Legal Aspects of Construction, BULGL 473Prof. OengaHW #2 Tot.docx

Legal Aspects of Construction, BULGL 473
Prof. Oenga
HW #2 Total points 30.
1. Mr. Johnson states in a letter to his niece, Carla, “If you’re
interested, as soon as I purchase a new car, you can have my old
one.” Carla immediately writes back and enthusiastically
agrees to his proposal. One month later, Mr. Johnson buys a
new car and uses the old one as a trade-in. Is Mr. Johnson in
breach of contract with Carla? 10 Points
2. Baxter Fence Company agrees to erect a six foot chain link
fence around the
perimeter of Buddy’s residential property in Menomonie in
exchange for $5,000.
The next day, Buddy discovers that he is prohibited by city
ordinance from
erecting such a fence in the part of Menomonie where his
home is located. Is
Buddy in breach of contract with Baxter Fence Company?
10 Points
3.Capacity to Contract-Minor- 10 Points
On June 1st, seventeen year old Allie Jones signed a
one-year lease with Nice Homes Property Management for a one
bedroom apartment. The lease term was to begin September 1st
at a rent of $400 per month. Allie moved into the apartment on
Sept. 1st and lived there for three months. Then she realized
she couldn’t afford to live on her own and moved back in with
her parents. Allie immediately notified Nice Homes that she
was disaffirming the contract, returned the keys and asked for a
refund of all rent paid. Nice Homes re-rented the apartment

four months later and then contacted Allie to collect the four
months’ rent that they lost. Allie refused to pay. Nice Homes
has now sued Allie for the lost rent. Answer the following
questions, explaining your answers in full.
a. Did Allie lack capacity at the time of entering into the lease?
b. Would the apartment be a necessary under these
circumstances?
c. If Allie turned eighteen during the three months that she lived
in the apartment, what affect would that have on your answers?
COMM 1210 Reflection Paper Guidelines
Purpose: To demonstrate how you are constructing knowledge
based on experiences in this
course.
RQ2 Reflection:
In Cameron’s reading on commination culture, she offers case
studies to help illustrate the ways
that a purely skills-based approach to communicating can be
problematic.
Reflect on any of the communication skills discussed in
(Messages by Matthew McKay)
Based on your experiences, identify a context in which the
communication skills advice
advocated by McKay et al has not worked well for you. Why?
Be specific.
Discuss this in a short (2-page) paper.

The paper must meet the following criteria:
• State an analytical thesis/topic statement
o Even reflection papers need to ordered around a thesis
(central idea that is
supported in the paper that follows)
• Support the thesis (Focus on making a clear thesis and
supporting it)
• Refer to personal responses and experiences
• Connect personal responses and experiences to course
readings and other materials
• Demonstrate knowledge of concepts covered in the paper
• Indicate practical implications of your self analysis
• Adhere to APA style
• Cite your textbook and the Cameron reading
• Be approximately 2 pages long (not including references)
• Double-spaced, 12 point Times New Roman font
• No cover page, no cutting and pasting of question
• Your full name and “RQ2” should appear in the header
In this course, reflection papers should meet the criteria shown
above, and address one or
more of the following (depending on the writing
prompt/reflection question):
Self disclosure: Openly examines your own experiences as they
relate to the topic, to
illustrate points you are making. Demonstrates an open, non-
defensive ability to self-
appraise, discussing both growth and frustrations as related to
learning. Risks asking
probing questions about self and seeks to answer these.
Praxis orientation: Specifies what you are doing differently, or
what you could do

differently as a result of your introspection. Explores
anticipated and/or actual
consequences (positive or negative).
Connection to outside experiences: Synthesizes thoughtfully
selected aspects of
experiences related to the topic. Makes clear connections
between what is learned from
outside experiences and the topic.
Connection to readings (assigned and others): Synthesizes
thoughtfully selected
aspects of readings related to the topic. Makes clear connections
between what is learned
from readings and the topic. Demonstrates further analysis and
insight resulting from
what you have learned from readings.
Connection to class discussions and course goals: Synthesizes,
analyzes and evaluates
selected aspects of ideas or issues from class discussions and
activities as they relate to
the topic.
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TXA ::Main Library

