Dealing with Conflict

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I took the online assessment for handling conflict and the results showed that my conflict style is compromising.

  1. Write an analysis of how your dominant and less dominant conflict styles affect your leadership abilities and outcomes. How might using a different conflict style improve the outcomes? Provide specific examples to support your argument.

I was surprised to see that I was assigned the compromising conflict style. However, I am happy with the results provided. It shows that I am able to satisfy both parties involved in a conflict. With this style, both sides are heard and respected. I am happy with this style because there is a sense of fairness in the resolution of conflict. I listen to all parties involved and try to find a solution in order to appease all involved. This also shows that as a leader, I am impartial, unbiased, and give others their due respect. The one negative aspect of this style is that both sides are not fully and completely happy. It provides a quick solution instead of thorough examination of the conflict. It appears to be a lazy way to work through problems instead of fully embracing them. I don’t think that this applies to me in real life because I like to fix conflicts and focus more in depth on the conflicts than the style I was given according to the assessment.

All the other styles can work in certain situations. For instance, if one party is being completely unrealistic or unfair then the competing style should be utilized. I had to use this at work one time when a coworker was being unprofessional and lazy. Or if there are problems but people don’t want to ruin relationships then an accommodating style should be applied. All the styles can work well but it depends on the situation.

Describe an actual conflict you had with a family member, roommate, or coworker

  1. Describe the positions and interests of you and the other person in the conflict.  Describe how you could fractionate the conflict.
  2. Using Fisher and Ury’s methods, describe how you could separate the person from the problem and how you could work together to address the conflict.
  3. How could you have helped the other person in the conflict save face?  How could the other person help you save face?

I am a rather non confrontational person and I don’t have many conflicts so it’s hard for me to draw up any examples. But one time a few years ago I had a fight  with my friend but at the time we weren’t as good of friends as we are now. We were playing basketball and we were arguing over something trivial. (I can’t remember exactly what it was). Also the game was getting heated and we were badmouthing one another. Eventually, the argument escalated and the fight turned physical. I could have separated the person from the problem and saved face by simply stopping the game and talking through the issue. The intensity of the game propelled our issues but stopping the game would have been a smart move. We could have fractioned the problem by acknowledging there was an issue and resolving it early so that we could move on peacefully.