- “I don’t care what you think; you’re wrong because…”
- “They didn’t ask what I thought; they just told me what to do.”
- “I raised objections, but I was told we’re sticking to the schedule regardless.”
In this series of posts, I’m exploring conflict in design, which, for these purposes, is what happens when two people have different views on a subject.
In each of the scenarios above, two people disagree. And in each case, one person asserts their view without showing interest in the other person’s perspective.
This is the definition of competition in the Thomas-Kilmann Conflict Instrument model: high levels of assertion, paired with low levels of interest in the other person’s view.
In my experience, competition is a very common mode of operation in construction.
Some people thrive on competition. Others prefer to steer clear of it entirely.
How we deal with conflict depends on both our preferences and our goals. But first, we need to explore the other modes of conflict. More on that tomorrow.