COD:: Main Library
Book Chapter
Communication, relationships and care a reader I edited by
Martin Robb
Communication, relationships and care: A reader
Communication culture: Issues for health and social
Cameron, Deborah
Routledge
2004
63-73
9780415326605
Boromis:za-Habashi, David
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CHAPTER 7
COMMUNICATION CULTURE:
ISSUES FOR HEALTH AND
SOCIAL CARE
Deborah Cameron
INTRODUCTION
In 1994, applicants for a vacant position in a National Health
Service hos-
pital were sent a 'person specification' describing the ideal
candidate as
someone who could:
B demonstrate sound interpersonal relationships and an
awareness of the
individual client's psychological and emotional needs;
• nnderstand the need for effective verbal and nonverbal
communication;
and
B support clients and relatives in the care environment by
demonstrating
empathy and understanding.
These might seem unremarkable requirements for a caring

professional- a
nurse, psychologist, counsellor or social worker, but in fact, the
hospital
was advertising for a cleaner. Although cleaners do talk to
patients and
relatives, this is not usually thought of as their core function,
nor is it a
kind of talk that requires specialist expertise. Some
commentators sug-
gested that the person specification was a 'politically correct'
attempt to
boost cleaners' status by describing the ordinary ability to
converse with
other people as if it were an arcane professional skilL
But this cannot be the whole story, for similar language can be
found in
job and person specifications across the occupational spectrum.
Institu-
tions not often suspected of political correctness, from
engineering firms to
64 COMMUNICATION CUlTURE
banks, all routinely inform job applicants - whether they aspire
to be the
receptionist or the chief executive - that they 'must have
excellent commu-
nication skills'. If we substituted 'customer' for 'client' and took
out the
reference to 'the care environment', the text quoted above would
not be
out of place in a specification for an estate agent, hotel manager
or insur-

ance broker.
Concern about communication is not confined to the sphere of
employ-
ment. Communication is one of the 'key skills' that are now
emphasised in
the national school curriculum and in higher education. Self-
help books
and television talk shows preach that fulfilling relationships
depend on our
ability to communicate with partners, family and friends. All
kinds of
problems, from marital breakdown to teenage suicide, are
blamed on inad-
equate communication. In short, we live in a 'communication
culture': a
culture obsessed with communication and the skills that it
supposedly
demands. Here I want to explore critically what lies behind that
obsession.
Where did ir come from and what are its effects? I will begin by
examining
these questions in general terms, then move on to consider the
implications
for the field of health and social care specifically.
WHAT IS COMMUNICATION CULTURE AN
WHERE DID IT COME FROM
According to the sociologist Anthony Giddens (1991), it is
characteristic
modern societies that traditional ways of knowing and acting
are
sively displaced by 'expert systems', specialised and technical
produced and regulated by professionals. The displacement of
healing practices by modern medicine .is an obvious instance.

recent example offered by Giddens is 'parenting'. The skills
involved ·
child-rearing were once acquired informally, through practice, ·
and advice from older relatives. Today, by contrast, 'parenting'
is a set
skills which experts define, Parents may still take informal
advice, but
are also likely to turn to books, magazines and classes for more
anrhortr-1
tive guidance. In Britain, parents who are judged inadequate can
be
pelled to receive training in parenting.
'Communication' is an analogous case. The mundane social
activity
talking to others has been redefined as a set of skiUs requiring
effort
expert guidance to master. As with parenting, the message of
Pv1"1Prt•H
communication is that there's a right way and a wrong way. AU
'"'"'"'"
sources, ranging from training courses to radio phone-ins to
popular
help books, explain what the 'right way' is. Many people who
have
sought it out voluntarily will encounter this body of expert
through education or workplace training.
So, the rise of 'communication skills' is an example of a much
DEBORAH CAtvERON 65
general trend. Bur why has communication, specifically,
become such a

