just have a look at this......
and if you've got a taster watch this one
death of the author
Mr Jethro the writer loves the idea of death of the author .
Death of the author green-lights anything that Mr Jethro writes, the text doesnt come from Mr Jethro, but from all of us. All of cultures influences have gone into it, Mr Jethro's works changes meaning for each person reading it, Mr Jethro's works then goes onto influence everything else in culture, which then goes onto influence him. A massive feedback loop . Like an oroblous eating its own tale.
Jethro comes into conflict with Julia the artist because of death of the author. Julia see's herself as a facilitator, getting the individual characters to express themselfs, connecting with the creator god inside. Expressing and understanding their life through art. Jethro see's his work as an ether flowing from him, himself as a channel for the influence of culture. Jethro knows to understand his art relies on understanding culture and its influence on him. How can it be judged, when all it is a divining rod of the now. Like a radio Jethro tunes into what is out there and reflects it in his writting. How can he take artistic decisions when he himself is not repsonsible, It seems to Jethro that we are all mirrors reflecting something, not necessary ourselves, and Julias rather dictatorial approach of the artist way ,produces a structure which only reflects the artists own Narcissistic tendencies, focusing on what Julia see's as art , or how Julia see's how art is produced, rather than how culture abosorbs these influences and turns them up. Jethro believes that Julia's view of the art world , tho at first sight is all inclusive , will only lead to judgements between good art and bad art.
Jethro views most of Julias statements with suspicion. Jethro see's the statement "your creativity always leads you to truth and love" as particularly inflammatory , due to the high number of hardworking arms manufactures and weapon designers in the world . Mr Jethro also doesn't like the omnipresent suggestion of gods or higher powers in Julias statements, he doesn't believe in any superstition and that our spirits are not endowed by a mystical force forcing moral dilemmas of good or bad on us. Although Mr Jethro has negated production his work to "culture as a whole" Mr Jethro believes this culture to be a living breathing joined entity, where everyone has a role to play in it beyond a good/bad/beyond moral description. Julias statements are seen by Mr jethro as a security blanket designed to wrap the individual in so his eyes and mind are not melted by the white heat of universal choas/unity.
heres a few of julias statements
here is what wiki has to say about the death of the author
The Death of the Author is an essay by the French literary critic and theorist Roland Barthes. It was published in English in the American journal Aspen, no. 5-6 in 1967 and in 1968 in French in the magazine Manteia, no. 5. The essay later appeared in an anthology of his essays, Image-Music-Text (1977), a book that also included his "From Work To Text". The essay argues against incorporating the intentions and biographical context of an author in an interpretation of text, and says that writing and creator are unrelated.
In his essay, Barthes criticizes the method of reading and criticism that relies on aspects of the author's identity — his or her political views, historical context, religion, ethnicity, psychology, or other biographical or personal attributes — to distill meaning from the author's work. In this type of criticism, the experiences and biases of the author serve as a definitive "explanation" of the text. For Barthes, this method of reading may be apparently tidy and convenient but is actually sloppy and flawed:
"To give a text an Author" and assign a single, corresponding interpretation to it "is to impose a limit on that text."
Readers must separate a literary work from its creator in order to liberate it from interpretive tyranny (a notion similar to Erich Auerbach's discussion of narrative tyranny in Biblical parables). Each piece of writing contains multiple layers and meanings. In a well-known quotation, Barthes draws an analogy between text and textiles, declaring that a "text is a tissue [or fabric] of quotations," drawn from "innumerable centers of culture," rather than from one, individual experience. The essential meaning of a work depends on the impressions of the reader, rather than the "passions" or "tastes" of the writer; "a text's unity lies not in its origins," or its creator, "but in its destination," or its audience.
No longer the focus of creative influence, the author is merely a "scriptor" (a word Barthes uses expressly to disrupt the traditional continuity of power between the terms "author" and "authority"). The scriptor exists to produce but not to explain the work and "is born simultaneously with the text, is in no way equipped with a being preceding or exceeding the writing, [and] is not the subject with the book as predicate." Every work is "eternally written here and now," with each re-reading, because the "origin" of meaning lies exclusively in "language itself" and its impressions on the reader.
