CMNS 2316 - 001
Understanding and Managing Interpersonal Conflicts
Reflective Journal # 1
Conflicts are an inevitable part of human relationships. They arise due to differences in
personalities, opinions, values, and communication styles that can be occurred in both
individuals and groups (Bazezew & Neka, 2017). Conflicts can manifest in various forms and
settings for instance workplaces, communities or even on a global scale.
During the first round of the lesson about zero-tolerance situation, I was able to understand that
conflicts could be happened because of self-interests. For instance, without any
communications with friends, when we decided whether we would choose to apologies, protest
or abstain for plagiarism, half of my classmates prefer to protest to get an A for himself/herself
even there might be a half chance to fail the course together. Competitive style of conflicts was
appeared that people emphasized more on their personal interests and did not care what was
happened to others. The potential drawback I think of the competitive style is alienating others
and damaging relationships with a low level of cooperativeness.
The second thing I was inspired was asking open questions instead of closed questions in our
daily life. I agree that people hear closed questions feel more of accusations or interrogations
and therefore, will be more likely to deny the requests or lack information can be got from the
answers, conflicts may be easily happened. In my opinion, when someone is asking open-ended
questions, it demonstrates that they are genuinely interested in what I have to say. It is believed
that it is the way which can enhance engagement and build rapport in interpersonal interactions.
Other than that, open-ended questions prompt individuals to provide more extensive and
detailed responses instead of limiting them to a simple "yes" or "no" answer. It invites people
to share their thoughts, feelings, and experiences in their own words.
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The following aims to explore an interpersonal conflict I experienced during my previous
career as a marketing operation assistance and lessons I learned from it.
As of a marketing team, we had quite a lot of conflicts in idea generations between each other,
but finally turned out that we could be improved a lot through conflicts. Our team was
responsible for developing a new marketing campaign for our clients about the marketing
strategies to launch our new products of a pharmacy app with a tight deadline. Tensions began
to rise when two of our team members, Su and Willa, had differing opinions on the promotion
of campaign's creative direction. Su believed in a bold and unconventional approach including
partnering with some clinics and hospitals or find some Youtubers for promotion, while Willa
favored a more traditional and conservative strategy such as promoting through advertisements
via mobile phones. This difference in creative vision led to heated discussions and impeded our
progress.
The conflict triggered a range of emotions within the team for example frustration, stress, and
anxiety because of tight deadline and with no settlements. Personally, I could see the merits of
both approaches, but we need concern more about the promotion of the product whether it
could attract our customers to use the app and how large the extend would our clients accept
about prescriptions delivery. Instead of fostering an open dialogue, Su and Willa did not present
as active listeners and engaged in blame-shifting and positional arguments. This ineffective
communication served to intensify the conflict. Other team members and I wasted a lot of time
to calm them down and it was only after our supervisor intervened and facilitated a structured
discussion that we began to make progress toward resolution.
After this conflict, I believe that effective communication is paramount in resolving business
dilemmas. In our case, the initial communication attempts were ineffective because they lacked
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empathy and active listening. There seemed to be a competitive conflict style between Su and
Willa as they just wanted to present their own ideas and willing others to accept without
empathy and listening. They did not think of collaborating the ideas and create a new one
together. It is better for us to give full attention to the speaker, maintain eye contact, and avoid
interrupting. After learning from the CMNS 2316, we could also show our genuinely interested
in what that person says by nodding or making empathetic expressions like "Your idea is great
too" or "Please go ahead for suggestions."
One thing I can apply to the situation after learning thing class is to create a safe space to share
ideas openly by refraining from passing judgment or making assumptions when encountering
different views. I think it is important to be open to different viewpoints and resist the urge to
criticize or blame. There are no right or wrong of the answers about opinions. Encouraging
others to express themselves by asking open-ended questions that require more than just a “yes”
or “no” answer, for example, instead of asking, "Do you like the idea?" we can ask, "What are
your thoughts about the idea?" to show empathy by understanding the speaker's emotions and
validating his/her feelings in order to convey empathy and create a more supportive
environment.
I believe that after learning this course, I can understand more about the skills in enhancing
teamwork, collaboration, and overall productivity by minimizing distractions caused by
unresolved conflicts which take employees’ focus away from their tasks by solving conflicts
The skills help encourage open and constructive communication which the co-workers can
express their concerns and ideas without fear of conflict are more likely to collaborate
effectively, leading to better project outcomes and increased productivity.
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Also, conflict management encourages open and honest communication through fair and
respectful approach. When individuals can express their thoughts, feelings, and concerns with
respect, they are willing to share their opinions to foster transparency and trust in relationships.
Trust is a cornerstone of healthy relationships and when people trust each other, they are more
likely to collaborate effectively and rely on one another in order to for maintaining long-lasting
and meaningful relationships.
Conflict is an inevitable aspect in our daily life and workplace, but it can also be an opportunity
for growth and improvement. The previous experience can be linked to the lesson that effective
interpersonal conflict management plays an important role in improving relationships and
productivities by promoting open dialogue, active listening and empathy. Moving forward, I
hope I can contribute what I have learnt from this course about conflict management skills in
getting along with people in daily life, creating a long-lasting health relationship and impacting
positively on the overall decision-making and problem-solving areas of the organization.
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Reference:
Bazezew, A., & Neka, M. (2017). Interpersonal conflicts and styles of managing conflicts
among students at Bahir Dar University, Ethiopia. Journal of Student Affairs in Africa,
5(1), 27–39. https://doi.org/10.24085/jsaa.v5i1.2480
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