University of Maryland, College Park

Pearl Diving Assignment 2

Gabe Shchuka
Communication for Project Managers: ENCE424
October 24, 2020
Conflict Management Style Assessment

My results from the conflict management style assessment showed that I as most strongly
accommodating by a good margin over the other options. I definitely agree with this as I often
find myself putting the needs of others before my own. I like to be very considerate of others and
ensure that their wants and needs are accommodated. While taking the assessment I noticed that
on multiple questions I was asking myself whether the answer I put was genuinely how I am or if
it was how I want myself to be. This gave me a lot of insight as to what style of conflict
management I wish I were better at.
If I could improve one style it would certainly be competing. The results describe a
competing style as “valuing goals over relationships. I at times wish that I were able to put other
people aside and work towards what was best for me. I think that competing and accommodating
styles are somewhat opposites of each other. People that are accommodating put the needs of
others before themselves, while people with competing style tend to put their own needs before
their relationships with others.
In chapter 4 of Crucial Conversations, they discuss the principle of silence and violence. I
think silence tends to be more accommodating. Silence would be an appropriate strategy when
trying to maintain a relationship with someone but removes priority from one’s own needs. On
the other hand, a violence strategy is more confrontational and up front. This would be effective
for a competing strategy of conflict management because it makes one’s own needs more
important when resolving things but the confrontational nature of this kind of communication
could jeopardize ones relationships with others.

Jung Personality Test Results

I feel that the Jung personality test matched my personality very well. Much more so than
the DISC test. The Jung test had far more questions and they seemed to be easier for me to
answer. In many cases I immediately knew which option I was closest to, whereas on the DISC
test I was often unsure and had to think about my answer or even disagreed with all of the
options available. My results for the Jung test were surprisingly accurate. With the DISC test I
felt that I agreed with about 70% of the results but I agree with everything in my Jung test
results. This test said that I live in the present and tend not to dwell on the past or future, that I
am very logical and impersonal with my thought processes, and that I am confident and self-
sufficient. All of these are very consistent with how I see myself, as well as how I believe others
view me.
My team contributions in the results were that I excel “in the now.” I do best with actions
and tasks that will have immediate results and that I focus on accomplishments already achieved
rather than the potential of future successes. I was also stated as being an easy-going and flexible
team member that will consider all options. I think this is a very valuable mindset to have on any
team when working with people of conflicting personalities. I think when people imagine
differing personality types on a team they anticipate conflict and disagreements. However, I
think it is important to have team members that are spontaneous and flexible working on short
term tasks, as well as members that are better at making a plan for the future and setting goals for
the group to strive for. My easy-going nature also makes me an easy team member to get along
with and ensures others will feel comfortable coming to me with ideas or conflicts that arise
which is very beneficial for group communication. A team can’t accomplish anything if they are
unable to communicate effectively between members.

Storytelling

There are seven elements to an impactful story. The first element is that it be a complete
signature story with beginning, middle and resolution. The second is being intriguing. A story
should be “thought-provoking, novel, informative, interesting, entertaining” (Gallo, 2018). Third,
a story should be authentic, with characters and a setting that feel real to the audience. Fourth,
there should be lots of vivid details to enhance the important parts of the story. Fifth, there
should be a twist, a moment in the story that the audience doesn’t anticipate coming. The sixth
element is introducing characters that the listeners can relate to and empathize with. Lastly, there
must be conflict and tension to keep the audience engaged. 
It is also very important to consider the audience when deciding on a story to tell. For my
two stories I will be telling them based on the assumption that my audience consists of
interviewers for an engineering job that I want. My first story is about a time I identified and
solved a problem that benefitted me. It is about me coming up with a creative solution to a
dilemma I experienced during quarantine at the start of the COVID-19 outbreak.