prominent concern in recent years? There are a number of
reasons, but
two are particularly important.
One has to do with economic change. In a 'post-industrial' age,
fewer
jobs are about manufacturing things, while more are about
providing ser-
vices to customers and clients. Whereas a traditional assembly-
line
worker's communication skills were of marginal relevance,
service jobs
inherently involve communication. There has been a growing
tendency for
businesses to regulate and standardise the language in which
employees
interact with customers, treating their speech as part of the
corporate
'brand'. In addition, global competition has spurred many
businesses, in
both the service and manufacturing sectors, to restructure their
operations
and introduce new management approaches emphasising quality,
flexibil-
ity and teamwork. This rneans that talking, in settings like team
meetings,
'quality circles' or appraisal interviews, has come to play a more
significant
'behind the scenes' role at work.
The second key factor underlying the rise of communication
culture has
to do with shifts in the way we think about our identities and
personal
relationships. Giddens ( 1991) points out that modernity loosens
the tradi-

tional ties people have to their kinfolk and local communities.
Few people
now spend their whole lives in the same place, among others
who have
known them from birth: they are continually having to reinvent
them-
selves. Under these conditions, Giddens argues, 'the self
becomes a reflex-
ive proiect' (1991: 32) - something to be worked on, perfected.
Just as
dieting and exercise can reshape our physical bodies, so other
technologies
of self-improvement can reshape our inner selves. Working on
one's 'com-
munication skills' has a particular significance, because
communication is
seen as vital to the ability to form and maintain intimate
relationships with
others. In modern conditions, these relationships often do not
have the
external supports they would have had in traditional society (for
instance,
couples no longer stay together because of inviolable religious
and moral
codes). Maintaining intimacy depends on a continuous process
of mutual
self-disclosure, so that parties to a relationship remain in touch
with one
another's activities, feelings, needs and desires.
It might seem as if these two sets of developments are
unrelated: one set
affects individuals in their lives as workers and consumers,
while the other
affects them in their personal lives. But in fact there is a
relationship. Com-

munication was a central concern of what is often loosely
referred to as
the 'personal growth' movement of the 1960s and 1970s, when
significant
numbers of people turned to the ideas and techniques of
psychology and
therapy - to approaches such as transactional analysis (Berne
1966) and
assertiveness training (Rakos 1991) - as part of a quest for
personal fulfil-
ment. While this began as a counter-cultural movement, with
'personal
growth' being seen as a form of resistance to mainstream
corporate
culture, the same ideas were soon taken up by the corporate
sector itself.
66 COMMUNICATION CULTURE
If training in assertiveness or transactional analysis could help
people lead
happier lives outside the workplace, then perhaps it could also
help them
to function better inside it. Organisations managed and staffed
by effective
communicators would be more efficient, more harmonious and
ultimately
more successful economically.
Because of their shared roots, communication training materials
designed for professional contexts have much in common with
those
that focus on personal growth and relationships. In both types
we find

the same recommendations - for instance, speak directly using
'I' state~
ments, use open rather than dosed questions, listen without
judging, use
verbal acknowledgement tokens like 'yes', 'I see', don't
interrupt. The
expertise being drawn on, whether or not this is made explicit,
is that
of psychiatrists, psychologists, therapists and counsellors.
Almost invari·
ably, the rules and recommendations can be traced to some
practice that
originated in a therapeutic setting. Assertiveness training, for
instance,
began as a behavioural therapy for psychiatric patients who had
become
passive and withdrawn. Transactional analysis emerged out of
the practice
of group therapy. Non-judgemental listening is a central
technique of
counselling.
The linguist, Norman Fairclough (1992), uses the term
'technologisa-'
tion of discourse' to theorise the process whereby a way of
talking
designed for one context gets transferred to a wide range of
others, as if it
were part of an ideologic<1lly neutral 'toolkit'. He regards the
language of
therapy as a particularly important contemporary 'discourse
technology'~
and argues that there is nothing neutral about its use in non-
therapeutic
contexts. Consider workplace appraisal, a discourse practice
which uses

many of the conventions of a counselling session. The appraisee
talks
about her or his achievements and problems while the appraiser
listens and
supports. But the goals of appraisal, and the power relations
that are oper~
ative in an appraisal interview, are quite different from the
goals and re!a ..
tionships involved in counselling. The appraiser is not there
primarily to
help the appraisee meet his or her own goals, but to judge how
well the
organisation's goals are met- a judgement that may have
consequences for
the appraisee's job prospects. In Fairclough's view, the
'therapeutic' frame
obscures what is really going on.
To summarise, 'communication culture' has developed along
with
changing economic conditions and ideas about 'personal growth'
which
have influenced both organisations and individu<1ls. In
communication cul-
tures we find the following general characteristics:
• A widely shared belief in the importance of communication
and a per-
ception that many problems (and their solutions) are linked to
it.
• An acceptance that there is a 'right way' and a 'wrong way' to
communicate, and a proliferation of expert discourse about the
'skills'
required to do it right.

