Assignment
Write a minimum two-page paper describing a time you experienced miscommunication or conflict. For example, you can describe an argument you had with someone, a misunderstanding due to language differences or other cultural difference, or an incident that lead to confusion for you and perhaps the other party. The incident you describe should be detailed, but feel free to change names of participants if you feel more comfortable.
After you describe the conflict or misunderstanding in detail, analyze the situation. Why did this scenario play out the way it did? What role did you play in the misunderstanding? What could you have done differently? What could the other person have done differently? How will you avoid this type of conflict in the future?
In other words, did people openly disagree? Did they encourage open discussion of differences? Was conflict resolved? Did people yell, or talk respectfully?
Secondly, what parts of these conflict scripts do you engage in now? What parts do you try to avoid? You may want to think back to your early childhood and adolescence, and try to remember rules for conflict that your family modeled. What conflict scripts did you learn in your family?
Chapter 9 is about conflict and offers some tips to being effective at dealing with conflict.
An "A" paper will meet the following requirements:
• Paper shows a deep, thoughtful look at the writer's life and the people in it who help define self-concept.
• Paper is written at college-level (e.g., avoiding use of third person where appropriate, free of errors and clearly proofread with care, sentences are clear and concise, style is formal, formatting is appropriate, logical organization, etc).
• Material is clear and well organized.
• The paper covered a variety of material inside and outside of the class experience.
• The paper intertwines concepts and vocabulary words from the course material, lecture, textbook, resources, etc, with your own real life. (That means your paper would have a reference page, because you're citing concepts from a least the book if not other sources.)
• The paper is no less than 2 pages.