A520_2.3RB_Kesler,Kelley

Conflict Resolution

The video’s on conflict resolution was very interesting. The video made excellent points in resolving conflict in the work place and provided a role play to demonstrate the point.  In the end of the role play, the conflict was resolved through negotiation will all parties compromising, but each gained some of what they originally wanted. When observing the role play, I thought it made excellent points in the skill of conflict resolution, however, I was disappointed in the fact that the role play was so scripted.  Both parties wanted what was best for their interests, but they did not show real emotion.  Conflict’s I have dealt with are typically loaded with emotion.  

A conflict that I had to deal with recently, was between a work study student and a full time staff member.  At that time, I was supervising the work study students in our office.  I was working in my office, when all of the sudden the full time staff member and the work study student were in my office yelling.  The full time staff member was yelling “she needs to be fired!” and the student was yelling “he disrespected me!”  Since I was playing the role of mediator, I asked them both to stop yelling each tell me what happened.  The staff member explained first, then the student. The staff member had to leave after sharing his side of the story to help a student that had come into our front office.  The staff member and the student both had relevant issues.  The staff member felt the student was very disrespectful to him and the work study student felt the same way.  Being caught off guard with situation made it more difficult to resolve the conflict between the two individuals. I sent the work study student home to gain control of her emotions and spoke to the full time staff member about ways to resolve the situation.  The next day when the work study student returned, I spoke to her and attempted to come to a resolution and solution as to how she and the full time staff member could work together.  Unfortunately, the work study student was not willing to work with or even speak with the full time staff member ever again. She wanted to continue working in our office and ignore the other individual. Because this was not a viable solution and the she did not offer any compromises, I made the decision to let her go.  

To be honest, in the end I feel I did a terrible job of resolving the conflict between the two individuals.  In this conflict both parties were extremely stubborn and did not want to negotiate. As mediator to this conflict, I feel my role was doomed from the beginning. I"m don't believe this was an example of successful conflict resolution, but I'm not sure how I could handled it differently. Any thoughts or feedback on how this could have ended differently????