CONFLICT IS INEVITABLE BUT COMBAT IS OPTIONAL
Most destructive conflict within and involving people revolves around unfulfilled needs, primarily the psychological requirements for control, recognition, affection and respect. These needs are natural and quite human in that we all crave them, but, when unacceptable or problematic behaviour has been rewarded in the past in fulfillment of these needs, difficult behaviour motivates the individual. We should try not to reward difficult behaviour or reinforce actions or inactions that manifest it. There is no magic pill but there is a prescription to change behaviour in others. It takes time and patience to cure such negative characteristics and it does not help to ignore the problem behaviour or respond likewise or criticise rather than cure or just brand someone as a problem.
Researchers at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) and the University of North Carolina (UNC) have identified tangible evidence that human cells react positively to happiness and benevolence, and people who share good feelings have a stronger immune system. People with negative emotions, such as self-centeredness or being focused on consumption, may have a compromised immune system. Immune cells susceptible to emotions such as fear, misery and stress can become inflamed and reduce antiviral response leading to cardiovascular or neurodegenerative disease. At the cellular level, our physiology responds best to a sense of connectedness and purpose.
Compassion improves the quality of work life and personal life
How we think and act can determine success, failure or something in between; that place called mediocrity where we settle for what we get. Some behaviours have been identified with limiting success and these habits can be contagious with colleagues and within an organisation. When these negative behaviours are displayed it reinforces mediocrity as being acceptable, and it should not be acceptable to a vibrant and competitive workforce. We each have a unique universal field of experiences and exposures to life’s education.
Apr-Jun 2017 issue
4Civility