Informal Communication Interview Paper

Our interview with Mrs. Harmon was quite informal so her answers were blunt and straightforward. In this section of our interview, we discussed how exactly conflict is handled; it was made perfectly clear that there was no formal system whatsoever. There were five questions regarding this part of our interview and only one had more than a two worded answer. The first question we asked in this section was about whether or not there were meetings, seminars, or conferences that taught the employees how to handle conflict management. Being a smaller company, it was not very surprising that they did not hold any of these. When asked if there was any sort of designated position that was held in her office she had one word to say, her. This happens

When working with a limited number of people, it can seem easy to have simple conversations about conflict with employees whether it was one on one or with a group of people. Unfortunately, there was no formal or informal training on how to effectively use a conflict management system. Based off of what we learned in this section of our interview, it is clear that Mrs. Harmon had to assume all responsibility when conflict arose in her office. Even if the boss did get involved, he tended to only make matters worse. Instead of having a laid out plan for effective confrontation, she was forced to improvise in almost all of the situations she encountered. Having developed her own informal system of conflict management, Mrs. Harmon had a basic idea of how to approach all conflicts directly and

The conflict between employees can seem to be personal though. An example she gave of two people who could just not get along was about two women who could not work together so one was sent to the back so she did not have to be involved with anyone. Trust did enter the situation when Mrs. Harmon did not disclose what was said in her conversation with the woman who was moved to the back of the office. Having to deal with all of the conflict that she does, what was best for her was to create a nurturing climate. When talking to an employee about their behavior or any other sort of issue, she would address that person with a neutral and assertive