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Q. 3. What conflict resolution strategies or problem-solving strategies described in the textbook could the teacher have implemented in this situation?

Before we can identify the appropriate conflict resolution strategy, we need to understand the conflict and the cause for that conflict. So what is conflict? It is a difference in opinion that is expressed. With reference to the video, the teacher and parent contribute towards destructive conflict since it has resulted from the kind of behaviour that creates hostility or prevents problem solving, constant complaining, personal insults, and loud arguments. In the video, the teacher does not portray a positive attitude in conflict resolution and her body language does not reflect respect or understanding for the parent’s concerns. The teacher needs to follow the A.E.I.O.U. model of conflict resolution, since it is essential for the teacher to understand the attitudes, beliefs and values of the parent. This conflict resolution strategy concentrates on communicating personal concerns and suggests alternative actions to resolve the problem (Engleberg et al.,2015, p.204). The teacher can start by respecting and assuming that the parent means well and is willing to resolve the conflict. By approaching the teacher with her concern, the parent is seeking assistance in resolving the problem. The teacher can express her feelings openly to the parent. She can say that she feels frustrated when the parent expects her to know when the child needs to potty and that the teacher needs to pay individual attention to the child, which is quite impossible if she has to attend to other children at the same time. The teacher could also identify what she would like to do and make suggestions as to how they could go about in resolving the conflict. The teacher could move ahead to clarify what outcomes she expects. They could work out a well coordinated and communicative strategy in resolving the conflict by understanding each other’s position and responsibilities. They need to come to a mutual understanding and maybe the teacher could seek some extra help through supply staff, placement students or volunteers so that she can ensure as much individualized care for the children under her care (Engleberg et al., 2015, p.204). The teacher needs to be polite and show respect towards the parent’s beliefs and values, and change her body language as it does not reflect a positive attitude in helping to resolve the problem.

Reference:

Edgleberg, I.N., Wynn, D., Roberts, M. (2015). Think: Interpersonal Communication. Pearson.

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4. Your textbook recommends using “I,” “You,” and “We” language. Give examples of how the teacher and the parent could rephrase their messages to include this strategy.
The teacher and the parent could rephrase their messages to include this strategy by the parent expressing her message by saying, "I feel worried that you might be inattentive to my child’s potty cues because my child’s clothes and blankets are coming home wet, whilst when at home she is potty trained. I am afraid that my child’s clothes and blankets will continue to come home wet and smelly if her cues aren't noticed." The teacher can then express her message by saying, "I am confused by what you said regarding your child being potty trained as I feel that the reason your child portrays being potty trained is because you pay individual attention to her alone, and recognize her cues, whilst we can’t do the same for each and every child here due to the abundance in children.  I am worried that we might have a setback between us because we have two different ideas regarding your child being potty trained or not." These 'I' messages convey feelings more clearly and offer more information about the speaker's feelings.

Reference:

Edgleberg, I.N., Wynn, D., Roberts, M. (2015). Think: Interpersonal Communication. Pearson.

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5. Which language characteristics were evident in their conversation, such as misunderstanding connotative meaning, using abstract rather than concrete words, powerful rather than powerless, or language barriers such as bypassing, euphemisms, or exclusionary language.
"Despite our best efforts to understand the complex relationship between language and meaning, misunderstandings are inevitable (Engleberg et al.,2015, p.92). This video highlights numerous aspects of how a trained Early Childhood Educator should not handle potential situations that may arise in their workplace when communicating with the parent or guardian of a child in their care. There is no effective communication, respect or empathy. To me, this video shows a lack of care and appreciation of both the child the ECE is trusted to care for and the parent of that child. The parent did come across somewhat stubborn, but as a trained professional, the ECE should have been the voice of reason. The teacher spoke to the parent in a demeaning tone when  she said "no she is not trained," "your child is not trained",  "you don't have to worry about that till later on", "I don't consider her to be trained until she knows how to go potty, take off her clothes and put it back on", those words to me falls under exclusionary language (Learning Seed, 1996, 3:08). The teacher was telling the parent what she thinks rather than explaining the policies and procedures of the child care center. The parent on the other hand was quite adamant with her point which might have irritated the ECE. According to the textbook, when two people assign different meanings to the same word or phrase, they risk bypassing each other (Engleberg et al.,2015,p.92). "Bypassing is a form of miscommunication that occur when people miss each other with their meanings" (Engleberg et al.,2015,p92). When the parent mentioned that "her child is trained at home because they do not get wet diapers at home ", and the teacher responded" I don't consider that to be trained," that is an example of bypassing (Learning Seed, 1996, 2:35 ). Both parties associated being potty trained to an aspect that is beneficial to them. The parent's expectations are unrealistic because the ECE has more children to attend to at the daycare, not just her daughter nonetheless, as a professional the ECE did not handle the situation in a respectful manner.

Reference:
Engleberg , I.N., Wynn, D., Roberts, M. (2015).Think: Interpersonal Communication. Pearson

Learning Seed.(1996).Diversity & Communication. Kanopy. https://centennialcollege.kanopy.com/video/diversity-communication

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2. How did each person’s personal characteristics, self-concept, culture, attitudes, beliefs, and values-affect their communication with one another?

