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Doctor Neil Melendez used to be a very self-righteous, egoistic, arrogant, competitive, and dominant person. He was a no - nonsense man and had almost zero tolerance for non-cooperative and insubordinate residents. He was a type of person who had to have the final word. But no one stays the same way forever right? People grow and develop and learn everyday. He had very little development but it still counts, I guess.
Melendez was reluctant to let Shaun Murphy, the main character of the story, be a part of his team because he was autistic and made it clear that "You don't belong here". He doubted him a lot and didn't want him around despite him proving himself multiple times since day 1. It took a lot of time and effort to convince him that Shaun was worthy. He finally accepted Shaun into the team. In other words he was able to overcome his prejudice and see Shaun as an exceptionally talented surgical resident. He even vouched for him when others doubted Shaun's talent as a surgeon,"You don't know him at all".
In season 1, episode 1, Doctor Aaron Glassman was able to make Shaun Murphy a resident under the condition that if he were to make any mistake then he would be fired and Glassy would retire from being the President of the hospital. Murphy made a mistake and thus he was supposed to get fired as per the initial deal. At this point, Melendez was reluctant to let Murphy go because he was convinced that he was an asset to the surgical team, not a liability. Glassy retired but the hospital gave Murphy another chance.
In "Breakdown" when Dr. Han and others were performing a very complicated tumor removal surgery, Melendez said that they needed Murphy. Han said he wasn't up for auditioning Murphy's surgical skills. Melendez ordered the person standing beside him to seek Dr Murphy without waiting for Han's approval. That might have been out of his habit of being the lead surgeon in the OT because he was an Attending. The point here is that he tried to convince Han they NEEDED Murphy. He finally convinced him and Murphy was summoned to verbally assist in the surgery.
Melendez and Lim had an interesting dynamic. They were competitors and almost enemies but they respected each other a lot. Even when he wasn't in a relationship with her he spoke highly of her to Claire and regarded her as one of the best surgeons he had ever met. They were neck on neck to secure the position of being the Cheif of Surgery. What I didn't like here is that when Lim proposed to him team up with her and tell Andrews to back off and he refused. That's okay, but what happens next is cheating. He used Lim's point to convince Andrews to back off. That gave him an upper hand to impress Andrews. Lim was angry about this and rightfully so. Whether Lim didn't have the courage to speak to Andrews was not important, it was her point that he used, without her consent, in the competition.
Andrews retained the position of being the chief after the competition so in the end, no one won the competition. This mutual defeat was the beginning of their new relationship. They hooked up with each other and said that it would never happen again. But after almost losing Lim to a potentially deadly virus, he realised that he has feelings for Lim and eventually they started dating and fell for each other. Later, after Andrews and Han got fired from their respective posts, Aoki reached out to Lim with the offer of being Chief and Melendez backed her.
