MANAGING CONFLICT WITH A

• Introduction
• Step 1: What’s going on?
• Step 2: What are your options?
(A): Do nothing
• (B): Have a conversation
• (C): Seek assistance

In this example the choice was made because Lucy thought through all the likely outcomes of different scenarios and made an informed decision based on her personal preferences at the time. She considered that:

• She didn’t have time to see her lecturer before her holiday
• She could still try to enjoy her holiday

In this scenario doing nothing was not a good option. Lucy ended up:

• Not being able to enjoying her holiday as she would have liked to
• Handing in her assessment late
• Getting a pass (but would have preferred a higher grade)
• Knowing she would have him for a lecturer next year
• Feeling really unhappy about the situation and feeling ‘hatred’ towards her lecturer

Choosing to avoid the conflict in this situation:

• Led to the potential for more conflict in the future between Lucy and her lecturer
• Hurt Lucy personally because she ended up feeling frustrated and not expressing her feelings

And it’s likely her lecturer will never know there was a conflict, so he could do the same thing in the future, never realising that his actions created a difficult situation for students.