How to Answer Conflict Interview Questions

The interview is a process that is conducted if you want to do the job, for the entrance exam, for appraisal, and for many more purposes. Let us know how to answer conflict interview question.

There is a long process for the same which you can check out in the blog.

In this blog, I will share a few common interview questions about the conflict which are asked in the interview so that you are prepared in how to answer conflict interview questions.

When we go for an interview the interviewer can ask many questions where the conflict-related questions are most commonly asked.

These questions will help the interviewer to assess the candidate’s ability to respond and resolve a situation of conflict in a professional and respected manner. It also helps in assessing the stress management ability of the candidate.

So, just check few examples of how to answer conflict interview questions below:

1. How do you handle conflict?

In almost all jobs we work with people and they have different thought processes and personalities which many a times leads to disagreements. At that particular time, how will you respond, how will you resolve that, how will you manage it. An employer wants to know all.

What we need to do is we need to be honest while answering this. If you are good at handling conflicts, then we should say that else you need to tell the employer that you face issues while handling conflicts but you are working on improving the same.

An example of the answer can be 

Many times I can handle conflict and I do understand that different people have different opinions, perspectives which can cause conflict. In the case of conflict, I try to work for everyone’s benefit and interest. So, I may act defensively sometimes or I may try to manage the behaviours by carefully responding to the people.

2. Describe a situation when you had a conflict at work and how you handled it.

In this question, the employer wants to know about a real-life situation that can show your conflict handling skills. This will help them to know about your conflict handling skills in the real scenario. Here, you can give one example, with your coworker. The answer can be best given using STAR TECHNIQUE

STAR stands for Situation, Task, Action, and Result.

• Situation – This helps to open up the story by giving a brief description of providing context.

• Task – Once the context is established, then you need to explain the way in which you tackled the task.

• Action – Briefly describe the steps you took to complete the task. During the whole description of action keep the focus on you.

• Result – As my daily goals were reduced, I could dedicate more time to the special allocated project.

One of the examples can be:

Let me just share an incident from my previous employment, in my team, I had five members, but one of the team members is always nagging and making it difficult for us to keep up with the work. Initially, I used to feel impatient, but then I used an empathetic approach towards him and sat with him. I discussed with him how it impacts the work and things eventually worked out.

3. How do you handle disagreements when working as part of a team? Provide an example.

When we work in teams, because of the different opinions, perspectives conflict does arise. In this question, you should tell about how will you resolve the disagreements and what will be your response. Again, using the STAR technique can be of great help.

One of the examples can be: 

Let me just share an incident from my previous employment, in my team, I had five members, but one of the team members was always nagging and making it difficult for us to keep up with the work. Initially, I used to feel impatient, but then I used an empathetic approach towards him and sat with him. I discussed with him how it impacts the work and things eventually worked out.

4. Explain a situation in which you disagreed with your manager and how you handled it.

As we have conflicts in the team we can have a conflict with our team leader or manager also. In this situation, the difference is authority and how this conflict impacts the way we do our work. So, to answer this we need to be honest and just sigh an example of how you are able to handle conflict with your manager.

One of the examples can be:

In one of my projects, my manager asked me to use a technique, according to him would help us to do our work fast. But I had worked with that technique earlier and I was aware that this technique would not work in that situation. I tried to explain the same to the manager, but he insisted that we should go with the way he has asked us to do it. There was a conflict, but then somehow we completed the task.

5. Describe a situation in which you disagreed with a rule or policy and how you handled it.

This is a question where the employer wants you to describe a situation in which you were not agreed on a rule as you were not comfortable in the same. Here, you need to share a prior experience with why you agreed or disagreed with the rule. Also, explain how you performed your duties with that.

One of the examples can be: When I was working in my previous company I got to know that we have to get the security details of the clients on the application form which I found not right as these were accessible by all. But It was insisted that this data will be secure. I did know that the collection of that data was important, but it needs to be secured and so I made it a point to clarify that and the rule was then modified accordingly.

Now these questions must have helped you to know how to answer conflict questions in the interview.

Also read How to create an impactful resume if your going for the Interview.