Assignment: Conflict Management

So far, you have completed self-assessment and evaluations to discover your own preferences, behaviors, and strengths and weaknesses related to conflict management. You have completed work on various case studies and scenarios, and you have also created a working model for conflict resolution. For this discussion assignment, complete the following tasks:

• Reflect on a variety of conflicts you have experienced in the past. Select those behaviors or characteristics that are highly correlated with managing and/or resolving conflict. Provide a rationale as to why you selected these behaviors or characteristics.

• Conduct a careful analysis of your approach, insight, and self-knowledge resulting from completing the case studies.

• Determine whether there are patterns, postures, or perspectives that informed you as to how you approach and complete the case studies (or conflict situations).

This assignment will provide you with practice in reflexivity-a term taken from qualitative research. It involves identifying one's position and voice when answering "What do I know?" and "How do I know it?" This process requires honest descriptions and appraisals of a person's values and perspectives in an ongoing experience with his or her ideas and/or actions. This process allows the writer to use rich descriptions, meaningful sequencing, selected quotes, and elaborations on keen insight being experienced. The individual, being reflective, writes in first person, active voice. Description and interpretation are expected to happen. At the same time, a person's recognition of his or her bias or particular stance to a set of ideas must be included. Quality, rather than quantity, of work is expected.