What is a personality type that you are most likely to conflict with at work? (This may refer to a co-worker or a supervisor). What difficulties do you encounter when working with this personality type? How do you keep yourself motivated when you encounter this personality type and ensure that everything runs smoothly in the workplace?
The deadline for points is Tuesday, October 10, at 10AM.
My response:
The one personality type that I am likely to conflict with is the “gossiper” or “blamer”. These personality types usually cause multiple conflicts between other co-workers and single handedly create a toxic work-environment. People like this are hard to work with because they are unpredictable. Even if I am being cautious and keeping my conversation with them to a bare minimum, they may make something up entirely to stir up rumors.
I think this personality type splits into two sub-types: 1) Chronic, and 2) Competitive; and I would deal with each type differently. The chronic gossipers are very easy to identify and the whole workplace will know about these people. So I would not confront them unless absolutely necessary. The competitive gossipers are a little difficult to handle as they only gossip about those who are in direct competition with them. If I ever encounter such a person, I would try to confront them and clearly state that while healthy competition is good, I do not appreciate any rumors about me or anyone else. I will try and explain to him how it violates workplace ethics and if they don’t take it seriously, I will have no other choice but to report their activities to a higher authority. Conflict will only cause more conflict so I will be extra cautious to convey my message politely to them, before being stern.