I began the process of drafting this paper through the research of conflict in the workplace. The outcome from that research states, employees in the united states spend an estimated 2.8 hours every week engaged in conflict. This calculates to 359 billion dollars paid on the clock involved in a disagreement instead of work productivity. The rate is 385 million days occupied with a dispute versus to making a partnership. At a point in our life, we have had struggles with coworkers at our employment. An array of employees with different work levels and job types experience conflict at a certain degree. The result of a dispute producing a solution is a challenge. We regularly communicate in our personal and business life with people of distinct cultures or racial backgrounds. These interactions are known as interpersonal and intercultural communication. In the simplest form, Intrapersonal communication is the exchange of information with oneself.
The purpose of this interview is to draw attention to the types of conflicts that happens among coworkers and how it happens in a variety of work environment. Overall conflict exists, and it can potentially escalate into personal attack resulting in avoidance such as absence from work. If not managed appropriately unresolved issues can be an ongoing task taking a toll on the business operation and company morale. The focus is on the types of attribute in interpersonal communication conflicts. First, it goes into what social context is and how it shapes the view of how we communicate in society; second, cultural context and the impact it has on identities; third, is interpersonal conflict occurs at the workplace and the perception of managing it; before finally closing on the topic of emotions role in interpersonal communication. Now that I have briefly mention the contributions of interpersonal communication conflicts, we must understand the different process involved in interpersonal communication.
An aspect of the communication process is Social Context, it details a spoken or unspoken rule of what is “normal” in society. For example, my husband felt overdressed for a dinner gathering hosted by my family. There was not an established dress code at the time of the invite, however he can feel he is over dressed by the facial reaction he received upon entering the house. As mentioned earlier, social context shapes what society see as normal but often that social context can change to adjust to the circumstances. The second part is Cultural context which features identities of gender, race, sexual orientation, ethnicity, nationality, ability, and class. Communicating with people of these identities can be define as intercultural communication. In an intercultural communication there are doubts to bring up culture subject for discussion. Based on view and opinions on cultural context identities, this can create disagreements or feeling of discomfort.
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Third is interpersonal conflict, a common occurrence of every work environment. Employees trained by employers to accept and adapt conflict as an inevitable rather than train handle the situation. With insufficient skills for both employers and employees to be able to resolve this issue, the effect of unresolved conflicts can take a negative emotional toll. The final aspect of the communication process is emotion and interpersonal communication. The impacts of emotions on interpersonal communication consist of mental, physical, and verbal interactions. Emotional outcome based on reactions which processed mentally and produced as an internal phase known as intrapersonal communication. Emotions can generate into a physical appearance due to external behavior like facial expressions. After recognizing the processes of interpersonal communication, we will hear Raphael De La Ghetto experiences with conflict at the workplace.
Raphael De La Ghetto’s mother migrated from Vietnam. His mother fled as the war started between the North and the South Vietnam. With the help of American’s, Raphael’s mother got a sponsorship to enter the United States. Arriving to America by boat, his family moved to Memphis Tennessee where they settled and started a new life. The home of where Raphael De La Ghetto was born. Soon after his birth, his mother made the decision to relocate her family to the state of California. Based on Raphael’s background history, there are a lot of similarity as to how our family came to America for a better life.
My family originated in Cambodia which is a neighboring country to Vietnam. My mom, grandma, and uncle fled the only place they knew as home. The war known as the Khmer Rouge erupted in genocide filling Cambodia with death of millions. Two different wars sparked in two different countries, sharing the same boarder neighboring each other. Like Raphael’s family, the American’s was my family savior from this life of tragic events. Through sponsorship they were taken aboard by boat to the place promising freedom and a new life. My mom told me their first home in the United States was in Memphis Tennessee. It did not my family long to settle in since there was other refugees who arrived the same way they did. After hearing California has better opportunity, my mom relocated her family to Long Beach California. This became the place of my birth.
