Essay Sample on Johari Window & Transactional Analysis: Enhancing Understanding

Introduction

The Johari Window is a tool used by individuals to enhance levels of understanding with others and to increase their awareness of other people. Harry Ingham and Joseph Luft invented it. The window is a representation of a person and has four quadrants and four panes, with each quadrant representing an aspect of personal awareness (Chapman, 2003). Transactional Analysis is a technique of understanding associations by observing transactions between people. It states that individuals function in three ego states in their interactions with other people, including; adult, parent, or child (Connor & Pokora, 2012). People flex between these three states according to the situation and sometimes can only operate from one. In this assignment, I will examine a scenario of me as an employee in relation that of my subordinate and my supervisor and will look at how the concepts from the Johari Window and Transactional Analysis apply to our relationship.

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Johari Window and Transactional Analysis Application to my Current Supervisor/Subordinate Relationship

Johari Window

In my current workplace, the concepts of the Johari Window apply to my relationship with my supervisor Mr. Carter and subordinate, Ted in that, the supervisor has been able to establish a strong association and corporate excellence with me through ensuring that we do not have any communication barriers. He also avoids any feelings of resentment, distrust, insecurity, and impotence at work. Through the development of better communication, my supervisor has been able to issue clarity and purpose and shred activities for people to work towards a common goal. At the workplace, I can look into my character, be open, share, and accept feedback. My subordinate Ted has always given me feedback about my behavior. This open area information from Ted has reduced my blind areas since most of the time; he sees things which I cannot know about myself. The combination of disclosure and feedback from Mr. Carter and Ted has helped produce information in the unknown area. Mr. Carter reduces the unknown area by providing his subordinates with opportunities to try new things, a useful way to discover some hidden abilities.

Transactional Analysis

My relationship with Mr. Carter and Ted are that of the adult ego state. We work without primary emotions where Mr. Carter delegate duties and work is practical among subordinates. At one point, Mr. Carter was supervising Ted and me alongside employee 3. Mr. Carter has requested us to help in redesigning the office layout. While Ted and I discussed possible arrangements, employee 3 said nothing and sat with his arms folded. When asked why he said it was not his job to design a layout. Mr. Carter, Ted, and I responded in an adult state by treating him as an adult despite that he acted like a child. We were objective, rational, and mature when dealing with him to avoid chances of emotional conflict. We asked him to contribute since we valued his ideas. He remained in the Child ego state, and we continued the discussion without him (Connor & Pokora, 2012). Later on, the supervisor would see him separately for a review of his inappropriate manners.

Blind Spots

I think some of my blind spots are not maintaining eye contact sometimes during a conversation and being insincere with my subordinates when I notice that what I will say might affect their self-esteem. Some of Ted's blind spots include having anger issues when dealing with others, and lack of patience in the case where a fellow teammate does not want to cooperate entirely in the activity. Mr. Carter, on the other hand, believes in some employees too much that sometimes he forgets to seek feedback from others, making them feel left out in the organization's decision making processes. No one among us had suspected that we had some hidden blind spots until we started working with the Johari Window analysis. As people who are dedicated to working in a team and maintaining boundaries in the organization, we keep some spots between us. For instance, after noticing the feedback priorities by Mr. Carter, I approached him quietly, and we talked about it. He has improved since the time. I have spoken with Ted openly about his anger issues and privately about his lack of patience with others. They both responded by outlining my blind spots as well.

Using the Johari Window Analysis to Improve the Supervisor/Subordinate Relationship

The Johari window provides a visual reference which employees can use to observe their characters. People with a large Open area like Ted are easy to talk to and can easily open up to others and get along in a group. Small open area people like employee three always seem uncommunicative and closed off, and are difficult to talk to. People with a large blind area have a lot of issues which they have not identified, yet, which is not the case with my relationship with Ted and Mr. Carter. Others see problems. The supervisor identification of these problems will enable him to push employees to their boundaries so that he can achieve his best interests. We can help discover our Blind selves by observing and talking to each other using the Johari Window; we can also use this tool in negotiations and persuasions for better organizational benefits (Connor & Pokora, 2012).

Transactional Analysis Specific Example Scenarios Improving Relationships

At some point when we were working in a group project, I was reluctant in answering the group's question, and Ted reacted by yelling and scolding me for wasting the groups time. He acted like a child and talked on a parent state. Sometimes at work when I am tired, I sit and observe people and drag myself without being productive, I even respond annoyingly when requested to get involved, acting like a child. Using transactional analysis, the relationships between my supervisor, subordinate, and other employees can be improved through observation of our conflict levels. Each level of conflict is featured by innovativeness and self-criticism. A low dysfunctional conflict level is due to empathy, lack of new ideas, and lack of responsiveness (Connor & Pokora, 2012). This situation will require the supervisor to solve some stimulating conflicts so that he can make the unit more viable. When the conflict level is exceptionally high, it becomes dysfunctional since the survival of the group will be threatened by a diversion of energies from the goals and performance of the organization, causing chaos and disruptions. Through the use of transactional analysis, conflicting behaviors will be reduced in the organization (Brown & Harvey, 2006). The three ego states of parent, adult, and child are used to govern behavior.

Conclusion

From the discussion, Transactional analysis encourages effectiveness in adult to adult transactions at the workplace. It supports adult to adult relationships to be a significant norm for productivity. When workers respond in an ego state, emotional conflicts are reduced, and problem-solving is encouraged. The Johari Window, on the other hand, seems like a sophisticated tool, yet it can be understood easily with little effort. It offers managers and employees with visual references to look at their individuality.

References

Brown, D. R., & Harvey, D. (2006). Organization development. Seven Edition, Pearson Education, 166. Retrieved from http://www.gbv.de/dms/zbw/609372742.pdf

Chapman, A. (2003). A model for self-awareness, personal development, group development, and understanding relationship. Retrieved from https://apps.cfli.wisc.edu/johari/support/JohariExplainChapman2003.pdf

Connor, M., & Pokora, J. (2012). Coaching and mentoring at work: Developing effective practice: Developing effective practice. McGraw-Hill Education, pp. 183-189. Retrieved from https://www.mheducation.co.uk/9780335226924-emea-coaching-and-mentoring-at-work-group