Collaborative Working Sample Paper

This assignment includes three parts,

Part A 300 words.

Virtually every imaginable undertaking in today’s social and business environment demands at least some joint effort in order to accomplish certain goals, hence making cooperation an essential skill in many sectors of the work world (Huxham, 2003). Collaborative Working Sample Paper Collaborative working is also known as joint or partnership working covering a variety of ways in which groups or organizations can work together to achieve a  common goal (Robles, 2012).

I was recently involved in a collaborative charitable experience aimed at collecting foodstuffs, clothes and other necessities for purposes of helping thousands of victims in Louisiana recently affected by floods. This was a joint effort of the local government and members appointed at every locality to conduct such an exercise. I was appointed to head it. The exercise impacted me positively as it honed my communication skills, decision making, leadership and problem solving skills. However, it had some negative impacts worth noting. For instance, it amounted to group conflicts, longer times of making vital decisions, high costs of collaboration, ambiguity in role definition and the incidence of group think where stronger personalities push for what they believe is right and must be implemented. According to Small  (2002), collaborative efforts cannot go down without any hitches which may act as disadvantages.

Overall, I was able to learn and realize a couple of my own strengths as a collaborator. First, I knew that I was disciplined in the face of many issues that faced me. In addition, I was able to realize that I was fast into adapting to rapid changes not forgetting my ability to bring people together into one forum and explaining to them issues that needed urgent attention. I was also able to realize that my strengths also lie in the ability to undertake responsibilities assigned with military precision.

PART B: Individual Annotated Bibliography

Ryan, P. (2010). Don’t insist on English. Ted Talks) Retrieved from: http://www. ted. com/talks/patricia_ryan_ideas_in_all_languages_not_just_english. html.

Patricia Ryan is a professional speaker and an English teacher who advised against of insisting on English as a global language. Patricia was of the idea that creating barriers is risky as we may not know what dies with languages. She insists on celebrating diversity and using it to break barriers.

Smith, P. (2003). Talking wrong. Rethinking School, 18(1).

In her essay, Smith talks of a society that has put standards on the English language. She goes on to argue how the society, through time, has somehow created a “proper” or the “right” way in which people are expected to speak. Differences in dialect, for instance, makes one feel ashamed making one feel pressurized to change how to speak.Collaborative Working Sample Paper

Harry, R. (2013). It’s time to challenge the notion that there is only one way to speak English. Retrieved from: https://www.theguardian.com/books/2013/dec/31/one-way-speak-english-standard-spoken-british-linguistics-chomsky

Ritchie echoes the ideas of Ryan and Smith. He is against the notion that English should only be spoken in a given manner. He is against the standardization of the English language or a idea that there should be a standard for speaking English calling for people to challenge such an idea.

Kincaid, J. (1991). On seeing England for the first time. Transition, (51), 32-40.

Here, Kincaid is angry at how one culture and language seems to exercise some form of control over her culture. She expresses her viewpoint of how her culture gets thrown aside by the dominating culture and a new one expected to be adopted as soon as possible.

Adichie, C. (2009). Chimamanda Adichie: The danger of a single story [Video file].

Adichie questions why there is a situation in the society where complex human beings and other situations are reduced to a single identifiable narrative. She gives a disturbing example of how Africans, for example, tend to be regarded as poor and pitiable and starving people with flies in their faces.

PART C

Topic: Why is the way we use language important? Can the way we use language be significant politically or socially as well as personally?

Setting: Scene opens in the teacher’s lounge of York University. There are two doors that enter into the room. Between those two doors is a table with coffee and other refreshments. In the centre of that room are two couches and chairs placed in a circle with a table in the middle. Seated on the couches are colleagues and friends Patricia Smith and Chimamanda Adichie.

Patricia S.

What was it like growing up in Nigeria?

Chimamanda

Not how you might think. I grew up in a middle class family reading American and British kids books, with very idealized characters.

Patricia S.Collaborative Working Sample Paper

What exactly do you mean by idealized?

Chimamanda

Well the characters in the books I read were always white and always asked about the weather, drank ginger beer; things you would stereo typically think of American and British people. In fact they were so idealized I got the idea that people like me, from Africa, could never be in a storybook, or literature in general. Simply put, the characters were so idealized with authors depicting them as individuals lacking human flaws. They were “supreme beings.”

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Patricia S.

So you felt alienated?

Chimamanda

Yes, it’s actually a lot like what I was talking about in my lecture today. It’s the danger of talking about a single story. What do you stand to gain by depicting a group of people into a single narrative?

(Harry Ritchie enters the room with an empty coffee mug and overhears the conversation between Patricia S. and Chimamanda)

Patricia S.

Truth be told, your story reminds me of my mother’s. That feeling of alienation and loneliness. A level of shame and worthlessness. The feeling that your culture and history needs to be suppressed. That feeling you get when the larger society throws you under the bus for not speaking “standard” or “proper” English. Do you think this notion comes from standard written English?

