1. Introduction
1.1 Background and rationale
Our team has chosen chapter 11 power and status to be the theoretical basis for the study of communication.
Our research project works on the notion that power and status are integral components of organizational communication and social behavior. Communication is said to be the lifeblood of all organizations, whether local or national, corporate or nonprofit, governmental or professional. Communication processes occur in every organizational activity. As communication pervades the organization, people are required to interact with one another. All interactive communication is purposeful, and to achieve this purpose, the individual engages in power activity. Power and status is an essential element of resource allocation, conflict, competition, decision making, planning, staff selection, and the whole range of management, supervisory, and leadership tasks. In a very real sense, power and status in use is merely organizational dynamics and the action of people in relationships
Power and status is a part of life. We have not yet learned how to create a society without power and status It is manifested in people’s social behavior in their aim to influence individual or group behavior to do something or to change in some way despite opposition or criticisms. In organizational context, power and status is the medium of leadership. Effective use of power and status earns a person the right to lead and, effective leadership in today’s complex business environment must depend on power use for success.
1.2 Purpose statement
The research question being addressed by this project is “How does a model communicate with inside and outside organizations to gain more status?”. The research question revolves around the views on power, status and organizational communication while focusing on models being an important part of the model industry.
The modeling industry requires the most communication techniques in all industries. Models face different kinds of people, travel to numerous locations of varied cultures and work with other professionals including the agency staff, photographers, fashion designers, hair stylists, media people etc. Good communication skills are a necessity.
From the study of the modeling industry, we know that being able to communicate well with different people is an asset to those who are not even working in the modeling industry. No matter what our career paths will be, it is undeniable and unavoidable that we will meet a lot of people. Internal wise, we have to learn to communicate well with our colleagues and bosses in order to give the best performance. External wise, we have to meet and collaborate with the stuff of other companies and other industries and get in touch with the consumers… etc.
Knowing how to communicate and gain mutual understanding is the key to success because we are constantly compromising and negotiating with one another.
While many people assume that the models are the most important ones in the modeling industry, it is not the case. Model is not the centre of the modeling universe. We can see this industry as a machine. Model can be seen as the motor, but can a motor run smoothly without fuel, water and other components? It certainly can’t. The co-ordination between modeling agencies, advertising companies and the stuff of different brands, etc are the key parts of the industry too. If any one of these is missing, these parts cannot operate in harmony and the motor cannot work.
And it’s the same with every industry, no matter how big people’s egos are, regardless of how big the projects are and how significant their posts are, they are only a part of the whole thing, without the assistance, support and compromise of others, they can achieve nothing. This is a valuable lesson we can draw from the modeling industry in order to apply it to any other industries. In other words, we can recognize the whole through the observation of the part.
2. Choice of organization
2.1 Background of host organization
STARZ PEOPLE which is both casting and modeling company, it was established in 1997 and specializes in the development of new faces. It promote models for editorial jobs, TV & print advertisements, shows, film projects and singing career. It has since emerged as one of Asia’s most progressive full service modeling and talent agencies. STARZPEOPLE has developed an important scouting team not only in Hong Kong, but also in Shanghai, in order to provide clients which quality models and service as well. This company led by Ms. Mee-Yian Yong specializes to discover new faces and promote them efficiently with high-quality editorials and transforming them into tomorrow’s top models. STARZ PEOPLE represents the region’s leading models such as Christine Au Yang, Vanessa Yeung and Eunis Chan. STARZ is also credited with sculpting the careers of models-turned-artistes Maggie Q, Rain Li, BoBo Chan, Niki Chow, Rachel Ngan, Shawn Yue and Tiffany Lee.
STARZPEOPLE works with clients like Bally, Chanel, DKNY, Escada, Fendi, Giorgio Armani, Gucci, Issey Miyake, Loewe, Prada, Salvatore Ferragamo and Versace; luxury watch brands Cartier, Omega and Piaget; leading haircare companies Loreal, Pantene, and Vidal Sassoon; internationally renowned skincare lines Mario Badescu, Olay, Pond’s and SK-II; telecommunications giants Motorola and Nokia; the world’s largest banks Chase Manhattan and HSBC; as well as the well-established airline British Airways etc. Moreover, they work for TV production houses, advertising agencies and photography studios.
2.2 Rational for choosing Starspeople
Starzpeople model agency was the organization that we have chosen for our research project. Today, there are more than hundreds of model agencies in Hong Kong. So why do we choose STARZPEOPLE but not others?
Starzpeople is one of the top 5 model agency in Hong Kong. It is also one of the leading agencies to provide professional modeling services in Asia. It has a very good reputation within the modeling industry. Besides, there are many top models such as Maggie Q, Eunis Chan and Vanessa Cheung etc. are from Starzpeople. Apart from this, it has a huge group of client roster such as DKNY, Prada, Fendi etc.
