Post #3 : Resolving interpersonal conflict

Some personal insights so far in this module: as the weeks go by, the topics for the blog post every Sundays seem to be getting more personal. Is it only me whom is finding more ease in applying what I came across in the past 20 years or so into each topic?

Entering into conflicts with other people (not animals) has never been a strange situation to me, ever since as a kid I came to realise that there is a world existing around me. My theory is, with interaction there bound to be disagreements, and when it gets out of hand the magnitude of the reactions of the conflicting parties usually determines the outcome of the issue; isn't that how wars are started?

This conflict, which troubled me greatly to decide upon out of so many to write a blog post about, happened when I was working as a temp under a rather famous and hence huge company in Singapore. I got this job through my mother's connections with her colleague, whom happened to be the manager of a department within that company; an unorthodox method that I suspected led to the building up of the upcoming clash with my superiors. The scope was simple enough: proof-reading policy documents and ensuring that their information matches according to my data entry. However being in an office environment and being my first paid job, I was completely unguarded against any politics.

It was an unspoken truth in Singapore that while you are taught in schools that it pays to be honest and efficient, but in reality it backfires on you when you work in offices. My ‘high’ efficiency, because I finished my work too ‘fast’ and ended up doing nothing for the rest of the day, incurred the wrath of my superiors. In addition, I was neither brave enough to communicate with my superiors to build rapport, nor were they willing to take the initiative to show me the ropes around in the office. Not surprising, conflicts therefore arose and I was forced to resign, after a grand total of just 31 days into the job, including weekends. Until now I do regret that this short tenure with the company ended in a sour note; it imprinted within me a very negative impression about office politics, and I guessed my superiors, 3 of them, were not impressed either, especially since they too knew my mother.

I always wondered every now and then, will the scenario be different had I not stick to my own beliefs that clearing my work as soon as possible is the right thing to do? Or is it my apparently aloof, unapproachable attitude the root of all the problems?