Barthes notes that the traditional critical approach to literature raises a thorny problem: how can we detect precisely what the writer intended? His answer is that we cannot. He introduces this notion in the epigraph to the essay, taken from Honoré de Balzac's story Sarrasine in which a male protagonist mistakes a castrato for a woman and falls in love with her. When, in the passage, the character dotes over her perceived womanliness, Barthes challenges his own readers to determine who is speaking, and about what. "Is it Balzac the author professing 'literary' ideas on femininity? Is it universal wisdom? Romantic psychology? … We can never know." Writing, "the destruction of every voice," defies adherence to a single interpretation or perspective. (Barthes returned to Sarrasine in his book S/Z, where he gave the story a rigorous close reading.)
Acknowledging the presence of this idea (or variations of it) in the works of previous writers, Barthes cited in his essay the poet Stéphane Mallarmé, who said that "it is language which speaks." He also recognized Marcel Proust as being "concerned with the task of inexorably blurring…the relation between the writer and his characters"; the Surrealist movement for employing the practice of "automatic writing" to express "what the head itself is unaware of"; and the field of linguistics as a discipline for "showing that the whole of enunciation is an empty process." Barthes' articulation of the death of the author is a radical and drastic recognition of this severing of authority and authorship. Instead of discovering a "single 'theological' meaning (the 'message' of the Author-God)," readers of text discover that writing, in reality, constitutes "a multi-dimensional space," which cannot be "deciphered," only "disentangled." "Refusing to assign a 'secret,' ultimate meaning" to text "liberates what may be called an anti-theological activity, an activity that is truly revolutionary since to refuse meaning is, in the end, to refuse God and his hypostases—reason, science, law."
Death of the author green-lights anything that Mr Jethro writes, the text doesnt come from Mr Jethro, but from all of us. All of cultures influences have gone into it, Mr Jethro's works changes meaning for each person reading it, Mr Jethro's works then goes onto influence everything else in culture, which then goes onto influence him. A massive feedback loop . Like an oroblous eating its own tale.
Jethro views most of Julias statements with suspicion. Jethro see's the statement "your creativity always leads you to truth and love" as particularly inflammatory , due to the high number of hardworking arms manufactures and weapon designers in the world . Mr Jethro also doesn't like the omnipresent suggestion of gods or higher powers in Julias statements, he doesn't believe in any superstition and that our spirits are not endowed by a mystical force forcing moral dilemmas of good or bad on us. Although Mr Jethro has negated production his work to "culture as a whole" Mr Jethro believes this culture to be a living breathing joined entity, where everyone has a role to play in it beyond a good/bad/beyond moral description. Julias statements are seen by Mr jethro as a security blanket designed to wrap the individual in so his eyes and mind are not melted by the white heat of universal choas/unity.
heres a few of julias statements
in order to be more creative you should no longer accept business calls at home after 6 o'clock
you are a channel for gods creativity, and your work comes from good
your dreams come from god and god has the power to accomplish them
your creativity always leads you to truth and love
your creativity always leads you to forgiveness and self forgiveness
creativity is the natural order of life. life is energy. pure creative energy
you should accept hope
you should act affirmatively
you should accept creative recovery
you should allow yourself to heal
you should accept god to help unfold your life
here is what wiki has to say about the death of the author
The Death of the Author is an essay by the French literary critic and theorist Roland Barthes. It was published in English in the American journal Aspen, no. 5-6 in 1967 and in 1968 in French in the magazine Manteia, no. 5. The essay later appeared in an anthology of his essays, Image-Music-Text (1977), a book that also included his "From Work To Text". The essay argues against incorporating the intentions and biographical context of an author in an interpretation of text, and says that writing and creator are unrelated.
