My Conflicts in the Work Place

          When trying to think of a conflict to discuss I had a tough time trying to think of one. I try to live my life with as little stress as possible. I only had to ask my girlfriend about a conflict and she chimed in with quite a few. The one I will be focusing on is a conflict that arose when trying to figure out when we should leave to visit my family for the holidays. Within this paper I will be discussing the five stages of the constructive conflict process. As stated our text book, “A successfully resolved conflict moves through a series of five recognizable stages, steps or phases with each stage affecting the next” (Abigail, Cahn, 2011, p. 22). I plan on going through these phases one by one and detail my experience in resolving this conflict.

            The first phase is the prelude to the conflict. The parties involved were my girlfriend and I. We were lying in bed when we were trying figure what would be the best time to leave for Thanksgiving. We normally see eye to eye on most things but this one was different. We were scheduled to go home and see my family for Thanksgiving. I had to work on the Wednesday before and I thought that we should leave that night to make the trip from Southern California to Northern California. Making the trip during the night when most people aren’t willing to drive seemed logical top me; not to my girlfriend she thought we should leave in the morning really early.

            The second phase is the triggering event. The trigger began when she said that “I know what it will be like trying to drive on the day before Thanksgiving”.  I too know that the day before Thanksgiving is a terrible day to travel. What really made me mad was when she insisted that we leave in the morning. I stated that I have made that trip as well and have had success leaving in the evening to avoid all the commuters that try to avoid driving at night, she saw this is the opposite light and swore that she was right and we should leave in the morning.

            The third phase is the initiation of conflict. This occurred when I asked my girlfriend why she thinks that we should leave in the morning. She stated that she had traveled during the day before Thanksgiving and it was a real mess. My problem arose when she didn’t site examples of when she left and what traffic existed and at what times she got caught in it. I knew that they key factor was what time to get through Los Angeles and she made no point to describe when she had gotten stuck there; she just simply thought that she was right for wanting to leave in the morning.

            The fourth phase is the differentiation phase. I got mad at my girlfriend because she had no proof other than some shady recollection of sometime when she was a child traveling with her family. I had actual proof in the fact that I had made the trip many times throughout the years. We both could not see each other’s point of view and swore that the other was wrong. The conflict just escalated because she could not cite specific example and I could, so I had no reason to believe that she was telling me was valid. I am sure that she had sat in traffic in Los Angeles but who hasn’t.

            The last phase is the resolution phase. The resolution came days later when we agreed to ask around to friends and family to see what time they think that we should leave. After asking around and doing my own research it was obvious that we should leave on Wednesday night. According to yahoo.com the best time to leave is after 7 or 8 o’clock (yahoo.com, 2010. P1). The fact is that not as many people have the ability to drive late at night making the roads less congested in turn making for a faster trip. This created a win lose situation; as stated by the slide share article that I accessed for our first discussion post, and I was more than happy to be on the winning end of it.

            As I know realize that life is full of conflict and that I just chose to forget about most of them. Now in hind sight I see the phases that we went through in order to come to a conclusion. This may have seemed like a small conflict but in fact took days to resolve. In this case there was a winner and loser. Not ideal for resolving most conflicts but in this case it seemed successful, maybe because I was the winner. By detailing the experience is easy to see that most if not all conflicts go through these five phases. Only in in hind sight are we able to break it down into the respective categories. I hope that if you ever come across this scenario that you will know that it is better to leave late at night when leaving for Southern California to Northern California on the day before Thanksgiving.

References

Abigail, R.A., Cahn, D.D. (2011). Managing Conflict Through Communication. Boston, MA

            Pearson Education Inc.

Best Time to Drive Through Los Angeles? Retrieved on November 22, 2010

            From: http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20101025160153AA3UO5a

Intro to Conflict Styles and Conflict Resolution. Retrieved on November 18, 2010

from, http://www.slideshare.net/Riverhouse/intro-to-styles-of-conflict-resolution

           

Communication Scenarios

The scenarios that I will cover in this post are very diverse. Some of the scenarios seem like they are not something all that serious. Some of them I might have thought about but never had the courage to do. In modern business culture is important to have a solid foundation of ethics and principles. It is when these ethics and principle are challenged by others, especially management is when we run into a conflicts. How we deal with these conflicts can make or break a career. It is my goal with this paper is to accurately describe what I would do if I was put into these scenarios.