Harry

I don’t mean to interrupt but I would have to say it absolutely does. In fact, I would say it again.Collaborative Working Sample Paper Take for example the Proto-Indo Europeans, an ethnic community whose homeland was located in the Caspian Sea at around 3,300 BC. The remaining descendants still practice much of their culture with a language consisting of their original dialect. Shockingly, a look at what goes on today is a crying shame. Whenever they speak or write, “modern linguists” tend to perceive them as a people with poor language. I think the privilege of standard written English is based on the prejudice of the judger. The judgments that have been made about languages not considered standard includes the bias that it may be lazy, slow, or even being the presumed unpleasantness of a particular urban accent.

Patricia S.

Those are the exact reasons my mother felt as though she needed to change her dialect into what was considered the “right” way to speak. She harbors feelings of disgust based on society’s emphasis on those who do not fit a profile of what is pictured as “proper” or “standard.”

Harry

Even in the education system of today you can see that only standard English is accepted and any form of non-standard English dialect would consider that the writer is uneducated or deficient. Much worse, if non-standard-speaking children persist in using non-standard English, especially non-standard grammar, chances of them not progressing are so high.

Orwell

It’s ridiculous! I’m sorry to interrupt you here, but can’t you see that all of your problems come from the very nature of English? Can’t you see that this language is full of bad habits? Simply put, the English language is archaic and people are just using it imprecisely. Need I say more guys? Is it so hard to figure out that English language in use has always been vague and meaningless intended to hide the truth rather than express it?Collaborative Working Sample Paper

Harry

On that note Orwell, how about you consider the fact that standard English is what has been used by politicians for decades? This is significantly perceived to have set the standard of English.

Orwell

Yes Harry. Surprisingly, it resides in our history. It did not start last summer Sir! English has been a subject of abuse from politicians and writers, those responsible in addressing the public. Political speech and writing are largely the defense of the indefensible. That is, the actions of ruthless politicians can be defended, but only by using arguments that have no relation to professed aims of political parties. If we look back, we can see this from British colonization in India or even the dropping of atomic bombs on Japan. Let me bring you closer home, the greatest enemy of any clear language is insincerity.

(Patricia Ryan places her books in a corner of the room while listening to the conversation occurring)Collaborative Working Sample Paper

Chimamanda

I would have to agree that it’s not political. I happen to think it’s more of a social aspect. When I first moved to America I had a roommate that thought that simply because I was from Africa that I couldn’t speak English very well, and was surprised when I could speak it fluently.

Patricia R.

I’d rather believe standard written English is influenced by political power, especially concerning our educational system. English is indeed a major barrier for many brilliant students across the globe. There are students who are unable to enroll into universities and other institutions of learning for the simple reason of their lack of knowledge in the English language. English teachers have turned out to become the gatekeepers of the English language and anybody willing to enter into these institutions must satisfy them on grounds of their knowledge of the English language. Just look at an apt example of an African child from Kenya who created a solar powered lamp for his village. Is there room for him and others like him in a society that speaks “perfect” English? His brilliant mind could have excelled in an institution. That is unquestionable. But instead this poor soul is faced with the barrier of not being able to speak according to what is known as a standard of English by the larger and more dominant society. We should learn to give credit where it’s due despite differences in language. Don’t you think that too much focus on English is hampering the spread of ideas in other languages? Why are we using English as barrier? Why should the larger and dominant society that speaks the English language create conditionalities for those who do not speak “proper” English? Why all the English tests?Patricia S.Collaborative Working Sample Paper

My mother’s difference in dialect created a large barrier in trying to achieve her dreams. Yes, she had a job and placed food on the table but her hopes were interrupted by jobs that didn’t feel the need for her to have an input based on her lack of language skills not being up to par. My mother was ashamed of herself. Though she belonged to the society, she felt like an outsider.

Orwell

Difference in dialect? It doesn’t matter at this point because we hardly ever hear the truth from the way English is being used. Whether or not we share the same dialect, the way language can be manipulated makes it easy for someone to inhibit foolish desires. This is why we hear news in the passive voice, using cliches, dead metaphors and euphemisms, methods that aim to harm our capacity to think and analyze.

Patricia R.

Why should a difference in dialect or grammar take away from the intelligence behind the person who’s talking or their point? Don’t you think that if we cooperate we stand a chance of achieving and learning so much more than we know right now?Collaborative Working Sample Paper Don’t you think it’s time we woke up from the slumber we are in and celebrate diversity? Should we banish people based on differences in dialect? Dialect only? Really? Should we continue promoting English which risks prohibition millions of people from achieving their overall best? Sometimes a difference like that can be beneficial because the person speaking differently might have a different way of looking at a problem, and be able to suggest different angles in which to solve it. Creating barriers for them could be a matter of life and death as we don’t know what is hidden in different languages. Look at Einstein. Was he good in English? The answer is a stern No! And what contributions did he make despite him being dyslexic with no clear understanding of English? Enormous!! How many years would human beings have to wait do discover the theory of relativity if the English speaking world would have gone ahead and barred the German-born theoretical physicist? I will say once again, let’s not insist on English. Let us embrace all languages. I’m not against teaching or learning English but time we celebrated diversity and used to spread and break barriers that hamper creativity.

