Dealing With Difficult People Analysis

Video Analysis One: Dealing With difficult people versus them dealing with you In 2007, psychologist Bill Crawford, produced a short video entitled “Dealing with difficult people versus them dealing with you” as one of a four part series filmed in conjunction with PBS (Crawford, 2007). The following video case analysis will compare the ideas present in the video to the ideas found in this week’s assigned readings - Resolving conflicts at work: Ten strategies for everyone on the job and Listening to conflict: Finding constructive solutions to workplace disputes (Cloke & Goldsmith, 2011; Van Slyke, 1999). This analysis will focus on similarities and differences between the Crawford’s video and this week’s readings including specific examples. Crawford’s (2007) video begins by stating, difficult people are everywhere. While this sentiment is not expressed in exactly the same way, Van Slyke (1999) indicates that “conflict is a regular part of everyday life” and Cloke and Goldsmith (2011) write that it’s nearly impossible to actively participate as a citizen of the world without experiencing conflict; all three sources agree that conflict is inescapable. In addition, …show more content…
According to the video, the key to resolving conflict is changing the level of awareness that created it (Crawford, 2007). He suggests that our experiences in life are caused by our beliefs and in order to change our adversary’s behavior we need to react to those behaviors in a way that does not reinforce them (Crawford, 2007). Cloke and Goldsmith (2011) writes that by assuming that your opponent has merely confused you with the problem, rather than attacking you, your response will be positive instead of negative. By changing your reaction from negative to positive you can keep the dispute from escalating and begin to resolve the