This week's task is to describe an interpersonal conflict situation, either real or hypothetical. Initially, I had no idea how to begin writing this post, but upon some reflection, I realised that the scope of the topic is extremely wide. Writing from personal experience is a little easier than creating a hypothetical situation, so the story below stems from something I went through just yesterday...
Three people, whom I shall refer to as A, B and C, are working together on a large project. A is the leader of the group, and both B and C as well as a whole bunch of other people are working together under her to complete the project.
B had been feeling quite stressed out over the project, because his role was extremely important and required alot of work. In fact, at a previous meeting, A had explicitly told the entire group to do everything in their power to help B with his part of the project. One day, B happened to be online doing some work related to the project, when C comes online and starts chatting with B. They talk about various project-related issues, and after a while, C volunteers to help B with a small part of his section. B is quite thankful for this assistance.
Later that day, at a project meeting, C mentions to A that she's helping B with that part of his section. A goes, "WHAT?!?! But I was counting on you to help me do this other thing!" A is already stressed out by the magnitude of the project, and is unhappy to discover that someone she had been counting on to help her had gone off to do something else. Meanwhile, C is wondering if she's taken on too much work, and is feeling abit apprehensive about the whole situation.
In my opinion, no one has taken offence over this incident. There is much grace shown in this group. However, in another group of people, A could easily have become angry at C, C might have reacted angrily towards A, and B might have been caught up in the fallout from that conflict. In this situation, I guess that there are two things we can consider. Firstly, how did poor communications contribute to the formation of the problem, and secondly, how can the principles of good communication be used to repair the relationship and come up with a solution that pleases everyone.
On an unrelated side-note, the project that we're working on is a bazaar/exhibition to be held in the Central Forum on the 9th and 10th of February. Do come by to support us!
All the best
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Thanks for your final post and kind comments to me.It has been wonderful
teaching you.See you around on campus.
13 years ago
Hi Ben,
ReplyDeleteTime for me to comment on your blog. Brace yourself!
You explained the situation clearly, I could easily understand it, but I do hope you could clarify one matter. When C volunteered to help out with B, did she gave up on the initial responsibility that she was tasked with? If she did not, then there is no reason why A should have been angry with her. Unless you are trying to say that there is a misunderstanding that arose here between A and C? Or was it that A wanted C to fully concentrate on her job scope?
I suppose the main issue here is due to the delegation of responsibilities. As the leader of the group, A should have distributed the work fairly equally among the group members. From the way you presented the case, it seemed like it was obvious within the group that B had the most amount of work.
If let’s say the group only knew about B’s heavy workload after they started working on their responsibilities, the group leader, A, should have stepped in to re-distribute B’s work.
I feel that C did the right thing. She was willing to help out her other group members and also respected A’s position as the leader by informing A about it.
So, Ben, are you A, B or C? Haha. One more thing. I know that painting such scenarios requires the use of a lot of words, but please keep to the word limit next time!!
Regards,
Glenn
Hey chairperson,
ReplyDeletewell i must say you have written a very interesting issue. However, I do have the same doubt as Glen, did C do what he was assigned to do?
At the end of the day, the problem is very simple. Its not about communication. More so its about assigning a leader and the leader being clear about his delegation of work.
Overall its just about doing your role properly and completing what has been set out for you to do. As long as this had been achieved, the issue should not have happened unless,someone was expecting help without asking.
Cheerz
Hey Glenn,
ReplyDeletedid you really go and count the number of words in my post? :) That's quite... diligent... of you. I have no idea how many words I wrote! However, I felt since the first and last paragraphs were placed there to add interest as opposed to describe the problem, they should have been omitted from your word count. :) Does that make it better?
You are both right in describing it as a problem of job allocation. I guess that the scope of the project only became clearer after some time. But both of you didn't really suggest how the problem might be resolved. :)
Regards,
Benjamin
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteHi Ben,
ReplyDeleteAn interesting issue with well organized structure and language.
Personally I think the problem is caused by A's fault. A, as the project leader, should have distribute the workload fairly to everyone. Meanwhile, A should have informed C earlier if she want to assign C some duty so C can get prepared.
There might be different solutions depending on the detailed situation. Whose part of the project is more urgent and important? Can A get someone else to do C's duty? I think A, B, and C should have a discussion to explain the situation clearly to avoid further conflict, as well as to discuss about the solution.
Regards,
Zaizhi