Orwell

There’s no way that would work. The moment the English language is influenced by foreign phrases, meaning is transformed. And it is in this transformation where the truth becomes hidden, shaped and even manipulated. There is no need for any of the hundreds of foreign phrases like “cul de sac”, “ancient regime” and “status quo”. Phrases like these need to be removed and replaced so that we can better understand each other.Collaborative Working Sample Paper Therefore, if we were to think about the fallacies of how English is being used today, we have to acknowledge its origins and how foreign influence has the potential to mask and transform older meanings.

Harry

You’re right, and although non-standard English falls equal linguistically to its standard version, or the fact that dialects are more cultivated grammatically in non-standard English makes it eccentric that the standard version and anything opposable to it is unacceptable in formal writing today.

Chimamanda

Yes and why can’t non-standard dialects be used in academic work? Using one standard language would most likely alienate people of different ethnical backgrounds. The people who read the work are always going to think that all the best ideas are coming from the English speaking world, and that would create a dangerous single story that no one from other backgrounds has anything intelligent to add to academic conversations.

Patricia R.

I’ve noticed that there are also advantages to using different dialects and languages to confront academic studies and problems. Just as an example; I once heard about two English scientists who were working with genetic strands. Now in the English language these strains were differentiated, and because of that they couldn’t solve their current issue with the genes. But when a German scientist stepped in, he was able to solve their problem because in his native language, the strains were considered the same. Dialect exists in a special area, and it does give a lot of people a sense of identity. If people abandon their dialects and switch to standard English, their language may die in the future. A language dies every 14 days. When a language dies, we don’t know what we lose with that language. Sadly enough, we seem to propagate English and globalize it. As it seems, English is the unprecedented global language.Collaborative Working Sample Paper

Patricia S.

How is it that we live in a world where we value empirical knowledge but have yet to appreciate the contributions different dialects, such as African-American English, has made in linguistics? Ebonics shows consistent internal logic, uses complex grammar and is used naturally to express thoughts and ideas but simply because it deviates from the standard, its use is commonly misinterpreted as ignorance. I can’t find a justifiable reason as to why other dialects of English should not be accepted in academic work. Being able to use African American vernacular English has allowed people like my mother to wholly express themselves as I’m sure it has for others. Why place a restriction on creativity?

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Orwell

What you think is creative is the collaborative work of sheer egoism, aesthetic enthusiasm, political and historical motives. Writers are simply vain, selfish and lazy and what lies beneath their motives is a   mystery. Collaborative Working Sample Paper A writer would never write a book if not driven by some demon who is incapable of resisting not understanding. That demon can very well reflect the same instinct that makes a baby cry for attention.

Harry

As a writer in order to communicate effectively, it is important not only to think about what you say but how you say it. The language we speak profoundly shapes the way we think, how we see the world and the way we live our lives. Linguistic processes are prevalent in most fundamental thoughts and it unconsciously shapes our perceptions and notions. The languages we know and are familiar with are what forms our writing not in just the sense of the dialect we use but the content we actually write.

Orwell

Well then, if you all are convinced that language should be influenced by individuality, then there is no motive for me to argue. It is through this kind of thinking that has made the English language so sensitive to manipulation resulting in today’s fallacies and inaccuracies in communication. And if you fail to acknowledge this absurdity, which has plagued us for centuries, then it is best that we no longer continue this discussion.Collaborative Working Sample Paper

References

Adichie, C. (2009). Chimamanda Adichie: The danger of a single story [Video file].

Harry, R. (2013). It’s time to challenge the notion that there is only one way to speak English. Retrieved from: https://www.theguardian.com/books/2013/dec/31/one-way-speak-english-standard-spoken-british-linguistics-chomsky

Huxham, C. (2003). Theorizing collaboration practice. Public management review, 5(3), 401-423.

Kincaid, J. (1991). On seeing England for the first time. Transition, (51), 32-40.

Robles, M. M. (2012). Executive perceptions of the top 10 soft skills needed in today’s workplace. Business Communication Quarterly, 75(4), 453-465.

Ryan, P. (2010). Don’t insist on English. Ted Talks) Retrieved from: http://www. ted. com/talks/patricia_ryan_ideas_in_all_languages_not_just_english. html.

Small, R. V. (2002). Collaboration… Teacher librarian, 29(5).

Smith, P. (2003). Talking wrong. Rethinking School, 18(1). Collaborative Working Sample Paper