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Conflict Resolution Strategies

Decent Essays

In trying to resolve the conflict between Reece and Patel, Edwards used an avoidance strategy. Instead of speaking directly about the root causes, or sources, of the conflict, Edwards focused on the behaviors and treated Reece and Patel like children. Edwards scolded them, and sent them off without bothering to find out what was bothering the two. Of course, this type of conflict resolution is ineffective because it fails to address the underlying issues. As Anderson (n.d.) points out, addressing the problem is key to conflict resolution. "When a conflict does happen, a manager needs to focus the conflicting parties on the issue and have them leave out any personal problems they may be having," (Anderson, n.d.). This is an example of a destructive conflict, but it can be turned into a constructive one with effective conflict resolution strategies. There are three parties involved in this particular conflict: Patel, Reece, and Edwards. First, Patel needs to be more open about her feelings and confront Edwards. Much of the problem was caused by Patel not feeling comfortable enough to or unwilling to confront this root cause of the issue. There is no reason to value Reece's work over Patel's. In fact, it could even be argued that Reece is more easily replaceable than Patel and the latter should have been the one receiving the raise. In practice, offering both Reece and Patel a raise would have helped avoid the conflict and Edwards should have thought of the consequences of his

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