and Fraser’s (1966) seminal work found that compliance with a small initial request positively influenced compliance with a larger, related, subsequent request (Vaidyanathan & Aggarwal, 2005, pp. 234)."



Use caution when giving your valuable time and energy. A commitment can be an isolated event; it is ok to say “no”.

Joffe Numeroff, L. (1985). If you give a mouse a cookie. New York: Harpers Collins Publishers.


Vaidyanathan, R. & Aggarwal, P. (2005). Using commitments to drive consistency: Enhancing the effectiveness of cause-related marketing communications. Journal of Marketing Communications, 11(4), 231-246.

My Motivation

My husband has often asks me “Why do you work so hard at a place that pays so little?” Motivation by Shah and Shah offered many theories on what drives individuals in the workplace. Elton Mayo made contributions to the article stating three influences on a company's environment that effect employee motivation. Mayo’s point that employees are not merely focused on pay as a form of motivation is very accurate.

Elton Mayo realized pay is not the only workplace motivator. Pay does not factor into my motivation at my job. The amount I am paid is the same as in my past three places I have been employed. The work required is almost double in the same time frames as past jobs. Clearly, if money were the only factor I would be in a position that required the least amount of work. There is no monetary equivalent for what I have experienced at work. Pay is a minor factor when the work itself is fulfilling

Shah, K and Shah P.(n.d.)Motivation. Retrieved October 10, 2008, from
http://www.laynetworks.com/Motivation.html.

Talk to Me: A Response to the Listening Style Inventory

Being an incoherent jerk is not my goal! I often find my message is lost in translation between my thoughts and my actual words. I think the most important point made by Jianying Lu was regarding "encoding" (Lu, 46). I am constantly catching myself shifting from speaking with a coworker about a case to speaking with a client. Written communication in my field is also very different between coworkers versus with clients. Social workers abbreviate everything and it gets to be easy and quick to do so.

Example:

Have your ICCA form completed and tell FM that PGM will pick up at 12. Your CP for the TOPS case is due to be time stamped please take a new CW with you to the court house.

Translation:

Have your Individual Child Care Agreement form completed and tell Foster Mother that Paternal Grandmother with pick up at 12. Your Case Plan for the Temporary Order of Protective Services case is due to be time stamped, please take a new Case Worker with you to the court house.

Overall, I did not like the Lu article. I believe the information was not groundbreaking. People know when they actively listen, they better understand the speaker’s message. There were several good points that made me specifically think about communication at my job. I especially related to the paragraph on encoding.

Lu, J. (2005). The listening style inventory (LSI) as an instrument for improving listening skill. Sino-US English Teaching, 2 (5), 45-50.




I like this song to illustrate how we communicate. If you did not know The singers are Australian many of the things they say could be interpreted differently.

Economy and the Arts

In strong economic times Columbus has so much to offer residents and visitors interested in the arts. With an economy in crisis many organizations have come under great stress to continue to provide Columbus with the opportunities that have been available for so long.

Any Central Ohioan willing to shout "-IO" to passersby who scream "OH" should desperately want to keep a vibrant art scene in our area. Columbus is home to The Southern Theater, The Palace Theater and The Ohio Theatre. The Columbus Symphony Orchestra and Symphony Choirs are some of the best in the nation. Ballet Met Columbus offers amazing performing arts and the Columbus Museum of Art brings exhibits from all over the world for people to enjoy. As a Kid I was a member of the Columbus Symphony Children's Choir and I remember how difficult to fund raise even in economically prosperous times! What can an individual do to save culture in Columbus?

As a teen I used to love to spend time at the holiday pops it is a really enjoyable event by the symphony choirs and orchestras (children and adult groups). During the summer and through November the Columbus Symphony Orchestra will not be performing scheduled concerts due to financial distress. The Columbus Symphony Orchestra has offered free and inexpensive concerts to the public for years throughout the summer months. The price of a symphony orchestra concert ticket typically runs from $29.99 to upwards of one hundred dollars per seat. By not having free and inexpensive concert tickets available many families will not be able to experience live symphony music. Children who are not exposed to the arts cannot be expected to have an appreciation for the arts.

The performing arts are not the only casualty visual artists are struggling more than in a fair economy. Author and art collector Michael Corbin believes the two to be linked and wrote an interesting article that can be found at: http://blog.absolutearts.com/blogs/archives/00000451.html. It seems likely that a poor economy would mean tough times for visual artists.

Saving the arts in Columbus seems like a enormous task when most residents are concerned with saving money. When looking for weekend entertainment consider musical, visual or performing art. Individual patronage can help boost the revenue of the organizations that support art in Columbus.

Some websites that may be of assistance while making weekend plans:

http://www.theotherpaper.com/calendar/?cal=performingarts
http://www.columbusunderground.com/phpBB2/portal.php
http://www.columbussymphony.com/
http://www.balletmet.org/
http://www.columbusmuseum.org/

Corbin, M. (2007). Contemporary Art Blogs. Retrieved
September 25, 2008, from Blog About The Art
Web site: http://blog.absolutearts.com/blogs/archives/00000451.html