In his essay, Barthes criticizes the method of reading and criticism that relies on aspects of the author's identity — his or her political views, historical context, religion, ethnicity, psychology, or other biographical or personal attributes — to distill meaning from the author's work. In this type of criticism, the experiences and biases of the author serve as a definitive "explanation" of the text. For Barthes, this method of reading may be apparently tidy and convenient but is actually sloppy and flawed:
"To give a text an Author" and assign a single, corresponding interpretation to it "is to impose a limit on that text."
Readers must separate a literary work from its creator in order to liberate it from interpretive tyranny (a notion similar to Erich Auerbach's discussion of narrative tyranny in Biblical parables). Each piece of writing contains multiple layers and meanings. In a well-known quotation, Barthes draws an analogy between text and textiles, declaring that a "text is a tissue [or fabric] of quotations," drawn from "innumerable centers of culture," rather than from one, individual experience. The essential meaning of a work depends on the impressions of the reader, rather than the "passions" or "tastes" of the writer; "a text's unity lies not in its origins," or its creator, "but in its destination," or its audience.
No longer the focus of creative influence, the author is merely a "scriptor" (a word Barthes uses expressly to disrupt the traditional continuity of power between the terms "author" and "authority"). The scriptor exists to produce but not to explain the work and "is born simultaneously with the text, is in no way equipped with a being preceding or exceeding the writing, [and] is not the subject with the book as predicate." Every work is "eternally written here and now," with each re-reading, because the "origin" of meaning lies exclusively in "language itself" and its impressions on the reader.
Barthes notes that the traditional critical approach to literature raises a thorny problem: how can we detect precisely what the writer intended? His answer is that we cannot. He introduces this notion in the epigraph to the essay, taken from Honoré de Balzac's story Sarrasine in which a male protagonist mistakes a castrato for a woman and falls in love with her. When, in the passage, the character dotes over her perceived womanliness, Barthes challenges his own readers to determine who is speaking, and about what. "Is it Balzac the author professing 'literary' ideas on femininity? Is it universal wisdom? Romantic psychology? … We can never know." Writing, "the destruction of every voice," defies adherence to a single interpretation or perspective. (Barthes returned to Sarrasine in his book S/Z, where he gave the story a rigorous close reading.)
Acknowledging the presence of this idea (or variations of it) in the works of previous writers, Barthes cited in his essay the poet Stéphane Mallarmé, who said that "it is language which speaks." He also recognized Marcel Proust as being "concerned with the task of inexorably blurring…the relation between the writer and his characters"; the Surrealist movement for employing the practice of "automatic writing" to express "what the head itself is unaware of"; and the field of linguistics as a discipline for "showing that the whole of enunciation is an empty process." Barthes' articulation of the death of the author is a radical and drastic recognition of this severing of authority and authorship. Instead of discovering a "single 'theological' meaning (the 'message' of the Author-God)," readers of text discover that writing, in reality, constitutes "a multi-dimensional space," which cannot be "deciphered," only "disentangled." "Refusing to assign a 'secret,' ultimate meaning" to text "liberates what may be called an anti-theological activity, an activity that is truly revolutionary since to refuse meaning is, in the end, to refuse God and his hypostases—reason, science, law."
feedback
The characters use feedback to change their behaviour. Doug uses feedback in his composing, using it to help him improvise on song memes. Jethro uses it to choose works for his texts and Mr Acker uses it to get upset. Acer uses it to choose a shopping item. Tank doesn't use feed back, you can't feedback to a tank.
Anyhow i could explain feedback but lets leave it to the wiki expert.
Feedback describes the situation when output from (or information about the result of) an event or phenomenon in the past will influence an occurrence or occurrences of the same (i.e. same defined) event / phenomenon (or the continuation / development of the original phenomenon) in the present or future. When an event is part of a chain of cause-and-effect that forms a circuit or loop, then the event is said to "feed back" into itself.
Overview
Feedback is a mechanism, process or signal that is looped back to control a system within itself. Such a loop is called a feedback loop. In systems containing an input and output, feeding back part of the output so as to increase the input is positive feedback; feeding back part of the output in such a way as to partially oppose the input is negative feedback.
