Conflict Management

Matthew Smith

Dr. Davis-Wick

Conflict Management

October 25, 2017

Writing Assignment #1

Conflict has always been an issue for me. I don’t like conflict because, to be frank, I’m not good at it. Conflict involves getting into a verbal tussle or a simple disagreement. It’s how we come to a solution that matters. The problem is that the solution isn’t always going to be what everyone wants. That’s why I tend to run away from conflicts. They make me feel uncomfortable for many reasons. I enjoy being liked by people so the thought of getting into a disagreement about something serious with someone like a fellow colleague of mine scares me. It’s not so much the process of the conflict that scares me, but the result. What if I take the conflict too seriously and emotionally? I’ll end up losing respect in some peoples’ eyes or being thought of in a negative light.

The types of conflicts I get into most often are at work when I disagree with a new process a coworker will introduce to me. It’s important to do what is best for the company and bring up something I believe is wrong. This will ultimately benefit the company. Like I mentioned earlier, I like to avoid these situations as best as possible so I don’t encounter them too often. If someone at work brings up something I believe is wrong, I’ll pretend to agree with the process to make work easier. This is not the case though because it may be easier to agree with someone about a bad process at first, but everyone suffers later when the newly implemented process ends up being a dud and making everyone’s job harder.

The skills and tools I use to resolve conflicts include compromise, collaboration, avoidance, and accommodation. I will compromise my own beliefs, ideas, value system, and opinions to help come to a resolution. In my own example, I will compromise my opinion on a bad process to make everyone’s life a little simpler. I will also collaborate with my coworkers to come up with a solution that could potentially work best for anyone. There are times where this step is difficult if the air in the room is tense and people are emotionally charged while talking about a topic. It’s important to sit down with others in a peaceful and thoughtful manner while coming up with a solution to the conflict. This step can be done every single time in theory. In practice, it’s not done that often, but it is possible to do it very often if everyone make a conscious decision to do so. Avoidance is something that people do all too often when it comes to managing conflict. Sometime it’s easier to avoid the conflict than to head straight into it. Like I mentioned earlier, I have been guilty of doing this. Avoidance tends to be practiced by people who don’t have great conflict managing skills. That’s why it’s important to take a class like this as we hone in our conflict management skills.