CONFLICT RESOLUTION & RELATIONSHIP MANAGEMENT...

… Appropriate Resolutions™ for home, work, community, and everywhere in between.

© 1998-2008 Joseph Ravick  and Appropriate Resolutions™

SO WHAT DO CONFLICTS LOOK LIKE …       

         It is 7:15 AM. You and your boss are in a critical meeting. Even though you believe that your input is necessary, and welcome, your boss, privately, has just asked you to NOT speak. As he makes commitments for your department which you think are impossible to accomplish, you feel your stomach tightening, and you wonder how you are going to pull this one off; or even survive! 

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       You've been sitting for the past three hours waiting for your son to come home; this is the third time he has ignored his curfew and you have lost whatever patience you had. You feel yourself getting angrier and angrier as you become increasingly worried. Soon, you picture a disaster and feel your head starting to ache, the expected migraine coming on. Unexpectedly, you hear a screech of tires outside in the driveway. By the time he comes in the door your fuse has expired and the inevitable explosion…

 

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   You can't believe it; all you wanted was to pay the advertised price; so why do you feel guilty? Others are beginning to back up in the check-out line behind you and the impatience on their faces is clear. Then, to make matters worse, you are told that a supervisor must be called to clarify the 'right' price. Inevitably the tension between you and the messenger, the cashier who is simply following orders, escalates. When the owner finally walks into the scene, you hear all about how honest he is. Then, “Others are responsible; anyway, the sale price expired yesterday and nobody took down the old sign.”  The bottom line is that you’re told you have to wait while he checks the price on his computer print-out."  

 

 

You will survive!

     Of course, all three narrators in the stories experienced their conflicts and survived. Whether they were satisfied with the outcomes or not, there were resolutions. By that I mean that none of the ‘aggrieved’ people ran to a lawyer or called a boycott or strike. If they had, other issues would have been part of that escalation. Then I would say that they were into ‘dispute’ country.

 

     If you are like most people, you will, sooner or later, need the skills to re-actively resolve conflicts and disputes at work, at home, or in your communities. Then, becoming pro-active will mean effectively managing those relationships before they’re at risk. Especially those involving people who are important to you. Success will require you to understand and integrate what makes people, including yourself, escalate or collaborate.                   ...More about conflicting...