Conflict Management Self-Assessment
I need at least 150-word comment on my classmate’s discussion
The reading by Shearouse (2011) discusses five conflict management styles. Many companies sell conflict style questionnaires for use in organizations. For the first week of this module, try your hand at a free questionnaire. Here is one that allows you to identify your own conflict management style based on five styles similar to those discussed in Shearouse (2011):
https://edge.sagepub.com/sites/default/files/10.2_Conflict_Style_Questionnaire.pdf
Report your rating as well as your general impressions about the usefulness of this questionnaire. Were you surprised by the results? Do you think the results are accurate? Would the questionnaire be useful for your organization?
For week two of this module, try your hand at using some of the conflict management or negotiation tactics discussed in this module. This could be with a coworker or family member. If everything is peaceful these days at home or at work, you can also try negotiating for a better deal, such as calling up your credit card company to try to get a lower interest rate or calling up your cell phone carrier to get a lower monthly rate. Share the results with your classmates, and don’t cause too much trouble…
Rafael,
During the questionnaire, I labeled Person A as my spouse, and Person B as my immediate supervisor at work. The results of my questionnaire are as follows: My Avoidance totals for Person A is 22 for a Very Strong Style, and Person B is also a 22 for a Very Strong Style. My Competition totals for Person A is 21 for a Very Strong Style, and Person B is a 23 for a Very Strong Style. My Compromise totals for Person A is 19 for a Strong Style, and Person B is 16 for a Strong Style. My Accommodation totals for Person A is 19 for a Strong Style, and Person B is 20 for a Strong Style. My Collaboration totals for Person A is 25 for a Very Strong Style, and Person B is also a 25 for a Very Strong Style.
The questionnaire yielded that my strongest style is Collaboration, while my weakest style was Compromise. I am not surprised at all by the results, as I do see myself generally strong within all five of the conflict management styles and I also see myself as a great collaborator when it comes to conflict resolution. I do feel that the results are accurate not just because of any bias opinions, but because I have actually shown within my experiences to give this much attention to each of those styles within everyday situations at work and life in general.
I feel that the questionnaire would be useful within my organization as it may cast some insight into what styles of conflict resolution management may work amongst varying workplaces and groups of employees as well. In addition, the questionnaire should also be tweaked so that it caters more to situational conflict resolution as opposed to simply just a generalization of the five categories as a whole.
When I was recently relocating to my new assignment in South Korea from the United States, I was wondering if I would be able to bring over my Vonage internet phone service and device to my overseas location and be able to utilize it just like I was doing so in the U.S. Well, two months after my relocation and after the movers finally delivered my home items, I attempted to plug my device to the internet and utilize the service. Unfortunately, I was not able to use the service due to how South Korea regulates VOIP usage.
Before leaving the U.S., I contacted Vonage on this matter to see if I would be able to utilize the service. The customer representative on the other end of the phone call stated, as long as I had an internet connection, that I would be able to use the service. So after having my house packed up and waiting two months until delivery of my household items, I maintained faith that this would indeed work. I also made sure to pay the bills for the two months while in transit to South Korea; even though I wasn’t using the service at this time because of the move.
Once I realized that the service could indeed not be used in my new overseas location, I contacted Vonage with the intent of letting them know that the information they gave me was incorrect, that I would be looking to cancel my service all-together, and that I would also like to receive a refund for the two months of inactive service which I incurred and paid for in good faith. Upon contacting Vonage and getting connected with a new customer service representative, I immediately began a collaborating relationship with the representative and first spent time understanding the situation from both perspectives in hope of building a solution that works for both parties (Shearouse, 2011, p. 76). I explained to the representative about my move, about my conversation with a previous representative, my willingness to pay for two months of inactivity so as to maintain an active account, and the disappointment in finding out that the service actually would not be able to work in South Korea. Throughout the conversation, the representative expressed remorse for the situation, but tried to keep my account in a suspended, but active state where I would only be responsible to pay for monthly taxes. That way, the account maintains and active state which I could reactivate once I return back to the U.S. at the conclusion of my time in South Korea. However, I expressed disappointment in the service and lack of information overall, and informed the representative that asking me to pay for taxes on services I can no longer use was actually very disrespectful, and would make me not consider the service in the future. The representative explained that the fear of the company is that I was a customer for over 10 years, and that they would be afraid of losing my relationship completely if I went ahead and closed my account all-together. I responded by maintaining my foot in the negotiation process and stating that asking me to pay for taxes is more damaging and would make me never consider the organization again as opposed to simply just leaving with the promise of coming back once I return from South Korea.
In the end our collaborating efforts worked, and we were able to compromise on the matter at hand. The account is now in a suspended state where no taxes are being paid, and I received a full refund on the two months of service that I previously paid for where inactivity occurred. This way, the company maintained me as a customer where I will look to reactivate my account once I return from South Korea, and I received my refund in return. By having this collaboration in place, further relationships were built between myself and the organization, and a trusting bond among customer and organization was strengthened (Shearouse, 2011, p. 77).
Reference
Shearouse, S. (2011). How we respond: Approaches to conflict. Conflict 101: A manager’s guide to resolving problems so everyone can get back to work. (pp. 59-80). New York, New York: AMACON. Retrieved from EBSCOhost database.
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