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Conflict Brief 1
Myeshia Napier
June 6, 2021
COMS 560
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Executive Summary
Conflict is an expressed struggle between at least two interdependent parties who
perceive incompatible goals, scarce resources, and interference from others from achieving their
goals (Hocker & Wilmer, 2018). In addition, the goal is to minimize the negative factors that are
contributing to the conflict by encouraging all parties involved to come to an agreement. Conflict
in the workplace will happen because we all will work in an environment where many decisions
are made, and personalities will clash, and people will disagree because everyone is going to
have different point of views. According to the article: Emotional Intelligence in the workplace,
an individual's work environment is filled with a wide variety of emotions (Rana & Chadha,
2017) In this conflict brief, I will provide insight into my own conflict management style. The
first step was to complete the personal conflict assessment provided by the United States Institute
of Peace. The results in the assessment reflected how I approach and handle conflict in my
workplace. According to the results, I am a strong compromiser and problem solver while
tending to focus on supporting other in a conflict situation. My weak points in the assessment are
being an avoider and competer. As a result, the self-awareness of the results from the assessment
was helpful as it showed me my strong points when dealing with workplace conflict and my
weaknesses. The results were beneficial to my own personal growth, my relationship with my
teammates, and upper management while fulfilling my career within the organization that I work
for.
Based on the assessment, how do you tend to respond to conflict?
According to the Conflict style assessment, my results are as follows: 82% Compromiser,
73% Problem Solver, 33% Avoider, 43% Accommodator, and 25 % Competer (Conflict Styles
Assessment, 2017). I was not surprised by the results, especially the top three. I have always
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been the type of person that does not mind meeting in the middle and splitting differences. As a
compromiser, the feeling that both parties walked away with something is a sense of victory. I
believe it is also a sign of maturity and a willingness to be a team player. 1 Peter 3:8 reads:
Finally, all of you, have unity of mind, sympathy, brotherly love, a tender heart, and a humble
mind (ESV), which describes who I am. The problem-solver in me likes to work things out
together so that everyone is happy in the end. While trying to compromise and be a problem
solver, I can also be an accommodator and tend to focus on supporting others in a conflict
situation. Many times, I feel that I need to focus just not on my view but everyone else as well
because it make people feel uncomfortable but be able to make them listen to others. I do not
think that this is good because, according to the assessment, accommodators may build up
resentment from denying their own needs.
What factors contribute/have contributed to your conflict style?
An individual’s conflict style preference is developed over a person’s lifetime based on a
complicated blend of personal characteristics, life experiences, and family background (Hocker
& Wilmot, 2018). Personally, I feel that my conflict styles go all the way back to when I was
little and found out I had a passion in helping others, which has contributed to the way I face
conflict today. During the time, I had seen my uncle pass away and I watch how the nurses was
so rude and really did not have a passion in what they was doing. However, in school, I found
that conflict was hard to manage. I tried to get away from the situation as quickly as possible,
which caused me to be a bit standoffish at times. Overall, I did not find that conflict was an easy
thing to deal with because I tried my best to avoid it any cost, even to this day. The strength that I
bring to the situations in my workplace today is that I try to stay calm, negotiate, and hope to
find a win-win solution.
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How can you become more effective in your approach?
The two specific aspects of conflict management I would like to focus on to improve my
effectiveness in my workplace is avoiding and collaborating. Research has shown that the
avoiding strategy has been considered by some researchers as the most successful in the
management of high levels of relationship conflicts (Benitez, Medina & Munduate, 2018).
However, I know that upper management does not like others to challenge their authority.
Therefore, I keep my thoughts and opinions to myself as much as possible. On the other hand, as
a Register Behavioral Therapist for kids with Autism, it is important that a conflict is resolved so
that everyone is on the same page. In addition, I feel that collaborating is one of my strongpoints.
Whenever I am forced to deal with conflict directly, I try to find creative solutions to resolve the
problems by focusing on my own needs as well as on the needs of others. One specific strategy
to improve each of my aspects is the compromising strategy. As stated earlier, according to my
assessment, I scored high in that category. I am a team player that focuses on both individual
goals and the needs of others. I am all about proposing a middle ground with hopes of reducing
the adverse effects of the conflict. In Philippians 2:4 it reads: Let each of you look not only to his
own interests, but also to the interests of others. This scripture brings me back to the specific
aspect of the way I deal with conflict because I am not only looking out for myself but also
seeking the understanding, interest, and feelings of others involved.
In conclusion, there will always be conflict in every workplace. The main thing is how
we deal with conflict and making sure we are dealing with it appropriately. Overall, the main
issue is resolving the conflict and compromising, by coming up with the best plan of action that
both parties can agree on and are comfortable with.
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References
Hocker, J. L., & Wilmot, W. W. (2018). Interpersonal Conflict (10th ed.). New York, NY:
McGraw-Hill Education. Conflict Styles Assessment. (2017, April 17). Retrieved June 6,
2021, from https://www.usip.org/public-education/students/conflict-styles-assessment
Rathore, D., Chadha, N. K., & Rana, S. (2017). Emotional intelligence in the workplace. Indian
Journal of Positive Psychology, 8(2), 162-165. Bibles, C. A. E. (2008). The Holy Bible:
English Standard Version.
Harper Collins UK. Benitez, M., Medina, F. J., & Munduate, L. (2018). Buffering relationship
conflict consequences in teams working in real organizations. International Journal of
Conflict Management, 29(2), 279-297. doi:10.1108/IJCMA-11-2017-0131
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