Changes in technology in recent years, combined with the rise in working from home, has led to an important challenge: the task of controlling work-related communication and maintaining a healthy work-life balance. This article reviews research evidence for (a) the numerous ways 24/7 connectivity affects employees, and (b) the factors that influence their handling of this challenge. It ends with a set of key takeaways.
Part 3 of a three part series on Context and Culture. In Part 1 and Part 2 we focused on the interactional context – the setting that a communication event takes place in. In fact, the interactional context is just one layer of context. Here I explain the other three levels of context and use a published case study to show how interconnected the levels are.
In this Part 2 of the series, we present a framework for understanding the key features of the interactional context as a whole. Communication always takes place in a particular setting. Many features of these settings can be summarised into the notion of a communicative activity that is recognised by others as having a set of familiar features.
Part 1 of a three-part series.
When people think of culture and its impact, their minds often turn to national differences and ask questions like “How do I deal with people from X country?” or “Why are people from X country so loud (or so quiet)?” In this series of GPC Insight pieces, I’ll be focusing on how such questions fail to consider the role of context.
Rapport concerns the relationships or connections we have with others and affects our level of satisfaction with them. When rapport is positive, our connections are fruitful and we feel the goals we have for the relationships are being fulfilled. However, rapport is not always easy to achieve, especially in culturally diverse contexts. Here are three particularly helpful mindsets and strategies to adopt.