A successful conflict resolution that I participated in was
when I was a deployed Platoon Leader in Afghanistan. During mid deployment my
platoon was hand chosen by my command to take on an important mission at
another location, where we would be isolated, and our own. The issue was that I
had 43 soldiers under me and I was only allowed to take 30, with my platoon all
excited to go and wanting very much to go and leave the area we were currently
at. My subordinate leaders were guaranteed to go, however the rest of my
soldiers were on the chopping block to stay behind. That means 9 of them would have to stay back and
be embedded with another platoon. As much as I wanted to take everybody my
hands were tied when it came to taking everyone.
I gathered my subordinate leaders and told them to hand
choose their subordinates, however it came to a difficult decision making
process for them and asked me to choose. Now the role that I had to play was
the guy who would make the final decision. However, it was very difficult to
choose my roster as I loved all my soldiers equally. So I pulled and allowed my
soldiers to assist in making my decision and tried to conduct an “accommodating
approach” along with a “compromise approach” where I went through satisfying
the majority and listened to their recommendations and concerns instead of
having a “forcing response” where they would have believed I chose certain soldiers
because I favored them and had a personal agenda (Whetten, D. A, & Cameron,
K. S. 2011).
I wanted to show empathy towards my soldiers and meeting their
needs (Conflict Resolution, 2008).
So the consensus from my soldiers was to conduct an Army
Physical Fitness Test (APFT), and the top scores will be ranked and go through
a Merit List which will dictate the decision making on who goes. To me it
seemed legitimate and right for this mission because it was deemed dangerous
and the best deserved to go. My soldiers conducted their APFT and the top were
chosen, no complaints were made, and I got the best performances out of my
soldiers from the day that we first arrived in Afghanistan.
I see some areas where I could have improved on handling the
conflict. Thinking back at it, I also could have conducted a board, where myself
and my subordinate leadership sit on a panel or act as a committee to ask a
vary of questions to each soldier, that way as an end result have a more
balanced soldier who is both physically and mentally strong. Another approach I
could have resolve this was putting the soldiers in a room by themselves and
have them figure it out on their own, give them that ownership of making a big
decision to this particular conflict my platoon was facing. Ultimately the
decision still would fall in my hands regardless of the outcome, I could have
over-ruled the decision if I wanted too, but I didn’t, I felt though as long as
we all returned home safely, the decision making process that was conducted, no
matter what avenue of approach, was the
right one.
References:
Conflict Resolution 2008, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P2GWmDUKF3o&feature=youtu.be
Whetten, D. A, & Cameron, K. S. (2011). Developing Management Skills (5th
ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education. Inc./Prentice
Hall
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