Resolving Conflicts on the Job, Second Edition

Chapter 11. Why Do I Care?

I was sitting in the cafeteria listening to a colleague go on about her horrible day. Her morning had begun with a phone argument between her and her ex-husband that had somehow spilled over into an argument with her current husband. Then, she went outside to find her car blocked by the neighbor’s trash cans. Later, someone cut her off in traffic. She received a work assignment that she considered a waste of time, and the book she was reading for a class she was taking was stupid.

I looked at her over my juice box and thought, “You gotta get a shorter list of things that make you mad.”

Something to consider when thinking about conflict at work is whether what you are fighting about is worth the fight. Pediatrician Marvin ...