Our group did take this project seriously. From the first day, we bear the responsibilities to start and complete the project. We think the quality of an organization is important, especially the organization about modeling. Therefore, we seek for the best one to work on. We believed that, the better reputation of an organization, the more convincing our findings would be.
3. Literature review
3.1 Text book
To investigate how a model communicates with inside and outside organizations to gain more status, we first need to define a number of communication concepts, namely, status and communication.
First of all, I would like to define two key terms, namely status and communication. According to Organization Communication for Survival, the definitions of them are as follows:
Status
p A person’s role or position within a group or an organization
p Eg. good salaries/job title/size and location of office
p the thing many employees strive for more than pay
To give a concrete image of status, there are 2 main type of status symbol. They are the symbols which can be bought into the organization and which can be earned. For the visible and tangible status symbol, the typical symbol wants in organization are good salaries, job title, size and location of office and type of office furniture etc. And invisible and intangible status symbols, they are the respect of supervisions and peers etc. These kinds of symbol generally take years of hard work. From the book we know, status affects how some people respond to their jobs and how people interact with others who have status.
Communication
? The process by which individuals stimulate meaning in the minds of other individuals by means of verbal or nonverbal messages in the context of a formal organization.
To sum up, if quality communication occurs, one can get more status, such as respect from others.
Besides books, we have found another material for our literature review. That is three television shows from the reality show, America Next Top Model. It is because this show is much related to our topic and we can see so many in the videos.
In video 1, a participant, Brandy, lost her temper because she had waited for a long time for the photo shoot. She showed her bad attitude to the photographer and the art director. This gave them a bad impression.
In video 2, Brandy lost her temper again because she did not like the color of her eyebrows. This time, she has made the art director very angry. Finally, the organizer of the competition, Tyra Banks, came to have a speech on the bad attitude and told the participants this would affect the outcome of the competition.
In Video 3, another participant, Jade, complained about the makeup in the judging part. Her aggressive attitude gives the judges a very bad image on her. This would have a negative effect on her evolution during the competition.
3.1 Video
4. Methodology
Target interviewees
In order to investigate our research question, i.e. “How does a model communicate inside and outside his/her organization to gain more opportunities?” we have chosen five categories of interviewees in inside and outside our organization. Our host organization is Starz People. Our targeted interviewees are senior and junior models, a booker, and a manager from model agency for inside organization; a make-up artist and an employee from advertising company. The details of the interviewees are as follows:
Interviewees
Inside Organization
Outside Organization
Models
Manager
(mee-yian)
Make-up artist
(Sandy Wong)
Advertising Company
(Phoenix)
Vin Choi
Michael
Gordon
Gender
M
P
P
P
F
P
P
P
Age
20s
P
P
P
P
30s
P
40s
P
Experiences(Years)
5
9
5
20
3
3
Interview Language
(C=Cantonese; E=English)
C
C
C
E
E
C
Rationales for choosing these interviewees
There are several reasons for us to choose the above interviewees. For the model, apparently, they are the most related party in this research. By asking them questions, we can comprehend the importance of communication in modeling industry. For the booker and manager from Starz People, they are the main person who will arrange job to the models. They communicate most with the models and will affect the model’s career. They can tell us about the difference between good and bad communicators. Also, they have expertise knowledge in this industry who can tell us much about modeling. Lastly, for the make-up artist and advertising company, they are the outside organizations that the model will work with. We want to know if they have had any communication problem with the model, and how did they solve it and their impression of the models.
Method used
Due to different purpose of interviewing, we have set five sets of interview questions. Each has about 8 questions. Some of them are the same but some are specific. All of the interviews were done by face to face. This can notice their instant reaction and we can ask for clarifications. Except the manager from Starz People was done in her office, all the interviews were processed in Starbucks in Causeway Bay. And the interviews were done during October and November. In order to avoid making mistakes of the transcriptions, we have recorded all the interviews. We have used both Cantonese and English as our interview language. For Cantonese, it is because it is our mother tongue; interviewees will feel more comfortable when talking. And for English, it is because we can avoid translation errors and for the use of some professional terms.
5. Findings
5.1 Findings of models
Finding 1: To make people in this industry like you.
The opportunity of the models to be successful in the industry is mostly dependent on chances. Thus, getting more people to appreciate you and your work is one of the most effective ways to have more work opportunities and reach the top. The models’ fate in the industry is then based on how they value and establish interpersonal relations. Vin (our interviewee) said that, he do not like to social much, he can see that his opportunities are comparatively lower than other model.
