Preventing/Resolving Interoffice Conflict?

Posted by Cliff on Monday July 19, 2004 @07:37PM from the can't-we-all-just-get-along dept.

An anonymous reader asks: "I have an extremely unpleasant person to whom I directly report. I have no desire to leave my company until I've accomplished certain personal (read: financial) goals, but that will probably be, at the least, 12-30 months. In the meantime, I'd like to start resolving the personality clashes that me and this individual seem to constantly find ourselves in, with the hopes of perhaps extending my stay. Unfortunately, it's beyond my current mediating skills. Have you found any particular books, articles, texts, outlooks, or strategies which they have found valuable with respect to resolving personality conflicts in the workplace, or in a larger sense, mediating, arbitrating, or resolving disagreements?"

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Conflict management by it0 · 2004-07-19 20:29 · Score: 3, Informative

Surely there are enough conflict management books out there?

Basicly the things I remembered from them
1 Don't make the problem personal. Don't say you're an asshole, but something like "that can be done better".
If the problem is personal, be direct about it.
2 There are 5 ways to go about a conflict
a) Fight: beware don't fight with someone stronger then you and think of the aftermath
b) Run: beware that you don't become a pushover, but for some occasions it's good not to escalate and come back later
c) Compromise: good for the moment but you both loose
d) Win-win: this is the one you normally should go for
e) Both loose: don't go for this one

For example see http://ianrpubs.unl.edu/family/heg181.htm