In conjunction with cultural context mentioned in textbook A Primer on Communication Studies: v. 1.0 Chapter 1: Introduction to Communication Studies, Section 1.2 The Communication Process, it is said that cultural identities influence the way we communicate with others and how others communicate with us. When questioned, “being the first generation of Asian American in your family, how did your cultural upbringing influence your reaction to a conflict in the workplace?” Raphael has this serious facial expression as he thought about his answer. “well I was raise was that nothing I do was good enough and I feel like it help make my skin thicker for any types of negative encounters. Growing up in an Asian household, there was always conflict. Let’s say it is easier to handle conflict at work versus to at home.” I can relate on this, my mom has this stigma about being born as an American citizen gives me the power to do anything and everything. If that was not the case then I am a failure, a disgrace not only to myself but to her as well. I disagree with Raphael’s thicker skin comment because the same caused affected me differently. Instead of building me up to prepare to be in that type of situation, it made me isolated and timid. In textbook term, this define my conflict management style as Avoiding.
For two people with cultural differences, we have established similarity in our background. In fact, history shows the Struggle between Cambodian and Vietnamese who were once former allies, existed for years. The War between Cambodia and Vietnam was a series of conflicts which both side had an irrational part in the confrontation. It was a situation that flourished from disagreements to war. With that statement, I proceeded with my interview question asking him if there was a time he disagreed with an idea a coworker suggest?
He replied when he was an Install Technician for a Satellite TV Provider, he was relocated to Northern California to assist with TV Installation due to technician shortage. He recalls an event during that time where there was a meeting with a group of other technicians to discuss a game plan to ensure they meet their quota. Majority of the group agreed on just getting the work done without checking everything on the list since they are only here because of the shortage. Meanwhile, Raphael disagree with that idea. He says he thinks outside the box, yes they are there to assist with the workload but also consider the environment they are in. It is not culturally diverse and for those technicians of color, the way they show their work reflects on their identity. Raphael believes this has a lot to do with Social context. Society has a set perception of people based on physical appearance. If the work looks sloppy then it will reflect as a cultural background. The stereotype of categorizing your race as lazy due to immigrate status and so forth.
I cannot reminiscence of a circumstance that is close to his experience he just mentioned. However for the sake of this conversation, an incident within vicinity, would be the time I was involved in a group project at work. Automatically I was chosen to manage the data portion of this project. Might I add, that decision was made involuntarily, if given the choice I would of made an opposite direction. I was puzzled as to why was I was assigned a duty, on the other hand my coworkers had the option of desire tasks. When asked for a reason why, I was greeted with a smirk and a stereotypical line of “Asians are good math”. Society definitely played a huge part in the perception of Asians.
As I continue to observe and listen I notice Raphael’s hands coming together, intertwined. In the exact notion of how mister Burns from the Simpson, expresses his thinking technique. I followed up with “how did you voiced your opposition?” he chuckled as if this was rhetorical “like anyone else would… I waited for a moment to speak once the other technician was done talking. I approached it with caution knowing that if I come off too strongly then more likely they would not try to at least hear what I have to say. I simply stated my reasoning and offered a solution to go with it. Along that I suggested I can try the first idea and if it does not work out we can try my idea. At least that way we can eliminate what works and what does not. I ensure there was some kind of middle ground due to egos. In a room full of men with different ideas and opinion can create disasters, if there are no common courtesy”.
What I got out of statement is that emotional reactions can be contributed to conflict if it is not approached with carefully. Consideration and common courtesy goes hand in hand in an interpersonal communication. There were time I used Accomodating style to manage conflict. The reason being is because I did not want to dedicate the time to explain my disagreement. Instead I settled to make things easier on my part. In saying this, it really puts my decision making tactics in another view. Honestly I did not think my emtions has portrayed itself in how I deal with conflicts. I always thought of myself as someone who thinks things through, not to act or react but more so to analyze it thoroughly before finalizing the verdict.
