Conflict Management

Conflict, in my opinion, is when a disagreement occurs between two or more people, someone having an opposing view or even an internal conflict such as “should I eat the entire box of cookies”, just to name a few. In fact, according to Baack (2012), conflict is “circumstances in which one party negatively affects or seeks to negatively affect another party” (Sec. 7.3). What this means

There are five conflict-handling styles: Forcing Style, Collaborating Style, Compromising Style, Avoiding Style and Accommodating Style. The compromising style “refers to behaviors at an intermediate level of cooperation and assertiveness. (Hellriegel, Slocum pg. 392) ” The person using is style tries to meet a goal by give-and-take. The accommodating style “refers to cooperative and unassertive behavior. (Hellriegel, Slocum pg. 393) ” The person using this style tries to accomplish a goal by using unselfish acts that will promote cooperation in others by complying with their wishes. The collaborating style “refers to high levels of cooperative and assertive behavior. (Hellriegel, Slocum pg. 391) ” The person using this style is using a win-win approach to working with others and handling conflict. When the CEO of General Hospital, Mike Hammer first attempted to control physician-driven cost he used the collaborating style by trying to convince the Director of

There are five different conflict managing styles. They are: avoiding, accommodating, competing, compromising, and collaborating. First I will

Conflict results from real or perceived opposition to one’s values, actions, desires or general interests. Conflicts may occur internally or externally between individuals or groups; conflict within a team environment can cause frustration, and occasionally anger. However, conflict resolution can also often generate positive results for the team. Conflict management skills remain in demand; conflict may be managed successfully by reaching an agreement that satisfies the needs of both the individual(s) and the team as a whole

Conflict is an expressed struggle between at least two interdependent parties who perceive incompatible goals, scarce resources, and interference from the other party in achieving their goals (Baker-Brown). A conflict can only exist if both parties are aware of the disagreement (Alder 381). This is known as an expressed struggle. An expressed

Behavioral scientists Kenneth Thomas and Ralph Kilmann, who developed the Thomas-Kilmann Conflict Mode Instrument, have identified five styles to responding to conflict—competition, collaboration, compromise,

According to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, conflict is “a struggle for power, property, a strong disagreement between people, groups, etc. that results in often angry argument or a difference that prevents agreement” or a “disagreement between ideas, feelings, etc.” Although we normally think of conflict as negative, it is a normal byproduct of social interaction and is not in itself damaging. Conflict can occur very easily in an organization, both horizontally and vertically. Prause and Majtuba (2015) identified four components which create conflict. First, there must be a difference of opinion or position of the parties involved. A “misunderstanding or discrepancy in opinions or needs should take place” (Daria Prause, 2015). Secondly, the parties of the conflict should be identified. Although some parties are not aware of their

* Issues are more important and pressing and there is not enough time to deal with both

The five strategies for managing conflict management are competing, avoiding, compromising, collaborating, and accommodating. Competing is a method that acts only in favor of your point in the argument. This style does not seek any cooperation with the other individual involved and the only focus is for your side of the argument to be the winning side. This approach can be selfish as it does not take the other individuals intentions, views, or feelings on the conflict into consideration.

When examining these issues, it’s possible to determine which conflict that is being dealt with by looking at the cues that are provided. These cues include end goals related to the conflict, flexibility, and the interests of the parties involved within the conflict. Realistic conflict involves issues that can solved when party are willing to work towards a common goal, and nonrealistic conflict occurs when they are trying to win. Nonrealistic conflicts will consist of less flexible parties, and are best handled with fore or coercion to reach an end goal. This will stop the conflict from escalation or being all together avoided by the members involved. Conflicts that are readily identified can be controlled, and the best solutions can be

Conflict management involves acquiring skills related to conflict resolution, self awareness about conflict modes, conflict communication skills, and establishing a structure for management of conflict ( “Understading”, n.d.). According to K. Thomas (1992) there are five conflict-handling modes : competing, collaborating, compromising, avoiding, and accommodating. They are classified based on assertiveness and cooperativeness (Thomas, K., 1992). After taking the Conflict Handling Assessment, my preferred conflict-handling mode is compromising which has a moderate assertiveness and moderate cooperation. I want to find a middle ground for the group to agree of the strategies and formulas that are suggested, negotiate to the members of the team to find solution to the problem so that both parties can agree . The value of engaging in conflict with others are important. Understanding conflict and how to handle it will give us choices on how and when to engage in conflict. We learn from our experiences be it personal or professional on how to handle conflict it can either be positive that we can worked with or negative that we avoided and ignored

the individuals to work for their goals, while supporting others. When collaborating one balances people and tasks concerns during conflict. This style requires the development of a new alternative to resolve the conflict, especially when needed to reach an agreement. Next is competition meaning that an individual approaches the conflict by emphasizing their personal goals and needs, without considering others. A competitive person prefers to view themselves as winners. When using competitive style one uses power, and focuses on winning, regardless of the potential negativity of the strategy. Avoidance was fourth on the list, meaning that an individual prefers to avoid and ignore the conflict. However, sometimes there are situations that it is advisable. My last style was accommodation, which is when an individual sets aside their own needs, that is in order to ensure that the needs of others are meeting. This style of approach is

The text book describes conflict as “a process that begins when one party perceives another party has or is about to negatively affect something the first party cares about.” There are different views on dealing with conflict. There is the traditional view that seeks to eliminate any conflict and the interaction group that seek to use conflict as a stepping stone to greater things. Conflict can arise in any situation and, following the managed conflict view, it is not necessarily something to be push under the table but something to

The second form of conflict management is Compromising. This form brings along the idea that losing something is adequate when an individual gains a little. Both sides come to the middle to help serve the team and project on hand while making it possible for each person to maintain a portion of his or her original idea. The drawbacks of using this method are values and objectives can be lost in the process if they are compromised. Some of the demands from the other side may be too severe to come to a middle ground on. This method can also create other conflict if no respect for the compromise or the other team members exists. When this method is used to its full potential people of equal roles are equally committed to the team. “When the issue is to complex to just abandon the others ideas or perspectives and when the specific task that is being dealt with is only moderately important.” (Improving group, organizational or team dynamics when conflict occurs, 2008)

Conflict is inevitable; even though some conflict can be good most of the time other times it can be harmful to a team. By definition conflict is any situation in which incompatible goals, cognitions, or emotions within or between individuals or groups that lead to opposition or antagonistic interactions. Conflict can be damaging but with the right skills and the ability to resolve it, it can be beneficial to the team (Bowes, 2008).