Conflicting Strategies Inventory

The Conflict Strategies Inventory is a type of index that predicts the look of an individual’s preferred method of addressing conflict. It breaks each person down and assigns one of five distinct profiles based upon answers to various scenarios that a person may encounter in the work force. It is important to understand that although the individual preferred profile indicates what the individual’s preference will be in a given situation, all of us have the ability to exhibit all of the profiles at some point. In other words, each situation is difference and has different circumstances and therefore each situation may require the person to step outside of their natural profile and address the conflict with a less preferred style. The Conflict Strategies Inventory merely identifies what that preferred style is for each person. It is also important to note that our preferred profile is also our default profile and that particular profile will win out in situations that are highly stressful regardless of how hard we try to suppress it over an alternative profile.

My personal default profile is that of a compromising person. To define this profile, the index uses the word tradeoff. Diving a little further into the definition, a compromising profile is that of someone who understands, anticipates and plans for each party involved in conflict to give something up that they hold important and therefore neither party is fully satisfied in the end. Furthermore, a compromising individual may even overstate the initial requirements in anticipation of negotiating down to the true desired outcome. A real world example of this type of negotiation is that of a car salesman. Initially, the salesman will make an offer to the purchaser of...

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... quickly into that firefighting mentality. Not having all the background and facts from the other party’s perspective tends to lead to unknown boundaries. This can result in asking for too much or too little in negotiation situations and leaving the compromise lopsided in one party’s favor. Additionally, I fail to transition to my other profiles or styles at the appropriate time; either too quickly or too late. Merely identifying, at the appropriate time, when a situation dictates a differing profile would result in a significant gain in my ability to resolve conflict. I do recognize that all conflict and negotiations are situational, the next step for me is to practice the different profile styles and identify more quickly which style is appropriate and in what situations. This will allow me to bring more balance into my life with more predictable results.