Conflict Management

Within our professional careers (as well as personal home life) we will encounter some difficult conflicts we need to understand how to navigate this process.

Varieties of Conflict

• Goal Conflict
• Meaning: incompatible preferences
• Cognitive Conflict
• Meaning: incompatible thoughts
• Affective Conflict
• Meaning: incompatible feelings
• Procedural Conflict
• Meaning: incompatible views on process

Conflict handling styles:

• Avoidance
• Forcing
• Collaborating
• Compromising

When discussing conflict here is some "Tongue Fu" to get you through:

Words to Lose:

• Explaining what went wrong and why they didn't get what they want
• Explaining further and extend the argument
• Refuse to take responsibility for something that is not your fault

Words to Use:

• Consider whether what the person is saying is basically true, and openly agree with it
• Apologize for the state of affairs and take action to end the argument before it begins
• Thank the person for bringing this to your attention and give some hope of improvement.