Question

Describe a Miscommunication from a movie or TV Episode

Think about a recent movie or TV episode you observed. Select a scene that involved a miscommunication. Ideally, it should include a conversation that might occur in a workplace. Based on this conversation, do the following:

Summarize the conversation in one paragraph.

Analyze the conversation in terms of the following components of the interpersonal communication process: encoding, decoding, physical noise, physiological noise, psychological noise, semantic noise, and filter of lifetime experiences.

Describe at least three strategies the characters in the conversation could have adopted to increase shared meaning and avoid miscommunication. Describe these strategies in terms of reducing noise and adapting to the filters of others.

Answer 1

Note: This response is in UK English, please paste the response to MS Word and you should be able to spot discrepancies easily. You may elaborate the answer based on personal views or your classwork if necessary.

(Answer) The Television series and episode in question is – “The Office” Season 6: Episode 1 – Gossip.

In the episode titled “Gossip,” the manager Michael Scott accidentally lets out a personal secret that his colleague has asked him not to disclose. Since Michael has already let the secret out before this request could have been made, he needs to stop the office from talking about the secret too much. In order to do so, he spreads numerous pieces of false gossip in order to side-track the employees from the real gossip.

As a result, the employees begin to hear rumours about themselves and do not appreciate the slander. Upon open communication, the office discovers who the true harbinger of false news is. They begin to question Michael about why he did it and he claims that it was to hide the one true rumour.

This open conversation takes place in the conference room when all the members of the office are present. There is a minor quarrel but the psychological noise seems louder. A few people are inclined on believing the false rumours about themselves, some are afraid that people might find out more and the true culprit is afraid about the truth coming to light.

We see the bystander effect being clearly demonstrated here. Through this theory, people might generally behave in the way that the majority of the people around them are behaving. They adopt the common behaviour so as to avoid the contention f disagreement.

Furthermore, Kantian ethics suggest that one should treat people in the way that one might like to be treated. This ethical code is disregarded at the beginning of the episode as everyone gossips about everyone. Until the members of the office realise that there is a rumour about themselves that they dislike. This is when they realise that it is not necessarily right to gossip when the same situation might hurt them personally.