Conflict Management, An Analysis: An Analysis Of Conflict Management

Whether we like it or not, conflict is a part of everyday lives. It can happen to anyone, from your friends to your family.

Each child has his or her own personality. Typically the firstborn is a natural leader, while the last is always the baby, but what about the overlooked middle child? The middle child can sometimes feel lost in the crowd when it comes to family dynamics. They crave their parent’s attention and are willing to do anything to believe they have it, but immediately close up when it comes to conflict, they become people pleasers. They will do anything to make their parents, or others, happy. This makes the middle child a skilled peacemaker and negotiator (Varma, 2013). They are amazing listeners because of the fact they hate conflict,

Conflict is inevitable in any personal relationship or among members of any group. While we encounter many types of conflict in our lifetime, we often look for ways to avoid conflict. So, why do we run away from dealing with our conflict? It is often because many of us fear the conflict will escalate into a situation we will not be able to sustain. “As conflicts escalate, they go through certain incremental transformations. Although these transformations occur separately on each side, they affect the conflict as a whole because they are usually mirrored by the other side. As a result of these transformations, the conflict is intensified in ways that are sometimes exceedingly difficult to undo” (Pruitt, and Kim 89). We

Parents’ own birth orders and children experience can impact family dynamics, such as, firstborn parents getting into “raging battle” with a firstborn child, youngest-born parents not having high expectations on their kids or seeing their children’s abilities, biases based on their own birth positions, sticking up for the children with the same birth order, and birth order affecting the children’s personalities.

What is conflict? Even something as basic as a universal definition for the word conflict seems to vary from source to source. A literature review focusing on conflict defined it as “the interaction of interdependent people who perceive incompatibility and the possibility of interference from others as a result of this incompatibility” (Brinkert 2010). Often times the disagreement results not from a concrete difference, but rather a difference in perception (Ellis & Abbott 2012). One of the most important factors effecting conflict management is the resolution style used. The most often used tool for classifying how conflict is managed is the Thomas-Kilmann Conflict Mode Instrument (Iglesias & Vallejo 2012).

Learning to communicate efficiently and manage conflict successfully is challenging. Gaining cooperation between people is complex and mentally demanding. Communication ways and conflict styles are deeply woven into our personalities. Conflict is the expressed struggle of interdependent parties who perceive incompatible goals, interference from the other party in achieving those goals, and the perception of scarce resources. Perceptions are just as important as reality in regards to conflict. As stated in the text, “we encounter conflict as we compete for acceptance, love, recognition, position, power, success, and many other goals. Judgments of the quality of

On a crisp autumn day in 2016, while hidden away from the cares of my daily routine in my family room, I was called upon to elaborate on an important aspect of my life. It took some time for consideration to determine how to best portray a journey I have taken in managing conflict, as I am not a young woman. Decades filled with the blessings of being the mother of disabled children, years lived as a single parent, as well as the process of maturation, tempered by the fires of adversity, have molded me into who I am today. As I reflected, I wondered if would I know how to deal with conflict as I do now without the life experiences I have had? Certainly not! The following paragraphs will describe my primary conflict style and why I use it, how I have changed constructively in this area, how the other four styles of conflict management may serve me, and where I hope to arrive as I continue to make my way along the journey of my life.

One thing that is a part of every person’s life on every day of every week of every month of every year is conflict. Conflict is something that people, no matter how they strive, cannot escape from. Whether the conflict on a certain day is on a large scale or it is a miniscule bump in the road, it can be said that there will always be conflict. When people encounter conflict, the sole thing on their minds is to devise a way to be rid of it. The way that a person responds to whatever conflict they are faced with is what determines success or failure. If a person meets the conflict head on and with a positive attitude, then it is almost certain to end in success. If a person meets the conflict with a negative attitude and tries to avoid it, then

Organizational behavior plays a vital role in the success of an institution. It is essential for a leader to be knowledgeable on organizational behavior and how to manage conflict. Often times, conflict arises from the absence of or poor communication. Social media has become one of the leading means of communication.

In 1980 Edgell interviewed 38 middle class couples. He asked them who made the decisions and how important those decisions were. He found that men dominated what couples considered to be important decisions involving finance, moving house and buying a car. Women dominated less important decisions such as interior decoration, children’s clothes and spending on food and household items. The chores that tended to be allocated to men though were infrequent rather than the everyday, frequent tasks which the women dominated.

His name is Michael Grose, who has worked with children all his professional life and has published four books about Birth Order and Parenting. The typical book about Birth Order is “Why first-borns rule the world and last-borns want to change it” (2003), which answers the question “why the children in a family have the same gene, a similar socio-economic environment and experience similar parenting styles have fundamentally different personalities, interests and even different careers”.

Conflict is a fact of life - for individuals, organizations, and societies. The costs of conflict are well-documented - high turnover, grievances and lawsuits, absenteeism, divorce, dysfunctional families, prejudice, fear. What many people don't realize is that well-managed conflict can actually be a force for positive change.

In this case study we will be analyzing a conflict between coworkers from "Not on My Sabbath" by Joy Koesten. The situation involves a woman, Joan, who has been highly successful in the agency in which she works. A problem arises between her and her coworker/superior, Sue, who is seemingly jealous of Joan's quick success. Sue ends up making a change to Joan's job description that conflicts with her religious practices. We will be analyzing their goals, styles, tactics, and approaches to this conflict.

Alper, S., Tjosvold, D., & Law, K. S. (2000). Conflict management, efficacy, and performance in organizational teams. Personnel Psychology, 53(3), 625-642. This study looked at the management of conflict and linked it empirically with organizational team and efficacy research. There were sixty-one teams with nearly 500 employees studied, all belonging to a leading manufacturer of electronic products. A structural equation analysis was used to show that a cooperative approach to conflict is more effective than a competitive approach to same. Making use of autonomy can also make a person or a team more productive.

Conflict is a "state of disharmony brought about by differences of impulses, desires, or tendencies" (Rayeski & Bryant, 1994). Although many people and organizations view conflict as an activity that is usually negative and should be avoided, conflict is a natural result of people working