A Farewell and Thank You

I just wanted to thank everyone in our communication course.  I have learned a great deal
from each one of you and hope that you have learned from me as well. Since
beginning this communication course I have applied some of the learned
principals and believe that my communication skill are improving.

I hope each one of you does well in your future endeavors and look forward
to meeting you in a future course.

Adjourning Stage

When I think of the phase adjourning, I think of closure.  I have worked on several teams in my career in business, some ended with the adjournment phase some did not.  The ones that ended with the adjournment phase tended to be more formal type of team situation.  These formal type team situations encompassed more established norms and rules and tended to last for a longer period of time than the other team situations.  We really got to know each other as we bonded through our projects.  I can think of a project that I worked on with a group of people while at Hewlett Packard.  This project lasted only a week, but it was a formal situation where we used project management theories to complete the project.  Each of the members was from different offices in the Northeast.  We meet in Maryland.  When the project was over there was a big dinner at the hotel where the leader handed out awards and everyone got to speak about their experience working on the team.  It was nice, but hard to part because we really got to know each other and worked well together on the project.  I meet a woman from the Virginia office that I befriended we kept in touch even after the project was over.  We would discuss work and what new things she was working on while I share with her what I was up to.  Over all it was a good experience, because our project was a success, I learned a lot and got to meet a great group of people.  In my opinion the better the project turns out the harder it is to say good by to the group.

I think the adjourning is an essential stage of teamwork because this is when you have the opportunity to discuss the project, what went right and what needed work.  This is where you build on your skills.  It is a time to acknowledge team members for their contributions and talents.  I would hope that if my colleagues were to attend graduation we might get together for dinner to discuss our experiences working on our master's degree together.  If we don't meet at graduation, I guess we would send each other emails wishing each other well as we move on from Walden University.

Conflict Resolution

I can say that at this point in my life I don’t experience much conflict.  My husband and I might have a disagreement every so often, but nothing to really speak about.  In my work place I have not experienced much conflict.  In my capacity as teacher there is the occasional disagreement about how to handle a child or carry out an activity with the children, but I can’t think of any conflicts in the work place.

After this week’s resources I have learned a great deal about how to handle a conflict if one were to surface.  I think one of the strategies that I would use is the Win win approach, this is when you change from adversarial attack and defense to co-operation.  It is a powerful shift of attitude that alters the whole course of communication (Conflict Resolution Network, n.d.).  This approach helps everyone concerned to concentrate on the actual problem and facts in question without attacking or demeaning one another.  I would also enact an approach called Co-operative power, responding to resistance from others.  When faced with a statement that has potential to create conflict, ask open questions to refrain resistance.  Explore the difficulties and then re-direct discussion to focus on positive possibilities (Conflict Resolution Network, n.d.).  The most powerful strategy I learned about this week is the Cooperative Strategy this strategy benefits the relationship, serve mutual rather than individual goals, and strive to produce solutions that benefit both parties (O’Hair & Wiemann, 2009).

Reference:

O’Hair, D., & Wiemann, M. (2009). Real communication: An introduction. New York: Bedford/St. Martin’s.

Conflict Resolution Network. (n.d.) Retrieved from http://www.crnhq.org/pages.php?pID=12#skill_3