Managing Conflict in Relationships

Prepare:

In this Assignment, you will explain instances of effective and ineffective communication in terms of conflict management skills.

Review Wood, Chapter 9.

Wood presents five Guidelines for Effective Communication During Conflict (p. 240–244):

Perform: Assignment (100 points):

CM206-2: Identify the roles of verbal and nonverbal communication in interpersonal interactions.

GEL-1.1: Demonstrate college-level communication through the composition of original materials in Standard American English.

In this Perform activity, you will respond to 7 open-ended questions about a video scenario.

You will submit your completed work to your instructor via the Dropbox.

Instructions

View the video “Jan and Ken.” Use the concepts in Unit 9 as you answer the questions on conflict in interpersonal relationships. You can read the video transcript as well.

Follow these guidelines in preparing your document

Questions for response:

1. Using the chapters on language and emotions to help frame your answer, suggest two ways that Ken could open this conversation more productively, beyond clearly expressing his emotions and using “I” language.
2. How do you perceive Jan’s effort to convince Ken to forgive her? Based on what you have learned in this chapter, suggest two ways she might more effectively seek Ken’s forgiveness.
3. What are two nonverbal cues used by Jan. What are two nonverbal cues used by Ken? In what ways did the nonverbal cues used by both Ken and Jan impact the message? What are the verbal messages used by each? What, contradictions occurred between the nonverbal cues and the verbal message and how did the contradictions impact the interaction?
4. Reviewing the nonverbal and verbal cues identified in the last question, what are the roles that these play in the conflict? Do these cues lead to a more positive outcome or negative? How can nonverbal and verbal cues be used to lead to a more productive conflict resolution?
5. The conversation seems to be framed in a win-lose orientation to conflict. Each person wants to be right, and to win at the expense of the other. How can Jan and Ken move their conflict discussion into a win-win orientation?
6. Review the eight conflict-management skills discussed in the text. Identify three examples of these skills in the dialogue between Jan and Ken.
7. Identify three places in the dialogue where Jan and Ken missed opportunities to manage conflict successfully. Give specific suggestions (supported by the text material) on how the conflict management strategies could have been incorporated to improve the interaction.