Conflict Management Analysis
LP 4 | Conflict Management Analysis | Organizational Development 196-168 | | Paul Guell | 1/8/2011 |
Marla Pearce, Instructor |
Whether you work for a manufacturing facility or the health care system, conflict is unavoidable. As a manager, you must learn to deal with conflict in the workplace. In this paper I will describe the different styles of conflict management. I will also discuss my preferred conflict management style with examples of its use. Lastly, I will describe a situation at work and how a conflict management strategy could have improved that situation. There are five different conflict managing styles. They are: avoiding, accommodating, competing, compromising, and collaborating. First I will discuss avoiding. Avoiding is described as a deliberate decision to take no action on a conflict or to stay out of a conflict situation (Nelson and Quick). One common use of the avoiding conflict style would be when someone else can handle the situation better than you. Another use would be when both parties are angry and need time to reflect on the situation before continuing. Another conflict management style is accommodating. The accommodating style is described as a style in which you are concerned that the other party’s goals be met but relatively unconcerned with getting your own way (Nelson and Quick). A good use for this style is when you want your subordinates to learn from their mistakes. It is important to note that if you constantly meet subordinate needs and not your own, you can become frustrated. Competing is a conflict management style where you want to satisfy your own interests and are willing to do so at someone’s expense. This style can be used when a quick decision needs to be made or during situations where you know you are right. This style is also good in situations that are undesirable like discipline. However, when used in a team environment, the competing style tends to cause more
Marla Pearce, Instructor |
Whether you work for a manufacturing facility or the health care system, conflict is unavoidable. As a manager, you must learn to deal with conflict in the workplace. In this paper I will describe the different styles of conflict management. I will also discuss my preferred conflict management style with examples of its use. Lastly, I will describe a situation at work and how a conflict management strategy could have improved that situation. There are five different conflict managing styles. They are: avoiding, accommodating, competing, compromising, and collaborating. First I will discuss avoiding. Avoiding is described as a deliberate decision to take no action on a conflict or to stay out of a conflict situation (Nelson and Quick). One common use of the avoiding conflict style would be when someone else can handle the situation better than you. Another use would be when both parties are angry and need time to reflect on the situation before continuing. Another conflict management style is accommodating. The accommodating style is described as a style in which you are concerned that the other party’s goals be met but relatively unconcerned with getting your own way (Nelson and Quick). A good use for this style is when you want your subordinates to learn from their mistakes. It is important to note that if you constantly meet subordinate needs and not your own, you can become frustrated. Competing is a conflict management style where you want to satisfy your own interests and are willing to do so at someone’s expense. This style can be used when a quick decision needs to be made or during situations where you know you are right. This style is also good in situations that are undesirable like discipline. However, when used in a team environment, the competing style tends to cause more
References: Nelson, Debra L and James Campbell Quick. Organizational Behavior: Science, the Real World, and You. Mason: South-Western Cengage Learning, 2011.