Critical Incident Analysis (Essay Sample)

Introduction
A critical incidence is a situation or an event that does create a noteworthy risk of substantial or serious harm to the safety, physical or mental health and wellbeing of a waiver participant. (Department of human services, 2008). This situation could have significance on your professionalism/ profession or personal life. It could be related to such issues as communication, culture, emotions, beliefs and knowledge. In a school setting this incidences are more likely to occur, and must the school, teacher and students know how to deal better with the situations. The best ways to address the situations is by use of intercultural communication theories as we will see below.(Monash University language, 2005).
Brian finds himself in a critical incidence after encountering a student’s request to be advanced to the next level for several times even after explaining to the student the reason that is impossible. It seems from the scenario that Brian did the explanation as to why moving to the next level was impossible, and the moment the student spoke was just saying yes to the teacher’s comments and explanation. This shows a misunderstanding between the two parties as the student kept coming back with the same request and the most possible problem here is the lack of exchange of ideas between the two. The teacher explains everything without giving the student a chance to explain the reason he wants to move to the next level despite missing the qualifications. The teacher assumes the student understood the explanation, but he is wrong. The student could have agreed to the teacher’s idea only because he teacher is superior and can’t be quizzed. The sudent instead of disagreeing or arguing with the teacher the he agrees and comes later to demand the same thing which is less of questioning authority compared to immediate response.
The student seems to have come from a culture where people prefer indirect communication as opposed to direct communication. Due to cultural influence the student fails to express his feelings and reason for the promotion to another level (Samovar & Porter, 2001). Watkins gives an example of Hong students who listen and take notes in the classroom as the teachers deliver information without conversing, (2000), this is the opposite of what happens in the western countries where learning is more participatory. Students are allowed to interact with the teachers freely without fear in these countries. To help the student who seems to be affected by authoritarian belief, Brian is supposed to take action and request the student to explain his reasons for wanting to be promoted to the next level. With permission the student will freely recount his reasons which could be valid (Jackson, (2003). Double swing model or theory can help deal with this situation as it addresses the issue of communication which is understood as an infinite process and those involved change during the process of communication. Most people apply the ethnocentric mode giving importance to their point of view only ignoring the other party’s view. This is the situation between Brian and the student as he believes his opinion is valid and enough to make the decision ignoring the student’s side of the story or opinion. To deal with ethnocentrisms an individual is supposed to be equipped with intercultural communication sensitivity as it transforms individuals from ethnocentric stage to the ethno-relative stage, (Dong,et al (O)).
In another case Julia a history teacher finds herself in a critical situation balancing her lessons and assisting a group of international students in her history class after classes. These students agree to understand what is taught in class but they later go to consult the teacher after which only means they never understood but could not say that during the lesson. The students seem to lack training on intercultural communication which would help them adapt to the new environment and communication freely without problems. The students lack confidence in class and fear talking in the midst of the original students as they could be laughed at due to their language. In such a situation the teachers also have failed in encouraging and training the students in asking and answering questions on matters not understood in class.
To deal with such a situation the students requires training on intercultural communication which increases students (both origin and foreign) ability to deal with communication problems. The best thing for her to do is learn the student’s different cultures and try to make them tolerate other cultures for effective learning. Intercultural adaptation is an important model in such a situation which will improve the foreign student’s courage while speaking. Al-Issa talks of ways to raise cultural awareness and suggests that the classroom be aware of the differences and similarities between them which will help them become more open and create a culture of understanding and tolerance on interpersonal interactions. (Al Issa, 2005). It is also recommended to request the students to give their reasons for not asking the questions in class and from there the teacher can decide on the best way to assist the students either in class or continue offering assistance after class. It is also important to note that the communication acculturation model will work for this situation as it supports cross-cultural collaborative efforts whereby strangers or the foreign students will be involved in a joint effort.
Anita finds herself in a critical situation after raising her concern to the head teacher in a meeting. Raising her opinion was not a bad thing but the rest of the group reacted as if she had wronged. She was new to the school and this was her first meeting therefore knew nothing about the norms of the meetings, the staffs beliefs and stands during the meetings. Looking at this situation the staff may be victims of status quo and authoritarian belief. They never question the decision of the head teacher and they are amazed when she does request for early delivery of her books. This group of staff might have fear for him or the consequences of disagreeing with his decisions, even if they could be negatively affected by the decision.
To deal with such a situation the staff needs to be enlightened on the importance’s of communication. It is through communication that right decisions are met and people become comfortable as their will might be attained. It is not logic to keep quiet while you are being affected by a decision; it is advisable to raise your opinion for consideration. Networks and out group communication competence is important as it does emphasize on links between individuals during communication. Kiss talks of communication between strangers and people who know each other, he says that we cannot an...