Constructive Conflict for Positive Change
Have you ever bitten your tongue because you feared your opinion may provoke a fight? Most, if not all of us, people have at one point or another. Why is it, that we fear provoking conflict? Margaret Heffernan challenges the common misconception that conflict is bad or negative in her TED talk, "Margaret Heffernan: Dare to disagree" June, 2012. She explains: how confronting our fears of conflict can have positive effects, that constructive conflict is essential to forward progress, and while it might seem odd-- sometimes the best partnerships are composed people with vastly different than theirs.
Confronting our fears of conflict can a have positive effect on not only our lives, but on our peers lives …show more content…
Margaret tells different story about Alice Stewart. Alice was a doctor at Oxford in the 1950’s. She researched childhood cancer in an effort to find potential causes. She found a significant link between children dying of cancer if the mother had been X-rayed while pregnant. This link defied conventional wisdom at that period of time. Even though she published her findings and evidence; it was 25 years after publication that pregnant woman stopped getting X-rays. Alice openly welcomed the conflicts her research invoked, but it challenged some really big social norms. The norms that doctors and the new technology of the X-ray machine can only helps people, not hurt them. So even though she raised very serious concerns, and had proof that there was a link; society was not open or willing to accept the conflicts that her research showed. Instead, society choose ignorance. It was easier to ignore the claims, and not rationalize them. To make forward progress, we need to correct this ignorant behaviors. We need to recognize conflict as a process of thinking and not something negative. Recognize conflicts as a means to: provoke thought, to be open, to share, debate, and possibly even accept conflicts raised by others. Then we can come together as team to …show more content…
Most often, two heads are better than one. So, it can be beneficial to have a partner, or a team, to give needed criticisms to develop futher. A good first step in finding a good partner or team, is to examine ourselves and acknowledge and understand our own strengths and weaknesses. Secondly, we can compare our strengths and weaknesses to those of our potential partners. We frequently partner with people who think similarly to the way we do, or have the same background. It seems logical, because it’s almost like we are wired to avoid conflict. The chances of major conflicts occurring when working with a person who has similar backgrounds or thought processes are much lower. These lower chances of conflict, make the prospect of working with the similar minded people much easier. Margaret suggests we fight the urge to partner with those similar to us and to do just the opposite. She suggests
Have you ever bitten your tongue because you feared your opinion may provoke a fight? Most, if not all of us, people have at one point or another. Why is it, that we fear provoking conflict? Margaret Heffernan challenges the common misconception that conflict is bad or negative in her TED talk, "Margaret Heffernan: Dare to disagree" June, 2012. She explains: how confronting our fears of conflict can have positive effects, that constructive conflict is essential to forward progress, and while it might seem odd-- sometimes the best partnerships are composed people with vastly different than theirs.
Confronting our fears of conflict can a have positive effect on not only our lives, but on our peers lives …show more content…
Margaret tells different story about Alice Stewart. Alice was a doctor at Oxford in the 1950’s. She researched childhood cancer in an effort to find potential causes. She found a significant link between children dying of cancer if the mother had been X-rayed while pregnant. This link defied conventional wisdom at that period of time. Even though she published her findings and evidence; it was 25 years after publication that pregnant woman stopped getting X-rays. Alice openly welcomed the conflicts her research invoked, but it challenged some really big social norms. The norms that doctors and the new technology of the X-ray machine can only helps people, not hurt them. So even though she raised very serious concerns, and had proof that there was a link; society was not open or willing to accept the conflicts that her research showed. Instead, society choose ignorance. It was easier to ignore the claims, and not rationalize them. To make forward progress, we need to correct this ignorant behaviors. We need to recognize conflict as a process of thinking and not something negative. Recognize conflicts as a means to: provoke thought, to be open, to share, debate, and possibly even accept conflicts raised by others. Then we can come together as team to …show more content…
Most often, two heads are better than one. So, it can be beneficial to have a partner, or a team, to give needed criticisms to develop futher. A good first step in finding a good partner or team, is to examine ourselves and acknowledge and understand our own strengths and weaknesses. Secondly, we can compare our strengths and weaknesses to those of our potential partners. We frequently partner with people who think similarly to the way we do, or have the same background. It seems logical, because it’s almost like we are wired to avoid conflict. The chances of major conflicts occurring when working with a person who has similar backgrounds or thought processes are much lower. These lower chances of conflict, make the prospect of working with the similar minded people much easier. Margaret suggests we fight the urge to partner with those similar to us and to do just the opposite. She suggests