Post #2 Resolving Interpersonal Conflict

During the vacation, I worked as an administrative officer in a bank and one of my duties was to type letters meant to request the relevant documents from customers. Due to the accumulating workload, my supervisor appointed my colleague T to help me with the job. Initially, I was quite glad that there was someone to share the heavy workload with me. However, it turned out that things were not as smooth sailing as I thought.

After a few days, there was a large number of errors in the letters handed in and to my dismay, the supervisor placed the blame on me. However, I realized that most of those letters were typed by T as can be seen from the capitalization of addresses which he always did. Moreover, I knew that T was attending night classes and had trouble concentrating at work. As such, he might have overlooked his work.

Even though I would like to inform my supervisor about the matter, I was afraid that he would not believe me and might think that I was trying to shift the blame. On the other hand, I was on friendly terms with T and had to work closely with him at times. If I were to tell him directly or if he discovered that I tell on him, it would hurt our relationship. I was at a loss as the problem of multiple typos would not be solved if no action was taken.

What should I do to solve the problem but at the same time maintain my friendly ties with T?

Importance of developing effective communication skills

" You never get a second chance to make a first impression"– Will Rogers

Strangers, who may be our new classmates, interviewers or colleagues, form a first impression of us from the way we speak, dress and carry ourselves. In fact, we also judge others in the same way. Hence, the ability to communicate well is critical as we do not have a time machine to travel back in time to redo a bad impression we had given. By acquiring good communication skills, we would be able to able to express our thoughts and feelings accurately, thereby projecting a better image of ourselves. This would help us to establish good interpersonal relationships and open our doors to more opportunities as we can gain the respect and win the hearts of others.

In addition, nonverbal communication cues such as eye contact and body gestures are of paramount importance to establish effective communication. I had this experience with inappropriate nonverbal communication during one of the CCA meetings back in my secondary school days. While a senior was reprimanding me over some matters, I did not maintain much eye contact with her. This was mainly due to the fact that I was intimidated by her as she was glaring at me angrily while she spoke. However, she misinterpreted it as a form of disrespect for her which was not my intended message.

Therefore, the importance of good communication cannot be more emphasized. This is especially important in a complex setting like the workplace where we have to communicate differently depending on the rank of the person and the matter we are dealing with.