A common situation where interpersonal conflict occurs is at
the workplace. This may be due to different personalities and working styles of
each individual. Therefore, for occupations requiring plenty of interaction
with colleagues or clients, it is important to manage interpersonal
relationships and resolve conflict effectively.
After my A levels, I landed a job at a tuition centre
working as administrative staff. Not too many months later, a middle-aged woman,
who shall be named A, joined the company and was designated to the same post as
I am which was working at the front line counter. We do not need to interact with the teachers
much except for when parents request to speak to them. However, things did not
go too well between A and one of the other teacher, who shall be named B. This
teacher has actually been teaching in the centre for many years now and has
gained a positive reputation since he was liked by his students. This is
evident from the fact that many students actually followed him year after year.
On one day, B arrived dressed casually as always in shorts and flip flops despite
there being a code of attire for teachers. This issue was brought up to the
principal many times, therefore it was something she knew but took no action
probably because he was a star teacher. However, A decided to make a remark
about her dissatisfaction with his attitude as a teacher. From there on,
things escalated and they got into a heated argument. B retorted that she was
just an admin staff and that she should mind her own business while A continued
to criticise him back saying how he was acting like a big shot. As this was happening, I was seated at the side, at loss of
what to do to stop the conflict. To make things
worse, a parent who walked in to make enquiries also witnessed the whole
argument. After a while, A exclaimed that she does not want to continue arguing
and went back doing her work while still muttering under her breath. B also
resumed his lesson but slammed the door when he entered his classroom. A
immediately messaged the principal and as quickly as she could, the principal
came to resolve by talking to both of them separately as well as asked me a few
questions about what had happened. Her solution was for both parties to avoid
talking to each other to prevent further similar incidences and that I was to
help be the middleman whenever possible. Still, A felt that she could not
continue working and soon after, went ahead and break her contract and resigned
despite much persuasion from the principal. Who would you think is in the wrong
in this case? Or are both parties equally at fault? How do you think the situation could be better managed?
