Dealing with Conflict in the Workplace

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Dealing with Conflicts in the Workplace

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Dealing with Conflicts in the Workplace

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To introduce the reader or the learner to how and when to address issues of conflict in the workplace.

Aim of publication:




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Dealing with Conflicts in the Workplace: Introduction.

☺ Conflict is inevitable in the workplace. Everybody has their own ideas about how things should run. Eventually, these ideas will collide.

☺ When they do, you need to be prepared. Above and beyond all the skills you can possibly learn for coping with conflict, effective communication skills will prove to be the most beneficial.

☺ Without open lines of honest communication in the workplace, unspoken and harboured conflicts will boil and fester until productivity grinds to a halt.

☺ Knowing how and when to address issues of conflict will help you to cut away destructive behaviours, encourage healthy arguments, and create an environment full of vigour.

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Dealing with Conflict in the Workplace - Learning Objectives. After developing the KeyPoints outlined in this publication, you should mainly be

able: Understand Perspectives on Conflict. Be Conscious of Managing Conflict in the Workplace. Recognize positive effects of conflict in the workplace. Respond appropriately to a given conflict situation. Handle Better Conflict with Others. Encourage a healthy perspective of conflict. Promote mutually positive solutions. Confront conflict. Communicate effectively to resolve conflict. Survive conflicts. Adopt behaviours to avoid conflict.





Dealing with Conflict in the Workplace – Summary

☺ Conflict can have many causes – disagreements about who does what, or about how things are done, as well as disagreements related to personality and style.

☺ And inevitably, conflicts will arise in the workplace, so it's critical to be able to deal with them successfully.

☺ If you avoid conflict that requires quick, decisive action, or if you take an aggressive approach when you need to gain the commitment of the other person, you may make the situation worse.

☺ Unresolved conflict can intensify and hinder your productivity as you spend more time worrying about the conflict than achieving your goals.

☺ And remember, the costs of prolonged conflict can be high – negative emotions, blocked communication, and stress. But choosing the appropriate response based on the type of conflict is important.

☺ When you address conflict properly, you will experience a number of benefits: it can enhance your creativity and it can strengthen your relationships with others.




Dealing with Conflict in the Workplace - Sections List.

(Section 1) Perspectives on Conflict. (Section 2) Handling Conflict with Others. (Section 3) Managing Conflict in an Organization. (Section 4) Dealing with Conflict in your Workplace. (Section 5) Managing Conflict in your Workplace.





(Section 1) Perspectives on Conflict – Summary.

☺ What is meant by the term "conflict," and what are the general attitudes towards it in the workplace?

☺ In this course, three prevailing attitudes towards conflict are compared.

☺ These are that: --Conflict is always a bad thing --Conflict is always a good thing --A certain level of conflict is productive, but too much is undesirable.

☺ This last view informs the rest of the course, which goes on to describe how a healthy and productive level of conflict can be encouraged in an organization, promoting a win-win philosophy that improves performance.

☺ Of course, conflict cannot always be contained at this productive level, and often spills over into becoming destructive.

☺ Therefore, learners will also discover how to recognize the signs and symptoms of destructive conflict, so that they can deal with it in the workplace.




(Section 1) Perspectives on Conflict – HighPoints.

☺ Views of Conflict.☺ Encouraging Healthy Differences.☺ Recognizing Conflict.




(Section 1) HighPoints – Views of Conflict.

☺ recognize the benefits that come from constructive conflict in the workplace.

☺ characterize the negative view of conflict.☺ identify the aspects of a positive view of workplace

conflict.☺ characterize the interactionist perspective of conflict.




(Section 1) HighPoints – Encouraging Healthy Differences.

☺ recognize the benefits of encouraging healthy differences in the workplace.

☺ apply strategies to stimulate healthy competition in a given situation.

☺ create a rational, impersonal, purposeful argument in a given situation, to foster healthy differences.

☺ determine how to promote a win-win solution in a given scenario.




(Section 1) HighPoints – Recognizing Conflict.

☺ recognize the benefits of identifying the signs of destructive conflict in the workplace.

☺ characterize the signs of friction which indicate conflict in the workplace.

☺ diagnose the signs of friction from given symptoms of conflict in a work situation.

☺ analyze a given situation to identify the reasons for the escalation of arbitration.




(Section 2) Handling Conflict with Others – Summary.

☺ No one can complete a working career without experiencing conflict, so it is essential for you to handle this conflict in the most effective way.

☺ To handle conflict well, you need to build up a repertoire of techniques.

☺ These techniques require you to behave differently from your natural instincts at times.

☺ Therefore, a good starting point is to establish what your instinctive approaches to conflict are, and where these attitudes stem from.

☺ This will enable you to decide on a range of different approaches to conflict, based on a spectrum that goes from being only concerned about your own needs, to only being concerned about other people's needs.