            The first case that I will cover is called the Bosses expense report. When analyzing this scenario I can think of several things that I might do. What I would do is ask my boss to look at his credit card statement so he can see what he actually did spend. What if the boss needs to be reimbursed more than the three hundred dollars? Presenting this to the boss will come across that I am actually looking to help him; whereas if I were to do what he has asked I might receive some type of disciplinary action from my bosses boss. This would create a win win situation (slideshare.net, 2010). The only problem that arises is if he used company money to buy something that he shouldn’t have. But that really wouldn’t matter because it was only three hundred dollars.

            The second case is Lunch reservations. This case is flawed from the very get go. First things first I wouldn’t want to know that I was making a reservation for his mistress. I would have let him know from the very beginning that I am uncomfortable helping make arrangements for him to cheat on his wife. But if it where to get that far then I would first let my boss know that his wife has been calling and asking where he is. I would then express that I will not lie to his wife to cover up for infidelity that he may be conducting. I would also let him know that I will tell her where you are at the next time she calls and if he chooses to continue with his action he needs to not tell me that he is meeting with a mistress. I would also let my boss know that I will tell your wife wherever you are if I know so if he has something to hide from her that he had better hide it from me too.

            Case three is call Dinner a la corporate card. This one is simple, I do nothing. Technically we are not doing anything wrong. For all anyone knows is that we were conducting business at dinner. Building rapport with fellow employees is vital process if a company is going to be successful. If things lead to intimacy and become more serious then it will be obvious that she will not be able to use the card for all of our dinners. But until we get to that point there is no reason to make a stink. Actually I think doing so would hurt the relationship more than help. If it is a big deal to you then offer to pay for whatever that you ordered so you can’t get in trouble.

            Case four is the Confidential report. The first thing that I would do in this case would be to start working on my resume. Then I would put the material back into the folder and get it to the person that it was addressed to. I would let the person that it was originally addressed know that I had seen the material even though it was not my intention to do so. I would then want to talk about what is going to happen. But in this case honesty is the best policy even though the company itself doesn’t follow the same policy.

            The last case is that of Party Marty. This one is easy, I don’t go anywhere near that place. I also tell Marty that she is acting crazy and what she is doing is endangering her job. I would also let her know that she will get caught. I then would tell to put the keys back or I will turn her in myself. That fact is she will be fired. Some way somehow that info would get back around. No matter how big a fuss she put up I would insist that it was for her own good.

            There are quite a few of uncomfortable scenarios presented here. The key point is to never compromise your own integrity to cover up the shortfalls of someone else. In the end it will be you that will take the dive for it. I have tried to answer as honestly as possible while integrating what I have learned in class. I hope that you would react in a similar way that I did. I would like to think that I have a fairly high moral standard and I hope how I reacted to these scenarios is a reflection of that.

References

Abigail, R.A., Cahn, D.D. (2011). Managing Conflict Through Communication. Boston, MA

            Pearson Education Inc.

Ethics and the Administrative Professional. What would You Do? Retrieved on November

28, 2010 from: http://www.amanet.org/training/articles/Ethics-and-the-Administrative-Professional-What-Would-iYou-Do.aspx

Intro to Conflict Styles and Conflict Resolution. Retrieved on November 18, 2010

from, http://www.slideshare.net/Riverhouse/intro-to-styles-of-conflict-resolution

What Makes a Great Blog?

What I have found from reviewing fellows students blogs is that the use of color and different fonts is something that is nonexistent. The blogs that I reviewed seemed quite bland and most of them looked the same. This is one thing that I did to change my blog. Initially I used the same old boring colors and fonts to display my information. I don’t know if this was because I came from a format in school where everything is in Times New Roman font and in plain old black and white. With today’s society and some many things competing for our attention a person needs to make their own blog pop with color and other invitations to get people to not only notice but read your material. This could be because people haven’t really put in the effort to diversify their blog, but this issue needs to be addressed. When I first made my blog I used the same old template that it seems that everyone else made. I then switched my template to something with more color. I think that my views on certain things are colorful and I am trying to portray that with the amount of color that I do use. Sometimes getting a reader’s attention is everything. I think with the use of color and different fonts may entice people to click the link and read what it is you have to offer.

