Respond to at least two of your peers’ postings in one or more of the following ways: See attachment for details * No plagiaris

Discussion – Week 2

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Discussion: Tangible Versus Intangible Conflict Issues

In this Discussion, you are asked to identify a conflict situation about which you feel strongly. It may be a workplace conflict or a personal conflict at home or at school. The conflict may be interpersonal or between two different groups, but not more. Some examples of workplace conflicts might be whether you or a colleague will lead a project team when you were simply told to work together, or a clash over roles and responsibilities that have some overlap. Work conflicts may be over pay disparities, opportunities to be more visible, or unfair performance reviews, to name a few. Make sure that the conflict is about a content issue, not based on personality differences.

Documenting the details through writing them down and analyzing the conflict situation you identified will provide you an opportunity to put into practice the Stop – Think, Listen and Communicate (S-TLC) espoused in the textbook readings this week. As you plan what you want to communicate, keep in mind the basic communication rights and practice them with others, even as you would like for them to be practiced with you. Look also for the emotional content of the others involved in your conflict and identify opportunities to empathize with them. When people feel heard and understood, they are much more likely to be open to exploring options. These tactics create a safe space for learning, exploration, and change.

Cahn, D. D., & Abigail, R. A. (2014). Managing conflict through communication (5th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education.

To prepare for this Discussion, pay particular attention to the following Learning Resources:

Review this week’s Learning Resources, especially:

0. Five Stages of Conflict – https://dougnoll.posthaven.com/the-five-stages-of-conflict-escalation

0. Furlong, G. T. (2005). The conflict resolution toolbox: Models and maps for analyzing, diagnosing, and resolving conflict. Mississauga, Ontario: John Wiley & Sons Canada.

2. Chapter 8, “Model #5: The Dynamics of Trust” See attachment

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Assignment:

Respond  to at least two of your peers' postings in one or more of the following ways:

1. As you review the conflict scenario presented by your peer, consider what has not been said as well as what has been said. Share what impressions of intangibles you get that are not explicitly stated in the description that might be worth checking out?

1. Based on your review of your peer’s scenario, and using the description from the Dynamics of Trust model, discuss what shared goal might emerge?

1. Using de Bono’s Six Thinking Hats perspective, think about this conflict? Please share the Hat ,in an area in which you think it might be helpful for your peer to gain more information or insight?

1. 3 -4 paragraphs

1. No plagiarism

1. APA citing

1st Colleague – Natasha Mills

Natasha Mills 

Tangible Versus Intangible Conflict Issues

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One conflict scenario that I have experienced in the workplace involved asking for a raise. I had been with the company for over one year and my performance reviews indicated that a raise was overdue. Therefore, I anticipated that the manager was aware of this fact and that he would offer me a raise during each performance review. When the time came, we would only discuss my performance, which was always exemplary, with the manager. However, he failed to propose a raise each time and since I was afraid that bringing it up would put my job at risk, I did not ask for a raise either. The goals of this conflict were instrumental for my manager and identity on my side. This is because I ought to have interacted with the manager and asked for a raise for him to give me one, particularly since he did not mention it during every performance review. On the other hand, the manager’s failure to offer me a raise ignited a desire in me to attack his image (Cahn & Abigail, 2014). This goal stemmed from my inability to understand why he would not offer me a raise despite the length of time I had spent in the company, as well as my good performance reviews.

The tangible core conflict issue in the described scenario was the raise. I needed a raise, which is an observable asset, making it a tangible conflict issue (Cahn & Abigail, 2014). On the other hand, personality issues formed the core of the conflict scenario identified. I was shy, which hindered me from asking for a raise, making it difficult for the manager to know that I needed a one. Also, it is possible to state that the manager had a behavioral issue that contributed to the intangible conflict issues of the described scenario because he resisted from offering a raise until I asked for one, which is a fact that I later came to learn from colleagues when I narrated the situation to them.

