Managing Relationships

Managing Relationships Paper

Veronica Aguilar

University of Phoenix

COM/200 Foundations of Interpersonal Communication

Jeffery Heingle

November 2, 2009

Managing Relationships

Interpersonal communication is the basis for which relationships are managed.

According to Interpersonal Communication: Relating to Others (6th ed.) by Beebe, Beebe and Redmond, “interpersonal communication is a distinctive, transactional form of human communication involving mutual influence, usually for the purpose of managing relationships” (Beebe, et. al, 2009, p. 3). By having a solid understanding of how the mechanics of interpersonal relationships work makes the difference in maintaining successful relationships regardless if it is with a stranger, an acquaintance, a friend, a close friend, a best friend, a partner, or spouse.

The Relationship

One relationship that I will elaborate on is the relationship I have with my husband. My husband and I have been married for nearly five years. We met in 1999 while working for the same company. My husband and I had a very professional working relationship that was a result of circumstance. When we first met we were both married to other people at the time and our relationship remained professional, though there was an attraction that neither of us discussed or acted upon until we found ourselves separated and in the middle of divorces at similar times. We then began dating and realized that our relationship of circumstance soon became a relationship of choice. Our relationship developed through each of the relational escalation stages of pre-interaction awareness, acquaintance, exploration, intensification, until where we are now, which is interpersonal intimacy.

Short-Term and Long-Term Attraction

The genesis of our relationship was primarily of circumstance and proximity

because we were working acquaintances. When we first met we realized that we liked each other, not primarily physically but as people and that led to the...