In more general terms, a control system has input from an external signal source and output to an external load; this defines a natural sense (or direction) or path of propagation of signal; the feedforward sense or path describes the signal propagation from input to output; feedback describes signal propagation in the reverse sense. When a sample of the output of the system is fed back, in the reverse sense, by a distinct feedback path into the interior of the system, to contribute to the input of one of its internal feedforward components, especially an active device or a substance that is consumed in an irreversible reaction, it is called the "feedback". The propagation of the signal around the feedback loop takes a finite time because it is causal.
The natural sense of feedforward is defined chemically by some irreversible reaction, or electronically by an active circuit element that has access to an auxiliary power supply, so as to be able to provide power gain to amplify the signal as it propagates from input to output. For example, an amplifier can use power from its controlled power reservoir, such as its battery, to provide power gain to amplify the signal; but the reverse is not possible: the signal cannot provide power to re-charge the battery of the amplifier.
Feedforward, feedback and regulation are self related. The feedforward carries the signal from source to load.
Negative feedback helps to maintain stability in a system in spite of external changes. It is related to homeostasis. For example, in a population of foxes (predators) and rabbits (prey), an increase in the number of foxes will cause a reduction in the number of rabbits; the smaller rabbit population will sustain fewer foxes, and the fox population will fall back. In an electronic amplifier feeding back a negative copy of the output to the input will tend to cancel distortion, making the output a more accurate replica of the input signal.
Positive feedback amplifies possibilities of divergences (evolution, change of goals); it is the condition to change, evolution, growth; it gives the system the ability to access new points of equilibrium.
For example, in an organism, most positive feedback provide for fast autoexcitation of elements of endocrine and nervous systems (in particular, in stress responses conditions) and are believed to play a key role in morphogenesis, growth, and development of organs, all processes that are, in essence, a rapid escape from the initial state.[citation needed] Homeostasis is especially visible in the nervous and endocrine systems when considered at organism level. Chemical potential energy for irreversible reactions or electrical potential energy for irreversible cell-membrane current powers the feedforward sense of the process. However, in the case of morphogenesis, feedback may only be enough to explain the increase in momentum of the system, and may not be sufficient in itself to account for the movement or direction of its parts.
When a public-address system is used with a microphone to amplify speech, the output from a random sound at the microphone may produce sound at a loudspeaker that reaches the microphone such as to reinforce and amplify the original signal (positive feedback), building up to a howl (of frequency dependent upon the acoustics of the hall). A similar process is used deliberately to produce oscillating electrical signals.
Feedback is distinctly different from reinforcement that occurs in learning, or in conditioned reflexes. Feedback combines immediately with the immediate input signal to drive the responsive power gain element, without changing the basic responsiveness of the system to future signals. Reinforcement changes the basic responsiveness of the system to future signals, without combining with the immediate input signal. Reinforcement is a permanent change in the responsiveness of the system to all future signals. Feedback is only transient, being limited by the duration of the immediate signal.
Applications
Biology
In biological systems such as organisms, ecosystems, or the biosphere, most parameters must stay under control within a narrow range around a certain optimal level under certain environmental conditions. The deviation of the optimal value of the controlled parameter can result from the changes in internal and external environments. A change of some of the environmental conditions may also require change of that range to change for the system to function. The value of the parameter to maintain is recorded by a reception system and conveyed to a regulation module via an information channel. An example of this is Insulin oscillations.
Biological systems contain many types of regulatory circuits, both positive and negative. As in other contexts, positive and negative do not imply consequences of the feedback have good or bad final effect. A negative feedback loop is one that tends to slow down a process, whereas the positive feedback loop tends to accelerate it. The mirror neurons are part of a social feedback system, when an observed action is "mirrored" by the brain - like a self-performed action.
