Week 14 Question 2

Briefly outline an example of collaborative conflict resolution that you have engaged in. Contrast that with a competitive conflict. Which was more satisfying to you? To the other party?
In a collaborative conflict, it is considered a win-win situation. For this situation, nobody is supposed to be better than the other. Everyone has the opportunity to share their own opinions regarding significant issues. It also requires each member to listen carefully to different perspectives, and be able to come up with the best solution. In my experience working in small groups, I notice that most of the time we have collaborative conflict. We each had our own viewpoints which needed to be clearly explained. Each member need to take time to comprehend what everyone else is saying. Inevitably, we all disagreed all certain things but it comes with the territory. Everyone each explained with great detail why their own ideas were solid. Eventually, we combined the strengths of each perspectives into the final decision. As a result, I was satisfied with the end result since everyone contributed toward the process.
A competitive conflict is defined as a win-lose predicament. This is where an individual’s own opinions come into play, instead of coming to a mutual agreement. I have encountered instances where I was involved in competitive conflict. My friend and I have different tastes when it comes to television shows. He takes interests in a show like “Big Bang Theory”, while I prefer “Entourage”. There are times where we would try to persuade our friends to watch one show over the other. We would explain the greatness of our preferred show while stating the negatives of the shows we dislike. Although we were competitive, it was all in good fun.