DEBORAH CAMERON 67
• A growth in specific trammg in communication, and an
increasing
desire to assess or evaluate individuals' performance as
communicators.
• A tendency to regulate and standardise communication
practices within
particular institutions.
COMMUNICATION CUlTURE AND THE FIELD
OF HEALTH AND SOCIAL CARE
Few people would dispute that in the context of health and
social care,
interaction between service providers and users is important.
The question
is not whether it deserves attention, but about the helpfulness or
otherwise
of the approaches characteristic of communication culture. In
the remain-
der of this chapter I examine some cases where versions of
these
approaches used in health and social care might be deemed
unhelpful or
problematic. These cases illustrate more general problems with
the dis-
course and practice of 'communication skills'.
CASE 1
Problems of knowledge: rules for 'effective communication' are
typ-

ically formulated without reference to what is normal
sociolinguistic
behaviour.
One defining feature of communication culture is its reliance on
expert
knowledge about the 'right way' to perform particular
communicative
acts. But this is a particular kind of expert knowledge,
originating mainly
in therapeutic fields where the prevailing approach to language-
use is
normative rather than descriptive. Expert recommendations on
how speak-
ers ought to communicate are rarely informed by any knowledge
of the
patterns uncovered by empirical research on naturally"occurring
talk. Con-
sequently the experts may end up exhorting people to behave in
ways that
are linguistically unnatural and socially bizarre.
Assertiveness training (AT}, for instance, is the source of many
prescrip-
tions about 'effective communication', but its recommendations
have been
criticised for their marked divergence from 'normal' practice. In
everyday
non-therapeutic contexts, 'assertive' strategies like making '!-
statements' or
repeating a point until it is acknowledged may be interpreted as
rude and
egocentric (Cameron 1995; Gervasio and Crawford 1989).
One piece of AT-derived advice which is common in health
education

and care work with young people who are thought to be at risk
of sexual
68 COMMU!'~iCATlON CULTURE
exploitation and violence is encapsulated in the slogan 'just say
no': in
other words, be direct in refusing unwanted sexual advances.
Assertiveness
training teaches that everyone has the right to refuse without
apologising
or giving reasons; rape prevention programmes also teach that a
direct 'no'
is preferable to alternative strategies because it leaves no room
for mis-
understanding.
However, this line of argument overlooks a large body of
empirical
work in conversation analysis (CA), which shows that
successful refusals
in naturally-occurring talk are virtually never performed in such
a bald,
unmitigated way. Acceptance and refusal form what CA calls a
'preference
system' in relation to invitations, propositions and requests: the
'preferred'
move, acceptance, is simple and brief, whereas the 'dispreferred'
move~
refusal, is much more elaborate. Thus if I ask, 'd'you want to
meet for a
drink after work?' you can accept by simply saying 'OK'.
Refusals, by con-
trast, are usually prefaced by a pause or hesitation marker (urn,

er), often
accompanied by 'well', and they include an explanation or
excuse. So in
the drink-invitation case, a typical refusal might go: 'er, sorry,
I'd love to,
but I've got to work late tonight'.
For obvious reasons, there is little natural data available
specifically on
sexual refusals, but the feminist researchers Celia Kitzinger and
Hannah
Frith (1999) conducted a study with focus groups of young
heterosexual
women who were asked what they said if they wished to refuse
a sexual
invitation. Only two out of 58 claimed to feel comfortable
saying 'No'.
The rest favoured the strategies described above for making
dispreferred
conversational moves: hesitating, giving reasons which would
not offend
(e.g. 'I'm really knackered'), and sometimes inserting a
'softener' like 'I'm
really flattered, but ... '. They also reported that in their own
experience,
men correctly interpreted these strategies as refusals.
Rape prevention advice to 'just say no' is flawed in two ways.
First, it is
based on the assumption that less direct ways of refusing carry a
high risk
of misinterpretation. If, as empirical research suggests, this
assumption is
false, then the advice is unnecessary: other strategies will work
equally well
(or badly). That leads on to the second point, that the

