4.7.a Peer Review Assignment: Conflict Management Styles

You have been exploring five conflict management strategies: Competing, Avoiding, Accommodating, Compromising, and Collaborating. Now, you will do an activity to apply these conflict management strategies to specific situations. This activity consists of two steps: 1) You will complete your own writing responding to one of the prompts; and 2) You will assess your peers' writings. You will receive your grade when you have completed both your submission and your reviews of peers. 

There are no correct or wrong answers in the matching strategies, but the quality of your response is assessed. The quality of your response will be marked by your peers using a provided rubric. Peer assessments contribute 10% to your overall course mark. Refer to the course schedule for the two due dates associated with this assessment.

For this activity, real quotes have been selected to trigger conflict management strategy responses. The quotes are from care providers and clients about their own experiences of conflict during birth. After reading the quotes, you will be prompted to reply to the conflict trigger using a conflict management strategy of your choice. To do this, imagine you are in a conversation with that person. Imagine how you would respond to what the person has just said to you. Write your reply below the quote.

Here is an example of how to complete this activity. The conflict occurs following a transfer from home to hospital during a planned home birth. The midwife is upset with something the physician said. She pulls the doctor aside and says:

Prompt Quote:

“I should never be questioned about my skill set or management in front of a client, let alone during an event like a transfer.” (27)

Your Answer:

I want to use the compromising strategy in my response. I will reply by saying:

“Thank you for raising your concern, I agree that these discussions are best done outside the patient room. Let’s make a plan to talk later about my questions, and the reasons for your management decisions.”

How To Complete This Activity:

1. Read through the three prompts below. Select only one of the conflict trigger prompts to respond to. Identify a conflict management strategy to use for the trigger.
2. Write your own response to the conflict trigger. Identify the conflict management strategy you will use and then demonstrate this strategy in your response to the conflict trigger.
3. When you have completed and submitted your response, assess 3 of your peers by using the rubric provided. You will assess the accuracy and quality of the written response. 

The Conflict Trigger Prompts

Select 1 from these 3 prompts:

1. This client is using avoiding. How will you respond as the provider?

"I was 7-centimeters dilated before I realized I was in labour. And, I went to the hospital because that was where my midwives were. I was planning a home birth. And she said, ‘because you are so far along already, you need to stay here, I recommend that you stay here.’ And she left the room. And I looked at my doula and said, “Get my purse, we’re out of here. I’m going home.”

2. This midwife is using competing. How will you respond as the provider?

“It makes me really mad when you end up transporting someone from home and the doctor is giving you this nasty look and yelling at you in the hall and acting like it’s your ignorance that has brought this on. . . . I always say, ‘Listen, you know how you have people who want an elective c-section, and it’s a small percentage, like two to three percent, but you have them, and they are really set against having a vaginal birth? Well we’re dealing with the opposite end of the spectrum. So, try to understand. We are serving moms who are hoping to avoid much of what you have to offer her, and that means I am serving a really different clientele. It’s not fair for you to judge me.” (27)

3. This is a description of a conflict. How would you respond if the doctor was reporting this to you?

[When] midwives advocated for options for their clients, physicians reported feeling “put on the defensive” and “attacked.” One doctor explained: "They come in for our help and then they act like they are trying to protect the patient from us. That is insulting! We’re there to help, and they act like we’re out to [cesarean] section every woman just to make our lives easier."

Canvas Help for submitting and assessing peer assignments:

Watch this video from time code 1:33 to 3:11

Canvas Peer Review Assignments - Teacher and Student Perspective Links to an external site.