Personality and conflict

Who am I — and if so, why?

Personality and identity develop through engagement with the environment. The experiences of growing up leave patterns that are later often reproduced in working life.

On the roof terrace we set out on a journey through the development of personality and examined, in resonance, the phase of separation from the family of origin — and its effect on one’s own position at work today.

Emancipatory and regressive

What we examined was a fundamental dimension of life and work that can be derived — not necessarily causally — from the way separation from the family of origin was experienced. The personality psychologist Norbert Bischof names the two poles of this dimension emancipatory and regressive. Depending on where they fall, personalities differ in their later understanding of conflict: as usefully competitive or as threateningly destructive. Organisations and teams can be placed on this dimension too; they strive rather for truth or rather for love. And many conflicts in organisations and teams become intelligible through it, since they often rest on a poor fit between an individual’s disposition and the organisation’s culture.

Until after sunset

The workshop was short and left plenty of room afterwards for deeper conversations. Participants paired up in opposing pairs and, until after sunset, located their understanding of work and conflict within their own family histories.