Week 6

During this week's class we took a survey to find out what our dominant conflict management styles are, and the results showed that my dominant style is avoiding, followed by collaborating. At first I wasn't sure if I answered the questions truthfully as to how I actually approach conflict, but after a second look at the questions    I knew this was my dominant style. My initial reaction to realizing my dominant style is avoiding was an overall negative feeling. When I hear the word avoid it makes me think of somebody who can't handle conflict, or doesn't have the courage to stand up for what they believe in.
      When I went on to read the survey's description of the avoiding style things really stated to come full circle, and allowed me to understand why this is my dominant style of conflict management. First of all I don't enjoy conflict, the fact that somebody doesn't agree with me doesn't always make me want to jump up and prove a point. This is especially true for the little things in every day life, that I view as minor details to the big picture. If the damage from addressing the conflict outweighs the potential benefits of resolving the conflict, then I've got better things to do with my time and energy. If there's an issue that I'm passionate about then I usually shift from avoiding to collaborating or competing, depending on the severity and importance of the conflict.
      Overall I really enjoyed Mike and Carly's lesson, and it helped me realize that although each person may have a different dominant conflict style, the dominant style alone isn't what determines  how effective a person is as a conflict  manager. The best conflict managers utilize all five of the styles we discussed; avoiding, accommodating, competing, collaborating, and compromising. The key is for an effective conflict manager is the ability to understand and apply the style that is most appropriate for each individual conflict they face. By understanding this I feel very confident that my conflict management style is avoiding, so that I can focus on what is important to me, pick my battles, and when the battles come shift to the most appropriate conflict management style.