Family Communication

Question: Discuss about theFamily Communication. Answer: Introduction Communication relates to the sharing of ideas, concepts, thoughts and also feelings amongst different members in an organisation or community. Communication is carried out in a verbal, written and non-verbal fashion where verbal and written communication essentially focuses on the use of letters and words for generation of information and messages to the concerned parties or stakeholders. Non-verbal communication ideally focuses on the use of gestures and body languages to communicate effective information to concerned stakeholders or interested parties. Even silence is also considered as an effective art or way of communication (Pokharel, 2011). The paper potentially focuses on identifying and highlighting the significance of communication activities conducted within a family system. It would also focus on identifying the factors that tend to contribute in the emergence of potential conflicts within a family system and the different strategies that can be undertaken for resolving problems or issues contributing to the emergence of conflicting situations. Empirical research would be carried out through the study of articles available online reflecting on family communication, emergence and resolving of family conflicts. Significance of Communication in a Family System The significance of communication within a family can be effectively evaluated from the following points. Effective communication enabled between family members contribute in development of needed understandings and agreement regarding feelings, sentiments and statements made by each other. Communication carried out between the family members help each other in understanding and respecting each others thoughts and feelings and also appreciating individual thoughts and decisions regarding an issue or event. Further, development of communication within a family system also contributes in shaping values and also in rendering solutions to issues that tend to affect the family members. Again, development of communication habits between family members also helps in ceasing of gossips and thereby aids the family members to understand the facts related to the issues. Communication activities carried out between family members also contributes in enhancing the level of trust and support needed for countering the impacts generated by emerging situations (Dahlen et al, 2010). Development of needed love and support amongst family members potentially contributes in generating a hearing ear to the problems or difficulties faced by specific individuals and thereby in resolving them in an effective fashion. Communication carried out between family members for resolving a problematic issue also encourages them to share diverse perspectives related to the specific situation or problem. Sharing of perspectives, thoughts and ideas by experienced family members ideally help others in finding effective solutions to the same type of problems or issues suffered by the people. The act of communication carried out between family members in an uninterrupted fashion also contributes in thickening of bonds that tend to last over lifetimes. At times when certain family members are faced with issues or problems they focus on taking shelter within the family in that the same provides the members with needed safety and support. Effectiveness of communication activities carried between family members is also evaluated from the fact that it contributes in reducing the chances of disagreements or strife between them (Lindstrom, 2004). Similarly, communication carried out between parents with their children and also between parents amongst themselves and with other family members elderly or young rightly contributes in increasing the level of transparency between them. It thus helps in enhancing the level of dependency of the children on their parents and also on their siblings for gaining needed intellectual and manpower support in resolving problems and issues. Members of parental groups are required to carry out effective communication with the children and the youngsters to understand their current involvements. The same can help the parents in guiding the youngsters to make correct choices in their life and also in quitting addictive products and practices that would ruin their careers and personal lives (Brody, 2010). The aspect of communication carried out within a family system also contributes in enhancing and in sustaining needed harmony between the family members and thereby in ideally representing them as a group and not as specific individuals. The communication activities between family members has earned needed sophistication based on the use of different telephonic and internet enabled gadgets like mobile phones, Smartphones and other devices like tablets, personal computers and laptops. The development of other applications like web chat and Skype has further helped the family members to sustain their communication practices overseas thus helping in both strengthening and enhancing the existing family bonds (Brooks, 2008). The employment of such technological tools has also contributed in enhancing the aspect of real time communication thus encouraging the family members to both communicate and share pictorial and textual contents between each other. The development and use of internet and communication