recommended strat-
egy of saying 'No' without elaboration is in conflict with the
norms of
ordinary interaction. Kitzinger and Frith's informants were
familiar with
advice to 'just say no', but most unequivocally rejected that
advice. Initi-'
atives like rape prevention (or safer sex advice or drugs
education) wiU
usually be less effective where they do not take account of the
target
group's beliefs, values, and habitual ways of behaving. The
knowledge~
base for interventions in communicative practice thus needs to
include a
knowledge of what is 'normal' behaviour for particular groups
of people
communicating in particular contexts.
DEBORAH CAMEROI'-l 69
CASE 2
Problems of power: norms for communication may gloss over
conflicts
and asymmetrical power relations.
In communication culture it is commonly believed that many
problems
are most effectively addressed by adjusting the way people
communicate.
This belief underpins a therapy called 'Reality Orientation' (RO)
which is
widely used with confused elderly people in institutional care.

RO's goal is
ro put patients back in touch with reality, by way of 'a continual
process
whereby staff present current information ... in every
interaction, remind-
ing the patient of time, place and person, and providing a
commentary on
events' (Holden and Woods 1982: 51).
The sociolinguist Karen Grainger (1998) carried out
ethnographic
fieldwork in a number of hospitals where RO was practised. Her
analysis
focuses on the problems and conflicts that the prescribed ways
of com-
municating created for both patients and staff. In practice, she
observed
that staff did not observe the rules of RO consistently.
Sometimes, for
instance, they would enter into patients' 'confused' fantasies
(e.g. that
they were someone else or somewhere else) because this made it
easier to secure co-operation with routines like washing or
dressing.
Conversely, there were occasions when patients made coherent
factual
statements about current events, and carers denied that these
corresponded
to reality. One patient who complained that the bath water was
too
cold was informed that it was really 'nice and warm'; another
who
referred to being 'alone' was reminded that she was surrounded
by other
patients.

Grainger relates her observations to the conflicting realities and
asym-
metries of power that exist in care institutions. The 'official'
reality of the
institution, as represented in its mission statement or the
literature given to
relatives, does not coincide with reality as perceived by front-
line care
workers, and that in turn differs from the reality experienced by
elderly
patients. Power differences are highly relevant in these
circumstances.
Though carers are not a powerful group, one power they do have
is the
power to present their own definition of reality as more valid
than that of
a confused elderly patient. They also have a motive to do this,
precisely
because their working conditions disempower them.
Acknowledging and
dealing with the reality of patients' discomfort or distress is
emotionally
challenging and makes it more difficult for hard-pressed carers
to get
through their daily routine.
Grainger also points out that the external realities emphasised
in RO
are unlikely to resonate with patients' perceptions, because of
their
remoteness from institutional life:
70 COMMUNICATIOt',) CULTURE

For many residents ... their entire world consisted of spending
night-
times in the dormitory . . . and day-times sitting in a chair in the
dayroom. Heat was kept at a constant level, the same group of
uni-
formed staff came and went around them, there was rarely a
chance to
go outside the room, let alone outside the hospital ... It is my
uiew
that external reality (i.e. the date, day, time, year, address) can
have
had little significance for these people.
(Grainger 1998: 52)
Grainger wonders how far the confusion of elderly patients is
produced
by the regime of the institution itself, as opposed to by clinical
conditions
like dementia. Patients' 'confused' relationship to the external
world is not
simply a linguistic or cognitive problem, but reflects their
social isolation,
the monotony of their routine and their powerless position in
the institu-
tional hierarchy. RO does not address these problems, and may
even exac-
erbate them by imposing on elderly patients a definition of
'reality' that
denies their lived experience.
CASE 3
Problems of 'skill': criteria for defining and assessing
'communication
skills' are often vague, subjectil!e or simply vacuous, and there