Communication is the way of connecting with a person or a group of people by conveying meaningful messages with a purpose which possesses structure, appropriate content, context & skilful expression (Engleberg et al., 2015, p. 4). To have an effective interpersonal communication, one needs to understand their own beliefs, values, culture, attitudes & behave according to others understanding.

In the video, we have seen a worried parent having a conversation with an educator about potty training & concern of child’s getting wet regularly. The parent was insisting the educator to be more vigilant whereas the educator was mentioning her staff constraint. The educator was also stating that the child didn’t reach the developmental milestone according to child’s age to get potty training. On the other hand, the parent was emphasizing that the child is already potty trained & can be handled better without having the incident of bed soiling. This conversation clearly illustrated that both of them were correct according to their personal characteristics, belief, values, culture & understanding. However effective communication was missing due to lack of empathy, compassion, understanding others & culturally competent behaviour. The parent’s belief about her child’s potty training was not realistic but her misconception & knowledge deficit can be addressed by the educator with respect & congruent manner. This kind of inflexible attitude & miscommunication leads to conflict of interest. In the video, the way parent was trying to impose her belief on child’s having potty training might have reflected her past lived experience, personal memories, role playing in daily life & influence by her significant others. (Engleberg et al., 2015, p. 23). Scarcity of self-awareness & self-monitoring of both the educator & parent caused such an incident that led to ineffective communication. Considering the concern of wet cloths addressed by the parent was totally overlooked by the educator which was unprofessional. In a multicultural country like Canada, everyone has to act as a global citizen & show culturally sensitive behaviour irrespective of ethno-cultural backgrounds. Being aware & mindful of ones own values, beliefs, culture & attitudes can help to initiate & maintain successful communication in every sphere of life.

Reference:

Engleberg, I.N., Wynn, D., & Roberts, M. (2015). Think: Interpersonal Communication. Pearson.

Learning Seed. (1996). Diversity & Communication. Kanopy. https://centennialcollege.kanopy.com/video/diversity-communication

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1.  How did the context of the situation affect communication between the parent and the teacher?
The probability of success during the interpersonal communication process is highly dependent on the context in which communication takes place. In the video, psychosocial context really affected the communication between the parent and teacher. Psychosocial context is defined as context that “relates to both the psychological and social contexts of a situation” (Engleberg et al., 2015, pg.7). The relationship between the parent and teacher, and their individual cultural perceptions, beliefs, and values influenced the formation and evaluation of messages. Cultural perceptions and beliefs can render certain behaviours as correct or incorrect. A lack of understanding of each other’s cultures resulted in the conflict in which they were unable to accurately decipher the messages. Due to a lack of mutual understanding, the parent strongly believed that her child is potty trained, while the teacher was firm on her assertion that “no, she’s not trained” (Learning Seed, 1996, 02:22). Therefore, the cultural context affected the meaning they derived from the messages. Moreover, a close observation indicates a clashing of individuals from high-context cultures and low-context cultures. In high-context cultures, individuals highly rely on “gestures, silence, and facial expressions, as well as the relationships among communicators” (Engleberg et al.,2015, pg.50) to convey meaning. The parent is shown to convey behaviours of an individual belonging to a high-context culture as she often used gestures, silence and facial expressions to convey meaning. In contrast, the teacher seems to be displaying behaviours from a low-context culture as her “meaning is expressed primarily through language (Engleberg et al.,2015, pg.50). The clashing is discernable as the teacher’s language was very direct and the parent often felt insulted by it. One such example was when the teacher bluntly stated that the child is not trained, and the parent felt offended as she said “I beg your pardon” (Learning Seed, 1996, 02:24). When specifically examining the psychological context, it is possible that the mood of the teacher also affected the communication process as her body language displayed a negative attitude. In relation to the logistical context, both the communicators had to adapt to the physical climate, in this scenario, the classroom. The physical environment determined what types of statements and non-verbal language, such as tone, and physical space, they considered acceptable in the classroom.

References:
Edgleberg, I.N., Wynn, D., & Roberts, M. (2015). Think: Interpersonal Communication. Pearson.

Learning Seed. (1996). Diversity & Communication. Kanopy. https://centennialcollege.kanopy.com/video/diversity-communication

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Self-Reflection - Atifa Kika, Aathika Mohamed Faizal, Akhy Bhowmik, Elsa Monlouis and Munmun Barua

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Self-Reflection - Atifa Kika, Aathika Mohamed Faizal, Akhy Bhowmik, Elsa Monlouis and Munmun Barua

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1.  Discuss your team skills during Part 1. Be sure to connect your response with course content (attitude, encouragement and motivation of group members, supportive of team decisions, conflict resolution, role in the group).

Our team skills during part 1 include making good group decisions, being cohesive, having equivalent workloads and roles, democratic leadership, and constructive conflict resolution.

