The 5 Conflict Management Styles

The ability to successfully resolve conflict depends on your ability to:

• Manage stress quickly while remaining alert and calm.
• Control your emotions and behavior.
• Pay attention to the feelings being expressed as well as the spoken words of others.
• Be aware of and respect differences.

The 6 Types of Literary Conflict

• Character vs. Self. This is an internal conflict, meaning that the opposition the character faces is coming from within.
• Character vs. Character.
• Character vs. Nature.
• Character vs. Supernatural.
• Character vs. Technology.
• Character vs. Society.

• Accommodating. An accommodating style forsakes your own needs or desires in exchange for those of others.
• Avoiding. An avoiding style completely evades the conflict.
• Compromising.
• Collaborating.
• Competing.

Early Warning Signs of Conflict

• Body language.
• Behavioural changes.
• Cliques developing.
• Strange comments made. Comments that puzzle you until you finally catch on and then it all makes sense.
• The words people choose.
• People taking sides or ganging up in the office, factory floor or in meetings.
• Sickness levels start to creep up.

Conflict is often something that we try to avoid. Positive conflict is constructive in nature. It produces new ideas, solves continuous problems, provides an opportunity for people and teams to expand their skills, and fosters creativity. When opposing ideas are explored, a breakthrough of thinking can occur.

Examples of negative outcomes include the following: Increased stress and anxiety among individuals, which decreases productivity and satisfaction. Feelings of being defeated and demeaned, which lowers individuals’ morale and may increase turnover.

Armed conflict often leads to forced migration, long-term refugee problems, and the destruction of infrastructure. Social, political, and economic institutions can be permanently damaged. The consequences of war, especially civil war, for development are profound.

It causes errors and misjudgements, lowers productivity and raises employee turnover. It can ruin your working life if you are caught up in an unresolved conflict, even if you are trapped in the crossfire of someone else’s dispute.

Conflict is a positive force when it leads to necessary changes by signaling that a problem exists. When conflict involves anger at management or the organization, it may lead to destructive behavior.

The Conflict & Change group contributes to the scientific understanding of political violence. Pursuing systematic and empirically informed research, the group brings together scholars analyzing the causes, dynamics, and consequences of political conflicts.

Social change becomes a cause of conflict when a part of society does net change along with changes in the other parts. Social change causes cultural lag which leads to conflict. The parent-youth conflict is the result of social change. In short, conflict is an expression of social disequilibrium.

Often, this has happened when an objectionable government or institution has been overthrown by the war. One clear example of this was the American Civil War. While the war was horrible, it did lead to the end of slavery. This is surely a positive change.

Conflict Examples: Behavioral Questions

• Tell me about a team project when you had to work with someone difficult.
• Tell me about a time you had a conflict at work.
• Give an example of a time you had to respond to an unhappy.
• Tell me about a time that you disagreed with a rule or approach.

The five types of responses to conflict are competing, collaborating, compromising, avoiding, and accommodating. Each is used for particular conflict situations.