Nowadays, it is really hard to communicate without conflicts. Sometimes, such conflict may be just a quarrel, but sometimes it can also be a big dispute that can end a relationship. For this reason, it is not how many conflicts that matters, it is how people deal with such conflicts. Let’s see my experience of conflict between two of my friends to see how we can apply interpersonal communication to solve it.
This is an example which happened during my high school life. A and B are close friends, and it seems that there has never any conflicts between two these people. However, it does happen.
A is the treasurer of a committee in my high school. Of course, he has to keep the funds to spend for this committee’s activities. In that day, because A need to go out so he don’t want to keep this money. Watching B is playing basketball around, A asks B whether A can leave the money to B without knowing that B is so immersed in playing that B don’t notice A’s request. And thing happens: A leaves the money right next to B’s bag. Both the money and the bag are on a blank bench and because there aren’t so many people around, A are confident that no one can steal this money. When B takes his bag to go home, B don’t know this money is A’s.
After the money is stolen, there has been a conflict between A and B. It seems that both A and B want to blame each other because they feel that they are both innocent. A has his own excuse, arguing that A has already asked B to keep the money, so it should be B’s fault to leave the money stolen. But B insists that B haven’t heard of A’s request.
Though the money is not too much, it seems that this accident makes A and B not as close as in the past. So, what do you think A and B should do to resolve such conflict ?
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I think A and B all have responsibilities about this problem, but A the fault is A's. It is A's mistake to call B but B did not hear. Because B did not hear, I think he is innocent. But B also has to take the responsibility, because the lost money involved to B.
ReplyDeleteI think 2 of them have to sorry each other and take responsibility, and get experiences. When people make mistake, it is important to get experience to prevent the same mistake happen again.
The topic was clearly stated and throughout the post, the focus on interpersonal conflict was apparent. My concern is that although the conflict was put in context with miscommunication leading to interpersonal conflict, not much was said about the communication or miscommunication during the confrontation,. I would think that it would be a valuable observation to see what not to do when confronting a friend, especially one close to you.
ReplyDeleteI would think that A is at fault in this situation. Since A is responsible for the money, it is ultimately his responsibility to ensure it's safety. B should have heard A's request, however the onus remains with A to ensure his request was accepted instead of assuming that it was.
Also, in such a situation, Leaving the money besides B's bag was foolhardy. The money should have been placed in B's bag assuming he agreed to take responsibility for it.
Lastly, while B was not entirely at fault, it would be a better choice to first comfort A and then volunteer to help A find a solution. This is often easier said than done and doubly hard when one is accused, innocent or not.
Hence, the conflict understandable as it is, actually resolvable.It however, would require both parties to practice tolerance and humility.