We are responsible for our actions in every situation. Choosing appropriate conflict style is the key to effective conflict prevention and management. We use our favorite conflict style in conflict situations but we can choose a different style when it is needed. I have never thought of my conflict style before. The quiz provided in this course gave me an opportunity to rediscover this aspect of myself. The style of conflict management quiz tells me that I have the ‘orange’ conflict style. It tells me that I have a collaborative style of managing conflict. Cooperative problem-solving style enables people to work together so no one loses but everyone is the winner. People who use this style try to find a solution that is acceptable to everyone and helps to meet their interests and to maintain a good relationship. When managing conflict, I try to feel and meet the needs of all the people involved in the conflict. My assertive nature is very much in collaboration with my conflict style but unlike the competitor, I try to cooperate effectively with everyone involved and acknowledge that everyone’s position is important and significant. I give importance in dealing with conflict by gaining self-awareness of my personal style with an understanding of my strengths and weaknesses. It is sometimes difficult to bring together a variety of viewpoints to get the best solution out of it or when there have been previous conflicts within the group. Collaborative style is effective in satisfying both the sides in resolving conflict. This strategy works well in achieving “win/win" solution. It takes time and effort. It requires commitment to relationships ... ... middle of paper ... ...se their rank or position, and try to force their opinions and feelings. In my opinion, conflicts can lead to one’s personal and social growth in society. In many cases, effective conflict resolution skills can make the difference between a positive or negative outcome. By resolving conflict successfully, one can solve many issues that come to the surface and gain the benefit of understanding each other better. The main point is to discuss the issues which would help to resolve the conflict by raising awareness among the people involved in the conflict of the situation and giving them the insight of the given situation to achieve their goals without undermining the goals of other people involved. When conflict is resolved effectively, everyone can develop stronger mutual respect and trust in each other’s abilities to work together in a given situation.
As much as some of us dislike conflict, it is inherent in human nature. After all, it is like a wall that keeps us from moving forward in the path of life, but we must understand that those walls merely act as temporary challenges that are yet to be solved. Some conflicts may be insignificantly trivial, and some may be quite immense. Some conflicts may be happening within ourselves, and some may be accompanied by another person. Regardless, we must learn not to run away from conflict, but rather to run over them with a determined demeanor as the conflicts that we encounter in our lives are what helps us learn and grow as an individual. Furthermore, learning and growing from conflict is what shape individuals and what prepares us for the upcoming challenges that life will throw at us in the future.
Look up the word conflict in the dictionary and you will see several negative responses. Descriptions such as: to come into collision or disagreement; be at variance or in opposition; clash; to contend; do battle; controversy; quarrel; antagonism or opposition between interests or principles Random House (1975). With the negative reputation associated with this word, no wonder people tend to shy away when they start to enter into the area of conflict. D. Jordan (1996) suggests that there are two types of conflict: good, which is defined as cognitive conflict (C-type conflict) and, detrimental, defined as affective conflict (A-type conflict). The C-type conflict allows for creativity, to pull together a group of people with different opinions or ideas, to combine and brain storm all thoughts to develop the best solution for the problem. The A-type conflict is the negative form when you have animosity, hostility, un-resolveable differences, and egos to deal with. The list citing negative conflicts could go on forever. We will be investigating these types of conflicts, what managers can do to recognize conflict early, and what strategies they can use to resolve conflicts once they have advanced.
Conerly (2004), further states two things attribute to the way conflict is managed. One is the importance of meeting your own goals and the other is the importance you attribute to relationships and wanting to get along with others.
Conflict is an inevitable part of interpersonal relations within an organization, where the actions of one individual are perceived to have a negative impact upon the state of another individual. A leader must be prepared to institute steps in the conflict management process in order to progress through a given incident for the betterment of the organization. “Conflict management is the principle that all conflicts cannot be resolved, but learning how to manage conflicts can decrease the odds of nonproductive escalation” (Popovich & Hocenski, 2009, p.15). Although conflict, in general, may seem detrimental to a team, functional conflict is necessary for a properly functioning team. Without functional conflict,
When everyone is working hard to achieve the same goal there will be no other conflicts. A positive relationship can be built through problem-solving conflicts. With a strong relationship among team member, there is trust. Everyone can feel comfortable openly expressing their opinions and ideas. When you collaborate everyone will be on the same page and fully committed to success of the group. A major disadvantage, it takes a lot of time to collaborate. I would need to be patient and listen to everyone opinions and ideas. Everyone needs to be cooperative or this approach can go on forever. When you’re short on time this management style can be a major disadvantage.
Conflict management styles vary from person to person. The five styles are avoiding, accommodating, forcing, compromising, and collaboration. According to the assessment my primary style is compromising and my back up style is accommodating. I am surprised by these results and I do not feel they are accurate. The inaccuracy is most likely due to my lack of strong answers. I believe that my primary style is collaboration. It is collaboration because I do strive to win but still let the other parties win as well. I would agree that my back up style is compromising because I will give something up if it means an overall resolution.
