Resolving Interpersonal Conflict

When humans interact, it is inevitable that sometimes things might go wrong and result in conflicts.

Having good interpersonal skill is one of top few qualities which employers are looking for in their prospective employee as most of the time, team collaborations are required to achieve a common goal. Therefore, with good interpersonal skill, one will be able to work amiably and effectively with others, thereby reducing the risk of work-related conflicts. 

In my opinion, I feel that interpersonal skill not only applies in workplace but anywhere as long as there are human interactions.  If one neglects to nurture such skills, it may lead to him or her to be misunderstood or even find it hard to communicate with others. I had encountered such conflict situation last semester when I took a module which required us to get into groups of seven and to write a term paper. And so the group consists of my coursemates and our classmates, one of whom happened to be my primary school friend, X. 

The so-called conflict occurred because we found that X often shoots down other members’ idea, yet did not attempt to contribute to the group discussion or offer any constructive suggestions on her part. Probably her non-verbal communications such as rolling her eyes slightly and seemingly looking uninterested when listening to the groupmates’ ideas contribute to displeasure in the group. I personally feel that even if she disagreed with the ideas raised during the meeting, she should not have disregarded other group members’ effort in contributing to the brainstorming session. Probably something good might come out from the discussion if every member is willing to hear each other out and share their viewpoints objectively? Although we did not have any verbal arguments, I could sense the awkwardness in the atmosphere during our project meetings because some of my friends attempted to avoid making any direct conversation with her. 

Even though her attitude was rather unacceptable at times, sometimes I find her pitiful as nobody seemed to pause and listened to the relevant points she made. Therefore I find myself in an difficult position as on one hand, I knew X since primary school even though we did not keep in touch after graduation, on the other hand, are the close university friends I have made ever since my freshman year. And so I tried to take a neutral stand by not siding anyone and attempted to “hint” to X that she should first respect other peoples’ opinions if she wants people to listen to her too. Though I am not sure if she gets my hint ultimately but through this project, it has highlighted to me the importance of having mutual respect in interacting with others, be it in professional work or social life. Moreover, from this incident, I realised that it might get rather tricky to deal with such problems and it requires a lot of courage to directly handle interpersonal conflicts as it might jeopardise our personal or working relationship if they were mishandled.

Probably at that point of time I should attempt to highlight her attitude to her and put it in a nice way rather than taking a neutral stand because it seemed like she was not aware of the wrong non-verbal signals she has been giving out to people. Probably she meant well for the group but she did not realise that she put it in a less courteous way? What do you all think me and my friends should do at that point of time?