Interpersonal Communication and Conflict

Communication conflict is daily occurrence in life, and it’s necessarily not a bad thing. Many people think it is the content that is important in conflict but I have to realize that if we learn to communicate better in conflict, we could have less conflict or at least more valuable and constructive conversations. In result, when conflict occurs the relationship, whether it be between family, co-works, peers, friends, or significant others, the relationship is either weakened or strengthened. Thus, I believe with better understanding of how to approach conflict that the relationship has a better chance of being strengthen and this conflict was rewarding.

Personally, when in conflict with someone who means a lot to me, I know my response style is getting mad and/or blaming the other person because honestly, who wants to be the one at fault? I’ve learned not only from this article but in the past as well that this response only irritates the situation and is unhealthy choice. This situation is an example of symmetrical escalation, which is when partners decide to increase the intensity of the conflict. However, even though I may get mad at someone, eventually I have to try to resolve it. According to the article, I used the “I’ technique and the exploration technique. It is actually a little contradictory, when I realized how I argue with people. First I blame them, and then eventually see the truth in my actions if they were wrong. I also noticed I try to explore the situation deeper, and what happened especially if the conflict is about a “private content conflict.” These techniques are considered to be healthy ways to approach conflict. In addition, I liked at the end of the article, the author offers a healthy and “rationale way of resolving conflicts” in interpersonal conflicts. I feel these techniques are very valuable because most of the conflicts are between two people.

Conflict is unavoidable and inevitable in our daily life and it could with anyone you encounter during the day. As we are becoming interpersonal communication experts, we need to realize that everyone is different and will approach conflict differently.