As human beings, we experience conflict in our everyday lives. It is a natural phenomenon of our personal and professional existence, that it becomes an inevitable component of human activity. In today’s ever-changing business environment organizations, conflict resolution styles are seen as culturally defined event. The success and efficiency of channelling conflicts, whether in a positive or negative manner, can affect the nature of it as being beneficial or destructive to us. However, if it is properly managed, it can in fact ‘increase individuals innovativeness and productivity’ (Uline, Tschannen-moran & Perez, 2003) while offering ‘interpersonal relationship satisfaction, creative problem solving, the growth of a global workforce and domestic
There are 5 different conflict management styles and using them can either negatively or positively affect relationships. I use all the styles of conflict management, but in my most recent conflicts I have been using a competitive style. The competitive style is mainly described as being quick to resolute, upfront, and in my case, fun. Like all the styles, there is drawbacks and benefits, but the competitive style is not too beneficial to everyone in the situation. If things do not go my way, I look to the other conflict management styles to resolve. That may sound self-centered, but that is not always the case.
In every organization there is a potential that there will be conflict between individuals. Conflict is a disagreement between two people. Conflicting perceptions and attitudes can be generally classed into five major styles: 1) avoidance, 2) accommodation, 3) competition, 4) compromise, and 5) collaboration, each of which is discussed in length by Engleberg, Wynn, and Schuttler (2003). Conflict can have both positive and negative influences on the people within the disagreement. The conflict in an organization can be destructive if the conflict is allowed to get out of control. Conflict is also a tool for success as it gives the organization the ability to see different viewpoints or perspectives. Its “positive or negative outcomes depend on the type of the conflict, the causes and number of people involved, attitudes of people in conflict, and other similar factors” (Rudani 2011, p. 632). Having diversity in the organization is the backbone of building a stronger organization through better problem solving and ideas.
Before understanding how to deal with conflict, one must understand what conflict is. Conflict can be defined as, “any situation in which incompatible goals, cognitions, or emotions within or between individuals or groups lead to opposition or antagonistic interaction” (Learning Team Toolkit, 2004, pp 242-243). Does the idea of conflict always have to carry a negative connotation? The growth and development of society would be a great deal slower if people never challenged each other’s ideas. The Learning Team Toolkit discusses three different views of conflict: traditiona...
Furthermore, in spite of my commitment to become the best in my role, I continue to struggle with confrontation. I relate this challenge to my upbringing and the middle-child syndrome, where I was expected to maintain peace within my family. Since conflict is inevitable, my challenge is to handle conflict without making it worse than it was originally. Besides,since there is no absolute right or wrong way to manage conflict, it’s my responsibility to assess multiple assertiveness methods and apply the ones I see fit with each
In several occasions, conflict occurs in the communication of one or two people. Several people have thought of conflict as cases involving pouring of furious anger in a communication process. Nonetheless, conflict is the misinterpretation of an individual’s words or values (Huan & YAzdanifard, 2012). Conflict can also be due to limited resources in an organization (Riaz & Junaid, 2010). Conflict may as well arise due to poor communication or the use of inappropriate communication channel of transmission of information between the involved parties. Management of conflict has various conflict management styles that include avoidance style, forcing style, passive-aggressive style, accommodating style, collaborating style and compromising style. Workplace conflict comes in two different kinds: task involving conflict, which focuses on the approaches used in resolving the problem and blaming conflict that has the aspects of blame and never brings element of resolving problems between the conflicting parties. In the perception of several individuals, relationship conflict is negative.
Many people enjoy working or participating in a group or team, but when a group of people work together chances are that conflicts will occur. Hazleton describes conflict as the discrepancy between what is the perceived reality and what is seen as ideal (2007). “We enter into conflicts reluctantly, cautiously, angrily, nervously, confidently- and emerge from them battered, exhausted, sad, satisfied, triumphant. And still many of us underestimate or overlook the merits of conflict- the opportunity conflict offers every time it occurs” (Schilling, nd.). Conflict does not have to lead to a hostile environment or to broken relationships. Conflict if resolved effectively can lead to a positive experience for everyone involved. First, there must be an understanding of the reasons why conflicts occur. The conflict must be approached with an open mind. Using specific strategies can lead to a successful resolution for all parties involved. The Thomas-Kilmann Conflict Mode Instrument states “there are five general approaches to dealing with conflict. The five approaches are avoidance, accommodation, competition, compromise, and collaboration. Conflict resolution is situational and no one approach provides the best or right approach for all circumstances” (Thomas, 2000).
Interpersonal conflict is very common with many relationships. It occurs when two people can not meet in the middle or agree on a discussion. Cooperation is key to maintaining a healthy debate. More frequently; when dealing with members of your own family, issues arise that include conflict and resolution. During this process our true conflict management style appears “out of thin air”. (Steve A. Beebe, 2008, p. 191).
We each possess unique ideas, opinions, beliefs, and feelings about specific situations in life. This uniqueness is a large part of what makes us human. Because we all have our own individual way of looking at things, we each have a different viewpoint on what is proper or improper. With all that variation in society conflict is inevitable! Conflict is antagonistic in nature and we all must find ways to work through conflict issues both at work and at home. This paper describes different types of conflict, the influences I personally had in learning to deal with those conflicts, some of the conflicts that I commonly experience, how I go about dealing with those conflicts, and how conflict affects me on a personal level.