Feedback is also central to the operations of genes and gene regulatory networks. Repressor (see Lac repressor) and activator proteins are used to create geneticoperons, which were identified by Francois Jacob and Jacques Monod in 1961 as feedback loops. These feedback loops may be positive (as in the case of the coupling between a sugar molecule and the proteins that import sugar into a bacterial cell), or negative (as is often the case in metabolic consumption).
Any self-regulating natural process involves feedback and/or is prone to hunting. A well-known example in ecology is the oscillation of the population of snowshoe hares due to predation from lynxes.[citation needed]
In zymology, feedback serves as regulation of activity of an enzyme by its direct product(s) or downstream metabolite(s) in the metabolic pathway (see Allosteric regulation).
Hypothalamo-pituitary-adrenal and gonadal axis is largely controlled by positive and negative feedback, much of which is still unknown.
In psychology, the body receives a stimulus from the environment or internally that causes the release of hormones. Release of hormones then may cause more of those hormones to be released, causing a positive feedback loop. This cycle is also found in certain behaviour. For example, "shame loops" occur in persons who blush easily. When they realize that they are blushing, they become even more embarrassed, which leads to further blushing, and so on.[4]
Electronic engineering
The main applications of feedback in electronics are in the designs of amplifiers, oscillators, and logic circuit elements.
The processing and control of feedback is engineered into many electronic devices and may also be embedded in other technologies.
If the signal is inverted on its way round the control loop, the system is said to have negative feedback; otherwise, the feedback is said to be positive. Negative feedback is often deliberately introduced to increase the stability and accuracy of a system by correcting unwanted changes. This scheme can fail if the input changes faster than the system can respond to it. When this happens, the lag in arrival of the correcting signal results in unintended positive feedback, causing the output to oscillate or hunt[6] Oscillation is usually an unwanted consequence of system behaviour.
Harry Nyquist contributed the Nyquist plot for assessing the stability of feedback systems. An easier assessment, but less general, is based upon gain margin and phase margin using Bode plots (contributed by Hendrik Bode). Design to insure stability often involves frequency compensation, one method of compensation beingpole splitting.
The high-pitched squeal that sometimes occurs in audio systems, PA systems, and rock music is known as audio feedback. If a microphone is in front of a speaker that it is connected to, the noise put into the microphone will come out of the speaker. Since the microphone is in front of the speaker, the original sound (now coming from the speaker) goes back into the microphone. This happens over and over, getting louder each time. This process produces the squeal.
- Electronic feedback loops
- They are used to control the output of electronic devices, such as amplifiers. A feedback loop is created when all or some portion of the output from an electronic device is fed-back to the input. A device is said to be operating open loop if no output feedback is being employed and closed loop if feedback is being used. Electronic feedback loops take two forms: negative feedback loops and positive feedback loops.[7]
- Negative feedback loops
- They exist when the fed-back output signal is out of phase with the input signal. This occurs when the fed-back signal is anywhere from 90° to 270° with respect to the input signal. Negative feedback is generally used to correct output errors or to lower device output gain to a pre-determined level. In feedback amplifiers, this correction is generally for waveform distortion reduction or to establish a specified gain level. A general expression for the gain of a negative feedback amplifier is the asymptotic gain model.
- Positive feedback loops
- They occur when the fed-back signal is in phase with the input signal. Under certain gain conditions, positive feedback reinforces the input signal to the point where the output of the device oscillates between its maximum and minimum possible states. Positive feedback may also introduce hysteresis into a circuit. This can cause the circuit to ignore small signals and respond only to large ones. It is sometimes used to eliminate noise from a digital signal. Under some circumstances, positive feedback may cause a device to latch, i.e., to reach a condition in which the output is locked to its maximum or minimum state.
