Conflict Management (The Seal)

Welcome to another beautiful edition of CORE-man SENSE^TM, we are so excited to bring you this continuing episode of our conflict management series. Today, we will be looking at the conflict management styles assumed by different individuals. These management styles are the particular pattern we choose to adopt when in a conflict. They are the five major styles we engage in randomly, considering the influence of the factors given in the earlier edition which are; How to achieve our personal goal and How to keep a good relationship. In no particular order they are:

v  THE TURTLE (WITHDRAWING): The turtle is an animal that withdraws into its shell when faced by adversity, it doesn’t like to be challenged or opposed in any way possible. They are mostly cool, calm and collected. They run away from trouble at the very smell of it, they can give up personal goal or relationship when challenged by conflicts or by a conflicting individual.

v  THE SHARK (CONFRONTING): The shark is a fish known for attacking its prey with its powerful set of jaws and chisel like teeth, they are not intimidated by any animal of any size, and their pride is in their victories. They overpower opponents by forcing them to accept their own ways of resolving a conflict. They achieve their goals at all cost which makes them selfish. They prioritise their personal goals more than any existing relationship. In the shark’s school of thought He believes you either win or lose, and this makes them never accept defeat because it reduces their self-esteem. Their pride is in their achievement of overwhelming others, intimidating others, overpowering and oppressing others. Losing for them is a sense of failure, inadequacy and weakness. A shark wants nothing less than a victory.

v  THE TEDDY BEAR (SMOOTHING): The bear is known as an animal that loves to be cuddled, they are friendly animal that would go all the way for you after you’ve proven yourself. Once the trust factor is well established, it doesn’t care how far it has to go. The bear sometimes forget or regard their personal goals less because of existing relationships. The teddy wants to be accepted and loved by all, they believe you can’t discuss conflicts without stepping on people’s toes especially those they love which can ruin their relationship, so they avoid it for peace and harmony’s sake. The teddy smoothens every conflict by giving up their goals and let you have your way for the sake of peace.

v  THE FOX (COMPRPOMISING): The fox is a very cunny animal as you know, it loves to sacrifice something for the bigger good of its want. Hmmnnn, sly fox. They would compromise on the factors they have at hand to resolve a conflict, the fox can easily let go of part of their personal goals and part of their relationship in compromise of getting whatever they really want (which is a common good), also persuading you to give up some of yours too. Their relationships and goals are moderately important so they tend to bridge the gap between the extremes of absolute goals and absolute relationship.

v  THE OWL (CONFRONTING): The owl is a nocturnal bird that would readily face up to its challenges seeing conflicts as problems that should be readily solved and in the bid to resolve conflict they end up providing a solution that expends both their goals and the those of those close to them. They see conflicts as a means of improving relationships between two individuals or groups by reducing tension among them by trying to iron them out through discussion to identify the cause of the conflict and proffering solutions that favours both themselves and others. They are not satisfied till all conflicts have been fully resolved which favours both their own personal goals and others.

Sometimes, we under estimate what conflicts are really all about. For me, conflict should be constructive. They should give you a drive towards what your priorities are, they can foster change in our thinking pattern also. Conflicts could really be of great value when properly and skilfully managed. Being in conflicts sparks off curiosity which in turn makes life more interesting, a life without challenges is nothing but a replayed video game. Conflicts makes us aware of the presence of problems in our relationships that needs to be solved. Conflicts can be fun too especially when they are not taken all too seriously for example in competitive sports, teasers and puzzles e.t.c.

So conflicts helps us get better in our everyday life depending on what angle we are glancing from. If the members of a group gets better in their relationship, have greater work output, stronger bond in their relationships, if the group are content with the contribution of one another in a project (even when it’s not totally even), if they trust each other because trust is the key or pillar of any relationship then you can square your shoulders and beat your chest in confidence to say that the conflict was constructive.

        We all experience conflicts every day because we are humans, you can manage it perfectly depending on the way you approach it, so with this conflict management styles I hope you get the best out of every conflict as you make them constructive enough for your good. Remember at CORE-man SENSE^TM we value your effectiveness and happiness. Feel free to comment and write back to us. Don’t forget to join us in our next edition. Thank you.