CONFLICT RESOLUTION
Conflict is inevitable and is never easy. Growing up, the way I dealt with conflict grew with me. I exhibited signs of anxiety starting at a very young age. I bit my nails and had trouble letting my parents drop me off at school and extracurriculars. Despite the anxiety, I was (and still am) a loud and expressive extravert. I could always be found declaring how I felt about a situation. Expressing myself verbally has always come easily to me and it is one of my strengths and also a weakness. As I entered middle school, I began showing symptoms of my physical disability, Ehlers Danlos Syndrome. I wasn’t diagnosed until summer before me senior year of high school and the lack of answers made me self conscious. I was constantly injured with no explanation and missed school to see specialists who didn’t always believe I was in pain. On top of this, middle school is hard on most kids. I had a falling out with a friend and became fixated on what I had done wrong. At that point, I was still confrontational and was found yelling at people involved, desperately trying to communicate my feelings and opinions. As my anxiety worsened, my conflict resolution style shifted from anger and expression to total avoidance. I avoided doing my work, avoided my family and friends. It was extremely isolating and typically made matters worse than they were in the beginning. As I went through high school I learned many times, the dangers of avoidance and began to become more vocal again. High School was still difficult and I often found myself left out. My loud enthusiasm can be overwhelming and the rejection left me with my guard up. Although this was difficult, it taught me the importance of listening. I spent a lot of high school listening to my peers. It also taught me compassion. In my extracurriculars in high school I would seek out others who were seen as outcasts and offer my support. In my classes I continued to be vocal about my opinion. I am stubborn and confident in my intellectual skills. My favorite teachers taught me to use my new listening skills to collaborate and I slowly learned when to step back and how to choose my battles. I still have bad habits. I still avoid things that give me anxiety and I often forget to listen to other opinions when I’m passionate but I have become aware and can catch myself. In groups in college I have learned that the most important thing I can do is listen. As I talked about in my diversity plan, diversity fosters new ideas, ideas I could miss if I am only focused on my opinion.
COMPETING
A party with a competing response attempts to win at the expense of the other party. Other names for this response include forcing and dominating. This style is useful when quick, decisive action is required, when an unpopular course of action must be taken, or when the other party would take advantage of noncompetitive behavior.
ACCOMMODATING
A person using an accommodating response will forgo his own concerns so that the concerns of the other party can be met. An accommodating style may be used by a party who believes that he cannot win. It may also be useful when the issue is less important to one party than to the other. An individual or unit can adopt an accommodating style in return for a favor at a future time.
AVOIDING
A party who exhibits an avoiding response neglects both his own concerns and those of the other party. An avoiding style may be necessary to allow emotions to cool down or as a means of delaying decisions until effective solutions can be found.
COMPROMISING
Compromising responses are those in which a party tries to partially meet both his own concerns and those of the other party. A compromising response is best used when the parties are of relatively equal power, when temporary settlements to complex problems are required, when there is time pressure, and as a backup when collaboration is unsuccessful.
COLLABORATING
Collaborating responses are attempts to fully meet the concerns of both parties. To use a collaborating response, the parties must work together to identify solutions in which both parties can win. This type of response is most likely to result in the win–win outcome. A collaborating response is best used when both parties’ concerns are too important to ignore, and when the objective is to learn and to gain commitment.
The textbook defines 5 ways to deal with conflict: Competing, Accommodating, Avoiding, Compromising and Collaborating. My ideal organization will utilize all 5 of these strategies because different situations call for different solutions. The goal of my ideal organization is to primarily solve conflict using compromise and collaboration; however, it is important to recognize the need for all 5 strategies depending on the situation. Collaborating is the most ideal form of conflict resolution.
The textbook defines this response as: “attempts to fully meet the concerns of both parties. To use a collaborating response, the parties must work together to identify solutions in which both parties can win.” My ideal organization is group based. Project groups meet regularly to update each member on progress. I chose this model specifically to foster collaboration. As mentioned earlier and in my diversity plan, different people have different approaches to solving problems and see tasks and their solutions through different lenses. Using collaboration, teams are able to discuss multiple ideas to solve a problem and take the best parts of each suggestion to create the ideal solution. Collaboration is ideal, but it is not always effective and can be time consuming. To speed up the process of collaboration, it is important that all employees are able to compromise. The textbook defines compromising as a response “in which a party tries to partially meet both his own concerns and those of the other party.” It is important when collaborating that employees always keep in mind what is best for the company. That means members of the team should put the company's needs above their own opinion and compromise. Compromise helps keep teams on track. This mindset aligns with an accommodating response. “A person using an accommodating response will forgo his own concerns so that the concerns of the other party can be met.” This kind of response puts the company before the individual while also keeping in mind the needs of other employees. It is also important that heads of teams keep compromise and accommodation in mind when making executive decisions. Sometimes teams get stuck. In those situations it is up to the team leader to decide. Project managers should be the tie breaker when their project group cannot agree. This is reminiscent of a competing response. “This style is useful when quick, decisive action is required, when an unpopular course of action must be taken, or when the other party would take advantage of noncompetitive behavior.” Although not ideal, it is important to have a system in place when conflict cannot be resolved through collaboration and/or compromise. My organization will only turn to a competing response when there is a time crunch or when the conflict resolution conversation is hurting more than it's helping. The last response is avoiding. When I first heard avoiding, I decided my ideal organization would not tolerate avoidance. The reason I chose to include it as a strategy my organization will utilize is based on the example given in the textbook. It says “IBM has avoided conflict by refusing to do business in countries that allow bribery of public officials.” This was not what first came to mind when I thought of avoidance, but it is an important strategy. Many companies use their avoidance as a selling point. Cosmetic companies advertise that they don't use certain harmful chemicals and food companies promote that their produce was grown without pesticides. These are examples of strategic avoidance and I think that is important to utilize in my ideal organization.