The department that I work in is significant; however, the group I work with is only four individuals. We tend to deal with all three forms of communication, hierarchical, mass media, and social networks. I work for a large state government. The group I work with deals directly in communicating with higher-ups, so our communication would be from the top down, and then it is up to us to communicate to the bottom. Since we are a government entity, communication about different projects often spreads quickly and with the wrong information or information added to the original story. There are times when the mass media has gotten hold of a story that was not told to employees yet. When this happens, informal communication among employees runs rampant.

In dealing with internal communication in the department, social (informal) networking would have to be the worst. When information is not disseminated correctly, it tends to be taken apart and pieces added to the story. This is not good when you are dealing with a government entity that works for its taxpayers. If an incorrect story gets to the media, it takes time and effort to clear up the story. Even when it is cleared, the people that the story affected never hear that it was cleared up or corrected, thus causing further confusion and anger.

Discussion Two ld noverbal

My observation is of a patient admitted to the psychiatric unit and a crisis intervention volunteer. The patient was experiencing an episode of schizophrenia with delusions and hallucinations. The patient had a flat affect, and the tone of the voice was robotic. The patient used quick short sentences that went in and out of agitation. The crisis intervention volunteer gave the patient constant eye contact; however, hand gestures were kept in front and down while holding papers and a purse.

The crisis intervention volunteer did not do any head tilts that I observed during the interaction. The posture of the crisis intervention volunteer was submissive. The crisis intervention volunteer had her legs crossed, her hands in front of her body, and lowered to her waist level. The crisis intervention volunteer sat behind the locked half door in the nurse’s station, and the patient was on the other side of the half door. The nonverbal expressions of the crisis intervention volunteer showed me that she was engaged and tuned in to the communication process of the patient. The submissive body posture could have been out of fear and or training, and the distance was probably due to safety.

The crisis intervention worker engaged with direct eye contact. The nurse was speaking to the patient, and the patient never turned attention to the nurse but kept direct eye contact with the crisis intervention volunteer, but the patient would answer the nurse’s questions. The patient’s demeanor was flat, body language was stiff, and hands gesturing as the patient spoke in a robotic type voice. The patient moved the right hand to every syllable of words that were expressed in the robotic tone. The patient did not tilt the head in any direction, and the patient leaned forward past the half door but not over the ledge of the half door. The patient was engaged in the communication process with the crisis healthcare volunteer but not with the nurse. The nurse was not involved in the communication process with the patient as the demeanor was not affected except for when she needed answers to questions. The nurse did not give the patient any eye contact and asked questions from the second part of the nurse’s station through a square window. The nurse was speaking at the patient, not to the patient. The patient then stated, “ I will slap all of you except this lady.” The patient was pointing to the crisis healthcare volunteer. The patient turned to leave and then did an about-face and stood at the half-door and said in the robotic voice, “Hey, lady, you with the funny color eyes, I will not slap you either.”  The patient, at this point, was referring to me. I am assuming that I gave the patient plenty of eye contact because the patient noticed my eyes. I would have wanted to inquire why the patient viewed my eyes as funny colored, but that would have to be another adventure in the psychiatric unit.