Software engineering and computing systems
Feedback loops provide generic mechanisms for controlling the running, maintenance, and evolution of software and computing systems.[8] Feedback-loops are important models in the engineering of adaptive software, as they define the behaviour of the interactions among the control elements over the adaptation process, to guarantee system properties at run-time. Feedback loops and foundations of control theory has been successful applied to computing systems. [9] In particular, they have been applied to the development of products such as IBM's Universal Database server and IBM Tivoli. From a software perspective, the autonomicMAPE loop proposed by researchers of IBM is another valuable contribution to the application of feedback loops to the control of dynamic properties and the design and evolution of autonomic software systems.[10] [11]
Social sciences
Reflexive feedback
A sociological concept that states a feedback association is created within a certain relationship whereby the subject/object that delivers a stimulus to a second subject/object, will in response receive the stimulus back. This first impulse is reflected back and forth over and over again.
Economics and finance
A system prone to hunting (oscillating) is the stock market, which has both positive and negative feedback mechanisms. This is due to cognitive and emotional factors belonging to the field of behavioural finance. For example,
- When stocks are rising (a bull market), the belief that further rises are probable gives investors an incentive to buy (positive feedback, see also stock market bubble); but the increased price of the shares, and the knowledge that there must be a peak after which the market will fall, ends up deterring buyers (negative feedback).
- Once the market begins to fall regularly (a bear market), some investors may expect further losing days and refrain from buying (positive feedback), but others may buy because stocks become more and more of a bargain (negative feedback).
George Soros used the word reflexivity, to describe feedback in the financial markets and developed an investment theory based on this principle.
The conventional economic equilibrium model of supply and demand supports only ideal linear negative feedback and was heavily criticized by Paul Ormerod in his book "The Death of Economics", which, in turn, was criticized by traditional economists. This book was part of a change of perspective as economists started to recognise that Chaos Theory applied to nonlinear feedback systems including financial markets.
World-system development
The hyperbolic growth of the world population observed till the 1970s has recently been correlated to a non-linear second-order positive feedback between the demographic growth and technological development that can be spelled out as follows: technological growth - increase in the carrying capacity of land for people - demographic growth - more people - more potential inventors - acceleration of technological growth - accelerating growth of the carrying capacity - the faster population growth - accelerating growth of the number of potential inventors - faster technological growth - hence, the faster growth of the Earth's carrying capacity for people, and so on.[12]
Education
Young students will often look up to instructors as experts in the field and take to heart most of the things instructors say. Thus, it is believed that spending a fair amount of time and effort thinking about how to respond to students may be a worthwhile time investment. Sometimes the term "feedback" is used loosely or carelessly to refer to what is more accurately called educational reinforcement. Some general types of reinforcement that can be used in many types of student assessment are:
| Confirmation | Your answer was incorrect. |
| Corrective | Your answer was incorrect. The correct answer was Jefferson. |
| Explanatory | Your answer was incorrect because Carter was from Georgia; only Jefferson called Virginia home. |
| Diagnostic | Your answer was incorrect. Your choice of Carter suggests some extra instruction on the home states of past presidents might be helpful. |
| Elaborative | Your answer, Jefferson, was correct. The University of Virginia, a campus rich with Jeffersonian architecture and writings, is sometimes referred to as "Mr. Jefferson's University". |
self help books
The self- help phenominum has empowered us all to manipulate the social constructs around us.
if it works for me its gonna work for you. It will work for you . follow me.
many of the characters are based on types in this book
Dealing with people you can't stand.
you can read a great deal of it here
In it various difficult personality types are listed (generally with very militaristic names), and tips on what their personality is and how it can be "decommissioned" using various techniques, incidentally if your wondering where this book is coming from intellectually there is a very small, very telling section at the back entitled "What if people can't stand me?", the author doesn't nesiceraly think this is a problem....
Here's a review
here is a rough apraise of the 10 personality types, and how t combat themThe concept of this book is pretty simple and straightforward: choose a person you can't stand, identify which of the 10 personality types mentioned in the book they most closely match, and follow the specific recommendations to immunize yourself against further annoyance. The 10 types listed in the book are:1. The Tank2. The Sniper3. The Grenade4. The Know-It-All5. The Think-They-Know-It-All6. The Yes Person7. The Maybe Person8. The Nothing Person9. The No Person10. The WhinerThe book is divided into two main sections. The first section focuses on communication - specifically, around effective practices and common mistakes. Active listening, tone of voice, and other skills are highlighted here and this section is a blend of theory and broadly actionable advice.The second section of the book highlights each of the 10 personality types listed above and gives "teachable equivalent" ways to deal with them effectively. Each of the ten chapters in the section starts with a fictitious scenario that will be familiar to anyone who has worked with people (as opposed to dogs and trees). Action steps are outlined for dealing with the personality type, along with some background and reasoning for the recommendations. Finally, the fictitious scenario is revisited, this time with a resolution aided with the chapter's recommendations.
