#2 Resolving Interpersonal Conflict

Just recently, a close friend of mine, Christine, complained to me about how she had a heated argument with her mother. It started out as a small issue that got blown out of proportion.

Everyone was gathered at the kitchen table having dinner when suddenly Christine realised that her grandmother was sitting alone at the dining table outside having her own dinner.

Christine then confronted her mother, “Mum, why is grandma eating dinner alone outside? Why didn’t you ask her to join us?”

Her mother replied, ”There’s no space at the kitchen table already. So I just let her eat outside by herself lah!”

Christine retorted,” You already know that I rarely come home and eat dinner with grandma! All the more you shouldn’t leave her alone outside for dinner!”

Her mother shouted,” I already told you that there’s no space here! And this is one of the very few times I let her sit outside alone for dinner! Why are you making such a fuss?!”

Christine exclaimed in disbelief,” What you did was wrong! How would you feel when you grow old, we also leave you alone for dinner all by yourself?”

Her mother said furiously,” I don’t need you to take care of me when I’m old. I will move to the old folk’s home.”

Christine replied curtly,” Fine. That’s great.”

And the cold war between them begun.

In my opinion, this issue aroused from serious misunderstandings and heated emotions that overtook their rationalities such that neither any of them were willing to listen to each other’s explanations.

What can be done to salvage the situation?



Signing out
Cassandra

#1 Effective Communication

Communication and relationships are closely intertwined. Developing effective communication skills is paramount in order to foster and maintain healthy relationships with our families, friends and colleagues. By establishing good relationships, we are exposing ourselves to more opportunities, either socially or professionally. Socially, by having good relationships with friends, they would be more than happy to introduce you to his/her friends. This enables us to widen our circle of friends and networks. The same goes for our professional relationships. Having such relationships allows you to have more opportunities to employment and it also opens up a lot of business possibilities.

Communication also involves the way in which we express our thoughts, feelings and ideas to people. No matter what we actually say to other people in words, we send out other kinds of information such as what we think of them, what we think of ourselves, and whether we are being sincere and genuine in what we say. It is our nonverbal communication, our gestures, body language, facial expressions and attitude, which speak volumes about us. This directly shapes how other people experience us and how they communicate in return.

Moreover, another crucial aspect of effective communication is active listening. By being a good listener, we will be able to evaluate and examine the messages that are conveyed. It also allows us to sieve out important information and ideas from the speaker’s speech. Effective communication, thus really takes two hands to clap.