WEEK 8: SAYING GOOD-BYE & HAPPY HOLIDAYS!!!!

Hi, Everyone, I just want to say that I have thoroughly enjoyed all the blog and discussion posts that I read for this course. I also want to thank Dr. Johnna Ernst for sharing her knowledge with me. I have learned so much in this course about communication that I would not have recognized if not pointed out to me. I will definitely use patience and compassion much more than normal with all individuals I come into contact much more and not believe my schema without giving others a chance. I have actually grown, in my opinion, as far as communication.

I want to wish everyone a happy holiday and new year and make sure your all are careful out there traveling to and fro this season. If anyone wants to contact me for any reason, please feel free to contact me at nkita7@live.com and I will get your message a lot faster than on my Walden email. Hope to see your names in the next course.

Week 6: Adjourning

Adjourning is a sad occasion for some and happy for others, while participating in groups. If you experience lazy members on your team, then you cannot wait to get the project over but on the other hand, if your teammates are giving it all they got like you are, it will be hard to see the project in because you will not be able to see those individuals as much as usual. It really all depends on the experience I think but is strictly my opinion. O’Hair and Weimann (2012) states, “During the adjourning stage, they reflect on their accomplishments and failures and determine whether the group will disassemble or take on another project” (pp. 257-258). They say that most will host a party, give out awards or something special to commemorate that the project is ending and each member will remember. “The adjourning stage is when the team is completing the current project. They will be joining other teams and moving on to other work in the near future. 

For a high performing team, the end of a project brings on feelings of sadness as the team members have 

effectively become as one” (Abudi, 2010, para. 1). Despite whenever the project is complete, everyone 

will always, hopefully, keep in touch with their previous project members because you all may end up working 

with one another again.

In my opinion, all group projects are hard for me to see end. Most of the projects I have been a part of always 

had members, who we became friends in the end and chose to keep in contact so it was good to see them 

every day. We made sure we progressed each day and got the job done because we all had the same

 intentions in mind –so it never was a huge problem. It was hard to see the project end but we still keep

 in contact to this day. We may not speak every day because we are all busy but we check on one

 another constantly. I made sure that I keep my doors open. Whenever we ended, some of the projects 

would throw a little get together with appetizers and juice and some would just end on a good note. 

Nevertheless, we all made sure we never ended on sour terms for any reason –as most should strive 

to do always.

References

Abudi, G. (2010). The five stages of team development: A case study. 

Retrieved November 04, 2014, from

 http://www.projectsmart.co.uk/the-five-stages-of-team-development-a-case-study.html

O'Hair, D., & Wiemann, M. (2012). Real communication: An introduction. New York: 

Bedford/St. Martin's. Retrieved December 04, 2014.

BLOG WEEK 5: CONFLICT STRATEGY

Hi, All, I have dealt with many conflicts but one that sticks out comes because it was with my in-laws. Now, I am the one to never try to cause any issues with my husband’s family members but this conflict came from a huge misunderstanding –unfortunately. Instead of the sister coming to me in a calm voice and asking what was going, she only had part of the message and ended up being dead wrong and in the end had to apologize to me. I know that was hard for her but she knew she was wrong and felt bad afterwards.

The strategies that I used, even before reading the lessons for this week, was not to raise my voice along with her. I knew this would never solve anything and I just allowed her to talk. I did not have to use any of the NVC principles because she was in Georgia but I did feel compassion for her because I knew she was wrong and she would figure it out in due time. I stayed respectful as I could at the time because a pet peeve of mine is that I do not like to be accused of saying anything that I know I did not say because I hate gossip. It never leads to anything positive. I do not even like talking on the phone much at all. I do know that at times I try to avoid conflict, which is the “escapist strategy and try to prevent direct conflict” (O’Hair and Weimann, 2012, p. 236). This may not be an answer for everything but in this case, I knew it would be for the best. I knew I had not done anything wrong and I took the high road and eventually things were solved –just like I knew they would because I knew the truth would come out.

Sometimes taking the high-road in a conflict and not trying to fight your way out will always prevail over war (fighting). 

Just to clarify the strategies I took from NVC:

 

One strategy used was “differentiating a feeling from thinking and being able to identify and express internal feeling states in a way that does not imply judgment, criticism or blame” (The center for NVC, n.a., para. 5).

Another strategy was I “clarified what was being felt rather than judging and thus emphasizing on deeper listening skills to foster respect” (The center for NVC, n.a., para. 6-7).

Reference

O'Hair, D., & Wiemann, M. (2012). Real communication: An introduction. New York: Bedford/St. Martin's. Retrieved November 27, 2014.

The Center for Nonviolent Communication. (n.d.). The center for nonviolent communication. Retrieved November 27, 2014, from http://www.cnvc.org/