Relational Dialectics

Introduction: Thoughts from the Breakroom The coffee has gotten cold, the soggy sandwich you brought for lunch is suddenly unappealing, and the conversation has run stale. The clock could not possibly be moving any slower. Your cubicle buddy is busy working on his customer reports, your boss is locked away in his office, and the creepy dude that sits that stares at you from his desk so happens to be taking his lunch break at the same time as you. Relationships in the workplace are a struggle because some of them act as positive motivators such as your favorite co-worker or maybe the nice desk manager who is always willing to greet you with a smile and hello in the morning. However, others such as the creepy dude who stares, the employee who

The workplace is one of the various places where this theory can come into play. This paper will explore the external dialectics such as inclusion and seclusion, as well as conventionality and uniqueness of an office and the employees within it. Furthermore, internal dialectics such as connection and autonomy, and impartiality and favoritism will be examined for the close personal relationships of co-workers with their colleagues. Each of these specifics dialectical tensions play a role in how people communicate and collaborate in an office setting. Specifically looking at friendship and romantic relationships in the show The Office these tensions will be explored and compared to real life scenarios, along with the role of technology in the modern

As previously mentioned Relational Dialectics looks at dialectical tensions. There are two different categories of dialectical tensions. Internal dialectics simply means the ongoing tension within a relationship versus external dialectics, which means the tensions between a couple and a community (Griffin, Ledbetter, & Sparks, 2015). Often times, these scholars pick a particular focus to analyze such as workplace, college, social media, or other types of settings and platforms where relationships are built and nurtured. In the article Relationships as dialogues Baxter (2004) says, “In being open to another person, one is willing to listen to him or her from that person’s perspective to display the receptivity to what the person has to say to be open to change in one’s own beliefs and attitudes” (p. 5-6). Meaning that when communicating with others an individual is willing to consider others opinions and in the workplace this can be seen happening effectively and ineffectively during team related assignments. External dialectics play a role in how businesses have to think of themselves outside of just their company they have to look at their relationship with the community. In regards to this Baxter (2004) states, “Relationship parties are also involved in ongoing negotiation with outsiders on the ways in which the relationship’s