To start off this post, I would like to share a video which I found on www.youtube.com which shows us the various conflict management styles.
I still remembered I had to manage a conflict during my secondary four school days.
I was the captain of my school's Track and Field team. Prior to the annual Nationals' Schools Track and Field Championship, my team had a time trial to decide who gets to run the sprint relays.
The trial was conducted the watchful eyes of my coach. The setting was simple- the top four finishers will be automatic first choice runners in the relay while the fifth person will be the reserve.
The trail was conducted about a month before the start of the Championships. This is to ensure that there was sufficient time for perfecting the technical details of the team. There were 8 sprinters in contention for only five positions in the team. I was also among the eight contenders.
The race ended with me winning the trial and S, A, K and J completing the top five. In such a senario, S, A, K and I would be the first choice runners, while J would be the reserve.
J was not particularly happy with the date of the trials as he is recovering from an injury sustained about two weeks' back. He requested to have the trials once he had recovered fully from the injury, which was expected to be in another 3 weeks time.
Being the captain and the most senior member of the team, he talked to me about his request. He was disappointed and angry as he had always been among the top four sprinters in my team. He even had the idea that my coach wanted him out of the team. As such, the date of the trials was set prior to him recovering form the injury.
S, A and K knew about this and were worried that their places in the team would be in danger once J had fully recovered from his injury. They felt that it was not fair as the date of the trials were announced one month before. They were also upset as their hardwork might have gone to waste.
As the captain of the team, I had to consider the time factor, the feelings of the top four who had made it to the team through sheer hard work and whether having another trial was being fair to the rest of the members. I know the potential of J, who could have easily make it to the top four if he was fully fit.
In this case, would you propose to have another trial when J had recovered fully from his injury, when the team needs time to correct the minor technical details in sprint relays and the Championships was only a month away?
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2 comments:
Hello Bing!
Having been involved in competitive sports previously, I am aware of how important time required for training is. Needless to say, for relays, whereby coordination and teamwork between members are crucial.
Keeping in mind all the factors such as training schedules and regimes, each and every runner's efforts and the date of the championship, I would not have proposed another trials.
Sustaining an injury before an event is an unfortunate incident for J. However, it is the responsibility of all athletes to keep themselves in top condition at crucial race periods.
Here, I take into condition that J has the possibility of not being able to recover to his top-form in time for the race. On top of that, the amount of time allowed for training, if a second trial was to be held, might be insufficient for the team to reach the best form.
Therefore, I would not propose another trial although there is the possibility that J can do better than the S, A and K.
In that situation, I will speak to J and get him to understand that he was still on the reserve team and had the chance to represent the school. Moreover, he still shoulders the responsibility of having to be replace any runner at the last minute. A reserve is as important as any runner.
As for his concerns regarding the coach, I will let J know that as long as a runner can show his ability, there should not be any reason to be kicked out of the team.
Dear Peiyu,
Eventually we solved the problem by entering J for his individual event and deciding only at the last moment after he has completed his heats.
We made the first leg of the relay team the "slowest" of the four who had qualified based on merit.
Interestingly after the heats, J's time was faster than the initial first leg. Thus, we made certain adjustments to the team and he eventually ran for the school.
My team made it to the finals and broke the school record along the way! =)
I guess that solved the problem and everyone was satisfied in the end.
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