Touchstones are projects that illustrate your comprehension of the course materi
Touchstones are projects that illustrate your comprehension of the course material, help you refine skills, and demonstrate application of knowledge. You can work on a Touchstone anytime, but you can’t submit it until you have completed the unit’s Challenges and Milestones. Once you’ve submitted a Touchstone, it will be graded and counted toward your final course score.
As you continue to practice the concepts of psychology throughout the duration of the course, you will further develop the problem-solving and self and social awareness skills that are necessary in order to help you better navigate through social situations as they may arise in your personal life as well as your career. You may improve upon the means to apply these skills towards understanding individual behaviors, relationships, and making informed decisions based on reliable information. You may recognize that no matter what kind of situation you encounter at school, home, or work, you have better learned how to recognize and manage your emotions, so that they do not get in the way of your better judgement.
Touchstone 3.2: Workplace Styles
SCENARIO: Monica and Jennifer are coworkers that have been assigned to work on a project together. Jennifer is very organized and wants her and Monica to do really well on this project. To get started, Jennifer took some initiative and prepared a list of to-do items along with the due dates. She even color-coded the list to indicate who will do which item. Shortly after, Jennifer sends an email to Monica with the to-do list attached. Jennifer wants her partner to know that she is serious about their success.
Monica is happy her teammate has shown initiative but is surprised by Jennifer’s to-do list and feels a bit uncomfortable as she is feeling like Jennifer is micromanaging her. Monica wants to do her part on the project but is feeling anxious because she doesn’t know where she fits in. Monica is worried about working on the project. She wonders if she can succeed in this project since Jennifer is already the leader. Prior to this situation, Monica worked for a separate employer who asked her to work on a similar project. She felt anxious about her ability to successfully complete the project and attempted to communicate her feelings with a co-worker. However, her co-worker didn’t seem to understand Monica’s concerns and said that she should just ignore her feelings and get the work done.
As Monica ponders having a conversation with Jennifer, she starts to feel overwhelmed and thinks it might just be easier to be removed from the project.
ASSIGNMENT: Now, it is time to practice the skills and concepts that you have learned to help your friend Monica navigate through a difficult workplace situation. Using your problem solving and self and social awareness skill, as well as what you have learned about personality traits and emotions, answer the questions in this case study assignment. Remember, you are to help Monica calm her anxiety and find a solution to her problem
In order to foster learning and growth, all essays you submit must be newly written specifically for this course. Any plagiarized or recycled work will result in a Plagiarism Detected alert. Review this tutorial for more about plagiarism and the Plagiarism Detected alert: Touchstones: Academic Integrity Guidelines. For guidance on the use of generative AI technology, review Ethical Standards and Appropriate Use of AI.
A. Assignment
DIRECTIONS: To complete the assignment, you will answer the following four questions in 5-7 sentences each:
What are the “Big 5” personality traits? Name and describe each of them, using specific details and information from the case study and course lessons.
Consider the different approaches to the project taken by both Monica and Jennifer. On which of the Big 5 personality traits do they most differ? Discuss these differences in their personality traits.
Using what you learned about emotions, what advice would you give to Monica? Describe a specific strategy that Monica can use to manage her emotions and successfully complete the project.
If you were in this situation, how confident are you that you could successfully resolve a workplace conflict like the one that Monica faced? What past experiences or knowledge influence your answer? Explain how your experience or knowledge can resolve a similar workplace conflict.
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