Discuss the ability of your group to deal with conflict in the “lost on the moon” activity. This discussion should cover both the strategies which were used and their effectiveness.
In this activity, we used the win/win conflict solving strategy. The situation in this case was quite urgent and everyone got a strong desire to work together to solve our current problem and every group member got the same goal which was to survive. We were willing to highly cooperate with each other and respect to different opinions from others. This strategy helped us to find out a way that all of our group members were happy with so that everyone willing to afford to the implement of the salvation.
Discuss the strategies, which you used and whether these enabled the group to achieve its goal.
In my opinion, listen to others is important when work in a team. I used my listening skills in this case. When my group members were talking, I focused on not only their verbally communication but also their non-verbally communication. Kept silence when others were talking, paraphrasing and ask questions after listening try to learn from others opinion and avoid to give out judgements. These strategies helped me a lot to avoid misunderstanding and made others felt my responding; it made my opinion easier to accept by others and created a more effective team work.
Are there any strategies which you could have used to foster the group’s productivity?
Our group was combined people from different culture background, which was a big barrier for us to solve our problem efficiently. The barrier was not only about the language but also the way we think. To conure this barrier I think we need to know more about the culture of people we work with so that we can understand more about how our group members are thinking and help us understand the way they solve problems. To some extent, learn more about other team members’ culture would also help us to avoid misunderstanding, thus to make the group work become more efficiency.
Describe a recent situation (i.e. during the last three months) where you experienced conflict with another person and think that you did not satisfactorily resolve this conflict.
Several weeks ago, I had a conflict with my roommate about how to share our electricity bill. As she used heater much more than me, thus, I thought that it was unfair for me to pay the same amount with her. Finally, I paid the same amount with her although I was happy with it.
Discuss whether the conflict was resolved to the satisfaction of the other person and consider whether another approach might have worked better. If so think about why you did not use this alternative approach.
I though the solution was satisfied by the other person as the result was the same as she asked. Yes, I think there would be a better solution to solve this problem. I think it would be better for me to write a letter to her and explain why I asked her to pay more and what I was feeling about this problem, it would be better for me to use more verbal communication. The reason why I have not used this approach was that I felt so angry that time that I just want to let it go as soon as possible.
Discuss your preferred conflict resoling strategies (as indicated by the lecture and workbook activities) and whether these facilitate or hinder your ability to resolve conflict.
The one I preferred is the problem-solve style which is the win/win strategy. Under this strategy, there is not only a high level of importance of goal but also a high level of importance of relationship, all of the group members would feel satisfied and responded, and that will lead to a high efficiency implement of the solution.
Did both activities indicate similar results? If there were differences why did these occur?
No, they were indicating in different results, in the first conflict, we used the problem-solving strategy, both parts including in the conflict was satisfied. In the second case, only one party was satisfied which was a win/lose situation, the problem was solved for now but potential problem was occur. Therefore, I think the best strategy to solve a conflict is to use the win/win strategy.
