What
This past Spring Break my friends and I thought we’d take a fun, relaxing vacation to Florida to get away from problems and conflicts at school. With a group of 8 girls, this was anything but relaxing. Although, many were my best friends there were conflicts amongst us that we had to creatively resolve so that everyone was satisfied.
So What
Understand conflict was a sign of a healthy team, helped me cope with the disagreements we were having. For example one evening some of us wanted to go out to eat, however the other half wanted to stay in the hotel for the night. We had agreed that we would all stick together while in Florida, therefore we had to use our negotiation skills in order to improve our social relations. Collaborating everyone’s ideas, we divided up the week so that half the time we went out, while other other half we stayed in. To understand why team conflict occurs and how it can be managed effectively go to http://conflict911.com/cgi-bin/links/jump.cgi?ID=11682.
While this seemed like a great idea, some of the girls used their persuasive power to influence others to change their decisions about the week. As Levi says, “Power tends to corrupt its users.” It’s difficult to stand up for yourself when the majority are pushing you to do something you don’t want to do. In this situation, assertiveness was the best solution because it encourages clear, direct communication. Because she was assertive she was able to stand up for what she wanted even though she was a "low-status" person (non talkative), which has shown that people are more reluctant to state their opinions when they are less talkative.
Now What
After this experience, I feel that I can handle conflicts in a group with more rational decision-making. The Consensus Decision Making technique seems to best develop higher dynamics within a team. Having a facilitator provides structure to a group and a final say while making a decision. For a more in depth understanding of Consensus Decision Making go to http://www.actupny.org/documents/CDdocuments/Consensus.html. Understanding the Models of Leadership definitely helped me when dealing with why conflict was occurring. Being a behavioral and situational leader, allows me to make decisions based on someone’s behaviors in a certain environment. To learn more about situational leadership as well as other styles go to http://changingminds.org/disciplines/leadership/styles/situational_leadership.htm.
