The purpose of this class was for us to enhance our abilities to think theoretically and understand how humans connect, how humans have differences, and apply dialogic practices to conflict situations. At the beginning of this course, during Dr. Bailey’s first interview, he explains about the fascination of “what makes us human, by what makes us different from other things, by what makes us like God, but not God” (Bailey, Module One). I have chosen three assignments for my reflection that I believe encompass the work we have done regarding communication theories, ideas about connection, difference, what it means to be social, and how we need to begin thinking about our human nature. My three assignments include: my synthesis paper from week two, my Conflict Theory Application paper from module three, and lastly the class discussion from module five for our weekly synthesis paper. Throughout this journey, I have significantly advanced my understanding about theories involving conflict and communication that will help me appropriately intervene in the conflict experiences that people have (Bailey, Module One). Our development shapes much of how we see the world and interact with others in it. As people, everyone needs to feel understood, nurtured, and supported, …show more content…
Typically, people become associated with organizations early in life (Bailey, Module Five). Most of us take part in churches or clubs at a young age, and then into formal school organizations by age five or six, and if we are lucky, we get to head off to college and then enter into the employment market were we get to experience numerous conflict resolution channels. We also get to experience being creative with others, and collaborating to achieve goals as a team. Organizations are truly an amazing form of life (Bailey, Module
“Role conflict can arises when these expectations about how to play a role or set of roles are inconsistent in some way” (Losh, pg. 89). Role conflict is a type of social conflict caused from an individual being forced to take on separate and incompatible roles. Role conflicts usually occur when an individual becomes torn between separate roles for different organizations or groups or within an organization, when an individual is asked to perform multiple roles in the same group. An employee with both work and management roles in a department, for example, assumes the conflicting roles of the supervisor and co-worker. Many feel as though most role conflicts occur because of multiple obligations to different groups role conflicts can also occur within a one organization. When individuals have various conflicting responsibilities role conflicts tend to cause friction and frustration depending of the personality of the individual. While conducting my research I saw a lot of this going ground from the Customer Assistant Specialist’s, Medical Communication Specialist’s, Consultant Nurse’s, Pharmacists and especially the floaters. Many of the employees look extremely frustrated and overwhelmed. It appears that even though we are complying with client needs we are hurting our employees at the end of day. We are forcing our employees to basically handle 2-3 positions in 1 to make the client satisfied. The client request for someone to be online all day but wants them to manage to do call backs as well. That task is impossible considering the fact we have such a high call volume. The problem appears to be there are not enough people on this particular project. We are spreading our employees to thin. We a...
Throughout the semester, we have been introduced to many topics related to interpersonal communication. I have come to believe that these concepts have allowed me to better understand interactions that occur in our daily lives. My knowledge of these concepts was challenged when asked to relate these notions to a movie. During the time that I was watching the movie, My Big Fat Greek Wedding, I realized myself grasping onto what was going on and being able to relate certain scenes and situations to topics I had previously learned about. Interactions in My Big Fat Greek Wedding display concepts of conflict and politeness theory, which can be pointed out in a few specific scenes.
While the conflict stemmed mainly from the Senior Master Sergeant and the female airmen, it created a toxic environment in the small unit. The Senior’s harsh treatment and lack of empathy toward the airman eroded the trust of the entire unit. Her mistrust of the entire detachment sent her into isolation and her performance in other duties also began to suffer. This further strained relationships with her coworkers who felt as if they were picking up her slack.
What do we do when we face conflict? we either run away from it, or turn to violence. Conflict usually starts as a crucial conversation that was communicated poorly. Sure, we can blame our genetic makeup for our emotions as we are hardwired to come into conflict with one another. Wynne Perry of Live Science interviewed anthropology researcher, Christopher Boehm of the University of Southern California who shed light on the issue” The genes are still making us do the same old things, which include quite a bit of conflict.” However, Boehm has some good news” Culture has given us solutions at various levels”. So, what is a crucial conversation? And, how can we handle it?
We all go thru different phases and life changes in our lives creating more needs and solutions to our problems. Many of us handle conflict negatively and think conflict is bad. Therefore, the best way to resolve conflict is learning how to handle things in a better way. This means understanding the person and understanding what has created the conflict and miscommunication. The book, “Difficult Conversations,” helps us learn different perspectives and needs to our conflicts and learning how to resolve conflict and what has created people to have different standards in their personal culture.
Abigail, R. A., & Cahn, D. D. (2011). Managing conflict through communication. 4th Ed. Boston: Allyn and Bacon.
Cobb. (2014). Lecture D on communication and conflict. Personal Collection of R. Cobb, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, BC
Hocker & Wilmot, 2007, Poole, & Stutman, 2005 Folger and 2007 Cahn& Abigail. "Interpersonal Conflict and Conflict Management." Devito, Joseph A. The Interpersonal Communication Book. Boston: Pearson, Allyn & Bacon, 2009. 276.
Conerly, K., & Tripathi, A. (2004). What is your conflict style? Journal for Quality & Participation, 27(2), 16-20.
Interpersonal conflict is very common with many relationships. It occurs when two people can not meet in the middle or agree on a discussion. Cooperation is key to maintaining a healthy debate. More frequently; when dealing with members of your own family, issues arise that include conflict and resolution. During this process our true conflict management style appears “out of thin air”. (Steve A. Beebe, 2008, p. 191).
The interpersonal conflict revolves around my mother and I. We have always had a strong relationship but lately, have been at constant odds between each other. There is conflict between us because of our conflicting views on whats the better option for our beloved dog. My mother will always hold the power most of the times by default, she is my mother after all, but when it comes to this specific interpersonal conflict, I certainly hold the power. Other family members know of this dilemma as well including my grandmother who is just as conflicted as my mother and I are. My grandmother has a strong attachment to our dog and would effect her emotionally.
Before understanding how to deal with conflict, one must understand what conflict is. Conflict can be defined as, “any situation in which incompatible goals, cognitions, or emotions within or between individuals or groups lead to opposition or antagonistic interaction” (Learning Team Toolkit, 2004, pp 242-243). Does the idea of conflict always have to carry a negative connotation? The growth and development of society would be a great deal slower if people never challenged each other’s ideas. The Learning Team Toolkit discusses three different views of conflict: traditiona...
Conflict theory are perspective in sociology psychology that accentuate the social, political, or material inequality of a social group, that analysis the broad socio-political system, or that weaken from structural functionalism and ideological conservatism. With conflict theory, you will see tensions, status, and power are unevenly distributed between groups in society, which these conflicts become the purpose of social change. Conflict theory usually arise due to competition and limited resource that is feed by domination and power, rather than consensus and conformity. This is seen a lot on macro level. As a social worker, you will see and use conflict theory throughout your professional.
Weeks, D. (1992) The eight essential steps to conflict resolution: preserving relationships at work, at home, and in the community. New York: Tarcher/Putnam.
Borisoff, D., & Victor, D.A. (1998). Conflict Management: A Communication Skills Approach (2nd Ed.). Boston, MA: Allyn and Bacon.