So far, we have discussed different aspects of social exchange theory,
but how is it really applied in everyday life?
We're going to look at the case study which we called a student asking for concession.
There is a situation,
a professor is teaching an online course in interpersonal communication.
In this course, every week,
students are expected to submit
assignments on the topic that they studied during the week.
A deadline is setup for submitting each assignment.
Most students in this class know that taking an online course requires consistent,
self-discipline, and strong time management skills.
Also, the course follows what is known us no makeup policy.
Late submissions are not accepted.
There are no makeups,
as it is stated in the course syllabus.
Late assignments will be assigned the grade of zero,
unless a student has received prior approval from the professor.
If a student has a problem that prevents
the student from submitting an assignment on time,
the student should contact the professor immediately.
The professor will determine the seriousness of
the problem warrants an extension on the assignment.
Unless absolutely unavoidable, students need to
contact their instructor before missing the deadline, not after.
Instructors have the right to decline accepting work for any credit
after deadline passes with a few specific exceptions,
including but not limited to: If there is an outage of
the college internal system that is verified by Central System administrators.
If the student has documentation of serious illness or death of a family member,
instructors will work with the student to determine an alternative deadline.
Although every student is expected to read, understand,
and follow the syllabus,
some students still made attempts to submit assignments after the deadline.
After having received several late submissions,
the professor posted the new announcement on the course page
emphasizing the need for everyone to follow the same rules.
Shortly after that, the student contacted professor by email.
It read, "Good afternoon Professor.
I am writing to inform you that I wasn't able to submit my assignments on time
this weekend due to my transportation and access to Internet failing me.
I've completed the assignments and just hope there is any way that
I could receive some credit for my missing work from September 17.
I understand that there is a huge inconvenience to your time.
Please let me know if there's anything that will
possible that I could do to make up this points.
Please get back to me as soon as you are able."
Well, the professor has to decide how to react.
On the one hand,
the student sounds fairly vague about the situation.
"Due to my transportation and access to Internet failing me."
The student does not provide a clear explanation of all of the circumstances.
After all, the student could have called the professor to
discuss the circumstances personally.
Plus, the students in the class have already tried to overcome the rules and submit after
the deadline which in professor's view sets up
an unwanted repetitive pattern and had to be changed.
On the other hand,
the student sounds fairly polite and considered what would be the best response.
There are several questions for consideration,
what are the students face needs in this situation?
What kind of FT strategies does the student use?
Considering this type of relationship,
what factors influence the choice of the students politeness strategies?
What are the professor's face needs in this situation?
Using social exchange theory,
assess the costs and rewards in this teacher-student relationship.
How can you apply it to this relationship?
Assess costs and rewards associated with the professor decision,
whether to accept the late submission or to reject it.
Can you predict what be the professor's decision?
So what do you think the professor's decision was?
Well, I'll tell you.
The professor rejected the submission,
whether it was right or not,
that's for another theory,
but that was the case.
So to summarize, throughout this case,
we summarize the main aspects of politeness theory,
but what are the other theories we covered in this lecture?
Throughout this lecture, we covered
social exchange theory which is based on interdependence and
equity theory with the main assumption of people
being pretty selfish while maintaining interpersonal relationship,
constantly weighing the costs and benefits.
What does it mean for us as communicators?
Interpersonal communication is a very initial level
of human interaction and that occurred every day.
So now, with all the knowledge acquired,
you may rethink your everyday approach to such interactions.
Make the most thoughtful, pleasant,
and meaningful for both parties engaged.
And that happens in various contacts at home,
at work, and in public spheres.