A520.2.3.RB - Conflict Resolution

A520.2.3.RB - Conflict Resolution

Use your blog to describe an example of a successful conflict resolution that you have either witnessed or participated in.

·         What was the conflict?

·         What role did you play?

·         Who were the other participants in the negotiation?

·         What was the result?

Can you see any room for improvement to how the conflict was handled?

Conflict resolution happens (or doesn’t happen) every day in my organization. Yesterday, ten minutes before our project/workshop report out to the senior leadership team, one of the workshop participants asked a question about one of the benefits we had listed. He wanted to know where we came up with a specific benefit around the number of hours saved if this project was implemented. I was a fellow participant and as an industrial engineer, had put together the data for the workshop. The hours saved number had been part of our presentation for at least three days and I was irritated that this guy was bringing it up now…ten minutes before the presentation. We work in a building that is almost a million square feet big…we didn’t have time to take anything down, re-plot it to giant size, and then rehang it in ten minutes. The workshop lead and several other participants gathered around and things got a little heated for a minute or two. I was frustrated that this question didn’t come up hours ago when we could have fixed it and the guy who asked the question was just asking a question. Finally I said that when I talked it, I would mention that potentially the saved hours could happen. I explained that every benefit we were talking was hypothetical – there is no proof of demonstrated benefits until after implementation. I thought that everyone understood that…we can only provide data about what we know now that is comparable. The result was that I handwrote on the poster “The potential to save as many as X hours per airplane.” and the guy who questioned the data was satisfied.

I understood his concern over the integrity of our data; data integrity is my job! I also apologized for the ambiguous wording of my document. I hadn’t meant to be shady or make wild and unattainable claims. My data was sound…theoretical…but sound. He was right to point out the ambiguity and in the end, everything worked out well. I think my biggest issue was the timing. “When someone has used a particular lens or perspective for a long time, it becomes a strongly held belief that the individual may never question. It is easy to see how challenges to these strongly held interpretations of the world could spark interpersonal conflicts.” Whetten (2016) He could have mentioned his concern earlier in the day…or even the week…when it wouldn’t have caused more undue stress at an already stressful moment. Maybe he didn’t really notice it until just then, I don’t know but my perspective that everyone knew workshop data was mostly hypothetical until proven otherwise after implementation was incorrect.

Resource:

Whetten, D. A., & Cameron, K. S. (2016). Developing management skills (9., global ed. ed.). Boston, Mass. [u.a.]: Pearson.