Workplace Related Conflict

                                              Workplace related Conflict

As we know, conflict exists everywhere. There is no way to avoid conflict in your life. The best thing to do is to resolve the conflict. So the question is how do we do this? We first must recognize conflict by understanding the stages of conflict. There are five stages of conflict and they can only be resolved by learning how to solve the issue.

           A week before I started College, I went on a mini vacation with my daughter. We went to Pensacola, Florida for five days. During that time, my manager kept calling me with work related issues. After the third call, I stop answering my phone. I turned my phone off. When I turned my phone back on, I had three missed calls and several text messages. I was done. To be honest, I was mad. So I had to cool off. I returned the call. My manager’s tone was very disrespectful. I let my manager speak and I had nothing to say. So the next day my manager calls again. I did not answer and I did not return any calls or respond to any text messages. I enjoyed the rest of my vacation.

        I returned home two days before student orientation. I was not due to return to work until Thursday. The day after classes started. That same night, my manager calls me and say to me, “You need to get to work at 7:00 A.M. Is this possible?”  I politely said, “No that is not possible. My daughter’s school opens at 7:00 A.M. Even if she caught the bus, I still would not make it there for that time. I am responsible for her and I bring her to school every morning.” I reminded my manager that she knows this already and why is she making an issue, when she is the one that gave me a time slot to arrive at work by 8:00 A.M. At that moment, that started the conflict. Here is my mini journey of how I handled each stage.

     Latent Stage: The moment that my manager called me on vacation, I did not observe this as a conflict. I just thought that my manager was calling to get information about some paper work or a simple issue with a resident’s medication. However, after the third call and her tone, this was a conflict. I just let her speak. Kept my cool and did not entertain the fact that she was blaming me for something that I did not do.

Perceived Stage: The fact that I am the Floor Supervisor and my manager is the Administer of the facility, the tables has now turned. I am aware as well as she, that this situation is a conflict. No one to back me, so I had to meet with her. Basically told her that if this does not workout in terms of my schedule, I will have to make necessary adjustments. She knew that she cannot afford for me to quit or for me to reduce my work days. So she scheduled me to arrive at work at 8:00 A.M. She can to terms that I am the “Backbone” of the facility and without me, everything will fall apart.