Style I: You tend to avoid conflict at all costs. While in some situations this may be a wise thing to do, there are things that are worth fighting for. Your fear of confrontation and unwillingness to deal with problems may cause you to abdicate from your personal goals and, as weird as it sounds, undermine your relationships with others. If you never confront your interpersonal problems with honesty and openness, your chances to resolve them are slim. This may lead to passive aggressive behavior from both sides; and while you may be able to avoid the confrontation itself, you will be subjecting yourself to continuous dull pain.
Style IV: You equally value your interpersonal relationships and your goals. Because you aren’t ready to give up on any of the two, you use compromise as your preferred strategy. Even if your demand isn’t satisfied 100 percent, it’s still better than nothing, and you get to keep the relationship.
Style V: Your strategy is honesty and openness. You value both relationships and goals and look for a way to work with your opponent for a solution that is honest and satisfactory for both sides. The difference between Style V and Style IV is that Style V is not willing to compromise the truth but, at the same time, they are patient enough to keep digging until they find a better solution that can satisfy everyone involved.
I definitely agree that I try to avoid conflict and that this has led to a number of issues both in my work and personal life. I absolutely place a high value on the relationships I have with the people I work with, and to ensure that these relationships continue to be effective and productive in the workplace I need to develop my confidence and ability to speak up when there is an issue and to advocate effectively for my work instead of letting my frustrations fester.