Compromising Communication Style

Compromising: A Half-Way Approach to Conflict Resolution Conflict styles come in different shapes and forms and each paint a picture of how an individual negotiates and resolves disputes. As it stands out from a questionnaire and assessments from others, I am a compromiser. Compromisers always seek a middle ground in situations. Ultimately, although compromising allows each party to achieve some part of what they desire, it sometimes triggers exclusion, hurt, and anger in others and leads to both parties reaching decisions neither originally intended.

Compromising Defined and Where Style was Learned Compromising has a unique definition associated with it and I learned this style from various books. As illustrated in the previous section,

Compromisers are usually low in normative commitment (NC), which regards whether an employee should remain within an organization (Iqbal, & Afsheen, 2013). Although NC is a workplace term, it can be applied to other environments as well. For instance, if Johnny and his friends compromise to eat dinner at an affordable restaurant and Anthony, being an accommodator and wanting to have eaten fast food, goes and eats with them, conflict may occur. The compromising decision of Johnny and his friends may cause Anthony to feel excluded, hurt, and angry since they did not eat fast food. As illustrated, when deciding whether to compromise, groups must consider NC so certain emotions are not triggered.

Positives and Negatives of Compromising Just as compromising has negative features such as lowering NC, it also has positive aspects such as allowing both parties to achieve something. Although compromising involves giving up desires, it also involves keeping and having certain needs met as a shared power balance exists in the relationship (Hocker & Wilmot, 2012). This creates solutions and solves conflicts.

However, a few negatives also exist with compromising, such as when a substitution compromise occurs. This happens when two or more parties abandon all their desires and reach a new compromise that neither originally wanted (Lepora, 2012). For example, two doctors may disagree on how to tell a patient they have cancer,

As a compromiser myself, I can relate. However, even though compromising has cons associated with it, it can be influential about learning other styles. Ultimately, if compromisers analyze and seek to understand and improve their conflicts, they can learn different styles allowing them to adapt to differing conflicts in order to solve disputes