Conflict management style “Emergence and history”
Uroosa Ghazal
MS-Management Sciences
Introduction:
Conflict refers to the disagreement or a form of resistance which creates the differences within a group or the members of other group. Conflict can be limited to one individual or it may arises among the groups as conflict among the members of a particular group is called intragroup conflict and the conflict among the members of two or more groups is called intergroup conflict.
Conflict management is a process to limit or minimize the negative aspects while focusing on the positive aspects of conflict. Conflict need not have destructive consequences. Attitudes and conflict management styles play an important role in determining whether such conflict will lead to destructive or mutually beneficial outcomes. There are some conflict management styles or strategies which can be used according to the scenarios faced by the individuals or groups.
History and emergence of strategies:
The traditional view (prevailing
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They provided pragmatic evidence on the basis of a factor exploration of the items of their Organizational Communication Conflict Instrument and proposed that there are three styles of handling interpersonal conflict; solution-orientation (integrating), non-confrontation (obliging) and control (dominating).
Pruitt (1983) presented the four styles of handling conflict through provided some empirical evidence from laboratory studies as yielding, inaction, problem solving and contending. He proposed these styles on the basis of two dimensional model that involves concern for self (high or low) and concern for others (high or low). Pruitt worked on different scope and his model is considered much more developed than the previous two models presented by Thomas and Patnum but this also not recognizes compromising as a distinct style and proposed in the next
Discernment is generally at loss in the midst of tragedy. The film Ordinary People displays how the Jarrett family copes with the loss of their son, Buck, in a boating accident. Inability to communicate ultimately leads to far more dysfunction than Conrad, Beth, and Calvin can imagine. The misinterpretation of acts of “silence or violence” can be avoided with conflict management techniques.
The conflict perspective is described as tensions between groups of power or the allocation
Bob’s Meltdown In today’s workplace communication is key, collaboration crucial and teamwork a top management buzzword. These facets encourage knowledge sharing, co‐operation and a joint sense of purpose. However, such an increase in interpersonal relationships too often creates an unwanted side effect: conflict. (http://www.emeraldinsight.com/doi/abs/10.1108/14777280310795784)
How to Best Respond to Conflict From the time humans were created, there has always been conflict between us. We all can choose for ourselves how we respond to conflict, and people do this in many different ways. One of the best ways to do this is by keeping a courageous and positive outlook on the situation. This method of responding to conflict is used by many today. Although some might not agree that this is the best way to respond to conflict, there are many examples why this is true, and there are also a lot of experiences of real people who proved or still prove that this is the best way to respond to conflict.
Throughout the film, Ordinary People, the Jarrett family deals with sudden severe tragic news. When the news was received of their son Buck getting in an awful boating accident, the family became a mess. The relations in the family for each family member became weak, due to lack of communication. Beth, Calvin, and Conrad all could have related back to the conflict management skills to help them as a whole.
How do you respond to conflict? A conflict is a serious disagreement or argument. Many people respond to conflict in their own ways, which can be the same or different to other people. A person’s response to a conflict can have a negative or positive impact on that person or the people around them. Most conflicts have a negative impact on a person because when you hear the word conflict you think of a problem.
Conflict is an important part in a story. You can’t write a story without conflicts “Early definitions of conflict had focused on a wide variety of different phenomena “(Kenneth w. Tomas ; conflict and conflict management. 1992 USA) Conflict is an inherent incompatibility between the objectives of two or more characters or forces. Conflict creates tension and interest in a story by adding doubt as to the outcome. Here, conflict will divide in three stories in three types.
There is no universally correct way to handle every workplace conflict. Each conflict is unique, and depending on the individual circumstances of the issue or disagreement, and depending on the personalities involved, different strategies are needed to reach the optimal solution and move forward successfully. To take a closer look at the various strategies one can use in resolving workplace conflict, let us review the five different conflict management styles developed by Kenneth W. Thomas and Ralph H. Kilmann. The Thomas-Kilmann Conflict Mode Instrument assesses conflict management styles on two distinct levels: assertiveness and cooperativeness.
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.
The social-conflict approach is a framework for building theory that sees society as an arena of inequality that generates conflict and change. This approach featuring inequality, conflict and change are all shown in minorities with disabilities issues. Minority students with disabilities, are more likely to be sent to prison. One of the main reasons why they are more likely to be sent to prison, is because schools use the law enforcement to handle the discipline.
Theoretical Framework: Conflict Perspective: Conflict perspective focuses their attention on society as a whole. Conflict theorists see society as in a continuous sate of conflict between groups and classes. He struggle for power and income is a continuous process but one in which many categories of people appear as opponents-classes, races, nationalities and even the sexes. Society is held together through the power of dominant groups or classes. The shared values, which functionalist see as glue for holding society together, do no realty form rue consensus; instead this is an artificial consensus in which the dominant groups or classes impose their values and rules upon rest of the people.
A individual use of conflict should be used by many strategies impacted by the culture of the organization or institution but also by the personal beliefs and values. “The variables surrounding the conflict must be examined to understand and alter the choice of a particular behavioral approach to conflict”(Thomas,1976). When deciding the choice of outcome of a problem you should examine the facts and stay away from the assumptions. When managing conflicts, strategies should be utilized and reviewed so that the conflict can come to an collective solution. Some strategies to obtain during a conflict is the first strategy which is understanding that rushing to end the conflict will cause you to not be able to gather the appropriate information.
Juneja, Prachi. “MSG Management Study Guide.” Role of Attitude in Conflict Management, MSG Presentations, 2018,
Productive conflicts are the seeds from which any and all meaningful relationships grow. This in itself requires the team to be able to talk about the problem at hand without any kind of personal attacks and instead focuses on what is best for the team. This allows team members to feel comfortable sharing their true opinions and thoughts without any fear that they may get reprised or criticised. The leaders themselves need to be careful not to try to resolve a conflict with temporary harmony and solution in order to protect certain members of the
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.