Interpersonal Conflict Resolution

Conflict happens when two people want different things and can neither come to an agreement not get what they want without the other person. Most of the common conflicts in my life probably involve people I am closely connected to, such as friends, family as well as the people I work with. As such, I would like to share a situation that occurred a few months back regarding a misunderstanding between two group members during a group project.

I was the leader for the engineering group project which consists of three other members. By nature, all of us were very vocal and expressive in our recommended ideas and sometimes, we might get into heated debates during project meet-ups on who’s idea should work the best for sake of our team. During this unfortunate situation, the discussion escalated into a heated conflict between Eileen and Javier.

At that moment, we were gathering in a discussion room and throwing up ideas for a proper design of our locomotive tank system. Javier, as usual, kept giving concepts and thoughts than he usually would during this particular incident. Regarding this topic, my group members and I would be listening and writing down notes he addressed while nodding our heads in agreement on his point. On the other hand, Eileen was acting the complete opposite of us as she felt restless and she kept fidgeting when Javier was speaking. Her gestures indicate that she was not interested in the conversation and instead, kept using her phone and was distracted throughout the discussion.

Unfortunately, I noticed Javier was displeased by Eileen’s action as his body language can be seen with utmost displeasure. He gazed deeply at her with a frown on his face that expresses his unhappiness towards Eileen’s rudeness. His tone started to change towards a deep and aggressive voice every time Eileen was distracted with her phone. Eventually, after being patient for quite some time, Javier started to burst out his emotions and confronted Eileen about her actions and focus regarding the discussion. As a leader, I decided to step up and intervene the situation.

In your opinion, what would you do when facing a similar situation and you hold a high position? Would you confront your team members neutrally or would you side with a person to remedy the situation?   (390 words)

Reflect on what you have learnt about the role of emotional intelligence in interpersonal communication. “How good are you at social awareness and at developing relationships?”

Emotional intelligence (EI, or EQ) is the ability to identify and manage one owns emotions and the emotions of others.

In my opinion, EQ is an essential component that helps to improve and build my own interpersonal communication skills as from a task we did regarding Daniel Goleman, I too agree that success is more closely related to EQ than it is to IQ.

I am confident that I have good social awareness and at developing relationships. During my national service(NS), I have taken leadership roles that enhance my internal motivation, building social skills and being self-aware which are the components/characteristics of Emotional Maturity.

Few points I have learned when I was an officer in NS are, it is important that I first gain the respect of my peers and building good relationships with my subordinates or even superiors to get the job done. For example, during route marches, a lot of preparation task such as liaising with store personnel, making a co-ord with my commanders are essential for my conducts to be smooth. I would like to state this quote that means a lot to me which is “If you want to go fast, go alone if you want to go far, go together”. In this world, emotional intelligence is much more sought after compared to having good IQ.