The idea behind deconstructing skills is to break down unusually large concepts into smaller ideas so that they are simplified and seem less intimidating. When trying to learn a new skill, it is necessary to deconstruct it in order to know the specifics that matter. For instance, when comes to a skill such as cooking, it consists of several smaller chunks of skills which form the whole idea of cooking. In other words, cooking involves smaller skills such as clean up, preparation, shopping, and the actual cooking.
The crux of the argument in the video clip is challenging conventional wisdom on the idea of racism and sexism. In today’s modern society, the two are regarded as unacceptable. They are against the norms of social interaction. In order to understand essential elements in social interaction, one needs to understand the concepts of social inclusion as central to equality and discriminations as systematic exclusion in terms of psychological as well as material exclusion. The speaker also argues that if exclusion is a problem, inclusion does not necessarily have to be a solution. Superficial inclusion can also be a problem because it promotes injustice. In trying to challenge conventional wisdom, the speaker gives an illustration by comparing racism and sexism. As part of social psychology, explicit and implicit attitudes form a central area of research and study. Explicit attitudes are deliberate and conscious. Implicit attitudes are automatically motivated. People are often unconscious about implicit attitudes that they do not even know whether they possess them. In this regard, a group of people or individuals can sometimes demonstrate racism and sexism explicitly or implicitly. One can express racist attitude towards others implicitly or explicitly. For instance, majority of white Americans tend to believe that they are prejudice or biased against people of color or women, but they have the implicit biasness towards women and other races. 80 percent of the American population would always say that they are not racist or sexist in any way, but research still reveals that up to 65 percent of the American population is racist and sexist. It is through this argument of implicit and explicit attitudes that form the basis of contemporary or modern racism and sexism.
The central idea in the article by Brown (2013) is the power of talk. According to the article, people get to be heard by the way they talk. It is easy to spot a competent person just listening to how he or she talks. The article argues that it is in human nature to judge whether a boss, peer, or colleague deserves our attention just by listening to what they say. The article also argues that this aspect of human beings leads to the problem of misjudgment. Essentially, different meanings are assigned to different behaviors of language. As a result, this leads to misjudgment because once we have decided in our minds that someone lacks competence, we tend not to give them a second chance to make an impression. For instance, the global society is male dominated. Therefore, in businesses and work places, the male style of speaking dominates. This could have an effect when a competent woman tries to speak or seek audience in the work place. In most cases, you will find women overlooked for promotion, interrupted or ignored when they try to speak.
In the work place, the talented and skilled employees need to be heard and appreciated or given credit for the work, they do. Diversity will not allow people to speak the same language. Men will tend to have a certain perception towards women and vice versa. However, in such an environment, irrespective of how diverse it is. Employees need to be heard and given their due credit. The remedies proposed by brown include developing a flexible approach to performance evaluation, mentoring, and work meetings. Every employee needs to adjust their style to their colleagues because they interact with them on a regular basis. The author agrees to the fact that in today's society, there is cultural diversity, and there is therefore needed for flexibility in responding to various styles of social interactions.
The article and the clip have similar arguments. They clip tends to argue that in as much as people would tend to say they are not racist or sexist, they have an implicit biasness towards people of other races and towards women. This implicit biasness always comes out in the unconscious. The article also brings out the same argument and that women in today’s modern society will occasionally face sexist responses from male colleagues. This does not necessarily mean that men are explicitly sexist but it is a nature that is suppressed in their subconscious. Brown (2013) therefore says that it imperative for people in the work place to become flexible and understand how to handle various styles of interaction. Both arguments make a lot of sense. The thing that struck me the most is the fact that people can develop certain attitudes without their awareness.
References
Tannen, D. (2013). The Power of Talk: Who Gets Heard and Why. The harvard Business Review, Vol 9977, pp 135-149 .
http://www.youtube.com./watch?v=CeDGkSCf2Fg