The two cardinal dynamics of the trust model include risk and motives or intentions (Furlong, 2005). My perspective of the conflict situation involved the element of risk. At the time, I trusted that the manager would offer me a raise during every performance review after working for the company for more than one year with good performance. Every time, this did not happen as I had anticipated. The manager’s failure to offer a raise led me to assess the risks associated with my asking. My assessments led me to the conclusion that I risked losing my job, which was more costly than not getting a raise. Therefore, I resisted from asking for a raise. Further, my shy personality contributed to the risk tolerance in the situation.

My manager’s perspective corresponded with the motives and intentions dynamic of the trust model, particularly that which concerns the intrinsic nature attribution. The intrinsic nature of the other person, in this case the manager, is attributed to the conflict when it comes to this dynamic (Furlong, 2005). This intrinsic nature leads to unintentional behavior despite the harm caused to the other party. For instance, the manager’s behavior of not offering a raise until an employee ask was intrinsic because he was probably not aware of the harm he was causing certain employees, such as me.

The communication strategy that I relied upon in my conflict scenario was dysfunctional. I used the confrontation avoidance and accommodation cycle due to elements of fear and shyness. “…confrontation avoidance/accommodation cycle, which is characteristic of those people whose first impulse is to avoid initiating conflict or to quickly give in (accommodate) when conflicts arise” (Cahn & Abigail, 2014, p.33-34). Confrontation avoidance and accommodation became a script that I repeated with every performance review, each time concluding that the risk of asking for a raise was much higher than that of avoiding the discussion of the issue with my manager. Thus, the dysfunctional cycle, specifically the cycle of confrontation avoidance and accommodation, is the one that best fits this conflict.

Cahn, D. D., & Abigail, R. A. (2014). Managing conflict through communication (5th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education.

Furlong, G. T. (2005). The conflict resolution toolbox: Models and maps for analyzing, diagnosing, and resolving conflict. Mississauga, Ontario: John Wiley & Sons Canada.

2nd Colleague – Donna Tizzano

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Donna Tizzano 

RE: Discussion – Week 2 Tizzano Initial Post

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Dr. Fisher and Class,

I recently experienced a conflict at work with a co-worker who is the Director of Public Relations (PR).  She is a member of a committee I chair – the Patient Experience Committee which is composed of several sub committees. The purpose of the committee is to assess and improve the patient healthcare experience in a variety of ways. We evaluate the ease of navigating the hospital by ensuring we have appropriate signage, the ease of making appointments, knowing where to go upon arrival to the hospital, and lastly, reconfiguring the Patient Healthcare Portal so that it provides helpful information to our patients.

During the last several meetings of the committee we have discussed the need to link the Patient Healthcare Portal to our Hospital website and provide preventative healthcare information to our patients. The most recent meeting discussed a “New Year and New You” strategy where patients are reminded to schedule preventive healthcare screenings such as mammography and colonoscopies etc., while providing the necessary instructions to allow them to easily schedule these appointments. Education on these topics would also be available.

The conflict issue, or trigger, for this conflict occurred because of consistent resistance from the Director of Public Relations. She consistently insists initiatives proposed by the committee can’t be pursued or completed and always blocks the creative process of committee members trying to brainstorm ideas. Additionally, this caregiver has not followed through on any of the tasks assigned to her in previous meetings. The rationale she gives for her behavior is that her direct report, the COO, has instructed her to focus public relations and advertising on our three service lines: Ortho/Spine, Bariatrics, and Behavioral Health. The other reason she gives is that antiquated software of the medical center may not support our initiatives. The committee knows this to be an inaccurate statement because the head of the Information Technology Department confirmed the hospital’s platform would support these computer initiatives.

At the end of one of these meetings, several committee members approached me about the PR person’s resistance to the work of the committee. The lack of participation from this person has disrupted the momentum of our committee and has caused many members, including myself, to be frustrated and angry. My intended strategy was to schedule a meeting with the PR person and the COO to discuss possible paths forward. The PR person pre-empted this attempt by going to the COO’s office unannounced to tell him her version of the challenges she faced because of the requests of the committee. The obvious intent of this conversation was to present her view of the situation in order to influence the opinion of the COO instead of discussing the conflict collectively with committee members.  

