CONFLICT IS INEVITABLE

Office conflict is one thing I know that one can never escape in a work environment. This usually happens when there is poor emotional intelligence. During my first intensive week, we had a class on emotional intelligence. This was my first class ever in an emotional intelligence class. My interest developed and I realised that I needed to nurture mine to be able to survive in my workplace

WHAT IS EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE?

Emotional intelligence (EQ) is the ability to understand, use, and manage your emotions in a positive ways to relieve stress, communicate effectively, handle interpersonal relationship, overcome challenges and defuse conflict.

As a person, it is important for one to be emotionally intelligent because this will help you have a good interpersonal relationship at workplace and help you know how to manage conflict situation at workplace. A good leader needs emotional intelligence to be able to communicate effectively with is subordinates. EQ will help you know how to observe people and know when to react or speak when something happens. Emotional intelligence gives you the ability to know how to examine actions and look at how it will affect the people around you before taking actions. It also makes you to take responsibilities over your own actions.

HOW TO APPLY EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE WHEN RESOLVING CONFLICT AT WORKPLACE

Conflict is natural. It can not be termed good or bad. This simply means a difference of opinion or thought or interest. Its totally inevitable in any organisation or workplace. Over time, poor communication has been seen as a major contributor to conflict situation. Conflict also occur due to employees unclear expectations of their responsibilities.

As a manager, when using emotional intelligence in resolving issues, you must make calm statement of fact, ask questions, and listen to both parties that are involve in other to be fair in your judgement. Also make sure that you are in charge of your emotions not minding who is involve. Always remember that, If the problem is not well managed, the outcome may be something more serious than it could be imagined because some organizational conflict is as a result of unfair judgement

Therefore, we all need our emotional intelligence to work in good capacity so that one can be able to perceive, control and express emotions and also to be able to decode and respond appropriately to the emotions of others so as to avoid conflict situations

#MMBA3

Sylvia Hogan