Team 9:To Mask Or Not To Mask-That Is The Question

Description

**Throughout our story Taylors glasses actually represent a mask to protect against covid.** Keisha (child and youth counselor), Emma (social worker) and Ahlam (English major) showed up for a dinner party at Chiya (social worker) home. Ahlam and Emma project a negative stance against Taylor (nursing) who arrives wearing a mask. Competing conflict styles are used to instigate conversation around the necessity of the mask. Taylor utilizes an avoidant conflict style to try to appease the others. Chiya does her best to alleviate the tension utilizing conflict management negotiation and a "power over'' approach. However, the conflict continues. It escalates when Taylor expresses not being comfortable touching food while getting dinner ready because she was potentially exposed to Covid. Emma demonstrates confirmation bias by assuming Taylor's cautious choices aren't motivated by ovid. Taylor's conflict avoidance only intensifies Emma and Ahlam’s demanding conflict styles. The conflict de-escalates when Chiya utilizes the conflict transformation approach through the use of a dialogue circle. Each person takes turns sharing their cultural perspectives, personal experiences, emotions, and beliefs connected to Covid. Keisha discusses how important it is to dig deeper to find the underlying layers of conflict and how social location impacts the relationship with structural power. This conflict recognized how culture, personal basis, personal history and emotion colour conflict. Through conflict transformation and dialogue at the dinner party, guests were able to move forward with a better understanding of each other's beliefs without the intent to change each other's minds.