1. Please read and comment on s. 1.
Please read and comment on s. 1. a. Describe a conflict that you are experiencing. I have
been doing a large share of work tasks on my own for the past several weeks because a
coworker is rarely online and frequently out for personal reasons. b. Examine/describe the
relationship between you and the “other person.” This person is my coworker. We share the
same task load and are meant to split the work evenly between us. c. Examine/describe the
situation. Because Jess and I share the same task load, I am left to complete all the tasks
when Jess is not online or when she’s away from work. She regularly has personal concerns
that prevent her from working. When she doesn’t have any concerns, she logs in very late in
the day and logs off early, usually only being online for about 3 hours. d. Describe the other
person involved in the conflict. My coworkers name is Jess. This is her first administrative
job but is quick to learn and, when she’s working, keeps up with everything she needs to do
really well. e. Identify your goals. I would love for one of two things to happen. Either Jess
could be online more frequently and keep me from having to do both of our jobs OR our
workload could be split, preventing me from being involved in her tasks at all. f. Now select
the conflict style (avoiding, accommodating, competing, compromising, or collaborating)
most appropriate. While I would love to say that I would choose a collaborating conflict
style, that style is described as “ultimately leads to a win/win situation in which neither
party has to make concessions because a mutually beneficial solution is discovered or
created.” If Jess needed to work more often or was not able to share her work with me, the
style that makes more sense would either be competing or compromising. Of the conflict
triggers discussed (demands, cumulative annoyance, rejection, one-upping, and mind
reading) which one do you find most often triggers a negative reaction from you? What
strategies can you use to better manage the trigger and more effectively manage conflict?
Demands tend to most often create a negative reaction from me. In order to better manage
that trigger, I could calmly express how I feel to the other person or politely decline their
request instead of withdrawing from the situation or getting frustrated. Conflict is not
always negative in a relationship. How do we distinguish between constructive and
destructive conflict? Where is the line we draw in order to keep it constructive? And how
can we (or can we ever) ensure that the other person sees whether the conflict is
constructive or destructive? Constructive conflict is when there is an issue to solve but all
parties involved are supportive in trying to find a solution. Here, the solution is the topic at
hand. Destructive conflict is when the issue takes over conversation and either no solution
is being attempted or one or all parties are too defensive to accept any potential solutions.
2. We can’t ever fully ensure that the other person will be ready for constructive conflict but
we can do our best to maintain a supportive climate during the conversation and make
concessions when it makes sense to do so. – Alexis 2. The terms “disintegration” and
“breakdown” are often used in discussing families these days. Are families disintegrating?
Breaking down? If families are breaking down, I feel it has less to do with meal times and
more to do with other factors such as the economic status of our country as a whole (people
who have to work more hours just to support their family have less time to spend with that
family), the pull of social media (people, especially adolescents, are addicted to a constant
stream of information and validation from strangers), or the polarization of our media
(family members with differing views are less and less likely to find common ground). I
think families have a harder time remaining close-knit, especially those with no strong
ethnic or cultural ties, but it’s not because they don’t eat together. Summarize the research
found in the article entitled “Do Family Meals Really Make a Difference? In your summary
be sure to note which finding was most compelling to you and why. What can you do now or
in the future to ensure more family mealtime? Researchers Kelly Musick and Ann Meier
looked into the correlation between family meals and child mental health, substance use,
and delinquency. Their initial research found that youth outcomes may have come more
from factors leading to family meal times (economic status, race, employment status, family
structure) rather than the meal times themselves. I found this to be really compelling and
matches my thoughts above. Family meal times may be a way for families to come together
but do not, in themselves, play a major part in preventing substance use or delinquency. I do
not have a family of my own besides my husband. We already eat together every night and
watch a shared tv show. This is our time to relax and we enjoy sharing that activity together.
Does Pearson’s definition of family fit your own? Why? Why not? Pearsons definition of
family does largely fit my own but not fully that’s only because, as a child of divorce, I have
two families. Because these two families don’t interact with each other or live with each
other, and therefore don’t fit into the typical definition. Within each family unit, however,
the definition does apply. There are parents and children (whether by blood or by law) and
siblings who interact with each other. – Alexis
