Continuing Conflict Management

One concept that I would have liked to discuss further would definitely be conflict management. In any relationship, no matter what the type, there is always some sort of conflict, and I feel as if most people don’t know the best way to deal with it. Also, as I have experienced since reading that chapter, when one side of the relationship knows how to effectively manage conflict, the quality of communication in the relationship greatly improves. I am even considering making some people in my relationships read that chapter, because I feel like if both of us knew the techniques for effective conflict management, our relationships would benefit greatly. Conflict management is an important concept, because people who manage conflict poorly risk ruining good relationships. I have definitely experienced times where my relationship with someone almost fell apart completely because neither of us could listen to the other or focus on the main point rather than kitchensinking during a conflict. I think conflict management is a topic that could be discussed endlessly, due to its importance in any and every relationship.

Likes and Dislikes

One of my favorite things about this class was the availability of the professor. Whenever I had a question, it was answered promptly through e-mail, or even better, I loved the instant message office hours. I wish all professors held office hours like that, even if only once a week. One of the things I liked the least in this class was having to wait 12 hours in between each of my posts. There were times were I just wanted to finish all my homework, and while I could write them all at once, I still had to remember to log online and post them at three separate times, which at times was inconvenient. I also didn’t like having to comment on three separate peoples’ posts. Sometimes people wouldn’t post until the last part of the week, which was inconvenient if I wanted to get things done early on. Also, sometimes all the posts available to comment on would be on the same topic, making writing the comments very repetitive. I think this class could be improved if the blogging requirements were slightly altered, but other than that I didn’t really have any problems.

What I've Learned

In this class, I learned a lot about managing and growing successful relationships through communication. Before this class, one of the weakest points in the relationship between my boyfriend and I was that we couldn’t manage conflict effectively. After reading that chapter in the book, I was able to apply the concepts I learned to our actual relationship and see how they were able to make our communication ten times better. I also learned a lot about communication in society. I learned that there is acceptable and not acceptable ways and situations to communicate in in our current day society, and that these expectations are always changing. Through learning about all the aspects of communication- such as listening, confirming, constructive criticism, internal and external obstacles, etc.- I have been able to analyze all relationships in my life and figure out how to help them grow. I learned how to better my lifelong best friend that I rarely see relationship, and how to keep our friendship strong even when we’re not able to talk or see each other often. On the other hand, I also learned how to better deal with my family members relationships, who I see often. I also learned how to act with strangers and people I hardly know, and how to communicate with new friends in order to grow friendships with them. I personally feel as if I have greatly benefited from all I’ve learned in this class.