☺ This spectrum gives rise to five possible strategies for dealing with conflict.

☺ …




(Section 2) Handling Conflict with Others – Summary continues.

☺ …☺ Whatever strategy you apply, some core techniques will

make you more effective.☺ These involve three main actions: confronting the

conflict, communicating with the other party, and determining an acceptable outcome.

☺ Sometimes, the conflict in the workplace just surrounds you, even though you are not involved directly.

☺ You then have to learn how to avoid taking sides, or becoming a scapegoat.




(Section 2) Handling Conflict with Others – HighPoints.

☺ Attitude Towards Conflict.☺ Conflict Handling Techniques.☺ Surviving Conflict.




(Section 2) HighPoints – Attitude Towards Conflict.

☺ recognize the benefits of examining personal attitudes to conflict.

☺ list the common factors that determine attitudes to conflict.

☺ match the five instinctive and attitudinally driven approaches to dealing with conflict with their descriptions.

☺ identify the five possible approaches to handling conflict. ☺ analyze the most effective approaches to handling conflict

in a given situation.




(Section 2) HighPoints – Conflict Handling Techniques.

☺ recognize the benefits of applying techniques to handle conflict better.

☺ distinguish between the different approaches for confronting conflict.

☺ confront conflict effectively in a given situation. ☺ apply the correct communication techniques to handle

conflict in a given scenario. ☺ match each stage of the integrative bargaining approach

to resolving conflict with appropriate descriptions. ☺ achieve an acceptable outcome to conflict in the

workplace in a given scenario.




(Section 2) HighPoints – Surviving Conflict.

☺ recognize the benefits of identifying the techniques used to survive conflict.

☺ identify the characteristics of the two techniques to avoid taking sides in a conflict.

☺ apply the appropriate techniques to avoid taking sides in a hypothetical conflict.

☺ apply techniques to avoid getting caught in the middle of a given conflict scenario.

☺ identify the techniques for transforming an atmosphere of conflict at work.

☺ apply techniques to transform an atmosphere of conflict in a given work situation.




(Section 3) Managing Conflict in an Organization – Summary.

☺ As a manager, you will inevitably have to sort out some of the conflict that occurs in your organization.

☺ Sometimes, this will be between individuals, but often it will be between teams, and even departments.

☺ The different nature of these conflicts is likely to require different approaches, and there are also likely to be a range of particular demands on you in the way that you manage the conflicts.

☺ A way of differentiating and applying these approaches is by adopting a short-term approach against a longer-term strategy.

☺ The first is categorized by a "quick and dirty" style of containment and reduction.

☺ The second is characterized by approaches that are concerned with resolving the roots of the conflict by finding structural remedies to prevent the conflict occurring in the future.

☺ Another form of a long-term approach is to attempt to prevent conflict from occurring.

☺ This looks impossible, but this approach is characterized by considering in what ways a manager can act to discourage negative conflict.




(Section 3) Managing Conflict in an Organization – HighPoints.

☺ Prevention of Conflict.☺ Conflict Reduction and Containment.☺ Resolving Conflict.




(Section 3) HighPoints – Prevention of Conflict.

☺ recognize the benefits of preventing conflict in the workplace.

☺ characterize the causes of conflict. ☺ eradicate the causes of role conflict in the workplace. ☺ characterize a collaborative approach to preventing

conflict. ☺ apply a collaborative approach to manage conflict in a

given workplace situation. ☺ characterize the rationale of interpersonal skills training in

helping to prevent conflict in the workplace.




(Section 3) HighPoints – Conflict Reduction and Containment.

☺ recognize the benefits of reducing and containing conflict. ☺ characterize coercion as a way of managing conflict in the

workplace. ☺ apply coercive methods to manage conflict in the

workplace in a given situation. ☺ match characteristics of successful arbitration with related

descriptions. ☺ use arbitration techniques correctly to manage conflict in

a given workplace situation. ☺ characterize elements of mediation as a way of managing

conflict. ☺ employ mediation in a given scenario to manage conflict

in the workplace.




(Section 3) HighPoints – Resolving Conflict.

☺ recognize the benefits of resolving conflict. ☺ establish common goals as a method of managing

conflict in a given workplace situation. ☺ characterize the qualities of effective communication

to resolve conflict. ☺ use communication to resolve conflict in a given

workplace situation. ☺ utilize structural methods to manage conflict in the

workplace in a given scenario.




Dealing with Conflict in the Workplace – Conclusion.

☺ At this point you should be able to be familiar with the following: exhibiting a healthy attitude toward conflict. creating a collaborative culture. encouraging effective argument and challenge. coercing compliance. arbitrating to resolve conflict. mediating a solution. adopting a long-term approach to resolving

conflict.




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Dealing with Conflict in the Workplace

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