The components and elements required to develop and design an effective and visually appealing blog are as follows. We were introduced to the Google format that helped to create our own blogs. These templates give us seemingly interesting templates that does not need much manipulation to be affective. This is not the case; we as bloggers trying to take this serious should adjust these template’s to fulfill our own needs change the template formats to fit our own needs. The blogs that I have seen need images and other icons to make their blog standout from the rest. The one I did see from Kimflores.com had images of her and made her site pop. The fact that I have not integrated into this into my own blog is a simple lack of experience.

I will incorporate this knowledge in my own blog as follows. I have seen the absence of color and substance. I have tried to combat these issues by adding color to my own blog. I originally used one of those boring blogs as my template but soon realized that if I wanted to get message read that I need to add some flavor. Consumers today are given so many opportunities to try different things. I am trying to point out that my point of view is worth listening too. I can attract people initially because using color and attention getters can get people drawn in initially. But it is the content that will really get people to keep reading. In any blog the most important part is the actual information.

Rational

The purpose of my blog Vinardos World is twofold. The first of which was obviously for this class. This was the whole reason that I started the site. But after getting into it I found that I can use this blog for whatever I want. I have mostly stuff from class posted in my site but in the future I will use my site as forum for talking about anything that I think important to me. This is the nice thing about having your own blog, you can talk about whatever you want because it is your own site. I think I could try and make this blog touch on more serious topics that are occurring around the world and add my spin to it. I like to think that I have a point of view on most things that some people may not have thought about. Just getting this blog started was a great experience and although now it is mainly a reflection of my school work I hope to make it much more very soon.

The basic design of my blog was somewhat of work of progress. Originally I selected a template that was black and gray and at first glance I thought it was cool. After making my blog and seeing it as a real site I didn’t think that it had any pop. This is when I decided to change the template and the color scheme of my site. I then went to template that was much more colorful and had more graphics in it. The use of color is an easy way to direct the eye, with my original bland colors the eye made nowhere to be drawn to so that is why I made the switch. I also changed the formatting of the site to add my own information about myself since it is my blog. I thought it would be important to add this since people probably want to know who is writing what they are reading.

The content of my blog has mainly been about the course work assignments from our class, so it has mostly been about communication. This is fine for me because it is a way to get started in this blogging thing. Now that I have a solid understanding about blogging and how it is done I think I might venture out with my blog. In the future the content of my blog may shift. I enjoy talking about things related to communication but I also have an opinion on a lot of other topics as well. But whatever it is that I am going to talk about will most defiantly have my spin on it. I think this is the whole idea about the content behind blogging, personal opinion.

The audience for my blog thus far has been fellow students in class. In the future I hope to touch a much broader audience. I can see my audience being more creative and left wing. I am not very conservative and have a lot of opinions about the world that question authority and the systems that are in place right now. My demographic would be people as old as their late 30s to youngsters in their teens. At least these are the people that I hope to reach. But if you are conservative and love the system and don’t want to help anyone other than yourself then the things that I will write won’t be very appealing to you. I think it is important to take a stand for what you believe and make real affirmations about where you stand on certain topics. Be who you are and say what you believe and others with similar tastes will follow you, maybe you might even get some converters. All I know is that no one becomes famous blogging about being neutral on touchy subjects. Have an opinion take a stand and just be ready to back it up. Thanks this class was great.

References

Venard, Vincent. Vinardos World, retrieved March 13, 2011 from,

            http://vinardosworld.blogspot.com/

Conflict: What I would DO

Conflict Resolution

Heres the Scenario

“You are a department manager in a mid-sized company that provides technology support services.  You have ten employees who are required to maintain a high level of technical expertise and deliver excellent customer service.  One of your employees, who has been with the company for two years, is performing at a substandard level and you have received numerous complaints from customers and coworkers.  In addition, this employee has displayed confrontational behavior which has created a hostile environment.  You must now meet with this employee and deliver an ultimatum regarding the need for immediate improvement or dismissal.”

