Favorite Concept

There were several concepts that captured my interest during this course, but I think my favorite one was the four components of listening. This includes sensing (hearing) the message, interpreting the message, evaluating the message, and retaining (remembering) the message. I particularly enjoyed learning about these concepts because they helped me develop a better understanding my listening habits and why I retain some information better than other information. Like I talked about earlier in the semester, I am generally a good, attentive listener, but there are some situations where the message goes over my head. I find that that usually happens in two situations: 1) When I don't fully understand or care about what I'm hearing (such as complex science lectures), or 2) when I am trying to make a good first impression on someone. The second one causes me to focus too much on being engaging, making eye contact, and being charming and stuff rather than actually processing what I'm hearing. Fortunately, since reading about these concepts, I've become more aware of it, which has helped me become a better listener. I chose to write about this concept because I think it is important to listen to people, understand what motivates us to listen, and understand how to process what we hear.

Happy holidays,
Nick Burger

What I Have Learned

Like all the other communications classes that I have taken at San Jose State, I enjoyed this one because the concepts are tangible and applicable to everyday life. This class taught me a lot about leadership, problem solving, and countless other group dynamics. From now on, whenever I am part of a small group, I will be able to reflect on what I learned in this class, particularly when it comes to conflict and problem solving. My favorite thing about the class was the topics that we wrote about for our blogs. I feel like I have a firm grasp on the concepts that we discussed because we all had to relate the concepts to personal experiences. Since each of us is an expert on our own lives, it was easy to apply the topics to real life and enhance my understanding and comprehension that way. I think my least favorite thing was commenting on other blogs. Don't get me wrong, it was fun to meet new people and get other perspectives on the course material, but since everyone has different work habits and posts at different times, I feel like only commented on a handful of different blogs. Since I am someone that likes to start and finish my assignments as soon as possible, I ended up commenting on certain people's blogs more than others. This didn't end up being an issue; it was just a very, very minor inconvenience. No improvements are necessary for this class as far as I am concerned!

Group Observation Reflection

The group that I observed for my project was a high school ice hockey team. I talked to the team's coach and watched them practice. During practice, I observed how the players communicate with each other and their coach, how they solve problems, how the coach leads the team, and how the male players act in regard to the lone female on the team. I think this was a useful assignment because it gave me the opportunity me to take communication concepts that we have learned and translate it into a tangible experience. One of the things I learned about was leadership. When things were not going well during practice, the coach was stay positive and help the players figure out what they could do to improve. He said that yelling at the players would only compound the situation by making them tense. If things still did not go well after a while, he would stop, gather everyone together, and hit the proverbial reset button, which seemed to help the team considerably. I also learned that when players have a conflict with one another, the onus is on the players to figure it out and get on the same page for the betterment of the team. Nothing leaps out at me in terms of ways that this assignment could be improved, but what I liked is the fact that it allowed us to take concepts from the book and apply it to real life. I attended two group meetings, which I felt like provided plenty material to write the paper, though I probably would have gone to more meetings if I had the time.

Avoidance

The avoidance strategy for conflict resolution is one that I use a lot since I don't like conflict. I'm pretty much willing to do anything to avoid conflict with other people. Some people don't mind it, and even enjoy it. Buy, for me, I conflict and confrontation are very unsettling to me. It basically boils down to me wanting everyone to be happy. The book says the avoidance strategy "entails withdrawing from the conflict." This is a little different from the way I avoid conflict. I try to prevent conflicts from happening before they occur and escalate, but the book talks about removing oneself from the conflict altogether. If there is a problem with group members, I won't run away from it, but I'll try to help resolve it peacefully without creating any ill-will within the group. I've seen firsthand the kind of resentment from group members towards a person that avoids conflict altogether. I was part of a hockey team where one of the players was having problems getting along with the rest of the team. As the divide between the team and the player grew bigger and bigger, the player ended up alienating himself from the rest of the team; he stopped attending social events for the team, and he would sit in a corner of the locker room by himself without talking to his teammates before games. This is an example of how the avoidance strategy of conflict resolution can be detrimental to the group.

Collaborative vs Competitive Conflict

Collaborative conflict and consensus is a win-win scenario where each member of the group is open, contributes, and listens as they work to combine their ideas and compromise in order to come to a solution that everyone agrees with. At the end, everyone feels more empowered and unified. I was part of a collaborative conflict resolution in a group project for class last year. For our project, we were assigned to create a video, but our group wasn't equipped with the necessary materials or skills. No one had a video camera, and none of us knew how to edit video or do any of the fancy stuff that makes these kinds of assignments look good. After putting our heads together, we found a way that we could make a video and still stay within ourselves as a group. We created a power point presentation with music, pictures, and YouTube video clips, along with a brief skit that we filmed with an iPhone.

In contrast, competitive conflict resolution has a win-lose nature, driven by self-interest rather than the interest of the group. However, the book says competitive conflict strategies can be constructive. This is especially true for groups when that are working with limited time. Using competition works well in this situation because the people involved treat it like a race, an attempt to accomplish the task as quickly and efficiently as possible in order to win. We did this in one of my classes last year too. Each group had to decide on a topic to debate about, and each person had to choose a different perspective to debate from. There were a couple people in my group that wanted to take the same stance, so they ended up doing research where they essentially raced to find the three best sources. The so called "loser" had to chose another topic. This was helpful for the group because the people involved found good material right away.

While both methods have their merits, I prefer collaborative conflict resolution because I think it is more unifying. I like the idea of everyone contributing their ideas and working towards a common goal.

Chapter 11, Discussion 1

A forum facilitates public discussion by allowing the entire audience to participate by discussing and give their individual input after a brief presentation by the group. This is different from a panel, which is where four to eight experts converse about a problem or decision in front of an audience. There is no direct discussion with the audience and the panel of experts, but there is usually a Q&A session with the audience. A colloquium takes place between three to six experts whose views are usually diverse. These experts have a discussion where they "identify, develop, and work through possible solutions to a problem for the benefit and with the participation of the audience" (Harris and Sherblom, 2011). A symposium has two to six short speeches made on "different aspects of a complex problem" (Harris and Sherblom, 2011). The speakers are usually experts, and their goal is to present complicated information to the audience. I like the panel presentation because planning is very thorough. As the book says, "there should be no big surprises for the speakers on the day of the presentation." I also like that the audience interaction occurs after the panel discussion.

Openness Fosters Creativity

Openness helps facilitate creativity, especially during conflict and problem solving. This is a concept that we use with my hockey team all the time. At the beginning of the season, the head coach told our players that he wanted the kids to be vocal and express any concerns or suggestions that they have. This includes when we do drills during practice. In one of our first practices of the season, the coach said he wanted the players to give their input about drills during practice if they thought the drill was not working well. From the point on, the players have continued to contribute in that regard. There have been a few instances in practice this season where the drills the the head coach and I created did not flow or work out the way we hoped. But since our team created an open environment, the players have felt comfortable approaching the coaches, telling us what is wrong, and suggesting what we can do to make the drill work better.