Describe the conflict in detail. This might include the topic, the participants and their relationship, what the major concerns are, where the differences or conflict lies, what people have said and or done, and other details that you believe are important for the reader to know.

DIFFICULT CONVERSATION ANALYSIS

ASSIGNMENT TWO
Stage 1
AFTER reading Difficult Conversations…

Identify a difficult conversation/conflict that you have recently experienced. If you are uncomfortable using your own experience you may choose a problematic conflict that someone you know has experienced, or use a TV show or movie.

If you choose the latter – you MUST run it by me – before you leave on break. This should be a conflict that you are familiar with and one that you understand and can write about in
great detail. The conflict you choose may be a group or a private dyadic type of conflict in a work, family, or friendship/intimate relationship context—the choice is yours.

Stage 2
Describe the conflict in detail. This might include the topic, the participants and their relationship, what the major concerns are, where the differences or conflict lies, what people have said and or done, and other details that you believe are important for the reader to know. Be as detailed and explicit as possible. Include actual dialogue (this might be spoken words, text message, email messages, etc). Specific context is HELPFUL. (see my notes on page two of this assignment sheet for further thoughts) My experience shows that this dialogue component is imperative for success – it can be included in the text of the analysis or as an addendum (Do NOT consider this dialogue in the overall length of the analysis).