Running head: Conflict Competence – Essay 1

Conflict Competence in the Workplace - Essay

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Introduction

Craig E. Runde, is the director of the Center for Conflict Dynamics at Eckerd College, and

oversees training and development on the Conflict Dynamics Profile assessment instrument and

Becoming Conflict Competent courses. He is a frequent speaker, writer, and commentator on

workplace conflict issues.

Craig E. Runde, in this chapter “Conflict Competence in the Workplace” talks about

conflict, conflict - competence, conflict competence model and the different methods of conflict

competence. The conflict competent methods are some skills which are developed by leaders to

improve their personal ability to manage conflict and to help their teams and organisations

address it more effectively.

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Essay

Runde, C.E., Flanagan, T. A. (2013). narrated conflict competence in the following words as:

Conflict competence is a term used to describe skills that leaders can develop to

improve their personal ability to manage conflict and to help their teams and

organisations address it more effectively. Becoming conflict competent involves

developing cognitive, emotional, and behavioral skills in order to address the

inevitable conflicts faced in organisational life. (p.4.).

This essay shall delve deeper into how I applied some of these competent methods to resolve a

conflict at my workplace.

Looking back into my past experiences when I was working with ERL Consultancies as an

Office Manager, I resolved conflict among two of my subordinates. One was a young lady

Clarissa Dayrit and the other was a man Antonio Delgado. Clarissa was a new employee who

was very efficient in completing her tasks in no time. Due to her efficiency in work, she started

getting more work than other employees in turn she started calling her colleagues “lazy” and

“slow”. As she thought that, she is getting all that extra work because her colleagues are working

slowly. Listening to her comments Antonio felt offended as he was an efficient and old

employee.

 
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Although, he thought not to resolve this conflict on his own with Clarissa, he approached me and

shared his conflict. He said he also works efficiently and the company has never had any

complaints regarding his work so, why Clarissa keeps calling her colleagues slow and lazy? He

was very angry at Clarissa’s behavior and was thinking to resign as he felt inferior to her.

Listening to this, I tried to understand the situations of both Antonio and Clarissa and I decided

to have a word with Clarissa. I assured her that, she was performing very efficiently so, she

should not feel insecure in her job. Moreover, I suggested her not to overwork to avoid being

exhausted and try to work in collaboration with her team members so that she can build good

relations with them and get support from them when required. In addition to this, I counseled her

to work with her colleagues in a team and help each other so that no one feels superior or inferior

in a team, and she should follow company policies and stop calling names. After that, I called

Antonio while Clarissa was still in my office and advised both of them to solve any conflicts

among them to achieve good working environment. Thereafter, Clarizza and Antonio agreed to

resolve their conflicts. Later on they worked and got along well.

After addressing this conflict I felt happy because by applying some conflict competent skills

like listening, understanding, counseling and resolving a peaceful work environment in the

company was achieved.

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References

Runde, C.E. (2013). Conflict competence in the workplace.

Employment Relations Today, 40 (4), 25-31.

Runde, C.E., Flanagan, T. A. (2013). Retrieved on October 1, 2020 from

https://www.heartofthematter.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/Becoming-a-Conflict-

Competent-Leaders-Book-Summary-2013.pdf