Dealing With Conflict – Combat or Concord?

Dealing With Conflict – Combat or Concord?

 
Wherever there are people, there will be conflicting personalities, goals and priorities. But these differences are important. Remember – “if everyone is thinking alike, then no one is really thinking!”
 
What’s your take on conflict? Does a conflict mean that operations aren’t running smoothly? Do you blame people in your team who engage in a conflict? Or do you make an effort to deal with it fairly and efficiently? How you view and resolve a conflict speaks oodles about your management style.
 
What style do you adopt when in a conflict situation?
 
  1. If you avoid the conflict, you are living in denial. It might work for trivial issues, but isn’t a good long-term strategy because postponing or ignoring the problem doesn’t solve it. Additionally, it makes you unassertive and uncooperative.
  2. If you try to over-accommodate, it could be at the expense of your own goals and personal interests. However, it might be a good strategy when the other person has a better solution, or it’s important to preserve long-term relationships.
  3. The ‘competing style’ or over asserting your authority to get your way at the expense of others might be a good move during an emergency or when an alternative solution is detrimental. In the long-run, it could lead to poor relationships with others. 
  4. The collaborating method could lead to a win-win situation as it creates room for everyone’s ideas and goals, and results in best outcomes. But it could be time consuming to synthesize all ideas and requires a high-degree of trust.
  5. Finally, if you tend to compromise, it’s not the best solution to a conflict as neither party achieves their goals. Everyone is losing something valuable in the process. 
 
There is no perfect approach to deal with a conflict but it’s important to keep the disagreements healthy. That’s possible only if you focus on the solution to the problem, and steer clear of judging the conflicting people and their personalities.  
 
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