technology rightly helps the family members in sharing of emotions and feelings and also in providing needed guidance to the individuals that have settled overseas for confronting with emerging problems and issues both along their domestic and professional lives. The communication tools and mediums thus serve as an extended tool relating to the aspect of family support and integrity. Family members also focus on pursuing communication while sitting at the table in a collective fashion to take their meals. The above practice contributes in encouraging individuals share experiences and feelings and also earn suggestions from senior members of the family (Wind, 2006). Communication activities pursued by family members in a day-to-day fashion rightly contribute in developing an effective cultural framework of shared values, experiences and trust and thus strongly and affectionately bind them to each other. This helps them in being avid listeners and also in understanding and respecting the sense of diversity observed within a family pertaining to the different types of thoughts, feelings, sentiments, emotions and ideas generated by each of the family members. It thereby helps the individual family members to effectively empathise with the needs, wants and expectations of the different family members (Chang et al, 2006). Factors Contributing to Occurrence of Conflict in Family System Different factors tend to contribute in the emergence of conflicts within a family. The loss of jobs and problems associated with financing of day-to-day activities tend to create increased family tensions thereby leading to conflicts between couples. The present day instability of the employment climate with also difficulty in sustaining and enhancing the financial health of the family contribute in affecting the economic position and livelihood of the other family members. It thus tends to contribute in the emergence of conflicting situations within the family owing to increasing tensions for carrying out the daily economic and social activities. Similarly, increased and unaccounted spending of one of the family members tends to affect the financial health of the family leading to disputes between the husband and wife (Dyer, 2013). Further, the growth of differences between the thoughts, perceptions and ideas between the daughters-in-law with her mother-in-law also contribute to emergence of family feud. The conflict of interest between the female members of the family vehemently disturbs the family peace and makes the other family members the emotional sufferers of such family conflicts where one of the female members deciding of quitting the home. Negative competition between siblings inside a family also amount to potential conflicts. The competition that grows between siblings from their very tender age tends to gain impetus as they grow to youngsters and thereby to adults. Increasing levels of competition between the siblings make them isolate themselves from each other and also from other family members that focus on generating emotional, financial and other types of support to their opponent siblings. The above situation in some cases also happens to disturb and affect the lifestyle of the family members even causing separation within the family. Creation of a separatist family culture further affects the internal productivity and efficiency of the family members causing further tensions (Libai et al, 2010).. Family conflicts are also observed to gain emergence and impetus owing to arguments between the parental groups regarding disciplinary issues of their children. The conflict arises in that one of the parents like the father or the mother focuses on being a strict disciplinarian and thereby requires the children to ideally follow the footsteps laid regarding disciplinary aspects both along the domestic, social and professional fronts while the other focuses on safeguarding the children and acts as the consoler. In cases where any complaint is generated from schools, colleges and the like regarding erroneous disciplinary conducts of the children, the father or mother acting as the disciplinarian in the house aims in taking stern actions for refraining the children in being further involved in such erroneous conducts. The consoler on the contrary, endeavours to safeguard the children from the anger of the opposite parent that often leads to heated arguments creating potential conflicts (Buyya et al, 2009). The aspect of poor communication between the family members often tends to cause potential misunderstandings leading to potential conflicts. Failure in effectively communicating with each other also affects the level of empathy of family members towards each other potentially leading to events like estrangements and divorces. Lack of development of effective values and cultures within the families owing to the failure of the parents in highlighting effective examples in the eyes of their children and also separation of parents tend to affect the mental situation of their children. The children having turned into adults thus tend to reflect the same type of behaviours and attitudes towards their spouses and also with the elderly members leading to internal family conflicts (Ferrell, O.C. and Hartline, 2008). Unrealistic expectations of the couples regarding the financial and educational situations tend to potentially affect the family harmony