Days before assignment due

Getting through the assignment was interesting, especially the last few days, where the fundamental modeling was completed and imported into UT3. The last few days before the due date we spend some time touching up the fabrication work, such as adding external decorations, signs, sounds and other effects.

We left the light to last. When building the environment it took us quite a long while especially building the lights. Towards the last day we’ve encountered the last and final problem when trying to cook the file, the report spit out an error, after multiple fixing, trial and error and google help, we still was not able to find a solution. Our last option was to go to BECU and test it out with Graham before the 9am submission. To our surprise it print out a successful result, we are still not sure what when wrong as it was simply clicking the cook button. However overall it was a success as we managed to hand it in on time. Lesson learned in this situation was to make use and exploit our opportunities, finding help from different places until the problem is resolved.

Fabrication Arrangement

As Jeffrey continue working on the terrain, the four of us girls (Azize,Cettina,Rachel and myself) will continue working on the mapping, modeling and collecting textures, furnitures and fittings to put in the Wombarra House. Our decision at the last group meeting was to allocate different rooms between us all to work on mapping the textures and putting in the components.

Due to time and place constraints it is most likely that we have to design our allocated room individually at our own time. We understand that each of our room might have different mood as it is design by different group members. However we have addressed this issue through a group meeting, it was decided that we want the house to have a warm homey mood, and the colour scheme we wanted to portrait this is white, dark chocolate and gold. These colours are also an excellent blend to the context of the house representing rich, purity of the beach.

We have also decided to modify the design of the house by moving the stairs closer to the entrance to allow for maximum view to the coastline while been use as a circulation space.

Task 11 - Conflict

Conflict in collaboration will always exist in any type of projects. Therefore it is not the issue of how to avoid conflict, but how to resolve it when it does occur. Developing a system to resolve these conflicts is a good approach to take when working as a group.

Conflicts come in two ways destructive and constructive. Destructive conflict often end with hard feelings, “co-workers avoiding one another, people taking sides and subtly or overtly harassing “the bad guy”, and lower productivity.” Constructive is what should be aim for as it turn conflict into collaboration, it improve communication, improve production and reduce absenteeism and staff turnover. [1]

When conflict arise it is best to address it as soon as possible, as the longer it is left unresolved the more complicate it is to find a solution. The conflict will grow like a type of virus, the earlier the cure the better.

Figure1 Conflict should be resolve as quickly as possible, before it brakes.

Strategies to approach conflict and turn it into a constructive conflict: firstly to recognise that when resolving it should not be a win-lose situation but instead a win-win confrontation. Both parties in conflict must understand what they really want and not simply want to win the argument. Then they could negotiate by addressing those concerns together. As Linda Gravett, PhD in SPHR concluded “You may not always get what you want, but I’ll bet that you get what you need.”[2]

Figure2 Working towards a common goal.

As a group we have not encounter destructive conflict. However we did have some minor constructive conflicts such as how task should be done, what task needs to be place on priority, etc. As these conflicts occur, as a group we sought out our common goal that leads as back to understanding our group’s objective. In this process we constantly develop informal and formal action plans to help us understand what task need to be done and by when. So therefore the outcome was a reconciliation between all the group member, it did not go according to what each group member’s wanted, however it was definitely what was needed to continue the fabrication task. As a saying in the movie Fruit Basket go “…we might not all agree, however we can meet halfway.” In our situation the conflict was positive and constructive as it addressed our problem and pushed us to better organise our fabrication processes.
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[1] Gravett, L., “Turning Conflict into Collaboration”, e-HResources.com, (2001), http://www.e-hresources.com/Articles/Oct2001.htm, viewed 3 June 2008.
[Figure1] Business Training Works, “Conflict Resolution Training”, Business Training Works, (2006), http://www.businesstrainingworks.com/Onsite%20Training%20Web/Course%20Outlines/15%20Conflict%20Resolution%20Skills%20Onsite%20Training%20Program%20Outline.html, viewed 3 June 2008.
[2] Gravett, L., Op cit.
[Figure2] Wayne County, “Why Should I Learn About Conflict Resolution”, Wayne County, http://www.waynecounty.com/coalitiontochangetheculture/learn.asp, viewed 3 June 2008.