Conflict

I want to start off by saying that I despise conflict and actively go out of my way to avoid it. And while I don’t get involved in conflicts often, the one I am going to talk about is rather interesting as it relates to chapter 8, interpersonal and group dynamics, very well.

The conflict revolved around my junior varsity high school soccer team. And while it would be reasonable to assume that conflicts would happen often on a sports team, just by the nature of competition, this conflict had nothing to do with our play. There were multiple circumstances that ultimately lead to the conflict, which all happened before the season’s games even began. It started with the creation of the team, all of whom tried out for the varsity team and didn’t make it, so we were placed on the JV team. The problem with this is the age difference, 75% of the team was juniors who saw this as an opportunity or a stepping stone to then tryout again the next year and hopefully get onto the varsity team. The other 25% were seniors who didn’t make the cut to get onto the varsity team, and were given the option to join the JV team to be leader or role models for the juniors. This lead to some of the seniors slacking off during practices or not showing up at all. Another factor that lead to the conflict was the choosing of the team captains, which was done by a poll of the players, rather than by the coach. And with 75% of the team being juniors, a junior captain was picked over a senior.

All of this culminated in one practice, before the season began, when during a scrimmage, one of the senior players went in for a hard tackle on a junior player. This resulted in harsh words being tossed out on both sides, eventually the coach and the rest of the players got involved to break it up but not before the damage could be done. Practice ended there and the next day meetings were made between the juniors and the coach, and the seniors and the coach, in order to figure out how to fix the issue. From the junior’s side, we were frustrated with the seniors’ effort and dedication to the team, and we felt that they were wasting our time by not putting in the same kind of effort that we were. On the other side, the seniors were most likely frustrated about not making the varsity team, and since it was their senior year, some of them might have been feeling a bit of senioritis and concluded that they didn’t need to put in 100% effort. The seniors also probably resented the fact that the captain was a junior as they had been told by the coach that they would be the leaders or role models on the team.

The resolution was a team-wide meeting where we discussed many of our differences. Much of the discussion focused on things seen in Argyris and Schön’s Model 2, like what our personal and team goals for the season are. This discussion gave every player a better understanding of their role and expectations on the team, and we came together as a team and had a successful season.

This whole conflict could have been avoided in several ways, in my opinion. The person who I look at who could have diffused this situation before it even escalated into a problem was the coach. He is a very laid back coach, who wants to be friends with everyone, and while that’s good and my circumstances, it’s not ideal when coaching a team. Relating it to chapter 8, he has, what I would consider, a very passive style of coaching. If, instead, he had chosen for higher advocacy, meaning telling players what he expects from them, or him choosing the captain himself, there would have been much lower chance of conflict. Or if he had taken a higher inquiry approach and asked what the players were looking to get out of being on this team, he would have potentially seen the low work ethic of the seniors coming and some something to remedy it before it became an issue. All in all though, each side could have acted better to potentially have avoided conflict, but in the end the conflict was resolved fairly cleanly, without any lasting repercussions. 

Illinibucks

        The concept of ‘Illinibucks’ is an interesting one, because basically it looks at how students value time and the differences between those valuations. By permitting students to jump to the front of the lines of things very important to them, the university is allowing them to reveal how they value their time and what is most important to them. This, in turn, means that students will be comfortable with waiting for things that aren’t as important to them. By putting the power and choice in the students’ hands would greatly increase student happiness at no cost to the university.

        Once the concept of Illinibucks is established a few questions arise. First, how are the Illinibucks allocated, are they distributed every week or are they given out at the beginning of the semester? To answer this all one must do is look at the original purpose of Illinibucks: to provide ease and increased happiness to students. In order to do maximize students’ happiness, one would think students’ should have the most options, and therefore giving out a lump of Illinibucks at the beginning of the semester is a superior strategy. Another question that arises is pricing of Illinibucks. If the price is too low then there is an overabundance of Illinibucks and the point of Illinibucks is completely ruined because instead of students using them on things that are important to them they use them, they will be used flippantly. While if the price is too high, Illinibucks just will not be bought or used. Similarly to price, the quantity of Illinibucks distributed is also a big deal for similar reasons. If the quantity is too high frivolous use will ensue, while if the quantity is too low Illinibucks will become very valuable but potentially costly. At very high prices or low quantities there could potential for hoarding of Illinibucks to begin, or, at the very least, there is possible that students will be disincentivized to do things that involve Illinibucks because they don’t see it as being worth an Illinibuck. For these reasons the price and quantity of Illinibucks has to be just right or the entire idea behind them is ruined.

        When I think about how I would spend my Illinibucks, it becomes fairly clear why they are not a real thing. First, let me explain the two ways I see Illinibucks being useful: One, the convenience of skipping the line at Starbucks to get your coffee a couple minutes faster, versus two, the convenience of registering for classes early, without worrying about them being closed. One has the instant gratification and time from not waiting in line, the other is the practicality and ease of mind of being able to not worry about classes. In my experience, in all of my time on campus, the amount of time I have spent waiting in any one line is not enough to warrant the use of an Illinibuck. What I feel I would use my Illinibucks on would be class registration, and this is where I feel the problem comes in. I have a feeling many people on campus feel the same way as me as far as what would be the most efficient and useful way to use their Illinibucks. If this is the case then the entire purpose behind Illinibucks in this scenario is gone, because, like when I was talking about the pricing and quantity of Illinibucks, too many people use their Illinibucks on the same thing. Every student can’t be the first person to sign up for classes, and when students are asked to prioritize whether they want to wait in line a bit less or sign up for classes first, a majority will pick class registration and the whole Illinibuck system falls apart.