Conflict Resolution

A situation in which I was an observer during the escalation of a verbal conflict was a department meeting at work.  The conflict was between the department head and the supervisor from another department, and the point of contention was a differing perspective on how some internal logistics should be handled.  The conflict escalated because neither party was willing to concede on their perspective and emotions became involved because the situation was personal to each on of them as they took great pride and ownership of their departments.  At its peak, one of the supervisors was yelling at the other and stormed out of the conference room.

I was not in the position to de-escalate the conflict, but if I had been I would have employed the STLC (stop, think, listen, communicate) approach by breaking the meeting for 5-10 minutes to allow each party to calm down.  I would then help facilitate the discussion to reiterate the purpose behind the meeting and allow each supervisor time to voice their perspective without interruption, asking the other party to listen to find common ground.

In this instance, the VP of the company de-escalated the conflict by mediating for both sides.  He spoke with each supervisor individually and then made a decision.  While this was effective, I think it mitigated some of the potential by-in had the supervisors come to an agreement on their own.  When possible, I think it is best to aid the involved parties in coming to their own resolution, rather than simply removing the matter of conflict.

Media Technologies

Radio Summary

    Radio is a common public media technology as many radio stations are available for free.  Radio has been around for a long time, offering new reports, entertaining stories and musical entertainment.  In today’s society in America, radio is most commonly used for music or radio talk shows dialoguing about social, political or religious views. 

    Radio stations are available in two different frequencies; AM and FM.  Most FM stations are music oriented and stations select music to target specific preferences of their target audience.  Common genres for FM stations include; country, soft rock, hard rock, Top 40’s, Hip Hop, Oldies and music for alternate languages (such as Spanish).  On the other hand, most AM stations are “talk” stations, offering monologues and listener participation on politics, news and religious perspectives. 

    One widely accepted talk station is NPR, which stands for National Public Radio and offers news and educational programing in the United States.  According to the NPR website “NPR is the #1 provider of public radio content and programming but not all public radio programs are produced or distributed by NPR” and “about 93 percent of the U.S. population can hear at least one station that carries NPR programming” (NPR.org). 

    Generally speaking, many AM  station listeners tend to be of older generations.  This is likely due to the familiarity of radio listening for many years, along with the availability of free radio programing.  Conversely, FM stations are frequented by listeners of all ages seeking to be entertained by their preferred music genres.

Establishing A Blog

As part of an assignment at Ashford Univeristy, we were asked to set up a blog showcasing our written work.  My blog is entitled Communication: A Two Way Street, and the URL is http://communication2waystreet.blogspot.com/

I had a hard time completing this assignment because I am a "finish what you start" type of person.  For me, a blog is an ongoing project, and I felt torn at the idea of starting a real true online blog only for the purpose of this assignment, knowing that I may not continue it after the course completed.

As far as actually creating the blog, I found this process to be quite easy as I have set up blogs in the past and have some moderate experience in website creation.  I think that pictures are vital to make a blog engaging and enjoyable to read, otherwise viewers can get lost in pages of text.  I also think it's important to select background colors that won't compete with your font color.  For example a black background with grey text is not very user friendly and makes it difficult for viewers to read your content.

Essential Principles of Communication

Many principles of communication center around the basic tenant of knowing one’s audience.  Both the speaker and the recipient are responsible for ensuring that the message is communicated, however this responsibility starts with the speaker as he/she must cater the message to hold greatest impact/benefit for the intended audience while taking into consideration their background knowledge, interests, age, education level and demographics.

An example of this is a parent trying to communicate the importance of their child eating their vegetables.  In most instances, it would be pointless for the parent to try and explain the nutritional benefits of vegetables over fast food, and why this occurs and what it means for the health of the child.  The more appropriate explanation meets the child at their level, with information such as “Eating your vegetables will help you grow big and strong like daddy”.  In this explanation additional communication principles such as voice intonation and body language may be used to communicate excitement or favorable feelings towards the situation.

Networking on LinkedIn

LinkedIn is a free social networking site for professionals, with higher service levels and additional perks available for paid memberships.  “LinkedIn connects you to your trusted contacts and helps you exchange knowledge, ideas, and opportunities with a broader network of professionals” (Linkedin.com).  Furthermore, “as of March 31, 2012, LinkedIn operates the world’s largest professional network on the Internet with 161 million members in over 200 countries and territories” (LinkedIn.com/about).

The purpose is to provide opportunities for “connections” with other professionals and online collaboration through job postings, group discussions and the sharing of information.