Category: Conflict

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Conflict Leadership

Engaging in Conflict with Upper Management

Engaging in conflict with upper management is a tough topic to discuss and an even more difficult thing to practice effectively.

Anger in ConflictINTRODUCTION TO CONFLICT WITH UPPER MANAGEMENT

That “boss” you have conflict with secures your job via your annual performance review, and he might also be the person who personally signs your paycheck. As someone working towards the bottom of the organizational hierarchy, I have felt the consequences of good and poor conflict management when interacting with my boss. Some of the experiences I have been through have led me to want to do research to discover the answers to questions such as: How do I as a follower with two levels of management above me express my dissatisfaction about an issue or topic while still staying in line with my leader? How do I do a good job of being a team member who is loyal to his boss while also expressing my thoughts and views that are different than what my boss has? How do I express my views and ideas that conflict with the leader above me and have those ideas and views implemented?

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Conflict Leadership

Dealing with Anger in Conflict

Anger has had a variety of parts in my life. As a young boy my mom says that I often became angry and fought with my classmates in elementary school.

Anger in Conflict

I. MY PAST STRUGGLES WITH ANGER

At that time I seemed to express my anger at others, but as I have grown older I slowly shifted my anger expressions less towards others and more towards myself or alone by myself.

One event that has had a deep impact on me and how I deal with conflict is when I was a freshman in high school and I was engaged in a fight that caused me to be suspended from school for five days. (You should have seen the other guy!) If I was more calm, self-confident, and intelligent I would have dealt with the situation differently. However, when a Junior classman who outweighed me by about 90 pounds decided to push me I fought back. As a result, I was suspended and rightfully blamed in the matter.

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Conflict Leadership

My Style in Conflict

I recently participated in The Friendly Style Profile (Gilmore & Frarleigh, 2004). My personal style of responding to conflict seems to be primarily based in the Analyzing/Preserving and Affiliating/Perfecting categories. Here are my scores:

  • Accommodating/Harmonizing – Calm at 22 and Storm at 25
  • Analyzing/Preserving – Calm at 28 and Storm at 27
  • Achieving/Directing – Calm at 24 and Storm at 21
  • Affiliating/Perfecting – Calm at 26 and Storm at 27

Conflict Among Others

I. THE CATEGORIES OF CONFLICT I FALL INTO

Deducing which of these categories I fit into during conflict is difficult because I find a little bit of myself in all of them. As Dr Dunn stated, “The odds are that you will probably see a part of yourself in most of these qualities.”[ref]Larry Dunn, Ph.D., “Personal Styles in Conflict” (lecture, Fresno Pacific University-North Center Campus, Fresno, CA, December 15, 2011).[/ref] I think my scores being evenly distributed is a relevant and true reflection on me. Who is involved in the conflict and where the conflict is at determine how I respond to the conflict. Since I am a calm and easy going person who is very relaxed it makes it hard for people to know how I might respond in a conflict situation. (At times, I am even surprised in how I respond.)

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Conflict Leadership

Sources of Power in Conflict

Leaders have conflict. No matter how good a leader is, conflict is an issue that leaders must learn to deal with and navigate. And within conflict there are specific sources of power I would like to share with you.

StrengthI. MY SOURCES OF POWER IN CONFLICT

My sources of power in conflict are listening, asking defining questions, building cooperation, and clearly stating what I want. These sources of power are what you might expect from an introverted man because they are more subtle and silent than what most people have. Let me explain to you in more detail why I believe these are my sources of power.

A. Listening

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