Introduction
Conflicts are inevitable when humans are involved, but they are inherently uncomfortable in personal and professional contexts. Knowing basic conflict management strategies could be helpful for people in various contexts so that it is possible to solve them in healthy and productive ways (Nordby, 2018). Because conflict resolution skills develop as a result of experience and regular interactions with people, trying one’s hand at implementing basic strategies can help build one’s competency in this area.
Discussion
An example of a time I used a conflict resolution strategy was when I attempted to bring the parties involved in a conflict together so they could talk. I used to work in retail, and two of my fellow employees regularly argued about taking the lead. When either of them tried to assume a leadership position in a team project, the other got very frustrated, which resulted in frequent arguments. Because their competition was disruptive and other workers felt uncomfortable, I decided to take the initiative and asked the two of them to meet outside the work context and discuss their differences.
Conclusion
However, I realized this strategy could have been more effective because their interactions were not mediated by a manager who could have led the conversation into the desired area of conflict resolution. I should have encouraged my fellow co-workers to negotiate their differences in the manager’s office, but I needed to be more experienced to understand that two parties in a conflict may only sometimes find common ground with a mediator. Only when our manager showed initiative and held several meetings with the two employees did the situation get resolved? They stopped engaging in arguments with one another due to the equal division of leadership responsibilities between them.
Reference
Nordby, H. (2018). Management and conflict resolution: Conceptual tools for securing cooperation and organizational performance. Web.