is little
critical reflection on underlying principles.
An important characteristic of communication culture is its
concern with
the explicit teaching and assessment of communication skills.
This
the activity of 'communication' to be broken down into discrete
elemc:~nt:s,
which can be taught and assessed; assessment also requires that
criteria
devised to distinguish various levels of performance. But the
highly ._,v'n")"'"'
tualised nature of social interaction makes this enterprise highly
pr<)D!emt"
atic. To illustrate the problem, let us examine the level 2 NVQ
Vocational Qualification) in Social Care, a nationally accredited
course
the UK designed for trainees who work, for instance, as
assistants in
dential care homes.
Assessment for NVQ courses is 'competence based' - assessors
COJtlSilclt:
portfolios of evidence compiled by the learner to show s/he bas
deJrnons1:ralt¢
the particular skills and compentencies that are required for the
award slhe is seeking. 'Communication' is a category for
assessment in
NVQ courses, though the required skills and competencies vary
with the
of work as well as the level of the award. Below I reproduce
seven criteria
which Social Care trainees' communication skills are assessed at
level 2.

DEBORAH CAMERON 71
1 Effective communication is promoted in ways consistent with
the
worker's role.
2 Communication with an individual is consistent with her/his
under-
standing, preferred form of communication and manner of
expression.
3 The manner, level and pace of communication is appropriate
to the
individual's abilities and personal beliefs and preferences.
4 Any obstacles which may make communication difficult are
minimised.
5 Effective communication is encouraged by appropriate facial
expres-
sion, body language, sensory contact, position and environment.
6 Where the initial form of communication is not effective,
different
approaches are used or sought.
7 Information given by an individual is checked with her/him
for accuracy.
(source: NVQ Assessment Specification and Record Sheet,
Element O.e)
This list illustrates how difficult it is to break communication
down into
a set of discrete skills, and to produce meaningful criteria for

assessing its
quality. One noticeable feature of the list is the overlap between
supposedly
different criteria (what is the difference between 2. and 3., or 4.
and 6.?
Does L not just subsume all the others?). Another is the lack of
clarity
about what key terms mean. The words 'appropriate' and
'effective' appear
in several criteria, begging the question of what will count as
'appropriate'
or 'effective'. (If we take criterion S., for instance, what is an
'appropriate
facial expression'?} 'Appropriate' and 'effective' are terms
whose meanings
are inherently context-dependent. But if context is all, if good
communica-
tion means neither more nor less than a way of interacting that
is appropri-
ate and effective in the context of a particular interaction, then
it might be
argued that general performance criteria for communication are
vacuous.
In practice, assessors will fill the vacuum with their own
judgements. But
judging what is appropriate communication in care settings is
not like
judging whether, say, a trainee electrician has followed
appropriate safety
procedures. There is little argument about what constitutes safe
practice
when dealing with electricity, for this is fundamentally a
technical issue. But
the question of what constitutes appropriate behaviour to clients
inevitably

has a moral and ideological dimension. Therefore, it is
important to give
trainees the opportunity to discuss- and reflect critically upon-
the beliefs
and values that underpin judgements on communication in care
settings. If
these are presented as simply common sense, there is no way to
resolve the
problems and contradictions which may arise in real-world
situations.
For example, criterion 3. in the NVQ list, which states that
communica-
tion in care settings should be 'appropriate to the individual
[clientfs ...
personal beliefs', might look like an uncontroversial statement
of the
obvious. But what are the implications for black or gay carers
dealing with
clients whose personal beliefs are racist or homophobic? Does
meeting the
72 COMlvUNlCATlON CUlTURE
NVQ standard require them to abdicate their own right to
respectful treat-
ment? If not, how should they deal with interactions where a
client's preju-
dices become overt? This is not some abstruse philosophical
problem with
no place in a vocational training programme, but a matter of
immediate
practical relevance for many care workers. But the competence-
based

