Homework Week 1

Misunderstanding #1
Last weekend my wife and I threw my father his 76 Birthday party at our home while family and friends attended. When my younger sister and her family arrived, my wife greeted her by saying “hello stranger”, which is a proper greeting when two people haven’t seen each other in awhile. My sister received this greeting as a disrespectful greeting and stated to my wife she was offended and if you can’t greet me as “hello Gloria” do not greet me at all.

a. Who was the sender? (My Wife)

b. Who was the receiver? (My Sister)

c. What was the message? A simple greeting

d. What channel was used to send the message? Face to Face Communication

e. What was the misunderstanding that occurred? A simple greeting was misinterpret as a personal attack.

How could the misunderstanding been avoided.

a. By not inviting here b. By not greeting her at all c. By greeting her by her name.

Misunderstanding #2

Once I retired from the Marine Corps a year later I went back to work for a defense contractor as an instructor for the Marine Corps. During my time as a Marine the term “WM” stands for Woman Marines. I was not aware that terms was no longer used to refer to woman Marines. During my introduction I let the class know where the “WM’s” and the male marines restroom was. After the first class a female marine approach me to let me know that the term “WM’s” was no longer appropriate to refer to female Marines and that some of the female Marines was offended.

a. Who was the sender? I as the Instructor

b. Who was the receiver? The female Marines

c. What was the message? Where the restrooms was for marines.

d. What channel was used to send the message? Face-to Face Communication.

e. What was the misunderstanding that occurred? The misunderstanding was that I as an instructor was not aware of the changes in the Marine Corps.

How could the misunderstanding been avoided? As an instructor keep abreast of the changes within the community that you are teaching.