You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 1-14,
which are based on Reading Passage below. Communicating Styles and Conflict
Knowing your communication style and having a mix of
styles on your team can provide a positive force for resolving conflict.
A
As far back as Hippocrates’ time (460-370B.C.), people have tried to understand other people
by characterizing them according to personality type or temperament.
Hippocrates believed there were four different body fluids that influenced four
basic types of temperament. His work was further developed 500 years later by
Galen. These days there are any number of self-assessment tools that relate to
the basic descriptions developed by Galen, although we no longer believe the
source to be the types of body fluid that dominate our systems.
B
The values in self-assessments that help determine
personality style. Learning styles, communication styles, conflict-handling
styles, or other aspects of individuals is that they help depersonalize
conflict in interpersonal relationships. The depersonalization occurs when you
realize that others aren’t trying to be difficult, but they need different or
more information than you do. They’re not intending to be rude: they are so
focused on the task they forget about greeting people. They would like to work
faster but not at the risk of damaging the relationships needed to get the job
done. They understand there is a job to do. But it can only be done right with
the appropriate information, which takes time to collect. When used
appropriately, understanding communication styles can help resolve conflict on
teams. Very rarely are conflicts true personality issues. Usually, they are
issues of style, information needs, or focus.
C
Hippocrates and later Galen determined there were four
basic temperaments: sanguine, phlegmatic, melancholic and choleric. These
descriptions were developed centuries ago and are still somewhat apt, although
you could update the wording. In today’s world, they translate into the four
fairly common communication styles described below:
D
The sanguine person would be the expressive or
spirited style of communication. These people speak in pictures. They invest a
lot of emotion and energy in their communication and often speak quickly.
Putting their whole body into it. They are easily sidetracked onto a story that
may or may not illustrate the point they are trying to make. Because of their
enthusiasm, they are great team motivators. They are concerned about people and
relationships. Their high levels of energy can come on strong at times and
their focus is usually on the bigger picture, which means they sometimes miss
the details or the proper order of things. These people find conflict or
differences of opinion invigorating and love to engage in a spirited
discussion. They love change and are constantly looking for new and exciting
adventures.
E
Tile phlegmatic person - cool and persevering -
translates into the technical or systematic communication style. This style of
communication is focused on facts and technical details. Phlegmatic people have
an orderly methodical way of approaching tasks, and their focus is very much on
the task, not on the people, emotions, or concerns that the task may evoke. The
focus is also more on the details necessary to accomplish a task. Sometimes the
details overwhelm the big picture and focus needs to be brought back to the
context of the task. People with this style think the facts should speak for
themselves, and they are not as comfortable with conflict. They need time to
adapt to change and need to understand both the logic of it and the steps
involved.
F
A tile melancholic person who is soft hearted and
oriented toward doing things for others translates into the considerate or
sympathetic communication style. A person with this communication style is
focused on people and relationships. They are good listeners and do things for
other people-sometimes to the detriment of getting things done for themselves.
They want to solicit everyone’s opinion and make sure everyone is comfortable
with whatever is required to get the job done. At times this focus on others
can distract from the task at hand. Because they are so concerned with the
needs of others and smoothing over issues, they do not like conflict. They
believe that change threatens the status quo and tends to make people feel
uneasy, so people with this communication style, like phlegmatic people, need
time to consider the changes in order to adapt to them.
G
The choleric temperament translates into the bold or
direct style of communication. People with this style are brief in their
communication - the fewer words the better. They are big picture thinkers and
love to be involved in many things at once. They are focused on tasks and
outcomes and often forget that the people involved in carrying out the tasks
have needs. They don’t do detail work easily and as a result, can often
underestimate how much time it takes to achieve the task. Because they are so
direct, they often seem forceful and can be very intimidating to others. They
usually would welcome someone challenging them. But most other styles are
afraid to do so. They also thrive on change, the more the better.
H
A well-functioning team should have all of these
communication styles for true effectiveness. All teams need to focus on the
task, and they need to take care of relationships in order to achieve those
tasks. They need the big picture perspective or the context of their work, and
they need the details to be identified and taken care of for success. We all
have aspects of each style within us. Some of us can easily move from one style
to another and adapt our style to the needs of the situation at hand-whether
the focus is on tasks or relationships. For others, a dominant style is very
evident, and it is more challenging to see the situation from the perspective
of another style. The work environment can influence communication styles
either by the type of work that is required or by the predominance of one style
reflected in that environment. Some people use one style at work and another at
home.
The good news about communication styles is that we
have the ability to develop flexibility in our styles. The greater the
flexibility we have, the more skilled we usually are at handling possible and
actual conflicts. Usually, it has to be relevant to us to do so, either because
we think it is important or because there are incentives in our environment to
encourage it. The key is that we have to want to become flexible with our
communication style. As Henry Ford said, “Whether you think you can or you can’t,
you’re right!”Reading Passage has eight sections A-H. Choose the
correct heading for each section from the list of headings below.