CONFLICT RESOLUTION STYLES
How do you relate to conflict? For some of you, conflict resolution is a strength. For others, conflict is something to avoid at all costs. After navigating the conflict resolution simulation module, completing the Thomas-Kilmann Inventory (TKI) and negotiating the "Texoil" case, you should have a deeper understanding about how to engage in productive conflict, what your natural tendencies are, and where you can have the greatest impact in conflict resolution. For this assignment, write a blog post that advances your relationship with conflict and conflict resolution. Specifically, answer:
- What did you learn about yourself and your natural tendencies with conflict. Use examples from the TKI and your Texoil negotiation to illustrate.
- What are your goals in terms of developing your conflict resolution skills? (Include in this which styles of conflict resolution you want to develop further).
- Give an example of a previous conflict scenario, what happened, and how you would deal with it differently given your current understanding of conflict and your goals for development?
- What did you learn about yourself and your natural tendencies with conflict. Use examples from the TKI and your Texoil negotiation to illustrate.
According to the TKI scoring, competing is assertive and uncooperative—an individual pursues his or her own concerns at the other person's expense. This is a power-oriented mode in which one uses whatever power seems appropriate to win one's own position: ability to argue, rank, economic sanctions, etc. Competing might mean "standing up for your rights," defending a position which you believe is correct, or simply trying to win. This result sort of surprised me because while I do tend to assert my thoughts in situations, I don't feel as if I come across as agressive or uncooperative, in fact, when I've had to negotiate things in real life, this has worked to my advantage. In my job as STEM outreach director, I often spend a great deal of time "putting out fires" when it comes to managing the logistics and workings of the outreach program. I am the one that has to make the call regarding pretty much everything we do and because of that I tend to just do things my own way. This often lands more work for me and if I could delegate some tasks, I certainly would but the way that our program is set up, this just won't work. In the Texoil case, being assertive did help the case but because the negative bargaining zone, we never reached a compromise. Perhaps if I tuned into some of the compromising and accomodating traits, I could have helped win this case to my side. The second strongest area was Avoiding. I can certainly see where this fits in my natural tendencies to deal with conflict. I like to have all of my information and homework done before dealing with a conflict situation, or as some people say, having all of my ducks in a row. I like to know both sides of the situation very well going in and sometimes that may mean delaying things until I can find all of the information needed to pursue the conflict discussion. In the Texoil case, I needed to tap into the compromising and accomodating side of dealing with conflict. If I had pushed my partner for more information as to why they were selling and worked on the relationship side of things, perhaps some better deals could have been worked out and maybe we could have come to an agreement with some sort of alternative plan so that both parties were happy in the end. I did make the offer to allow the partner who was the station owner to come back after the sale and act as the manager of the station but they declined. After the negotiation we both felt that if we had known that we could have allowed for more flexibility in our plan such as offering jobs, adding additional funds over a period of time, etc., that could have certainly changed the outcome.
MY TKI SCORES
Developing my conflict resolution skills: Looking at my scores, I certainly would like to work on the collaborating and compromising side of things when it comes to conflict resolution. The collaborating style lends itself to situations when both the issues and relationships are important. In most cases in my job when dealing with conflict, I must always consider both issues and relationships and by fostering this skillset, I could find myself experiencing better outcomes when faced with conflict. In addition, looking at the compromising style, time and resources are often very important when we are dealing with situations in my job and by working to find a solution where both parties are happy with the outcome and time and resources are saved, this would certainly be a win-win for everyone.
3. Knowing what I know now in just looking at some recent conflicts I've dealt with, I certainly can see where my working to learn to utilize the collaborating and compromising styles could be more helpful to achieve results for both parties instead of falling back on the competing or avoiding styles. A good example is working with my outreach team to decide what we are going to be submitting as a proposal for a conference session we are presenting at NSTA in the future. I knew what session I felt as if we needed to present based on how well the content has been received by teachers in other sessions we have presented. I was fairly adamant about pursuing my suggestion and really didn't offer much ground for my outreach specialist to make their case for what they felt would be best. In fact, when we sat down to work on the proposal, she simply let me lead the way and really didn't offer much input, probably because I was so straightfoward and direct in making the first suggestion as to the direction we should go. Next time, I want to make sure we allocate enough time for everyone to contribute to the plan and for their opinions to be included in the discussion.
Other great resources I found on conflict resolution styles when reading about this module:
- http://sourcesofinsight.com/conflict-management-styles-at-a-glance/
- https://brentobannon.com/turtle-teddy-bear-shark-fox-or-owl/
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