schemes that are typical of communication training leave little
space for
reflection on issues of this kind. That might prompt questions
about the
ability of such schemes to produce 'skilled' workers; for skill is
not just a
matter of being able to act in certain ways, it also requires a
principled
understanding of why you do what you do.
CONCLUSION
I have suggested that there are problems with the application of
currently
favoured approaches to communication in the field of health and
social
care. Am I saying then that communication skills training is
useless? Not
entirely: the mere fact of drawing attention to questions of
communication
may have a useful awareness-raising function. Some genres of
care-talk
(such as counselling and medical history taking) are founded on
principles
that do require explicit teaching; many benefit from practice in
'safe' situ-
ations where poor performance will not do serious harm.
Yet a lot of what goes on under the heading of communication
skills
training is of unproven value. In research carried out in
commercial service
organisations (Cameron 2000), I asked managers whether
training had any
measurable impact on recipients' subsequent performance.
Though they aU

had an opinion, not one was able to produce any non-anecdotal
evidence
to support it: they did not carry out systematic evaluations.
Responses to
my follow-up question - a diplomatically-worded version of
'why do you
spend money on training when you don't know if it works?'-
were ger1er•·
ally along the lines of 'our competitors do it'. I detected,
however,
other factors at work.
One was the need managers felt to regulate the behaviour of
ind·
employees, subordinating their individual styles to a
corporate style or brand. They cared less whether training
'skilled' communicators than whether it produced 'standard' '-
"''uu•u•u .... ,
tors who all followed the same rules. The second factor was a
belief in
almost magical power of messages to determine the behaviour
of the ret:m·,
ient. Words, phrases or gestures, used in just the right way,
were "'""'"'"'"'"v'
by many of my informants with the ability to clinch the sale,
defuse
argument, win the customer's lifelong loyalty. This magical
thinking
overt in magazine articles and adverts for 'inspirational'
business sernmtar:if
which are full of the 'seven secrets of X' and the 'ten top tips
about Y'.
miracle solutions rarely hold up when put to the test in a real-
life

DEBORAH CAMERON 73
I once chaired a panel interviewing candidates for an
administrative
position in my University department. The last candidate, when
asked 'do
you have any questions for us?', replied: 'where is your
organisation going
and where does it want to be in five years' time?' Afterwards, a
panellist
remarked that this candidate must have been on a course where
the ques-
tion was presented as an example of effective interview
technique. But we
all agreed that in this case it had not been effective at all. For
one thing it
came across as glib and formulaic. For another, it assumed an
attitude to
change and a collective commitment to corporate objectives at
odds with
academic culture. The candidate's 'magic words' did not fit the
context,
and their effect on us was negative.
Attempts to promote 'better communication' will not succeed
unless
they are based on an understanding that all human
communication is
necessarily embedded in social contexts and relationships. Since
these are
complex and variable, there is no single 'right way' to
communicate, no
universally applicable 'magic words', and no quick fix for every
problem.
'Skilled' communicators are those with the resources (linguistic,

intellec-
tual and experiential) to reflect on the context and the
relationships
involved in a particular communicative event, and in the light of
that
reflection, gauge the effects of different ways of interacting.
Without this
deeper dimension, communication skills training becomes a
superficial
exercise, of little benefit either to trainees themselves or to the
recipients of
their professional attentions.
REFERENCES
Berne, E. (1966) The Games People Play, New York: Grove
Books.
Cameron, D. (1995) Verbal Hygiene, London: Routledge.
Cameron, D. (2000) Good To Talk? Living and Working in a
Communication
Culture, London: Sage Publications
Fairclough, N. (1992) Discourse and Social Change, Cambridge:
Polity Press.
Gervasio, A. and Crawford, M. (1989) 'Evaluations of
assertiveness: a critique and
speech act reformulation', Psychology of Women Quarterly 13:
1-25.
Giddens, A. (1991) Modernity and Self-Identity: Self and
Society in the Late
Modern Age, Cambridge: Polity Press.
Grainger, K. (1998) 'Reality Orientation in institutions for the
elderly: the view

from interactional sociolinguistics',]ourna/ of Aging Studies 12
(1): 39-56.
Holden U.P. and Woods, R.T. (1982) Reality Orientation:
Psychological
Approaches to the 'Confused' Elderly, Edinburgh: Churchill
Livingston.
Kirzinger, C. and Frith, H. (1999) 'Just say no? The use of
conversation analysis in
developing a feminist perspective on sexual refusal', Discourse
and Society 10:
293-316.
Rakos, R. {1991) Assertiveness Training: Theory, Training and
Research, London:
Routledge.

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