Glenn Alleman
SWK-318 DCE Chapter 7
Exercise 1: Conflict Management
1. Describe one example of conflict you encounter at work or school.
When I had started working a couple years after I had graduated from high school. I was hired
as an usher for a movie theatre in Cherry Hill. Being a deaf worker in a high paced hearing
environment. I often find myself being excluded from many vital information and
communication. Until my ex-fiancé had begun to work at the theatre in the concession stand,
they would use him to somehow (not fluently) interpret and building a bridge between
communication with me and management and staff. I still do not get the full information or
communication because many things are being left out or was told not to tell me. Then one night
I was assigned to make popcorn for many nights in a row after being moved from usher to
concession stand, side concession, and kitchen. I start to grow frustrated and bothered and no one
even bothered to explain to me why I am being assigned to making such crappy task when I
could do better and serve the theatre better in other areas of the theatre. One day, it got the best
of me and told the management that I quit!
My ex-fiancé later told me that I was such a dumbass! I took that as a huge offense and we had
gotten into huge fight. I told him why he would say a such thing to me like that! He said that
they told him that they entrusted me in going into forbidden areas that no one are allowed where
I can make popcorn which is also part of projection room and other important roles in the theatre
and knowing I wouldn’t go and mess or violate these rules. I felt such like a fool and dumb for
being very impulsive and quit.
2. Explain how you manage the conflict.
After I made a fool of myself into quitting then I also stopped and thought about the situation and
what made it brought this incident on. I talked to my ex-fiancé about how he approached this
and lack of the information and things that I was not being told to its entirety of the stories and
times at that job. I relied my thoughts to my ex-fiancé of these. He somehow did deny the fact
that he does may have withheld vital or minor or unimportant information from me when passing
the message or to interpret the conversations between me and another hearing person working
there. He and I did get into an argument about this then it just dropped and paused for a good
half hour to recollect our thoughts and determine the situation as valid and true and taken my
thoughts into his consideration. He said yes, he may have unknowingly withheld portions or
whole interpretation of the message and words communicated between a person to him then to
me. Words may have gotten lost in a very short telephone line which shows words may have
been omitted, changed the word to seem similar as original words in the first message, or said or
interpreted the message with additional information or changed word to another word of a whole
different meaning. I also told him I was sorry for acting out at the job and may have or may
haven’t made an embarrassment or looking down on my ex-fiancé since the workplace is very
aware of our relationship at the moment. I always need to work on practicing my impulsive
words and action without stopping and think again should I come out like that. I went to the job
the following day to give them my apologies in a handwritten note. And to tell her (manager at
the theatre) since I said I had quit but I regret this action. But I would like to come back and
work for them again. She declined and wrote on the paper with messages to its entire and
complete message delivered and made aware for me. Due to conflict of interest and arising
tensions between me and my ex-fiancé do have some impact on work performance among us and
others, including customers but thanked me for all of the great work and your strength and
determinedness to try new job tasks which brings me to communicate more and more with
hearing customers and shown it was amazing thing to witness. If my ex-fiancé doesn’t work
here she would be more than happy to take me back to work for them. I nodded and smiled and
thanked her for her patience and cooperating and your best at being a manger to handle a deaf
worker. We parted after that on a good term. I had started to speak out and ask for more
information without relying on others to interpret or passing a message for me in a lazy/easy way
of communication. I needed to improve on my social skills, my communication skills on my
own. I had succeeded to be a night manager at Wawa at 3 different locations just because of
what I had learned and what my ex-fiancé learned and motivated me and encourage me to aim
high and to stay high on aiming for something you want to. Brought me more communication
and skills and lowered some barrier in that area.
3. Which of the six C’s of conflict management (communicate, circumvent, confront, conform,
compromise, collaborate) do you use most often, and why? Do you feel that you manage the
conflict effectively? Why?
Growing up- not knowing how to handle conflict and would throw tantrums without stopping
and think about it. As I grew up, encounter barriers and conflicts on my own and adjusting my
behaviors and my choice of words. I had grown to use all 6 of them unknowingly until I read
this in chapter 7 conflict management.
What I have used most often with my still habit of impulsive actions and words would be
communicate, confront, and compromise. I have start to see the rise of conform and
circumvent in last 5 years after years of working experience, life experience, education, and
social skills building up to a best place in life where I can excel in them in over 10 to 15 years.