I believe the one concept that most stood out to me is conflict management. Compromising within conflict management is a very common solution to problem solving that has no winners. This type of conflict management seems to get the work done but at the cost of morale since no one is actually satisfied. According to Electronic Conflict Management Style Preference Estimator (e-CMSPE), this type of conflict management uses negotiating to split the difference between two positions. I believe this type of style is most important because it allows all parties to walk away from the situation with something. When failing to apply the compromising style, someone with a stronger personality always wins. In my shop, there was a troop that was cleaning the restrooms every day. As a supervisor, I noticed that the troop was shy and had low self-esteem. After realizing this, I approached him, and he said he would prefer to do other clean up duties but was only doing bathroom detail to refrain from arguing with the other airman. By allowing this to continue, I realized that morale and productivity started to decline in the airman that kept accommodating.
As the section lead for the support equipment maintenance production support section and leading twenty-five airman every day, I see how my conflict management approach can help out a situation. My job requires me to perform inspections on support equipment on a six-month rotation as well as support the flight line with powered and non-powered support equipment. We deliver support equipment to the jets, so the crew chiefs can get the jets off the ground and work any maintenance required to get the jet to fly. The best way to use conflict management toward my peers is by collaborating because we won’t work as a cohesive team and be seen as an NCO in a united front. An effective way for me to use this type of conflict management style in my career is when we have an inspection deadline that needs to be met by close of business. For instance, both my peer and myself have a disagreement on how to pursue the inspection the fastest way possible because he wants to go on leave early while I have late reporting because of appointments that day. As the section leader, I would have to use the compromising method that allows us to take a working lunch to get the job done.
Although shortening a lunch period may drive some issues of morale, this is a short time goal to meet. This is not a long-lasting inspection that will require each airman to cut their lunch every day. The negative side to compromising is that people may assume that I’m weak as a leader because they think that they can just negotiate with me. I think this causes trust issues. This method resolves situational issues but not emotional or behavioral. I believe that knowing that the compromise conflict management style is the one that best suites me, I can help mitigate and prevent new conflicts that may arise. I will be able to actively listen and keep an open mind. Placing myself in the other person shoes and seeing where the other person is coming from will give me great perspective and insight on compromising.
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Lastly, when I work with my supervisors, I have learned to collaborate and accommodate as needed to get the job done and show teamwork. Using the accommodation style while working with supervision is sometimes a necessary approach to complete the mission. However, in times that a decision has been made where it will negatively impact the mission, as a leader, it is best to know when to step in and work with leadership to improve the overall outcome.
Therefore, I believe that conflict management is a necessary skill for every leader to learn and know how to effectively utilize it when the mission calls for specific needs. This is a tool that will be used from the airman all the way to higher echelon levels and if it is used improperly could negatively impact every mission that we complete.
