Conflict Management
Introduction
What is a conflict? We can define conflict as a disagreement on which the parties involved see a threat to their interests, goals, needs. It is obviously in human nature to have conflicts in many situations. Conflict arises for many number of reasons like:
1. Misunderstandings
2. Personality differences and clashes
3. Differences about the appropriate way to solve a problem
4. Egos
In our daily lives, we may be involved in many conflicts. Sometimes, the conflicts can be small, for example, a person react passively while we are talking. Sometimes, the conflict may be more complicated, for example, two persons behaving violently toward each other.
These conflicts can be big or small. They are not confined to
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Any participant in the conversation can learn how to deal with conflict. One has to understand that conflict situations cannot be taken for granted and should be addresses carefully. Conflict resolutions is not a clear cut process where in following a series of steps can assure one a happy ending. Some personality or value based conflicts may never be tackled but can be minimized in effect by using appropriate conflict management technique.
Conflict management Styles and their Consequences:
A conflict can be best analyzed by observing its consequences and different behaviors of involved parties at different intervals of time. These observations are further categorized to different conflict styles. Some styles are explained as below:
• Competing style: In this style, one’s own needs are prioritized over other’s needs. It also uses aggressive style of communication. Future relationships are not much cared about and it also observes usage of coercive power. Lot of time is spent on discussions about ground rules and context. People using this style fear that they may fail to meet their requirements if control is lost. Ultimately, the competing results in outcomes that increase the level of
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Diplomatic persons use this style and yield their needs to those of others. Relationship is given utmost importance and they may even sacrifice their own interests in lieu of group’s interests.
• Avoiding style is most general response to the negative aspect of conflict. People treat the conflict as cancer, that might have been cured if treated early otherwise it grows so far till it destroys the relationship. In this, as people avoid, needs and concerns are not expressed to one another and thus it results in lot of confusion among people. They often end up in a confused state figuring about the
After comparing all five conflict management styles I came to a conclusion that my spouse often withdraws from conflicts when I make demands. Therefore, it led me to believe that her principal conflict management style in our relationship is avoidance. 2) Describe, with sufficient detail, an instance from your life where you can apply this concept, model or theory to your interaction with another person. My wife has a complicated relationship with her twin sister.
The essence of this relationship is expressed through the internal conflict, both within
What is the best way to respond to conflict? The best way to respond to conflict is through resolution. This is illustrated in The Boy in the Striped Pajamas and Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl. Both stories find solutions to smaller problems and come close to finding solutions to the problems surrounding them.
Coleman, P. (2014). Power and Conflict. In M. Deutsch, P. T. Coleman, & E. C. Marcus (Eds.), The Handbook of Conflict Resolution: Theory and practice (pp. 137–167). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. 4.
They try to smooth over or ignore conflict to keep everybody happy, they see conflict as destructive and will give in to others to maintain the peace (Page 38), Bryan is a very good Illustration of accommodation he sacrifice his needs for the group, he share’s his lunch with John, he writes the last easy for the group, he maintain peace among the group when john and andy was arguing. Even though bryan is trying trying to keep the peace in the group, he is has problems with himself and he sense unfairness and inequality throughout the film. Collaborating is a strategy is used in a I win, you win Situation. According to Patterson James “ The problem-solving or collaboration strategy is usually the best approach to win-win negations and the problem- solving strategy is usually the best way to cut through conflict. Make a decision and work toward win-win deals (page 41).
One of those perspectives is entitled the conflict perspective. The conflict perspective is focused primarily on conflict as an inevitable fact of social life and as the most important agent of social change. Conflict perspective can be looked at in many different forms including physical confrontations, exploitation, disagreements and direct competitions. Conflict theorists often ask questions like: who benefits from a particular social arrangement and at whose expense? These theorists also work to expose the facade of legitimacy which is an explanation that explains the existing social arrangement and downplays or dismisses that this particular arrangement advantages some and disadvantages others.
