Briefly outline an example of collaborative conflict resolution that you have engaged in. Contrast that with competitive conflict. Which was more satisfying to you? To the other party?
The last time that I was involved in a collaborative conflict resolution was recently in another class. We were all proposed a question that was really general and could be taken any number of ways and we had to work together to resolve it. The problem was that each of us had our own opinions on the answer and so we had to all work together to find an answer that worked for us all. An example of competitive conflict would be with my friend and we wanted to see if we were going to invest in season tickets for the 49ers. He laid out his reasoning and his opinion. I then followed with mine and we decided to talk/argue the situation until someone gave in. Personally I like to argue and i like the competition and tension it can build. Agreeing is so easy but disagreeing is really fun and exciting to me. To other people they seem to like to agree rather than argue because its more civil.
The last time that I was involved in a collaborative conflict resolution was recently in another class. We were all proposed a question that was really general and could be taken any number of ways and we had to work together to resolve it. The problem was that each of us had our own opinions on the answer and so we had to all work together to find an answer that worked for us all. An example of competitive conflict would be with my friend and we wanted to see if we were going to invest in season tickets for the 49ers. He laid out his reasoning and his opinion. I then followed with mine and we decided to talk/argue the situation until someone gave in. Personally I like to argue and i like the competition and tension it can build. Agreeing is so easy but disagreeing is really fun and exciting to me. To other people they seem to like to agree rather than argue because its more civil.
Hi Micah!
ReplyDeleteI am definitely one of those other people who prefer to agree rather than disagree lol. I wish I could be more like you but I am not a fan of conflict so I do my best to avoid it at all costs! I’m sure it does make things more exciting though like you said. I know guys love to argue about sports and have seen some pretty heated discussions myself! Based on your examples as well as my person experiences, I feel that collaborative resolution is more likely to occur with strangers and outside groups whereas conflict resolution happens more with people we are already close to since it is more comfortable to share our true feelings and opinions with them.
I totally agree with you that disagreeing is a lot of fun and exciting. I personally enjoy conflict especially competitive conflict. I tend to favor and engage in competitive conflict with basketball team members, friends, and family. People who know me well such as my team members and family know that I am anchored to my beliefs and whenever I have an opinion about something I usually have a ton of reasons and explanations to justify my remarks. When it comes to collaborative conflict it is usually hard for me because I am firm in my beliefs and it really hard for me to agree or conform to others ideas. However, I usually engage in collaborative conflict when I am working in groups with other class members which forces me to compromise and resolve the conflict. Collaborative conflicts sometimes forces me to agree, but competitive conflict allows me to do what I enjoy, arguing and justifying my perspective on things.
ReplyDeleteI can completely understand what you mean about the excitement of disagreeing. In general I avoid conflict, but I definitely find entertainment in playing the devil's advocate. Often times even when I agree with someone I will pose “what if” questions just to see how his or her opinion changes. I feel like disagreement can actually help with problem solving sometimes because it helps develop different viewpoints that might not have been considered otherwise. While it is nice to have someone agree with you from the beginning, I would say it is much more satisfying when you convince them to agree with you instead.
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