Week 5

We’ve done some reflection on your conflict styles and your family’s conflict rules, but this week we are going to zoom out and look at culture from a macro perspective. Before that, please watch this asynchronous mini-lecture (sorry it’s quiet–the only chance I had to record was in a hotel room while my wife was asleep!).

One of the most common ways to think about culture is the iceberg metaphor. Like an iceberg, there are some things that are seen (e.g., holidays, fashion), but there are many things that are not seen (e.g., conflict styles). Here is an image of this metaphor:

I’d appreciate you taking time to reflect on how visible and invisible culture could change how we do conflict. We will discuss this in class this week, in addition to going into conflict theory from an intercultural perspective.

Nicole and Kathrine will be leading us in discussion on Fisher & Ury Ch. 4 this week. Please come prepared to discuss this chapter. I will send out the questions when I have approved them.

Thank you for your patience last week. I deeply appreciate it. Please let me know if you have any questions! As always, you can email me or schedule a time to meet with me via my Calendly.

Week 5 To-Do List

❑ Attend synchronous class Thursday @ 8 a.m. (Pacific)
❑ Asynchronous mini-lecture
❑ Fisher & Ury (Ch. 4)
❑ Noah (Chs. 14-18)

Week 4

Remember back in Week 1 when I said our theme for this semester is Patience and Flexibility Within Reason? This week is a week I ask for your patience and flexibility with me. An immediate family member who has battled cancer for the last few years took a turn for the worse last weekend and it’s why I was in a new place for our class meeting Thursday. I will continue to be out of town during his end of life, which hospice believes will happen this week. I’m still happy to meet with any of you this week, but I am going to cancel normal office hours and instead ask you to please sign up to meet via my Calendly. This allows me to know when I have meetings instead of staring at a computer for 2 hours without knowing if anybody is going to show up when I could be with family. I hope you understand.

I still plan to hold class as normal Thursday. This week we will think about conflict from the other person’s perspective. TJ & Spencer will lead us in that discussion over Ch. 3 of Fisher & Ury. Please have read and be prepared to contribute in class.

A reminder that I asked you to please do two things to get the perspective of others.

Part 1:Send the Conflict Worksheet to the people whose relationships you evaluated and have them fill out how they perceive your conflict style is with them (so they are thinking about how they’d score you).

Part 2: Set up your Johari Window and get at least 10 people to fill it out. A reminder, you first pick 5-6 that describe yourself, then you set up a screen name (I’d recommend your name + Pepperdine or something like that).

Once you hit save, you’ll be taken to a second page. Please save the link they provide and send this link to your friends and/or family to take. You could even post it so social media if you’d like.

Please have those ready for class Thursday.

Please let me know if you have any questions! As always, you can email me or schedule a time to meet with me via my Calendly.

Week 4 To-Do List

❑ Attend synchronous class Thursday @ 8 a.m. (Pacific)
❑ Conflict Worksheet (results from the other people)
❑ Johari Window
❑ Fisher & Ury (Ch. 3)
❑ South Africa Apartheid video
❑ Noah (Chs. 10-13)

Week 3

This week we will continue with power in relationships and how that changes conflict. Chase & Austin will lead us in that discussion over Ch. 2 of Fisher & Ury. Please have read and be prepared to contribute in class. Please also have filled out the Conflict Worksheet (instructions are on that sheet). I have coded the sheet so that your scores will automatically populate. Below the questions responses you will see this:

Please keep those scores ready for class Thursday.

Please let me know if you have any questions! As always, you can email me or schedule a time to meet with me via my Calendly.

Week 3 To-Do List

❑ Attend synchronous class Thursday @ 8 a.m. (Pacific)
❑ Conflict Worksheet
❑ Fisher & Ury (Ch. 2)
❑ Noah (Chs. 7-9)

Week 2

Congratulations on making it through the first week of classes!

This week we will be diving into power in relationships and how that changes conflict. We will also have our first class discussion, and Calista & Zeke will lead us in that discussion over Ch. 1 of Fisher & Ury. Please have read and be prepared to contribute in class. You also have Harper, 2004 (Ch. 1-3) to read for class Thursday. We will not discuss Trevor Noah’s book this week in class, but to keep up and on pace, please read Ch. 4-6.

Please let me know if you have any questions! As always, you can email me or schedule a time to meet with me via my Calendly.

Week 2 To-Do List

❑ Attend synchronous class Thursday @ 8 a.m. (Pacific)
❑ Harper, 2004 (Ch. 1-3)
❑ Fisher & Ury (Ch. 1)
❑ Noah (Chs. 4-6)

Welcome to COM 419!

Welcome to Conflict & Communication! My name is Colin Storm and I will be your instructor this semester. Please feel free to make an appointment to connect with me or learn more on my About page.

We will be learning about conflict together. While I might be able to recite theory and case studies, the truth is we can all learn from each other. No one person does conflict right. This semester we’ll be approaching conflict from an interpersonal communication standpoint, using theory, research, and case studies to help enhance our learning.

A couple of things I want you to know about COM 419:

1. This class is not easy. This is an upper-division class, so it will be fairly writing and reading intensive. You should definitely ask for help if you’re struggling. We are approaching conflict from a variety of methods and viewpoints, so if something doesn’t make sense, please contact me. I’m available for meeting outside of class to help you with anything, along with my normal office hours (see: Syllabus).

2. You’ll need to be self-motivated. There is no group work in this class, so all of your work will be your own. I’ve posted all the assignments for the entire semester, so it might be helpful to look over those assignments and keep notes as you read for those papers.

OK, let’s go! Each week I will give you a run-down of what you will need to be doing to keep up. Please use the blog post in conjunction with the Course Schedule and Syllabus to stay on top of things.

Week 1 To-Do List

❑ Attend synchronous class
❑ Sign up for your discussion lead
❑ Read chapters 1-3 of Trevor Noah’s book Born a crime