THE 10 MOST UNWANTED BEHAVIORS
Following is a brief summary of each of the ten "unwanted behaviors" described in the book:
THE TANK
Positive Intent: Get the task done.
Characteristics: Tanks are controlling, assertive, aggressive, and confrontational, and have short attention spans.
Your Goal: Command the Tank's respect.
Communication Plan:
* Hold your ground when she approaches.
* Tactfully interrupt the attack by repeating her name. Do not counterattack.
* Quickly backtrack the main point to show that you understand the situation.
* Redirect the Tank by showing how you share a common goal of getting the task done.
* Maintain peace and earn her respect by assigning a time and conditions for following up on the issue once she has cooled down.
For example, "Boss, Boss, Boss. I understand that you think the budget should be finished by now, but I believe that the extra time I'm investing in the budget now will end up saving us time and money in the future. I'll be finished with the budget by io am tomorrow, and I look forward to your feedback."
THE SNIPER
Positive Intent: Get the task done and/or get appreciation.
Characteristics: Snipers try to make you look foolish through rude comments, sarcastic behavior, and focusing negative attention on you.
Your Goal: Bring the Sniper out of hiding.
Communication Plan:
* As soon as the Sniper snipes, stop what you're doing, and backtrack whatever he said.
* Remain calm and ask questions to determine the relevancy or meaning of his snide comment(s).
* Determine why the Sniper may have a grudge against you.
* Suggest solutions for a civil future.
There is also "Friendly Sniping," which typically is done in a playful way. In such cases, the Sniper's primary intention is getting appreciation through attention-getting comments. In this type of situation, it is best to address the Sniper in private by communicating your feelings directly. The Sniper may not have realized he was upsetting you and may change his behavior quickly.
THE KNOW-IT-ALL
Positive Intent: Get the task done.
Characteristics: Know-It-Alls are confident, knowledgeable, and competent. They have a low tolerance for errors and contradictions, and they often view new ideas unfavorably.
Your Goal: Open the person's mind to new ideas.
Communication Plan:
* Be prepared by knowing your stuff.
* Backtrack her views respectfully to acknowledge her expertise.
* Address your own doubts about your idea before the Know-It-All has a chance to do so, and then present a solution or reasoning for backing your ideas.
* Present your views indirectly: "I believe...," "Perhaps..." "Maybe..."
* Turn the person into a mentor.
THE GRENADE
Positive Intent: Be appreciated.
Characteristics: Grenades unexpectedly blow up about things that do not relate to the current situation because they do not feel appreciated. Grenades typically feel remorse over their actions after the blow-up.
Your Goal: Take control of the situation.
Communication Plan:
* Get the Grenade's attention by using a friendly tone and language.
* Aim for the Grenade's heart by showing your genuine concern for his problem.
* Reduce the intensity of the blow-up by talking him down to a normal level of communication.
* Give the Grenade time to cool off before pursuing a discussion or resolution.
* Prevent future grenade attacks by finding out what sets him off.
THE THINK-THEY-KNOWS-IT-ALL
Positive Intent: Be appreciated.
Characteristics: Think-They-Know-It-Alls are assertive and attention-seeking. They learn just enough about a subject to sound as if they know it all. They exaggerate often and may believe what they say.
Your Goal: Catch her in the act, and stop the flow of wrong information.
Communication Plan:
* Give the person a little attention through backtracking.
* Ask some revealing clarification questions in order to get specifics: Who, specifically? What day?
