Business Negotiation and Conflict

In chapter one of the textbook conflict is defined as 'sharp disagreement or opposition, as of interests, ideas, etc.' and includes 'the perceived divergence of interest, or a belief that the parties' current aspirations cannot be achieved simultaneously. Conflict results from 'the interaction of interdependent people who perceived incompatible goals and interference from each other in achieving those goals' (Lewicki, 2006). An experience I had with conflict was when one of my co-workers had a problem with me but I never knew what it was exactly that I did to her for her to dislike me. Webster's online dictionary defines conflict as "the opposition of persons or forces that gives rise to the dramatic action in a drama or fiction."

I would describe conflict to me as a disagreement or tension between two people that they usually both are aware of. It means that two people see a situation differently and cannot normally come to an agreement. They go through a dispute but there doesn't seem to be a resolution. The nature of conflict is in us as people, it is in our human nature. We tend to conflict with people that have different personalities than we do because we see situations differently and cannot come to an agreement. The components of conflict involve disagreement, action, confrontation, and resolution.

The problem with my ex co-worker and I was that for some reason or another, she did not like me. I did not ever really know or find out why but it she made it pretty obvious and clear that she was not too fond of me at all. She made me feel uncomfortable going to work because she did work there longer and had already built friendships or relationships with people and I hadn't been able to do that because I was still new. If I was ever near her she would make rude comments and it was extremely hard to not say anything back in response to her. I did not know when I should step in and make a comment and when I should refrain myself from making any comments toward her.

This conflict made it really hard to work. It made it hard to go up to someone that was next to her because it was just awkward and uncomfortable. I did not want to be anywhere near her because I did not want to hear any unnecessary comments from her that might tempt me to say anything preventable in return. It was a problem because I did not ever want to be at work if she was there and it caused me to be a lot less productive than I was capable of being. The conflict issues were just personality clashes I suppose since I never really found out the reason she disliked me. It was also clearly poor communication.

My goal in resolving the conflict was to at least be able to be civil. Obviously if there is a clash in personalities we are probably not going to be friends. I wanted us to be