In search of an article on conflict management at workplace, it was educational to come across an article that read; One topic that is of interest to most people in the workplace is conflict; how it works, how to avoid it, and how to deal with it when it occurs. It is indeed rare for an organization that does not have to face the issue of conflict, and how to harness it so that it produces positive results rather than destruction. It is true that conflict is one topic that is of interest to most people in the workplace. A more important topic than conflict is managing conflict at workplace. Managing conflict is a skill that is necessary to deal with day-to-day life. According to the arti ...view middle of the document...
In the second stage we list all parties involved in the issue (conflict) being addressed. In the third stage, we list all needs and concerns of all parties, for example, we try to find the point or goal of the conflict. This will allow us to see different solutions to the conflict. In stage four, we basically read the map. Patterns, likenesses and similarities will begin to form in this stage. For example, our organization is consisted of four individuals, the four of us could not decide on how to spend the limited TV budget we had for an advertisement campaign. We all wanted to advertise on TV, but no one could agree on which TV show or network. Since each of us had a different audience (customer) in mind, with the help of "mapping conflict" technique we were able to look at each problem (conflict) from different angles. What we finally decided to do was to writ the pros and the cons of every network we had in mind. By doing so, it was obvious to use the TV network that had the most pros. [This is an example of "substantive conflict".]There are several styles of managing conflict. According to a book called "Management" Leading People and Organizations in the 21st Century in chapter-14 page-445 there are several general rules for which style to use and when. For example, the first one is avoidance. "Avoidance is moving away from the conflict or refusing to discuss the conflict." This would not resolve a conflict and may actually make it worse if bad felling fester. The second one is accommodation. "Accommodation is giving in to the opponent in an attempt to end a conflict." It can help calm an opponent who is not uncontrollably irate, but this is another stop-gap measure, since the disagreement itself remains unresolved. Other approaches are more direct. For instance, compromise. "Compromise is settling a conflict through mutual concessions." This means each person gives up something in return for reaching agreement. This approach can work well, but may le...
