conflict management
INTRODUCTION
WHAT IS CONFLICT MANAGEMENT?
Conflict occurs when two or more people do not agree on an issue or course of action. Conflict is unavoidable in the workplace and is often valuable in contributing to the formation of high- performing groups. Not all conflict is bad. When conflicts are properly managed, positive learning experiences may result as it increases the groups ' willingness or ability to ask questions and challenge the status quo.
Conflict management seeks to limit the negative aspects and increase the positive aspects of conflict by implementing certain strategies. It aims to enhance learning and group outcomes.
Managers play a crucial role in identifying and managing workplace disputes at an early stage. To this end, managers can be both the solution to, and the cause of workplace disagreements. Management style of managers could contribute to stress within their team or department.
The key thing to remember is that the conflict itself is not the problem, but poor management of conflict may result in even bigger problems down the line.
How to Manage Conflict for High Performance
Before we can manage conflict, we must manage ourselves. In the face of conflict, our natural reaction is either fight, flight or freeze. We can overcome this fear by mastering our emotions and our focus. Human beings exist in one of many ‘states’. A state is a combination of feelings, thoughts, physiology, and behavior, and it largely determines how we act. We can change a ‘state’ from negative to positive, from fear to courage, and do what is counterintuitive: go towards the person with whom we are in conflict
A key tactic for doing this is to manage our focus in the mind’s eye, one of the brain’s most powerful mechanisms. It forms the way we view a particular situation and determines how we will act or react. Most of us have heard about how successful athletes improve performance by visualizing winning and never losing sight of their goal. Another
WHAT IS CONFLICT MANAGEMENT?
Conflict occurs when two or more people do not agree on an issue or course of action. Conflict is unavoidable in the workplace and is often valuable in contributing to the formation of high- performing groups. Not all conflict is bad. When conflicts are properly managed, positive learning experiences may result as it increases the groups ' willingness or ability to ask questions and challenge the status quo.
Conflict management seeks to limit the negative aspects and increase the positive aspects of conflict by implementing certain strategies. It aims to enhance learning and group outcomes.
Managers play a crucial role in identifying and managing workplace disputes at an early stage. To this end, managers can be both the solution to, and the cause of workplace disagreements. Management style of managers could contribute to stress within their team or department.
The key thing to remember is that the conflict itself is not the problem, but poor management of conflict may result in even bigger problems down the line.
How to Manage Conflict for High Performance
Before we can manage conflict, we must manage ourselves. In the face of conflict, our natural reaction is either fight, flight or freeze. We can overcome this fear by mastering our emotions and our focus. Human beings exist in one of many ‘states’. A state is a combination of feelings, thoughts, physiology, and behavior, and it largely determines how we act. We can change a ‘state’ from negative to positive, from fear to courage, and do what is counterintuitive: go towards the person with whom we are in conflict
A key tactic for doing this is to manage our focus in the mind’s eye, one of the brain’s most powerful mechanisms. It forms the way we view a particular situation and determines how we will act or react. Most of us have heard about how successful athletes improve performance by visualizing winning and never losing sight of their goal. Another
References: George Kohlrieser, Hostage at the Table: How Leaders can Overcome Conflict, Influence Others, and Raise Performance (San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 2006), Chris P. Neck, Charles C. Manz, Journal of Organizational Behavior (1986-1998).