causing disputes. Wives or husbands regard their counterparts as equally effective in contributing to increase the family earnings. The failure of wives or husbands in failing to meet the financial and educational expectations of their counterparts creates increased conflicts between them creating estrangement and divorce between them. The habit of over spending by the male and female counterparts within the family also affects their internal solidarity amounting to disputes (Noam and Pupillo, 2008). Similarly, cases of increased alcohol and other types of drug consumption by the family members either the family youths or by members of the parent groups leading to uncontrolled behaviours and occurrences tend to significantly affect the internal harmony of the families leading to conflicts. The alcoholic husbands are observed to abuse and torture their wives that in turn cause increased family conflicts often amounting to separation. The husbands in other cases are also observed to be largely engaged in activities like gambling and playing of rummy that require them to generate significant investments thereby draining of the family finances. The same creates internal tensions inside the family causing conflicts (Smith, 2011). Again, cases of moral and sexual infidelity of the wives or husbands towards their respective counterparts affect the level of internal trust between them leading to potential problems. The event of distrust that has emerged between the wives and husbands tends to significantly affect the internal harmony within the family and thereby leading to conflicts and events of divorce. Increased level of dishonesty of the family members reflected against each other is identified as a crime by the sufferers for which they focus on gaining legal support creating further family tensions and feuds (Lindstrom, 2004). Work alcoholism and also increased addiction of family members to internet enabled gadgets like Smartphones, tabs and laptops for purposes of chat, seeing of viral videos and other contents and also in continually working overtimes potentially creates internal tension in the households amounting to conflicts. Individuals nowadays are observed to be increasingly addicted to social networking sites like Facebook, Twitter and also in chatting activities relating to instant messenger applications like WhatsApp that reduce the quality times regarding spending with their children and families. The above issues tend to significantly contribute in the emergence of potential conflicts inside the family (Brody, 2010). Effective Strategies for Reducing Conflicts among Family Members Effective coping strategies are needed to be undertaken for effectively resolving the internal conflicts occurring between family members. Family members like couples involved in conflicts can be largely encouraged to collaborate with each other for generating effective solutions to family problems. The increased involvement of the disputing family members in joint decision making potentially helps in creating bindings between them. Similarly, the family members involved in regular disputes can be rightly encouraged to tour along different places with other families as groups. Touring along different places potentially helps in easing their tension and thus helps in reducing the amount of disputes and conflicts in their homes. The family groups involved in conflicts can also be largely encouraged to participate in laughing clubs such that the same would help in reducing the level of internal tensions and also the growing conflicts between the internal members (Kirby Marsden, Connect ed Marketing, 2012). Equal distribution of interest and responsibility among the different family members contribute in reduction of internal and family conflicts. The family members are required to enter into an effective negotiation with the support generated by an outside party like an ombudsman that would help in generating effective solutions to potential issues. Further, the family members are also required to jointly arrive at a consensus through which they would understand and appreciate the reasons or contributors to the family conflicts. The same would help the people in evaluating the factors or their repeated behaviour that contributed to such family feud and thereby would potentially help them from restraining like practices for resolving potential conflicts. Another effective strategy for resolving family disputes relates to development of the art of listening. The development of the art of listening would rightly help the family members in understanding the changing needs and expectations and thereby in devising effective means for resolving internal issues. The family members are required to visit consultants and experts for helping them in resolving issues contributing to family conflicts and disputes. They are also required to effectively compromise their own behaviours, practices and attitudes for the sake of attaining domestic peace (Bailey, 2011). From the viewpoint of perspectives, the conflict resolution strategy rightly requires the individuals to firstly evaluate their own perspective, then the perspective of the other and third party in an aim to resolve the domestic conflicts. In terms of evaluating ones own or personal perspective the individual is required to evaluate and understand the factors that are bothering him or her while in a