LSI Conflict Analysis
Everyone has their own tendency when it comes to acting and reacting towards conflict. One person may be more aggressive and push conflict onto others, while another may be hesitant and unsure of how to handle conflict, so they simply to try to avoid it at all cost. The LSI Conflict Profile and Circumplex will give a detailed analysis of a person’s own personal conflict style, and will make them aware of their strengths and weaknesses. It can be used to allow oneself to evaluate their own attitude toward conflict, and if changes can be made to improve their outlook and approach to handling that conflict. My top 3 highest personal conflict styles are: pragmatist (99th percentile), avoider (94th percentile), and insulator (87th percentile). My 3 lowest personal styles are: dominator (10th percentile), conciliator (38th percentile), and self-empowered (42nd percentile). (See Circumplex and Conflict Profile at end of paper.) A pragmatist is someone who is practical, and sees things for how they really are. They are sensible, and don’t rush to make judgments or decisions. I am definitely a pragmatist. I am surprised that I was in the 99th percentile for this style, as I didn’t realize my way of thinking was so extreme to one style. When I have to make a decision I think of every possible variation of the decision, and what each variation could lead to. When it comes to conflict this means that I don’t make decisions in the heat of the moment and I’m able to see every person’s perspective on the matter. I am not a hot-head, but instead level-headed when it comes to dealing with other people’s emotions.
My next highest style is an avoider, which means that I avoid conflicting situations, or as I say, I “stay out of it.” I do agree with this style, but it only represents one side. When I’m at work I am an avoider because I like to stay out of the line of sight of management. Where I work, if an employee brings attention to themselves through any type of conflict with management you’re putting a target on your back. Management cannot be trusted to act in anyone’s best interest but their own, and cannot be trusted at all, in my opinion. With that in mind, I don’t rock the boat.
However, my personal life is different. I’m in a serious relationship and we’ve had conflict but I don’t avoid it. I take the time to address any problems we’re having, and we discuss issues civilly. My family does not discuss problems though, and my parents are both very passive-aggressive, so I do avoid conflict with them to an extent. I’ve discussed their communication issues growing up with a counselor, and have become more vocal about things that bother me. I have to pick and choose my battles with them however, as they’re not going to change. I feel like our relationship has more balance than it ever has, and that has come from not avoiding all conflict with them, but instead addressing certain issues with them as they come up.
Thirdly, an insulator is one who doesn’t cause conflicts or arguments, and instead tries to see things as they are. They are passive-aggressive, and stay out of conflict unless it cannot be avoided. This aligns with my previous paragraph about my work and family. I generally do not cause any conflicts at work, although I have one time, and I like I mentioned, I don’t get involved in conflict at work. I would say I am passive-aggressive at work, where you’re not allowed to say how you really feel, so instead employees talk amongst themselves. I am like this again with my family, as telling them my opinion sometimes wouldn’t make a difference in their attitude. I am not at passive-aggressive in my relationships. I hated growing up around that attitude and I consider that an unacceptable way to behave, both with myself and in others. My lowest style, by far, is dominator. I am not a dominating or aggressive person in any way, and I don’t like to be around people that act in such a way. I believe in being open to others, and not being judgmental. A person shouldn’t assume their way is always the right and best way to do something, or to handle a situation. A conciliator is one who tries to reconcile both sides to bring about a mutually agreeable decision or act. A related term would be mediator. I’m not surprised that this style is low, but at the same I’ve never been in situation that warranted being a mediator. I don’t have many friends so I never had to step in during a disagreement, and I’ve never put myself between others in a work environment. I would say this style correlates with my avoider style. I do avoid conflict at times, and when I do I stay away from everything involved, including mediating between parties. My third lowest style is self-empowered. I didn’t realize that this was a conflict style, but I can say this does match my personality. I am not a self-empowered person, meaning I have a lot of self-doubt about myself and my abilities. I have always been this way, although lately I have become more confident and more aware of what I am able to offer. My parents are very doubting people, so they would question myself and my actions a lot growing up. I was questioned often about did I do this right, or am I sure about this, or why did I do that. I’ve realized that I am so doubtful because of their second-guessing. When it comes to conflict I would say I’m not sure of the correct solution to the issue, which may be part of the reason I avoid conflict, and would not be a mediator. As I have become more confident though, I think I am more able to see the solutions, and as I have more work experience and more education, I will become more self-empowered. The style that works most in my favor is the pragmatist. I’m level-headed and able to take my time to make important decisions, and I consider multiple angles to decisions. This means that I’m able to make the best, most practical decision when it comes to my career and, sometimes, personal life. I don’t make rash decisions that I then regret later on. In one of my discussion posts last week I discussed a situation of conflict I had at a prior place of employment. Management attacked me personally, I believe to try and get me to quit, or say something to get myself in further trouble. Instead, I didn’t respond to their attack, and just stayed calm and collected. I was able to realize their intent and didn’t play into their hands.