It is in observing how people deal with and react to conflicts that we see clear differences between cultures. Some cultures view conflict as a positive thing, while others view it as something to be avoided. In the United States, conflict is not usually desirable; nonetheless, conventional wisdom in this country encourages individuals to deal directly with conflicts when they do arise. In fact, face-to-face encounters are usually suggested as the way to work through whatever problems exist. By contrast, in many Asian countries, open conflict is experienced as embarrassing or demeaning.
3. Accommodating style (Lose-Win) Accommodating in negotiations is the opposite of competing. This means that unlike in competitive negotiations in which parties involved are only concerned with winning, in accommodative negotiations, relationship building is more important than winning. This is a style mostly used by the Brazilians.
Arguing and getting into disagreements with people is something that happens to everyone, and though fighting with people isn’t ideal, there are a few ways to make the argument conclude quicker and with less damage to a friendship or relationship. There are many different healthy ways to deal with conflict, one being a happy, positive approach that Anne Frank, author of Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl, used. Others, like Winston Churchill, could use an approach that unifies people or brings them together so everyone can fight together and be stronger. However, there are also unhealthy ways of working through an argument, such saying that the best way to deal with conflict would be to think more with emotions than being rational.
It normally occurs due to how each individual is different from one another and fail to share the same goals, mission and views. Each and every individual has different personalities which always results to them having choices and opinions that are hardly compatible. Interpersonal conflict can be generally grouped into 3 categories; policy conflicts, value conflicts and ego conflicts. POLICY CONFLICTS Policy conflicts are disagreements on how a situation should be dealt with that will eventually affect both individuals. Policy conflicts normally always have a winner and a loser.
The case “Alpha – Beta” is a very interesting case, which could be considered as one of my most favorable cases so far. What interested me was the fact that we had to act totally different from our conventional style. In fact, we were asked to behave collectively, formally, indirectly, patiently, unemotionally and passively. Although we could not make the deal, we all found this outcome understandable and predictable. What we learned from the exercise was to be aware of the existence of cross-cultural differences as well as how these differences affect our negotiation outcomes, then find out what should we do in the similar negotiation in our future.
UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY, JAMAICA COLLEGE OF HEALTH SCIENCES CARIBBEAN SCHOOL OF NURSING, UTECH Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) Conflict Theory Submitted in partial fulfillment of the module SOC 1001: Sociology Submitted to: Mrs.Rená Blackwood-McIntosh (Lecturer) Prepared by: Michaella Pryce ID #: 1402203 Date: September 26, 2014 Montego Bay, Jamaica Conflict Theory A conflict may be defined as a disagreement resulting from an individual or groups of individuals due to a difference in attitude, beliefs, values or needs with unwillingness to conform. Conflicts may be interpersonal, intrapersonal, intergroup or intragroup conflicts.
Effective leaders must learn to embrace conflict because it is an inexorable part of human interactions and without intervention, it seldom finds its own productive solutions (Myatt, 2012). The failure to address conflict early on will likely lead to workplace acrimony, disengagement and poor communication and cooperation (Myatt, 2012). The story of the conflict between Cindy and Dr. Jones is an excellent case to analyze the elements of conflict and conflict management.
While offering a visual and brand new approach to the work of strategies and tactics and negotiation styles he emphasizes the importance of listening and questioning skills. He methodically justifies as to why the location and timing of negotiation can have a profound effect on its outcome and why the phrase 'win-win' is
John Galtung recommended that conflict could be observed as a triangle, with contradiction (C), attitude (A) and behaviour. He explained that all three aspects must be there in a full conflict condition. Contradiction is an important factor of a conflict which mentioned through the parties, their intentions and the clash of interests between them. Attitude comprises the parties’ views and misunderstandings of each other and of themselves. Behaviour is the third factor which can involve coercion or cooperation, gestures defining conciliation or hostility.