Culture: Dealing with Conflict Exercise

Apr 6th, 2014
Discuss a time you had an emotional conflict with someone. What was it about? What happened?

Whether it be in a team setting or buyer/seller relationship, there are many situations that can be interpreted as 'conflict'. In any time there is a transaction between two or more parties, a difference in opinion may occur. In those situations, when one feels threatened or compromised, I think it's easy for things to turn into a conflict.

Without going into specifics, as long as people interact with each other there will always be some sort of conflict. My view is that to conflict is a conscious choice, and we can make better choices to avoid it altogether. In the cases where it cannot be avoided, both parties need to make effort to clearly articulate their position and the conflict should not turn into a one-sided attack.

The trap I have fallen into a few times is when a conflict is already in progress, I tend to just give in to the other party in situations where fighting back is not worth my time and effort. As a result, I can end up compromising more often. In general, this approach has worked in the long term - if it is a good relationship, I can ask the other party to make concessions on another day in the future, if I compromise on something today. However, it is frustrating that there are certain personalities out there that will take advantage and try to 'win' in every conflict. I choose not to conflict at all with that category, although I do sometimes think it would be a better world if those type of personalities lost in their conflicts more often.