The Theme for April is: Fear of Conflict.
This statement struck me a couple of weeks ago while attending an Outward Bound Professional training. A participant mentioned that to have a good working relationship and a healthy organization, there has be positive tension, and willingness to have conflict. I had such a hard time with this thought. Contrary to popular believe, I am not a huge fan of conflict. Often finding myself trying to make things better, always searching for a solution instead of sitting with the discussion and being ok with the debate. But I know it is a key process in group development and healthy relationships. So, I want to spend some time looking at this and hearing from the community of what their relationship with conflict is.
There is a a whole chapter on conflict/controversy in my text book from my group process class. There's a decent amount of research out there about it too, one example: http://edr.sagepub.com/content/38/1/37.full.pdf+html
ReplyDeleteWe've spoken a lot about conflict and difficult conversations in class yesterday (and throughout the semester). I'd love to share some information soon...
ReplyDeleteAnd, TH, what is the difference in your mind between debate/discussion/resolution and conflict?
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