Finding 2: To avoid disagreements and conflicts with people working in this industry
Models have to bear in mind that they should never offend other people who are working within the industry, particularly those who serve as the sources of their work opportunities. Gordon (our interviewee) gave us a real life example; he said if you offend a photographer, they will take revenge on you by just shooting on your less beautiful side of your face, besides, they will spread rumors around in order to attack your reputation. It does sounds quite silly, but in fact it is very common in this industry.
Finding 3: To accommodate yourself to the ever changing modeling industry
In every business industry, there are certain cultures and rules to be followed; in the modeling industry, the ability of the models to adapt to their environment is an important key to success. This ability of the models is typically termed as their dark sides. While models have natural talent and beauty to succeed, they must do other tactics in order to ensure their spot as top models. Agencies for example, would usually arrange gatherings or parties so that their models could meet various influential people. In other cases, models would have to do things against their will so as to become successful; models who fail to adapt with this type of environment on the other hand, acquire less work opportunities. Though using the models’ dark side is only optional, models and agencies use this strategy to climb their way easily to the top.
5.2 Findings of model agency
Finding 1: If the models can maintain a good relationship with their agents, they will gain considerable benefits.
Actually, the model and the agency share a certain level of partnership. The agent is responsible for selling the product to the market, which is the model. The agent is also the one responsible for generating work opportunities for the models. As the model represents the agency, the quality of the model must be ensured. The agent must then be very familiar with the models before promoting them to the clients. Naturally, if the model shares a good relationship with the agent, both will know each other better. With this relationship, the agent will give due priority to the model and offer more job opportunities outside the industry. In addition, the good relation between the two will encourage the agent to support the models and teach them regarding the nature of their jobs; this would help prepare the models during actual castings.
Finding 2: Models have to completely obey with their agents’ instructions.
The modeling business is a highly competitive industry. Hundreds of models compete over good work opportunities. If the models do not comply with the instructions of their agents, the agents could easily find a replacement. Out interviewee’s Mee-yian (STARZPEOPLE’a manager) said that, we will not force our models to listen to our opinions or follow our instructions, we will only suggest them to do so. If they do not listen to our advice, we cannot help. Since we are all adults, it is no meaning to force someone to do something. I wanted to help you but you don’t appreciate it, it is fine. Besides, there is always someone who is willing to listen.
Finding 3: Modeling agencies praise and value their models based on their obedience, working attitude, talents and reputation.
Appearance and talent are both essential factors for models aiming for praise, greater value and higher positions within the agency. However, their work attitudes, obedience, reputation and communication skills are also important. Mee-Yian (STARZPEOPLE’s manager) gave us a real life example, she said there was a model that has a perfect appearance and was very talent, but however, her attitude was terribly bad, always late to casting and showed no regret at all. She got so many complaints from outside the organizations. From time to time, she had less and less chances to go for casting. Frankly speaking, we wanted to lavish praise on her at first, we could see that she could be as top as Maggie Q, but she ruined it. At the end, we had terminated the contract with her.
5.3 Findings of outside organizations ( Makeup artist and Advertising company )
Finding 1: Models need to show their professional working attitude
Makeup artist sandy said that, In the modeling industry, good appearance alone does not guarantee success. A model’s fame depends on his or her appearance, experience, network and most important, good communication skill. This is a small industry, everything you do tonight is known the next day. If a model has a bad attitude, he or she will be notorious.
She also mentioned, it is common to see that some models are very self-conscious. They like to keep checking themselves in the mirrors when makeup artists do their makeup. Some even demand them to change the makeup the way models like it. All these behaviors can affect stylists or the clues emotions and performances.
Finding 2: Models need to avoid gossiping and spreading rumors around
People in this industry don’t like gossips and rumors. Once a junior model told the makeup artist that another model had a plastic surgery on her nose…another told her another model slept with a photographer to get more jobs. This is what we know from the makeup artist sandy. She said that She guesses the models are probably too bored just sitting there waiting to have their makeup done. She thinks it is not very nice to backstab others when they are working. There are already too much rumors in modeling industry, no one wants more. If models are being discovered spreading rumors all around, it can definitely affect their reputation.
Finding 3: Models have to be able to social with the clients
When models meet with clients in the very first time, models themselves have to show their best to clients so as to increase the chances of being selected to work for the new jobs. The other way to say, clients are the ones who employ models and pay for the jobs. Clients have the right to demand from models. So models are responsible to satisfy clients’ wants in anyways.
