Power Influence And Decision Making Essay

Assignment 9: Power, Influence, and Decision-making in Families

It states in our textbook, “The concepts of family power, influence, and decision-making are interrelated” (Galvin, Braithwaite, & Bylund, 2014). I believe that statement or quote to be true after reviewing my own experiences in life and interviewing my parents as a couple on how power, influence, and decision-making are done in their relationship. It says in our book, “power is present in all human relationships and interactions. Power has been conceptualized as the ability (potential or actual) of an individual to change the behavior of other family members” (Galvin, Braithwaite, & Bylund, 2014). I asked the question, how you guys approach power in your relationship as a couple,

Their response was that they believe that it improves their relationship because each other are viewed as equals and treated as equals in the relationship. I believe that my parents have a syncratic relationship. It states in the textbook, “A syncratic relationship is characterized by much shared authority and joint decision-making, implies that each partner has a strong say in all important areas. In this relationship both partners may confer and make decisions together, with both partners having input and shared power” (Galvin, Braithwaite, & Bylund, 2014). Another reason I think that my parents have that type of relationship has to do with how they make decisions. According to my parents how they make decisions it is done by one of them bringing up an item to discuss and then they will talk about the item and make a pros and cons list and after they talked about it and weigh the options they will make the decision on the item jointly. I believe that my parents fall under the decision-making processes of consensus which in our book is defined as, “the most democratic decision-making process, involves discussion that continues

When I asked my parents how they develop the strategies or approaches that they use they talked a lot about their family of origins and how their parents raised them and how their parents relationship was like influences a lot of things they do or don’t do in their relationship. The also mentioned that their friends relationship also influenced their strategies and approaches. Also mom mentioned that once they first got married my parents read a lot of books about relationships and that has helped shaped their relationship and how they react in situations, how the make decisions, and things related to power. My parents are high school sweethearts but they did break up for a while when they were both in college but neither of them had serious relationships during that time but something my dad talked about was that he learned that in relationships things have to be equal and things can’t be one sided or a person can’t have all the power. He also said that he learned that relationships are hard and that things will not always be good and that you have to be willing to change and compromise for the better of the relationship and if you really