Monday, January 12, 2009

Conflict Resolution

Conflict is an everyday thing you must go through and resolve the right way many people handle conflicts differently such as walking out, arguing, or keeping to themselves until an apology is given but none of these mechanisms will work in your employment area. Just know that either way you choose to handle these situations may not be acceptable in the corporate world you may lose your job or worst you could be in trouble with the law!
But there are five conflict resolutions you could use Step1. is to keep your cool: the biggest mistake you could do is snapping at a customer resulting in the loss of your job just take one deep breath and count to ten it will calm you down and may calm the customer too. Step 2: take a walk in their shoes: its already hard enough being yelled at and criticized ‘Would you like the treatment or service you have received?’ Using the ‘I’ statement makes you seem a lot more un-defensive and using the right body language to handle the situation. Step 3: is taking responsibility: even if the conflict is not your fault, take responsibility by being honest and trying to explain what went wrong and what you can do to solve the problem before it escalates. Step 4: Don’t always give in: at jobs the slogan may be ‘the customer is always right’ but resolving a conflict doesn’t always mean giving in, depending on where you work and the policy take Sara Miller of Cincinnati for example Miller works at a clothing store where there are no refunds allowed but store credit could be offered to the customer as well “a customer came in with a sweater that was ripped within one wearing but there were sweat stains in the underarm area” says Miller she tells the customer that there are no refunds if the sweater has been worn seeing that there were sweat stains she refused to refund the sweater but offered store credit the woman becomes angry and threatens to call the corporate office and report her, Miller not budging but her actions were supported. Do not go against store policy explain to the customer and/or get the manger, handle conflict well and it can result in success on the job and in life.

A Growing Field

‘Farming is less than a job than a way of life’

John Christian 33, wakes up every day at about 7am to start his work working till the sun goes down he plants organically not using pesticides, herbicides, or genetically modified seeds to grow his plants, John mainly works with green plants like lettuce, arugula, kale, and bok choy also flowers he has a chicken coop also. He uses the green plants to make his own organic soap in the winter he uses the dried herbs, olive oil, and locally produced butter milk and honey, he sells the soap alongside with the other produce two to three days a week. Organically farming is a family business handed down by generations organic farming has grown in California since 2004 and many other operations in the United States have grown dramatically, organically farming must meet strict criteria to be able to produce more of their products. Michigan State University offers an organic farm attracting students that have not grown up on a farm or anywhere near one, but these students are concerned about their environment. Farming is not for everyone says Markham a student at Michigan State University you must have a strong work ethic and your responsible for going out onto the farm everyday to plant and to nurture your plants, a way to find out if farming is for is to try it out for awhile you could get internships says Shipley also a student of Michigan State University who is going to France for an internship for three months she’s going to get hands on training and learn how to farm with climate change.