Journal 11: What attributes would you say describe and define your own negotiation styles? Where did you learn to negotiate? Do you think you are any good at it?
I learned to negotiate because of my family. I have three sisters, so I’ve always had to advocate for myself to make sure I get my fair share of opportunity. Because of this I’m good at advocating for myself when I’m in a position of lower power, especially with people I’m comfortable with, like my family. However, in other situations sometimes I’m not such a good negotiator. Especially when I am in a position of higher power I don’t like to stand up for myself. I often feel uncomfortable going into a negotiation, but if I get over that and talk, I’m pretty good at it. I just often don’t like to go into that situation. I find it rare that I actually care about what’s being negotiated. Within my family I’ve always been the peace maker kind of a roll—not often involved directly in the negotiation but often the one who facilitates it. This is often true outside of my home as well, in my job and within friends. I’m rarely the one who gets into a conflict of any sort because I don’t care enough to, but I’m often the one dragged into other people’s conflicts and negotiations. I think my conflict style is collaborative and that my negotiation style is either collaborative or accommodative, depending on how much I care about the situation. There are very few situations in my life where I won’t be willing to give up anything or collaborate on a solution.
Journal 12: In this journal reflect on yourself in a specific conflict that you are involved in (big or small doesn't matter). Can you look at your own choices and behaviors and reflect on them, or analyze them in light of what you have learned this semester in the course? What insight do you have about yourself in conflict that you did not have before you took this course?
I think this course helped me a lot in being able to identify the way in which I or other people are reacting to or working through a conflict and know the other alternative way that could go. Having an objective view point on conflict helps as well to figure out which of the many different styles and tactics one could use and which would be most helpful or effective. It also helps to understand where the person you are in conflict with is coming from and understanding why they may be acting the way they are. I think that one thing I’ve come to realize is that I am very passive in the ways that I deal with conflict in my own life. I often don’t address it directly and that often comes back to bite me. As this class progressed I think I’ve started being more open and honest with myself about my conflicts and also with those around me.
Journal 13: You have finished your group project. As you reflect on the semester how are you’re feeling about your group? Were your expectations met? What did you learn about yourself? About others in the group? About the pro's and con's of group learning?
I think that in the group, I was the one who did the most work. I think that the balance was not exactly fair and that I would often end up with more work because someone wouldn’t do something they had said they would. I’m also not faultless in the group—I failed to show up to a few of our meetings but I feel like overall I did much more than my fair share of the work. I guess I’m also at fault because I never really outright said anything about the unfair balance of work. I really like group learning and I think that offers a lot, but I really hate group papers. It’s incredibly difficult to balance who writes what and how they’re going to fit together if you’re writing them not together. Having conversations in a group about what could be said and about the conflict is helpful because it bring in different perspectives and opinions but the actual composition of a paper as a group is rather unfortunate and I think detracts from the overall piece and flow.
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