* Tell the facts using documented information.
* Give her a break and resist the temptation to embarrass her. Have compassion.
* Break the cycle through gentle confrontation.
THE 'YES' PERSON
Positive Intent: To get along with others.
Characteristics: The Yes Person says "yes" to everything in an attempt to gain approval from others. He commits to too many things and then has difficulty following through.
Your Goal: Get commitments you can count on.
Communication Plan:
* Make it safe for him to be honest with you when he cannot commit to helping you.
* Acknowledge his honesty and clear communication.
* Help him learn how to plan.
* Ensure commitment by having him summarize the commitment, write down the commitment, and/or write down the negative consequences if he does not follow through.
* Strengthen the relationship by having him talk about his feelings; focus on what he does correctly; and project positive intent.
For example: "Student worker, I know you are expected to help many different people in our department, so please come talk to me whenever you are overburdened with projects. We can work together to figure out how you can prioritize your time and finish your projects. Also, I will not be upset if you cannot help me with my report on Monday. However, if you tell me you can finish my report in time for my meeting but end up not having time to do it, I'll be very disappointed. I will look unprepared for my meeting and will lose the respect of my coworkers. I know you are a hard worker and do so much for our department, so I want you to know you can always talk to me."
THE MAYBE PERSON
Positive Intent: Get along with others.
Characteristics: The Maybe Person cannot make decisions for fear of the consequences and procrastinates to the point where the decision makes itself.
Your Goal: Help the person learn to think decisively.
Communication Plan:
* Establish and maintain a comfort zone and listen to her concerns.
* Surface conflicts and clarify her options.
* Use a decision- making system such as listing the pros and cons of a certain decision.
* Reassure her that there are no perfect decisions and then ensure follow- through of her decision.
THE NOTHING PERSON
Positive Intent: Get along with others and/or be appreciated.
Characteristics: Nothing Persons give no verbal feedback.
Your Goal: Persuade the person to talk.
Communication Plan:
* Plan enough time and be patient. The Nothing Person may take time to open up.
* Ask open-ended questions expectantly: "What are your thoughts on this issue?"
* Use humor and outlandish exaggerations or suggestions to get him to react and to ease any tension.
* Propose a certain answer and wait to see if he responds.
* Reference future consequences if he decides to remain silent.
THE NO PERSON
Positive Intent: Get the task right.
Characteristics: The No Person is focused on perfection, fearful of making mistakes, and believes everything will go wrong. The No Person finds the negative in everything and everyone and passes her negativity on to others.
Your Goal: Transition to problem solving.
Communication Plan:
* Do not waste your time trying to make her be positive. Do not let her bring you down.
* Use her as a resource. She can be your early warning system for potential issues since she always looks for the negative anyway.
* Do not push her to take action; this will only slow her down. Give her time to change her mind and communicate her thoughts.
* Assume the worst before she has the chance to do so. For example, bring up the negatives before she does; this may force her to see some of the positives.
* Acknowledge her good intent by praising her for her concern for details and for her high standards. This may change her outlook on issues, events, and morale.
THE WHINER
Positive Intent: Get the task right.
Characteristics: Whiners are unable to focus on what is right in any given situation. Whiners wallow in their worries and rarely offer solutions.
Your Goal: Form a problem-solving alliance.
Communication Plan:
* Listen for the main points and write them down. This shows the Whiner that you are listening, and it can prevent the Whiner from having the opportunity to repeat what was already said.
* Tactfully interrupt and ask the Whiner for help in clarifying the specifics of his issue.
* Shift the focus to solutions by asking him what he wants accomplished; then, develop a solution that focuses on the immediate future. For example, "Whiner, let's meet again next month to see whether it is feasible to cut $200 weekly from your budget."
* Draw the line: If he is unwilling to work toward a solution and continues to whine, tell him through verbal and non-verbal communication that you do not want to hear his complaints. For example, "Whiner, your concerns are important to me, but there is no point in discussing this issue further if nothing can be resolved."
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