To begin with, our group is the perfect size for an assignment. There are 5 members and each of us wants to work hard to complete our objectives. According to the textbook Think: Interpersonal Communication, "The ideal size for a problem-solving group is five to seven members. To avoid ties in decision making, it is usually better to have an odd number of members instead of an even number." (Engleberg et al., 2015, p. 176). Additionally, our group members also showed cohesiveness by being responsible for our own work and as well as caring for our teammates' work. At the end of our assignment, we asked each other to edit our parts and give feedback on our work. It is stated in the same textbook that "Cohesive groups are united and committed to a common goal, have high levels of interaction, and enjoy a supportive communication climate." (Engleberg et al., 2015, p. 182). Furthermore, all the members in our group had equivalent workloads and well-maintained roles. Each of us had 1 research question, and we worked in pairs to complete part 2 of the assignment. In addition, the roles for our group task include: Akhy being the contributor, Munmun being the clarifier, Elsa being the information seeker, Atifa being the evaluator, and Aathika being the information and opinion giver. As each member was assigned a specific group role, we established an environment where collective leadership was encouraged. We each had a task associated with our role, which meant that everyone had to be a leader. We believed that the democratic leadership style was best suited for this task as it promotes productivity and respect for the various member inputs. The decision-making power was not managed by one individual alone, rather, it was utilized by all members to help the group formulate a strategy and establish effective courses of action. When our group encountered conflicts, we took a constructive approach in resolving the issues to ensure that we are adaptive to our group members and the situation at hand. We respected each other’s perspectives, and in an effort towards mutual gains, we counterbalanced the wishes of all members. Moreover, as we acknowledged the importance of implementing an effective strategy in conflict resolution, we employed the A-E-I-O-U model of conflict resolution as it “focuses on communicating personal concerns and suggesting alternative actions to resolve a conflict” (Engleberg et al., 2015, p. 204).

2. On a scale of 1 to 5, how would you rate your team's functioning? Discuss why you have given this rating.

On a scale of 1 to 5, where 1 stands for Disagree Strongly and 5 stands for Strongly Agree , we would rate our team's functioning as 5, in all functional areas. There are eight dimensions which we used as a baseline to determine our team's performance, and these being purpose and goals, roles, team processes, team relationships, inter group relations, problem solving, passion and commitment and skills and learning (London Leadership Academy, n.d.). Rating scales measure responses that aren’t easily quantified, such as feelings, perceptions, interests, and preferences. They also measure objective responses and rank them in relation to each other. Our team had a meaningful, shared purpose and the team members clearly understood their roles. All roles were assigned and accepted by group members. All team members respected one another's unique capabilities. We worked collaboratively and resolved conflicts as we each have skills that were needed to complete the assignment effectively. Our team had a strong sense of accomplishment relative to our work and we all shared a sense of commitment that drew us towards the successful completion of this assignment. A key function that we all followed was open and honest communication with one another. We have learned to value each member's contribution to this assignment and therefore, members of our team trust each other. We have also viewed everything, even mistakes as opportunities for learning and growth. Team members have helped one another deal with problems or resolve issues that seemed confusing. At the same time we have provided constructive feedback to each other and worked within a given time frame (London Leadership Academy, n.d.). This assignment has helped us to work on our time management, organization and communication skills. All these functions have attained a rate of 5 on the rating scales, verifying our team's functioning to be effective and efficient.

3. What was the most significant learning that you acquired during the IPC Skills task that you will incorporate into your next Group Assignment?

This assignment has taught us the importance of effective communication, respect and team work. Effective communication is the most crucial interpersonal skill that we have acquired and plan on incorporating it in our future group assignments. According to the textbook, effective communicators "make critical decisions about the seven guiding principles of human communication represented by the key elements self, others, purpose, context, content, structure, and expression (Engleberg et al., 2015, p. 18). The ability to effectively communicate will make us excellent team players because we acknowledged and respected our fellow team mates. Respect and team work are also part & parcel of any collaborative task to complete successfully. The sense of fulfillment after positively contributing in a group work & encouragement receiving from team members boosts up one’s confidence & self-esteem. Irrespective of our differences in culture, ethnicity, religion, values & beliefs,  we respected & worked together with a goal of making our group assignment a successful one. Team work is also a fundamental skill that we have acquired through working on this assignment. According to the textbook, we all work in groups like in schools, at work, at home with family and friends and other diverse locations (Engleberg et al., 2015, p. 176). Success in today's complex world depends on the ability to work in groups (Engleberg et al., 2015, p. 176). Through this assignment we were able to experience the importance of collaborating with our fellow classmates in order to achieve a common goal. We believe that team work and effective communication go hand in hand because the two are so closely related. In order to successfully get work done in a group setting, effective communication must be present to eliminate the risk of miscommunication. Therefore, team work and effective communication are two of the most beneficial characteristics that we have taken away from this assignment and plan on implementing in any future group assignments that we may be part of.

Reference:

Engleberg, I.N., Wynn, D., Roberts, M. (2015). Think: Interpersonal Communication. (Pearson.

London Leadership Academy. (n.d.). Team Effectiveness Diagnostic. National Health Service.