An example that I can think of when I used the collaborative approach to conflict resolution is at work. Because a lot of my co-workers are full-time students like me, we have certain work schedules. For instance, I go to class Tuesdays and Thursdays so I work Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays. And there's three other girls who have the opposite schedule. However, last semester, my finals ended up being on Monday/ Wednesday which caused a conflict because there was no one to cover for me. As soon as I told my supervisor of the situation, I saw a look of panic on her face. In this instance, I decided to try and talk to my professors to let me take the finals on different days so I could still be able to work. This ended up working in both our favors because it spared my manager stress over coverage as well as gave me an extra day to study (Win-win situation) :).
On a related note, I had a situation where instead of using a collaborative method, I used a competitive conflict resolution. Around January of this year, we had one person quit which freed up some hours. Instead of having my manager split the hours between the other 3 girls, I approached my manager telling him I thought I deserved more hours based on my recent performance and great work ethic. Apparently I was really convincing because I ended up getting promoted to more hours than I initially wanted! Overall, it was my competitiveness and self-interest which landed me the promotion. There were other girls who also wanted more hours but ultimately lost due to their lackluster performance.
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