The avoider style works for me in that it doesn’t work against me. I’m able to stay out of trouble at work, which then gives my managers, and co-workers, a favorable impression of me that can help me find other job positions, or move up within a company. My manager last year acted like a nice person, but if you questioned her at all she made your life difficult. I didn’t trust her from the beginning and was always overly nice and polite to her, and I didn’t have any problems.
The insulator style doesn’t hurt me, but it could. I am mostly passive-aggressive at work, and it could hurt me if I say something bad and it got back to management. I would have to be careful and what I say and who I say it to, which I already am careful of. I only speak to co-workers that I trust, and I don’t run my mouth to just anyone that will listen. Having a low dominator style helps me because I don’t believe that is a wanted quality in the work place. Employees do not want to be dominated, and managers don’t want their employees to try and overpower them. Being more open to others and suggestions helps me, which is the opposite of the dominating style. There are a few people at work that are more dominant and “know-it-alls,” and they are disliked by many other employees, including managers.
I would consider the conciliator style to be neutral. It doesn’t hurt me but it doesn’t help me. It could hurt me in the future if I was needed to mediate but choose not to, and that looked bad to management. However, if I was needed to mediate I believe I could. I recently took the Meyers-Briggs personality test and two of my traits were practically scored even, I believe they were the Thinking/Feeling section. The person that scored the test told me that those being even mean I would make a good manager because I’m able to see a situation for what it really is, and also understand both side’s feeling towards the issue. To me that means I would also make a good mediator, I just haven’t been in a position to do so.
Finally, a low self-empowered style could hinder me, except that I have been working on not doubting myself so much, and being more confident in my abilities. My parents are still doubtful, but I have learned to rely on their opinion less and less, and ask their opinion less and less. Instead, I’ve have strong support system with my longtime boyfriend, who is the opposite of my parents. He is extremely supportive and helps me chase away those doubts. Because of his support I have done well in graduate school, and been successful pursuing other personal goals that I’ve had trouble sticking with in the past.
I don’t really have any problems with my strong and weak conflict styles, but if I had to choose one to improve it would be self-empowered. I have been working on this trait for some time now, so it would be an extension of my effort to-date. I have more self-confidence then I did a year and a half ago when I started graduate school, and I would say that’s because of my success with school, and realizing that I know more that I gave myself credit for. During that time I was also hired at the Internal Revenue Service. I had applied to numerous government jobs over the previous 3 years, so it was a big deal to finally be interviewed and hired by a government agency. Even though I don’t care for the job, and the work environment was very stressful to me last year, I have gained confidence by having a well-respected job. I’m starting to realize what I am capable of, and I know I’ve got a long way to go before I reach my potential. Realizing that has also made me more confident.
A plan of action would include continuing to use my boyfriend as a strong support system, continuing to stop using negative self-talk, and instead put more positive emotions in my thoughts. I’ve been working on worrying less, and being less apprehensive. I now try to react to events as they come, and not anticipate possible anxieties weeks before they can happen, if they happen. I’ve been working on feeling more relaxed, calm, happy, and positive about life in general. My job is seasonal, and after coming back 2 weeks ago I co-worker has told me that I am much more relaxed than last year, so my efforts must be working.
Overall, this exercise was helpful to identify my strong and weak traits, and how they are related to conflict. I can’t say I am surprised by any of the results, but some of the styles can only be used in the context of a work environment, and not my personal life. One of the styles I scored high in, but not in the top 3 was perfectionist, and I was surprised that this style didn’t place higher. It’s possible that as I’ve tried to relax and worry less, my tendency to try and perfect everything also went down a bit. I believe my perfectionism is tied to my anxiety, and as my anxiety has improved, the need to do everything just right has decreased. If I were to retake this test in a year I would like to see a higher score for self-empowered, as I believe it is one of the most important traits to be successful in life.

Position | Style | Score | Percentile | 11 | Pragmatist | 40 | 99 | 12 | Self-Empowered | 26 | 42 | 1 | Conciliator | 28 | 38 | 2 | Relationship Builder | 30 | 50 | 3 | Accommodator | 17 | 75 | 4 | Regulator | 15 | 57 | 5 | Insulator | 22 | 87 | 6 | Avoider | 18 | 94 | 7 | Escalator | 9 | 63 | 8 | Dominator | 2 | 10 | 9 | Competitor | 15 | 65 | 10 | Perfectionist | 25 | 79 |