Utilising a personality typology to resolve subliminal conflict in the workplace

Abstract

Reputable organisational gurus agree that workplace competency can be measured by the skills, knowledge and attitude of the employees. Skill and knowledge are the minimum that is expected from employers but attitude, which includes the construct of emotional intelligence, is more difficult to measure. It has often been said that people in organisations are hired for their skills and knowledge but fired for their poor attitude or behaviour. Changing adult behaviour is considered by many human resource practitioners to be nigh impossible. Human beings are creatures of habit and by the age of six years old their personalities are virtually formed. (Baldwin, 2001). If the six year old further experiences poor parenting or any other traumatic experiences, it may transpire that the adult who enters the workplace presents as a dysfunctional person. This person can rely only on skills and knowledge and will do his best to project an acceptable behavioural front to the organisation.The premise of this research suggests that improved self-awareness can allow people in the workplace to recognise their own ‘blind spots’ and choose to deal differently with others when faced with conflict. It may be unrealistic to expect employees to demonstrate high levels of emotional intelligence, when they have never been given the opportunities to learn these skills. However, ignoring the behaviours that lead to dysfunctional conflict may come at a high cost for organisations. The researcher alludes to the cost of industrial disputes in South Africa, which are reaching unacceptable levels for both the private and the government institutions. It is also an alarming trend that many government institutions ignore the cost of lengthy individual labour disputes and outsource their responsibility to lawyers and forensic investigators, rather than adopting sound conflict resolution practices to resolve these matters. The effect of these strategies is to protect politicians and to blame the officials in administrative positions and furthermore to prosecute them via legal channels, a process that costs both ratepayers and taxpayers millions of rands in unnecessarily wasted revenue.The primary research objective was to determine the most effective approaches to utilise the Enneagram as a tool to resolve subliminal conflict in the workplace. The researcher argues that increased self-awareness leads to individuals being more emotionally intelligent. In order to grow self-awareness an intervention or tool is needed to ‘wake the person up’ from his automatic responses to situations. The Enneagram is a modern tool with ancient roots, which can be used to give people clarity on their automatic behavioural responses. It is not intended to put people in ‘boxes’, but rather to help them recognise what their fixations are and then to give them options and pointers on where they could progress in their development. Hudson and Riso (1993, 1995, 1996, 2000 and 2002) have authored five books and are recognised as being two of the most credible researchers and authors of the Enneagram. They identified three social styles based on the research of Karen Horney. The researcher investigated the relationship between the Hornevian social styles and a Conflict Assessment questionnaire. Secondary objectives were thus as follows:• Conducting a pilot study in the design of Conflict Assessment Style questionnaires.

• Investigating the relationship between the Conflict Assessment Style questionnaires and the Hornevian social styles and to applying the consequent information during conflict training workshops.

• Facilitating the Mastering Conflict workshops.

• Designing Enneagram typing cards.

• Holding coaching sessions with each of the nine personality types in order to resolve a subliminal conflict issue.

Ontological coaching was suggested as an additional intervention over and above the conflict workshops to enable employees to deal effectively with conflict in the workplace. This way of coaching encourages people to become self-generating and self-correcting. This coaching methodology deals with people in a holistic manner and is based on phenomenological principles. Qualified coaches, either internal or external to the organisation, are able to hold a mirror to employees faced with dysfunctional conflict work situations to find solutions that lead to personal growth for those employees. When the lessons learned from coaching enable the individual to adapt or change, the organisation benefits too, in that the lessons learned are often passed on to others in that organisation. Sustained conflict resolving mechanisms have further advantages: employees who are parents or hold leadership positions in their communities are able to apply these behaviours in those spheres too, thus creating a systemic positive change. The researcher demonstrated how the Enneagram could be used as a model to help coaches understand their clients’ subliminal reactions to conflict situations. The intention of these coaching conversations was to assist employees in dealing with potentially dysfunctional conflict situations in a process that is both time efficient and creates lasting problem solving. The researcher proposes that organisations that are serious about creating environments where people want to work, grow and succeed must adopt strategies where people are able to become more self-aware and to deal more effectively with conflict that does not enhance creativity. It is incumbent on the organisation to create learning forums for employees and to provide coaching dialogue as ways to explore meaningful and sustained remedies to dealing with dysfunctional conflict in the workplace. The researcher did not propose that the Enneagram is the only model that could be used in personal development interventions, but found it to be robust as a model to help “unstick” employees from their false perceptions of conflict situations, thus creating a way forward that offers lasting change and personal growth.