1) My score, 40, is neither poor nor outstanding. However, it duly reflects that I am lagging behind in some aspects that should be improved for appropriate interpersonal relations. While I encourage others to talk, I am not good at evaluating their non-verbal expressions. Some other shortcomings include poor questioning skills, tendency to discard the complex topic, and inability to summarize the conversations. All in all, scores on individual questions do reflect that I am a passive listener who does not pay close attention to the minute details.
As such, I need to resort to active listening by giving equal attention to the speaker's expressions, the tone of voice, and an overall body language. Furthermore, I need to enhance my questioning skills and analyzing capacity. As of now, I do not prefer to clarify things that doubt me. I can practice brainstorming techniques, i.e., giving a logic to random thoughts. It will help me put quality questions and comprehend the issues in a better manner.
2) I do agree with the statement " Don't criticize." Criticisms, more often than not, aim at pointing out the mistakes in others without any guidance to improving the performance. Core criticisms make employees feel like losers and negatively impact their motivation and self-esteem. It is rarely effective to rap others with unpleasant remarks.
Scholars have pointed out that employees either become defensive or ignore criticisms. They also tend to or pass on the blame on others or start disliking their job roles. The bottom line is that criticisms do not improve the performance of the employee; they rather worsen it. A survey revealed that only 36 percent managers completed employees' appraisal forms thoroughly. Twenty-five percent said that they dread evaluating employees. Fifty-five percent further admitted that their recent performance reviews were inaccurate and unfair.
This statistics does imply that most of the managers do not often support their comments with candid suggestions for performance improvements. It is where the difference between criticisms and coaching feedback peeps in. Managers must substantiate their negative remarks with the suggestions of improving the performance. Succinctly, they must resort to constructive criticisms and provide coaching feedback to employees rather than lashing out at employees for their follies.
3. Collaborative conflict management is the most difficult to implement because of the time and resources it needs. This style requires the best agreeable solution to the underlying conflict. Group goals are put before individual interests and relationships are maintained in the best possible manner. Though there is no sound statistics to substantiate, it seems that managers might be using this style only 20 percent of the time they handle conflict cases. That is, they employ this technique only 20 times out of 100 cases.
Reasons are quite apparent. Given that accommodating and avoiding styles are the easiest to implement, managers have good reasons to look these simpler approaches to conflict management. Furthermore, the collaborative technique is not applicable in all conflicts. It is most used when there is a peer conflict. Conflicts in companies, conversely, can arise from a myriad of aspects, and it is not simple to assume that collaboration will be possible every time. Additionally, parties involved might enjoy different levels of the authority thereby making it difficult to reach a win-win situation. When one party is stronger than the other, there are more chances of trading off the for the stronger party.
Works Cited
Heen, Sheila and Douglas Stone. "Find the Coaching in Criticism." Hravard Business Review Feb 2014.
Kerry, Trevor. Explaining and Questioning. Nelson Thornes, 2002.
Lussier, Robert N. and Christopher F. Achua. Leadership: Theory, Application, and Skill Development. Boston: Cengage Learning, 2015.
