Assignment
There are some great suggestions in the article. These suggestions make perfect sense but can be difficult for many to follow during a conflict since it takes a lot of emotional control "in the heat of the moment". I try to apply some of these techniques during a conflict, or when I have to resolve conflicts as a supervisor. I always try to remember two things during a conflict. First, do not let emotions take control. I know and understand that it is imperative for me to keep my emotions under control or it will only escalate an already tense situation. Remaining calm can help to diffuse a volatile situation. In a 2008 article, Scott wrote about taking emotions out of conflicts and points out that in order to resolve any conflict, you must first remove the negative emotions such as anger, fear, and resentment. This is the first step in a three-step model presented with steps two and three being reason and intuition, respectively. In the second step, one needs to use reasoning to understand the conflict from both sides, then use reasoning to devise alternative solutions to the conflict. The final step is to use intuition to help choose the best possible solution to resolve the conflict (Scott, 2008). I found there to be many similarities between these two articles regarding the removal of emotions from the conflict.
Second, I recognize that there are always two sides to every story. This is referred to in the article a few times. I have learned that one of the best ways to resolve a conflict is to first understand the other person's viewpoint, and then work to help them understand your own point of view. Once that happens, it greatly increases the probability that a resolution can be agreed upon.
I recall a recent conflict that happened between one of my workers and an outside contractor that we were using. He felt threatened by the fact that the organization was contracting some of our work out and was rather outspoken about it, especially to the contractor. I had to have many discussions with him about the reasons that this was happening and that his job was not in danger. It took time and patience but eventually, I was able to bring him around and remove the tension that was causing the conflict. That was a couple of years ago and the employee is still with the organization, so it was a good outcome.
I think everyone's conflict management skills can be improved, myself included. No matter how skilled we might be in managing conflict, there is always the potential that the next conflict will contain an element that we might be unfamiliar with, something that we have not encountered previously. I feel that this article had some great points in it that can help me moving forward. I particularly like guideline number 1. This really is based on getting the other side of the story, but it is presented in a slightly different context and it really illustrates the fact that you do not know what the real difference is until you seek to understand it from the other person's perspective.
References
Jordan, T. (n.d.). Seven Guidelines for Handling Conflicts Constructively.
Robbins, S. P. & Judge, T. A. (2017). Organizational behavior (17th ed.). Pearson Publishing.
Scott, G. G. (2008). Take emotion out of conflict resolution: think about workplace conflicts in a new way. T+D, (2). 84.