Our committee cannot achieve our goals unless everyone is collaborating, so I did request a meeting with the PR person and the COO to discuss the obstacles facing our committee. During the meeting, I communicated the goals of the committee focusing on addressing the health care disparities and focusing on preventative health measures for the people in the community we serve. I explained that the services were not outside the scope of the hospital’s current practices and would, as an additional benefit, generate revenue. The PR person then explained that she had specific directives to follow, and these initiatives did not align with the committee’s directives. The COO agreed that our committee goals would benefit the community and the hospital and directed us to work together to accomplish these initiatives moving forward.

Cahn and Abigail (2014) describe intangible core conflict as non-material assets that can be described as feelings, behaviors, habits, or personality attributes. The intangible core conflict variables in this situation are PR person’s personality traits which influence her behaviors in these meetings; her resistance and push back when ideas are presented, her assertive and bold personality, and her lack of engagement and follow-through on directives. A tangible core conflict as defined by Cahn and Abigail (2014) are physical or observable assets. In this situation these observable assets are the unwillingness of the PR person to make revisions and edits on the hospital website and her lack of follow through on leading a walk-through hospital assessment with the signage company to assess the accuracy/efficiency of hospital signage.

Initially, I considered applying the Avoidance/Accommodation Conflict option to describe this conflict situation, but I believe a better description of this dysfunctional conflict cycle is the Passive-Aggressive Communication Option.  The PR person presented her views in such a way as to allow the committee to believe she was speaking with the support and authority of the COO. It was true that she had been given directives by the COO. But she this was not the equivalent of having the absolute authority of the COO to approve or deny the committee initiatives. She also inhibited progress of the committee by agreeing to accomplish certain tasks and then not following through.  Her passive aggressive style was also demonstrated in her unwillingness to work together with the Committee and the COO to try to resolve differences. Instead, she chose a Communication Cycle which involved only her and the COO, her intent being to undermine the committee objectives before committee members had an opportunity to present the rationale for the proposals being made. She was functioning in this way behind the scenes while never acknowledging to me or to the committee that there were any issues, all descriptors of the Passive-Aggressive Communication Option (Cahn & Abigail, 2014). The most obvious interpretation of this behavior is that the PR person feels the need to be in charge, wants to have authority over the action of the committee and wants to follow her individual agenda without considering the ideas or opinions of others. Cahn and Abigail (2014) describe the passive aggressive person as one who wants to be the winner in a conflict thereby ensuring the other person is the loser. This approach to conflict is dysfunctional and more importantly ineffective since the issues typically never get resolved (Cahn & Abigail, 2014).

Trust in a relationship implies that you are confident about the sincerity of another person’s motives or intentions when there is a possibility of risk involved (Furlong, 2005). The Dynamic Trust Model focuses on the level of risk each person has relative to what they want or need, the way in which they assess the cause of the conflict, and who is assigned the blame (Furlong, 2005, p.129). In the situation I described, my perceived risk was that our committee would not meet the educational and health screening needs of our indigent patient population. This perception was the result of the behaviors, questionable motives, and unknown intentions of the PR person which I interpreted as self-serving and insincere. This perception was strengthened as she demonstrated lack of follow through on directives, lack of engagement, and resistance to implementing any suggestions from the group.

The communication strategy I ultimately used to resolve this conflict is collaboration. I scheduled a meeting with her prior to the next meeting of the committee. The intent of the meeting was to clarify objectives moving forward.  I am passionate about the healthcare needs of our community, so I made this the focus of the meeting.  I did not dwell on the behaviors or motives of the PR person. During the meeting, we each shared our thinking and the reasons for our perspectives on how to move forward as a committee.   We concentrated on the shared goal of educating our community and the importance of preventative health. We had an opportunity to clarify how we could cost-effectively achieve these goals.  I chose this communication strategy because it usually results in a mutually agreed upon resolution. A mutual solution was important since this will not be the last time I will be working with the PR person. Collaboration provides us the opportunity for growth and development in a personal/professional relationship (Cahn & Abigail, 2014).

Donna

 Resources:

Cahn, D. D., & Abigail, R. A. (2014).  Managing conflict through communication (5th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education

Furlong, G. T. (2005). The conflict resolution toolbox: Models and maps for analyzing, diagnosing, and resolving conflict. Mississauga, Ontario: John Wiley & Sons Canada.

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