Conflict

Conflict is a disagreement, tension, and or a squabble between individuals, or a

group of people. There are various causes of conflict, and if the conflict is not
properly managed, or resolved, it can create problems for all involved parties.
Some of the causes of conflict are due to poor communication, different
personalities, diversity, different beliefs, age, and different backgrounds.

A conflict that took place at the workplace

Two colleagues were arguing over a phone call. The argument was caused by late
coming. One colleague arrived on time but could not open the shop as she didn’t
have the keys on her. She called the other lady who had keys to the shop, as she
wanted to understand how far she was because it was already 8.00 am and
customers were already outside, waiting to be assisted. Instead of explaining why
she was running late, she just rudely told the other colleague that they shouldn’t
call her, she will arrive when she wants to. It created a big disagreement because
the other felt like this colleague was being unprofessional, disrespectful to
customers, inconsiderate, and unethical.

Emotional intelligence is the ability to understand and manage one’s emotions to

avoid finding yourself in compromising situations, emotionally intelligent person can
approach circumstances with a sensible and sound mind. People are not born
emotionally intelligent, but these are skills that can be developed daily, by being
aware and being able to identify your own emotions and the emotions of those
around you.

Analyse the parties who were involved in the conflict situation and discuss
their current EQ levels

Daniel Goleman’s theory of emotional intelligence incorporates five elements, which

are self-awareness, self-regulation, motivation, empathy, and social skills. All these
elements play a vital role in personal and professional success. These aspects can
assist in human functioning because they motivate you to get things done, build,
maintain and improve relationships.

When you look at the lady that arrived late, she was not only unprofessional, but
she allowed her emotions to cloud her judgement, and responded irrationally,
instead of being aware of how her behaviour not only affects the business,
colleagues, and hurts her reputation, she was defensive and didn’t want to take
accountability for her actions. People with a low EI find it challenging to
communicate effectively, they cannot tolerate stressful situations. In this instance,
you can tell that she was under pressure and acted on impulse. People with a high
EI have better social relations at work and have good communication abilities.

Being able to recognise and manage your emotions is key because it makes it
easier to fit yourself in other people’s shoes and be sensitive towards their feelings
before speaking. Colleagues need to be able to understand one another and always
show empathy. Respecting the other persons’ character and being objective can
also bring mutual understanding and agreement regarding issues. Emotionally
intelligent people find it easy to recognise their emotions, and effectively manage
their interactions with others in stressful situations

Dealing with co-workers as human beings with real lives is often ignored in the
busy workplace. However, people who can do this (while maintaining appropriate
boundaries) have developed skills to effectively combine professionalism with
genuine emotions like sensitivity and empathy as they strive for more effective
conflict resolution and useful outcomes. (Chastain, 2013). This form of self-
regulation builds based on self-awareness and is an integral part of becoming
emotionally intelligent by exercising the capacity to liberate ourselves from
impulse-driven reactions (Goleman, 1995).

Looking at the above conflict scenario, both individuals’ emotional intelligence levels
are very low. It can be justified that one individual was concerned as it was already
way past open time, and customers piling up didn’t make it any easy. Customers
cannot arrive before employees, it is unprofessional and unfair to them, it only
makes sense why she was getting frustrated. But instead of arguing with her
colleague she could have explained the situation and tried to figure out what was
going on with her colleague. The situation was not supposed to have escalated,
they could have easily talked and tried to find a solution, explained to customers,
and apologise on behalf of her colleague for the inconvenience caused.

Finding a balance and coming up with solutions should be the main priority, then
other issues can be addressed so that they don’t lead up to relationship conflict. It
is very unprofessional and unethical to argue in front of customers, it doesn’t only
damage the company’s reputation and image, but it leaves a negative impression
on customers which can lead to customer defection.

Emotional intelligence can be improved, people need to see the quantifiable

measurement of their baseline abilities and any improvement from it. Reliable and
valid measurement of specific emotional competencies provides employees with
insight into their strengths and areas of development (People Skills, 2014)
References
Chastain, A. (2013). Use your emotional intelligence to deal with others in conflict
more effectively. Use your emotional intelligence to deal with others in
conflict more effectively, 3.

Goleman, D. (1995). Emotional Intelligence: Why it can matter more than IQ.
London: Bloomsbury.

People Skills. (2014). Measuring Emotional Intelligence. Measuring Emotional

Intelligence, 50.