6. Discussion and Implication
6.1 Comparison between literature review and data given by interviewees
There are similarities between our findings and the literature review.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4RrrWWJm5KE ( Video one )
In video one, model Brandy showed her bad working attitude. She was the last one to go for shooting, she disliked waiting for so long and she complained a lot. Her attitude pissed people off. Both photographer and stylist were discontent with her bad attitude and it affected their working emotions.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4T5ryrqd0-I ( Video two )
In video two, the same model Brandy was unsatisfied with the makeover arranged by Tyra banks. When everyone followed the instructions given by the stylist, she just yelled in the salon and had unreasonable complains. She again pissed people off including Tyra banks, and she was told that her bad attitude will definitely affect the judging, which means she may be eliminated because of this.
Two videos present the same ideas with our findings from interviewees. If models want to gain more status, they have to completely obey with their agencies’ instructions. Being model is about accepting changes. If models act egotistically and refuse to co-operate with others all the time, they are putting themselves in a very unfavorable situation since there are a lot of people out there who possess better qualities, finding one to replace you is no hard work at all. The crucial factor to success depends on weather or not models are willing to trust the instructions given by the agency and give their best to meet the requirements.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hvKcv1y98Q4 ( Video three )
In video three, when model Jane and the judges look at the photo, both do not think it was a potential shot. At that moment, Jane shirks all the responsible to the make up artist. The judge then said, as a professional model, they should accept everything the stylist gave her without blaming. Since all the make-up artist and stylists are professional. Of course they think it is good if they put it on you.
It is similar to our findings from outside organization. Model needs to show their professional working attitude. Professional attitude include punctual, obedience, good attitude, self discipline etc. Actually, model is just a product; clients can buy them through model agency. Normally, people can do whatever they want to the product they brought. It is the same logic; clients can request things from the models. Hence, model should obey and shouldn’t reject what the client wants from them.
7. Limitations to the study
Our group has encountered several difficulties when carrying out this research project.
First of all, it is really hard to arrange interviews with models. Since the working time of models change frequently, the arrangement of interviews has been modified many times. Despite the fact that, we have done all the interviews we planned.
Secondly, the sample size of the research is small. We have only interviewed 7 interviewees which only occupy the tiny proportion of the industry. And the answers from them may be too subjective. Also, though we assure the interviewees that their information is confidential and we believe that they will give real information, we cannot guarantee that they all will do so. This may due to their professional principles. The result of our research thus may not be precise and accurate enough. Nonetheless, we have done our best to get our research better.
Thirdly, we have some difficulties when having the interpretation of the answers from interviews. It is because the interviewees have used some professional terms which we don’t know at all, especially for the manager and the booker. Some terms are having special meaning in the modeling industry. Yet, we have asked clarifications after we discovered the problem.
Lastly, as it is rare to have books with topics on communications and modeling industry besides the textbook as our reference. So we have found another form of reference, video, to overcome this limitation.
Though we have experienced many difficulties in conducting the research, our group has tried our best to prevail over them and finish the research in the best way.
8. Conclusion and recommendation
Modeling and fashion are prevalent trends of the modern world. Although many regard it as a superficial industry, modeling advocates creativity, adventure, beauty, confidence and feeling good for oneself. Also, most people do not know the “behind-the-scenes” situations in the fashion industry. People are unaware of the competition and difficulties that models have to face in order to achieve and preserve a successful career.
This research seeks to provide a body of knowledge about how models engage in interaction with internal and outside entities, as well as the necessary factors they have to consider in order to maintain their careers in the industry using the concepts of power, status and communication.
Models did not appear until a few decades ago. The fact that a model can rise and fall in a short time shows that the world that we live in has become increasingly ever-changing and unpredictable. Thus, it is essential for us, not only models, to maintain a healthy and cooperative relationship with people around us in order to survive in the new era.
8.1 Personal thoughts
After doing this research project, our group has some thoughts on this isseue. We discovered that, communication is of vital importance in life, as we cannot live alone. We have to consider so many things derived from communication. For example, the status and power, the messages sent out by non-verbal communication etc.
We have recognized many things after conducting the interviews which are much more than we expected. We found that working in modeling industry is very similar to the real world.
I think you may notice that we also showed the dark side of the industry. What we want is to present the whole view, i.e. the reality, to our audiences. It is inevitable to avoid the dark side if we want to be succeeded.
The most important is, we have psychological preparation to face our future. As we all know that, many of us will enter the working labor force next year. We don’t mean that we will be models in the future, but we can learn so much from viewing this industry. I believe most of you agreed that, communication is very important in this industry. Just like in the videos, if one of the models cannot communicate well with others, for example, the hair stylist, she might be kicked out from the competition immediately. What the similarity is, if we don’t communicate well, we may lose some status or power, or even our jobs.
8.2 Recommendation
Credit:ivythesis.typepad.com
0 comments:
Post a Comment