The first thing that I would approach when I get together with this employee is bring to light what has been going on. I would let the employee know that there have been complaints about him not only by customers but also fellow employees; and that his confrontational behavior cannot be tolerated. After that I would ask him “how are things in his personal life?” A lot of times things that are happening at home can affect our performance at work. I would then tell a story about how some of my personal issues in the past have made things at work difficult as well; it is important to let him know that I am approaching him as human being with my own issues as well. This allows the employee to see me as a normal person and not just his department manager. I would then tell him a technique that I used when I was having a tough time emotionally from things that were happening outside of work. I anticipate that this will be his response since he has been here for two years and has shown that he is capable of doing the position. What I would tell him is to take an imaginary bag and take his worries and grab them out of his head and put them in this imaginary bag. Then he should fold the bag to close it and set on the curb to wait for him when he gets off work. I used this technique before and what it does is acknowledge that there is a problem going on outside of work, but it is not fair to other employees and customers for you to be in a bad mood because of something that is affecting you outside of work. Other people at work have their own issues as well and they don’t let it affect their performance at work.

After making sure that the employee knew that I was trying to help I would then deliver the ultimatum. I would tell him that we value him as an employee but his actions recently have created a hostile work environment. I would also let him know that his current performance with customers has not been meeting company standards. I would also recommend any services that we offer as a company to assist him with any personal issues he is going through. Then I would set forth a corrective action plan and tell him we will meet again in two weeks to see how progress is coming along. I would tell him that if his performance does not show some improvements in the next two weeks that the next step in the termination process will take place. It is much easier to try and get a current employee back into a place where he or she can be affective as an employee than to start over with someone else. This will let him know that his services are appreciated but his behavior recently isn’t something that is adding to an affective workplace environment.

Culture Club

With an economy that is continually growing on a global level it is very important to understand different cultural views and perspectives. With so many diverse populations it is important to understand certain so called commandments to best understand and reach your audience. One of these commandments that I use every day is commandment IIV according to Martin Hahn, “Be aware of different etiquette rules or manners: what is polite in one culture may be considered rude in another” (Hahn, 2010.p.1). I find this very true with working with different people throughout the country. People in the South and Middle America do things much slower than on the East and West coasts. When dealing with people from these parts of the country it is very important to build rapport and trust. Many times if you take things too fast and try to apply pressure things can blow up in your face. This is very true in Asian culture as well. Time is not money within these cultures which refers to commandment IV according to Hahn; and decisions are made off instinct and relationships rather than selling points and bottom lines which are typically the norm in most of America. These guidelines need to be considered when dealing with other cultures whether they exist within our borders or without. Realizing a cultural difference shows your client that you have done your research and are willing to work outside your normal parameters to better make your client comfortable.

References

Hahn, Martin. 2010. Ten Commandments of Intercultural Communication,

            Retrieved on February 23, 2011 from,

http://ezinearticles.com/?Ten-Commandments-of-Intercultural-        Communication&id=120247

Blogging

Blogging has been something that had humble beginning to now being a dominant spot for a lot of people to get information. Added, everything must be taken to with a grain of salt today but even watching main stream media one must dig a little deeper to find the whole truth. This is why I like blogging and a lot of other people do as well. It is almost like a check and balances system. If both bloggers and main stream media agree on something it is safe bet that it is for the better good. Blogging all started when in January of 1994 a student from Swathorne College named Justin Hall created the first blog ever (Thompson, 2006. P.1). From those humble beginnings to in, “February 2006 when the Huffington post surges to become the fourth most-linked-to blog” (Thompson, 2006. P.1). Certain bloggers gather a following but anyone can put a blog about whatever they decide to talk about. This what makes this forum so much fun. Many people with many different opinions; it is up to the reader to take what they are reading as fact or fiction. This is allows people other mediums other than main stream media. Cause let’s face it, if the only place you get your news from is the major networks you will probably have skewed view of what is really going on in the world. Bloggers bring a different perspective to many issues for good and bad; it is up to the reader to critically think for themselves.

References

Thompson, Clive. The Early Years. February 12, 2006. Retrieved from

            http://nymag.com/news/media/15971/ on February 20, 2011