Chapter 9 Case study exercises

Activity 1

Using Gibb’s supportive and defensive message categories studied in the chapter, state which category fits the situations below. If the message is defence-arousing, rewrite it using the supportive message to which it relates. (You can refer to Table 9.1 in the text for categories.)

Nursing Scenario

1. Hailey’s co-workers attempted to find a solution to the scheduling issues for the full-time and part-time nurses in the department that would satisfy both of their needs.
   State category of message used: ______________________________________
   New statement, if defence-provoking: ___________________________________

2. When Jennifer and Fatima returned to triage after reviewing patient orders with Janice, their charge nurse, Jennifer told Fatima, “I was really embarrassed when you kept mixing up treatment steps for those patients while we were discussing them with Janice!”
   State category of message used: ______________________________________
   New statement, if defence-provoking: ___________________________________

3. Jennifer’s nurse manager said, “You are always interfering with the others’ work.”
   State category of message used: ______________________________________
   New statement, if defence-provoking: ___________________________________

4. Fatima was working with a patient and she said, “If you would just lie still, I could finish my job.”
   State category of message used: ______________________________________
   New statement, if defence-provoking: ___________________________________

Business Scenario

1. Liang insisted to his colleagues Connor and Paul that he had all the information he needed to complete the project and didn’t need to hear any more about it.
   State category of message used: ______________________________________
   New statement, if defence-provoking: ___________________________________

2. Over lunch, Sven said to his colleague, “When I found out that Trevor took all the credit for the presentation last night at the conference after I spent hours on it, I wanted to scream.”
   State category of message used: ______________________________________
   New statement, if defence-provoking: ___________________________________

3. Paul walked into the meeting and announced, “You are all tanking our sales.”
   State category of message used: ______________________________________
   New statement, if defence-provoking: ___________________________________

4. Trevor was speaking at a conference. When he was done, he approached Sven and said, “Your writing is horrible! Thank goodness I took time out of my morning to clean it up.”
   State category of message used: ______________________________________
   New statement, if defence-provoking: ___________________________________

Communication Scenario

1. Joshua’s mother said to him, “You complain too much!”
   State category of message used: ______________________________________
   New statement, if defence-provoking: ___________________________________

2. After disagreeing with her roommate, Jackie, about what constitutes cleaning up after yourself, Amanda commented, “It sounds like we’re on different pages about this. What should we do next?”
   State category of message used: ______________________________________
   New statement, if defence-provoking: ___________________________________

3. Sally said to Joshua, “Why are you always nagging about everything?”
   State category of message used: ______________________________________
   New statement, if defence-provoking: ___________________________________

4. Jackie was cleaning the kitchen when Amanda walked in. Jackie said, “I don’t know why you can never just do the dishes when you are done eating.”
   State category of message used: ______________________________________
   New statement, if defence-provoking: ___________________________________

Activity 2

Creating a Positive Communication Climate

Following Jack Gibb’s guidelines on creating a positive communication climate, describe how you would respond in each of these potentially awkward or tense situations.

1. You and your brother both have two-year-old children. You are at the park watching them play (your child is barefoot) and your brother says to you, "I never let Martin (his child) go barefoot. It’s really a health hazard for children and there are so many risks. I always take time to put shoes on him before we play outside."

2. A classmate looks over at your desk and says, “You’re not using a laptop to take notes in class? Doesn’t your hand get tired writing everything down?”

3. You’ve been invited to a party by a co-worker. You arrive and the co-worker looks at you and says, “Oh, hi. I didn’t know if you’d come.” He then goes over to other guests. You know no one there.

4. You are at work and helping a client while two others wait for your help. Your supervisor comes out of her office and says, "I'll see you in my office right now. We need to discuss your problems working with clients."

Activity 3

What Would You Do?

Consider the following situation.

Maria and Janell work together on a committee that frequently meets face-to-face in order to share vital information and to plan upcoming phases in the group's project. Meetings have been lively, efficient, and effective. Every member relies on every other person in the group. The group has developed great working relationships, high cohesiveness, and productive group norms.

Maria has just learned from someone outside the group that her boyfriend, Tariq, and Janell have been openly flirting. Janell has even been heard suggesting to Tariq that Maria may not be entirely faithful to him.

You are also a member of this group. The group is meeting tonight, and important deadlines are approaching. Maria has just told you of her newfound source of conflict with Janell. There's no time for Maria and Janell to "sort things out" before the meeting. Janell does not know that Maria is aware of the situation.

How would you advise Maria to behave toward Janell in tonight's meeting? Why would you advise this?