family setting. Further, the evaluation of the personal perspective is also required to be carried out to understand the different factors that would help in satisfying their needs and in securing their life such that they dont suffer from fear or depression. Again, evaluation from the perspective of the other person would require the individual to empathise with the needs and expectations of the other person which would help the individual to rectify, adjust and change ones own behaviour to reduce chances of family conflicts. Finally, from the point of view of the third party the individ ual is required to take the role of an ombudsman that focuses on viewing the situation from an external standpoint. The perspective of the third party is undertaken under evaluation such that the third party focuses on generating a solution to the problem in an indifferent and unattached fashion. The same helps the individual to resolve problems or issues in a neutral fashion than influenced by the emotions and feelings of others (Spinetti, 2012). The art of forgetting and forgiving are considered two essential tools that contribute in resolving the emergence of potential conflicts. One must learn and understand the manner of forgetting and forgiving the conducts of others howsoever unfavourable the same appears to be to others. The individuals are however required to identify effective opportunities for involving the person identified to be guilty of conduct in potential discussions where the impacts generated by his or her wrongdoings or conducts can be brought before their own eyes. The same would help the individuals to effectively and responsively adjust their conducts and attitudes such that the same would rightly contribute in reducing the existence of potential conflicts and thereby in creating a situation of harmony and togetherness in the family(Kirby Marsden, Connected Marketing, 2012). Conclusions The report effectively analyses the significance of communication activity carried out within a family system. It reflects the factors for which communication is needed to be carried out within the members in a family and the modes through which the family members can engage in quality communication practices to generate effective decisions and solutions to emerging problems and issues. Further, the report also reflects on the potential conflicts that arises between family members and the different factors or contributors that cause the rise of conflicts within the family. The report also reflects on the potential strategies that can be undertaken to minimise the impacts of the conflicts occurring within the family. The effectiveness of the diverse strategies for reducing family conflicts is also studied in the paper such that the same can be effectively employed by the family members for reducing the chances of emergence of family conflicts. References Bailey, R. (2011). Letting children be children: report of an Independent Review of the Commercialisation and Sexualisation of Childhood. United States : The Stationery Office. Brody, E. (2010), Jones Soda a role model for health brand marketers, Trajectory, 12 Dec, Retrieved October 29 2016 from https://www.trajectory4brands.com/blog/2010/12/jones-soda-a-role-model-for-health-brand-marketers/ Brooks, Ian (2008), Steps to Success, Retrieved October 29 2016 from https://www.ianbrooks.com/useful-ideas/steps/029.asp Buyya, R.; Yeo, C. S.; Venugopal, S.; Broberg, J. and Brandic, I. (2009), Cloud computing and emerging IT platforms: Vision, hype, and reality for delivering computing as the 5th utility, Future Generation computer systems, vol. 25, no.6, pp.599-616 Chang, H., Jamin, S., Willinger, W. (2006). To peer or not to peer: Modeling the evolution of the Internets AS-level topology, Ann Arbor, vol. 1001, pp. 48109-2122. Dahlen, M.; Lange, F. and Smith, T. (2010), Marketing Communications: A Brand Narrative Approach, John Wiley and Sons, UK Dyer, P. (2013), The Importance of Brand Recommendations in Your Marketing Strategy, Social Media Today,3 Sept, Retrieved October 29 2016 from https://socialmediatoday.com/pamdyer/1711991/importance-brand-recommendations-your-marketing-strategy Ferrell, O.C. and Hartline, M.D. (2008), Marketing With Cd, 14E (Sie), Cengage Learning, USA Bailey, R. (2011). Letting children be children: report of an Independent Review of the Commercialisation and Sexualisation of Childhood. United States : The Stationery Office. Kirby, J., Marsden, P. (2012). Connected Marketing. United Kingdom: Routledge. Lindstrom, M. (2004). BrandChild: Remarkable Insights into the Minds of Today's Global Kids and Their Relationship with Brands . United States : Kogan Page Publishers. Marketing. (2012, August 1). The death of discounting: P2P marketing trend social gifting hits Australia. Retrieved October 29 2016, from www.marketingmag.com.au: https://www.marketingmag.com.au/news/the-death-of-discounting-p2p-marketing-trend-social-gifting-hits-australia-17380/#.UqgD-ScQT8d Spinetti, L. (2012, March 21). Peer-to-peer (P2P) Marketing A Valid Supplement To Social Media Marketing. Retrieved October 29 2016, from bosmol.com: https://bosmol.com/2012/03/peer-to-peer-p2p-marketing-a-valid-supplement-to-social-media-marketing.html#.UqfaoCcQT8e Wind, Y. J. (2006), Blurring the lines: is there a need to rethink industrial marketing?. Journal of Business Industrial Marketing, vol. 21, No. 7, pp. 474-481.