Power

Question 1

Power

Answer 1

• Power is the perception that a person has the capacity to impact on the beliefs. Attitudes and/or behaviours of another person.
  
  • Power is the ability of one person to influence others because they are perceived to be more ‘powerful’.

Question 2

Principles of power

Answer 2

• Power is part of all interpersonal messages (aggressive, assertive, passive).
  
  • Power varies from person to person (power is rarely static).
  • Power is frequently used unfairly (failure to assert may be due to lack of perceived power).
  • Power follows principle of less interest (greater interest= least power).
  • Power has an age, gender and cultural dimension (high vs low power distance).

Question 3

Importance of control

Answer 3

• High personal control (internal locus of control) is associated with lower levels of personal distress, stress and communication.
  
  • Strong sense of control related to good health.
  • Stress impacts on health and communication.
  • Multiple facets of control (behavioural, cognitive, decisional, informational).

Question 4

Application of assertive and powerful speech

Answer 4

Avoid hesitations, intensifiers, disqualifiers, tag questions, self-critival statements and slang or vulgar expressions.

Question 5

Balancing power in communication

Answer 5

Communication skills to prevent another person from dominating include coalitions (temporary alliances that increase relative power), defiance (purposeful noncompliance) and resistance (ambiguous noncompliance).

Question 6

Power and conflict

Answer 6

• Perception of power often leads to conflict.
  
  • Conflict occurs when one person’s ideas, beliefs, goals and/or behaviours are at odds with those of another person.
  • Interpersonal conflict is a disagreement between connected individuals who each want something that in incompatible with what the other wants.

Question 7

Intrapersonal

Answer 7

within an individual

Question 8

interpersonal

Answer 8

between individuals

Question 9

intra-group

Answer 9

within a group

Question 10

intergroup

Answer 10

between groups

Question 11

types of interpersonal conflict

Answer 11

Pseudo- apparent, not real, a conflict waiting to happen, prelude to a conflict.
Fact- simple conflict, conflict over message accuracy (lack on understanding).
Value- deep-seated beliefs about what is good or bad, worthwhile or worthless, moral or immoral = conflict over beliefs.
Policy- Conflicts over what should be the appropriate plan/course of action.
Ego- ‘winning’ or ‘losing’ is central to maintaining self image, self concept, identity, how competent people are, who has power etc.
Meta-conflict- conflict about communication and how you speak to someone during a conflict.

Question 12

conflict resolution styles

Answer 12

• Forcing/competing
  
  • Withdrawing
  • Accommodating
  • Compromising
  • Collaborating

Question 13

types of group conflict

Answer 13

Task conflict - awareness of differences in opinions pertaining to the task/goal.
Relationship conflict- awareness of interpersonal incompatibilities, includes an emotional component such as tension and friction.
Process conflict- awareness of controversies about aspects of how task accomplishment will proceed (passive people get handed more work to do and not the work they want).

Question 14

conflict management strategies

Answer 14

• Become an active participant in the conflict (don’t avoid the issues).
  
  • Talk It out with ‘prejudice’ (use talk to discuss the issues rather than trying to force the other person to accept your position.
  • Balance personal agency (maintain self-esteem and face, avoid strategies that degrade).
  • Argue the issues, focusing as objectively as possible on the points of disagreement (avoid being verbally aggressive or attacking the other person).

Question 15

how to resolve a conflict

Answer 15

• Define the conflict (define issue in specific terms, and try to empathise with the other person).
  
  • Examine the possible solutions (try to identify as many solutions as possible, look for win-win solutions, and carefully weigh the costs and rewards of each solution.
  • Test the solution mentally and in practice (evaluate the solution from a variety of perspectives).
  • Accept the solution and integrate it into your behaviour or reject the solution and begin again, defining the problem differently or looking in other directions for possible solutions.

Question 16

mediation

Answer 16

Mediation is a collaborative approach involving a third party or mediator to assist the disputing parties to reach a mutually satisfying solution to their conflict.

Question 17

basic mediation steps

Answer 17

1. Why are you here? Both stories told
   
   2. Each person discusses impact of conflict
   3. What conflict resolution has been tried so far?
   4. What other parties are involved?
   5. Hopes and goals change or mediation outcome discussed
   6. Gaining a clear understanding of the roles and responsibilities that are needed for change to occur and that suits each party.
   7. Discussions of specifics - who, what, where, when, how is the agreed action plan to be carried out.

Question 18

mediation communication skills

Answer 18

- Active listening
		○ Rapport building 
		○ Open questions 
		○ Verbal and non-verbal encouragers 
	- Acknowledgement 
		○ Reflecting content 
		○ Reflecting feeling 
		○ Empathy (nor sympathy) 
	- Reframing 
		○ Definition 
		○ Metaphoric 
		○ Paradigm 
	- Questions 
	- Summarising

Question 19

Communicating in high conflict situations

Answer 19

• Mediation best done individually rather than traditional method.
  ○ Provide clear structure and process.
  
  • Skill development
    ○ Emotional reasoning
    ○ Vigilance on verbal and non-verbal incongruence
    ○ Management of emotional, behavioural and communication changes.
  • Interest based negotiation
    ○ Low interest vs high interest
  • Educate, challenge, acknowledge.
  • Aim to avoid legal escalation.