Experiencing Conflict

An issue I wanted to address is one that seems to affect every workplace.  This issue involves co-workers who constantly find something to complain about with their boss.  These individuals generally do nothing about their complaints but tell everybody but the person they are complaining about.  For me, when I am on the receiving end of someone’s complaint about another I feel uncomfortable listening to someone talking negatively.  There are strategies I can take use to help manage or resolve this conflict.  According to The Conflict Resolution Network (n.d.), I can empathize with these individuals by asking them questions about their complaints and even inquire what they are doing about it with their boss and how and/or in what ways they think I can by learning about the issues they have with another.  Another strategy I can use is to ask the individuals to think about their expected outcome, such as a win-win outcome or a compromise.  I would also encourage these individuals to talk directly to the source of their complaints.  We may even have monthly meetings set aside to address any issues or concerns from staff and involve the staff on ways to resolve issues and the types of resources/services they suggest.  Overall, my goal would be to support individuals in not going to others about a problem they are not involved, but rather go directly to the person involved in the conflict. 

 

For my particular issue, I used this assignment to ask the very people who were going to others and complaining about another on giving advice to solve work-related problems.  I also asked them about what they also found to likely be ineffective ways in solving problem related to work. I found it interesting that everyone felt it was most important to go directly to the source about their problems, but also confessed they often felt intimidated to do so because often times it was their boss.  I then suggested we ask the boss about monthly meetings to share what worked with patients and our jobs as well as what did not work so well and input on ways to make it work better so we can be more productive for the boss.