The situations in the workplace may be of different types, caused by different reasons, and lead to absolutely unpredictable consequences. There are lots of theories, which may help to solve the problems, which take place because of workers’ inability to cooperate and find out certain alternatives.
The use of personality theories, the humanistic theory in particular, in order to resolve situations at workplace and improve the relations between workers has certain benefits as well as drawbacks, and the situation, described earlier, concerning the conflict between two employees with their own ideas, may serve as a good example to analyze the effectiveness of these theories.
The humanistic theory is all about a personality and his/her personal perception of own existence in a certain environment. This is why it is useless to say that some outside factors may influence personal attitude to the situation, because, nowadays, people have enough opportunities to live in accordance of their principles and interests.
So, when we evaluate a conflict, it is better to focus on personal traits in order to find the best decision of the problem. The author of the previous analysis grounds on the words of Wood and admits that the reason of the conflict under analysis is employees’ aggressiveness, neglect of some rules, and lack of understanding of other people (Wood, 2009).
Very often, rather educated people cannot find enough grounds to find the necessary agreement, this is why conflicts with the elements of violence may take place. Such issues as self-esteem, self-fulfillment, and attention to the ideas of other people turn out to be the major ones in the humanistic theory; the same issues are considered to be the major ones in order to resolve problems between the employees, learn them to listen to each other, and find out common decision to improve the situation and achieve success.
The author of other workplace analysis mentions that the ability of self-actualization is another significant factor, which helps to eliminate the conflicts. Eternal verities are the necessary factors, which motivate self-actualizing people (Feist & Feist, 2001).
The benefits of the use of the humanistic theory are the following: with the help of concrete situations, people get a chance to evaluate personal abilities and their attitude to their place in this life; the situations in the workplace may lead to different consequences, this is why the impossibility to predict the results provide people with a chance to use imagination and personal approaches; finally, the humanistic theory is also concentrated on the relations between people and their intercommunication, so, employees have an opportunity to develop their communicative skills.
There are some drawbacks, which may prevent successful analysis of the situation. First of all, a person may have personal troubles and poor physical condition in order to be ready to solve the problems and evaluate the situation on a proper level. Another interesting point is the existence of inequality of race and gender. It is still the reason for numerous misunderstandings; not everyone is ready to forget personal offences and start peace communication.
In general, the reasons for conflict among employees are closely connected to people’s perception of the reality and their personal attitude to the situation. If a person is eager to achieve success and does not want to listen to another part, it is better to find out another person, who will be able to gather the ideas of both parts and help them choose some common decision.
Reference List
Feist, J., & Feist, G. J. (2001). Theories of Personality (5th ed.). Boston: McGraw-Hill.
Wood, J.T. (2009). Interpersonal Communication: Everyday Encounters. Wadsworth: Cengage Learning.