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The problem of interpersonal challenge is of current concern nowadays. We have to communicate with people all the time, and it is important to make relationships in a society in that way to feel comfortable while communicating with people. The concept of interpersonal challenge is connected with such notions as social intelligence and leadership. Social intelligence helps to interact with people and build good relationships in society. As it was defined, social intelligence is “the ability to understand others, expressions and feelings easily, especially with others showing sensibility” (Hiremath Chandrappa, 2013, p. 1). Leadership nowadays is an inevitable process which takes part in our lives. It occurs everywhere – at work, at school or university, among friends and relatives. Researchers confirm that leaders “should possess a strong foundation of personal values, principles, or ethics” (Baloglu, n.d., p. 2). Although social intelligence and leadership suppose only positive traits of character, there is no guaranty that these people will always avoid interpersonal challenge.

This topic is very wide and touches upon different aspects of people’s life. It is also related to the career field of human development and leadership. This career field supposes study of people’s interaction and relationships in different spheres of life; it is aimed at the development of leadership skills and appliance of knowledge of group and human development, and interpersonal processes. Thus, it has direct links with interpersonal challenges.

As it was said earlier, interpersonal challenge is widespread in the people’s lives. Cathy Chapman says, “All interpersonal challenges are learning experiences. You can have this interpersonal challenge now or you can have it in about ten years” (Chapman, 2005, p. 29). Interpersonal challenge often appears at the workplace. That is why interpersonal challenge, which can appear as interpersonal conflict is defined as “an inherent process to human relations, especially in work settings” (Boz, Medina, Benitez Munduate, 2011, p. 118). Researchers confirm that conflicts always have negative influence on people’s relationships and they “are an important part of organizational life and that their study is important” (Barki Hartwick, 2011, p. 195). One of the examples of interpersonal conflict can be the work-family conflict. It is “a form of inter-role conflict in which the role pressures from the work and family domains are mutually incompatible in some respect. That is, participation in the work (family) role is made more difficult by participation in the family (work) role” (Lambert, Pasupuleti, Cluse-Tolar, Jennings Baker, 2006, p. 57). Thus, conflicts at home reflect on the work and vice versa. There are also other types of conflicts but they have one thing in common – they always have an impact on the relationships. This impact can be current or long-lasting. It depends on the essence of the conflict, but, nevertheless, this impact is always negative.

Interpersonal challenges can be prevented if organization of workflow and team is correct. There are a lot of leadership principles which can be considered while evaluating this problem. We suggested the most important of them. First of all, this is the listening. The main idea is that “listening shows the leader’s respect and love for those with whom he works, enabling him to be an influence for good in their lives” (Skinner, 1992, p. 13). The second main principle is knowing the one. It means “to understand the individual, to identify the strengths and needs of the individual” (Skinner, 1992, p. 28) in order for leader “to be most effective with the person” (Skinner, 1992, p. 28).

For solving the problem of interpersonal challenge, the next solutions can be suggested. First of all, interpersonal relationships should be built on the basis of trust and openness. That is why it is important to organize the team taking into consideration all the problems which can appear during the workflow. Thus, it is important to follow 5 stages of team building – “forming, storming, norming, performing and adjourning stages” (Erdem Polat, 2010, p. 1) because they help people to get each other’s measure and learn to trust each other. The second solution for this problem is using the outdoor improvement approach, which is also very useful if interpersonal relations are of great importance for the company. It “places members in a series of challenging situations that have to be handled by them effectively as a team, rather than individuals” (Sekaran, 2004, p. 173). One more aspect which can improve interpersonal relations and as result the atmosphere at the workplace is having good leaders and managers. The thought, “It is important to build camaraderie among the people you are leading. When you have a meaningful relationship with another person you work more effectively together” (Hopkin, 2012), proves the above given suggestion.

Based on the works of different researchers in the field of interpersonal relationships, the next conclusion can be made – interpersonal challenge is inevitable part of people’s life. People can come across this problem every day and everywhere. One of the common cases is interpersonal challenge at workplace. Although it always has negative impact on relationships, it can be avoided with the help of numerous strategies, especially from the leadership sphere.

References

Baloglu, N. (n.d.) Relations between Value-Based Leadership and Distributed Leadership: A Casual Research on School Principles' Behaviors. Educational Sciences: Theory Practice, 12.

Barki, H. Hartwick, J. (2001). Interpersonal conflict and its management in information system development. MIS Quarterly. 25(2), 195-228.

Boz, M., Medina, F. J., Benitez, M. Munduate, L. (2011). Coping with Interpersonal Conflict at Work in Small Business: The Moderating Role of Supervisor and Co-Worker Support. Revista de Psicologia del Trabajo y de Las Organizaciones, 27(2), 117-129.

Chapman C. (2005). Change Your Encodements, Your DNA, Your Life! Flagstaff, AZ: Light technology publishing.

Erdem, O. Polat, S. (2010). Team analysis. New World Sciences Academy, 5 (3).

Hiremath, S.R., Chandrappa, N. (2013). Study the relationship between social intelligence in terms of leadership behavior and personal effectiveness of sports hostel women. Golden Research Thoughts. 2(11).

Hopkin R. M. (2011). Leadership is a relationship. Retrieved from http://leadonpurposeblog.com/2011/11/26/leadership-is-a-relationship/

Lambert, E. G., Pasupuleti, S., Cluse-Tolar, T., Jennings, M., Baker, D. (2006). The Impact of Work-Family Conflict on Social Work and Human Service Worker Job Satisfaction and Organizational Commitment: An Exploratory Study. Administration in Social Work, 30(3), 55-74.

Sekaran, U. (2004). Curative factors in dynamic psychotherapy. New Delhi: Tata McGraw-Hill Publishing Company.

Skinner, R. D. (1992). 22 leadership principles. Bountiful, UT: Horizon publishers Distributors, Inc.