I have always been a very athletic and active person, from playing outside as a child to
playing sports in high school. In my sophomore year of college, I began to channel that active
nature into weightlifting. I had a friend that I went to the gym with nearly every day and because
of that consistency I began to really enjoy going to the gym and lifting weights. Over the past
three years, lifting has become my favorite hobby. I regularly spend 10-12 hours a week at the
gym. I’ve put in a lot of hard work at the gym and refined my diet. After 3 years of lifting
weights and eating well I had made great progress with both my strength and my physique. I had
noticed each year that I lost some of my progress over winter break when I didn’t have a gym
membership at home for a month. So, I knew at the end of March when we began our COVID-19
lockdowns at home that being away from the gym for potentially 3 months or more would not
fare well for me. I knew it would be bad for my physical health missing out on all that exercise
nor would it be good for my mental health, not being able to do my favorite hobby that I
normally did on a daily basis. 
I knew I had to come up with a solution. My first thought was to look online for some
used exercise equipment. I figured that a barbell, some weights, and a bench would be sufficient
equipment to make-do until gyms reopened (whenever that would be) but when I started looking
online I quickly realized that for only a few months of use the equipment cost a lot more than I
was prepared to spend. However, I was seeing a lot of posts on social media of people
improvising weights, so I decided to try that.
I really enjoy working with my hands and learning new skills and I decided to do both by
making my own weights out of concrete. A set of actual weights cost about one dollar per pound,
but a 40-pound bag of concrete mix is only five dollars. I spent ten dollars on a steel plumbing
pipe to use as a bar and another ten for circular molds to make weights out of. It took a couple
tries to really perfect the process but after a few days I ended up with a bar and 300 pounds of
weights for about $40 compared to almost $350 for the same amount of metal weights. I then
found a used bench and squat rack online for only $50. They weren’t very clean and were far
from new, but I was using concrete weights, so I wasn’t exactly very picky. My homemade
weight set worked perfectly until June when gyms near my home started to open up again. In the
end I was able to keep doing my hobby and learned a new skill in the process.

My second story is about a time when I demonstrated my ability to overcome adversity.

Every Summer since I was 16, I have volunteered at a week-long summer camp for
children with Type 1 Diabetes. I attended this camp as a kid and it was a really great experience
for me so I love being able to give back to others by being there for other kids so they can have
the same great experiences I had growing up.
As a counselor I never was able to choose who the other counselors were that I would
spend the week with so I was often worried I would be paired up with somebody I wasn’t
compatible with. This past summer that ended up happening. I was paired with a counselor that
always took things too seriously. In their mind if the schedule said bedtime was 9 pm the
campers had to be in bed by 9 pm. At times this was helpful, like when trying to be on time for
activities, however at other times I could tell it was hampering the kids experience at camp. At
one point in the week me and the other counselor got into a heated argument about when the kids
had to be in bed by. They were supposed to be in bed with the lights out by 9 pm but all of them
were just sitting on the floor calmly playing cards. I felt that since they were relaxed and
behaving it was alright for them to stay up a bit later. I told them they could stay up later as long
as they didn’t complain when we said it was time to turn the lights off.
The other counselor felt me doing this would make the campers think they could walk all
over us and that we needed to assert ourselves and let them know we were in charge. After a few
minutes of debating we came to a compromise. I suggested that we just let them stay up this one
night and see how it goes and that if they didn’t cooperate when it was time to turn off the lights
or if they were tired in the morning the other counselor could tell me how wrong I was. I had a
feeling this would work because who doesn’t like to prove others are wrong after a conflict.
My idea of a compromise ended up being a big success. Not only were the campers not
tired the next day, they thanked me and the other counselor for letting them stay up late. This
was quite a feat coming from 10-year-old boys that wouldn’t normally say please or thank you if
we told them to. For the rest of the week we were able to use staying up late as a bartering tool
with the campers. We would tell them “If you guys don’t behave, we won’t let you stay up late
tonight” which would always get them to act how we wanted. I could tell the other counselor
wasn’t a big fan of us not following the schedule, but he could at least see the merits of getting
the campers to behave and do as we told.
In the end me and my co-counselor settled on a compromise that didn’t seem to benefit us
both evenly but I will never forget the other counselors open-mindedness and willing to see an
idea through to the end, despite his doubt. I was also proud of myself for being able to come up
with a solution that both of us could agree on after some debate, and that I was able to convince
the other counselor to let us try it.
Appendix A: Conflict Management Style Assessment
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8
7
11
7

Accommodating

Competing
Appendix B: Jung’s personality test results
 Sources
Gallo, Carmine. Five Stars the Communication Secrets to Get from Good to Great. St. Martin’s

Press, 2018. Print.

Patterson, Kerry. Crucial Conversations: Tools for Talking When Stakes Are High. McGraw-Hill

Professional Publishing 2011. Print.