• Unit 5: Conflict Resolution

    Conflict is a part of our daily lives. Consider the last time you disagreed with a co-worker during a meeting, faced a disgruntled customer, or expressed your dissatisfaction to a vendor. The views of our coworkers and employees rarely align 100 percent of the time. When voiced in an angry or combative way, conflict can damage an organization and destroy interpersonal relationships.

    However, when managed properly, conflict can be a valuable tool that generates a tremendously positive influence in a business and personal environment. When resolved effectively, functional conflict can provide an opportunity for us to learn about, and engage in, new and exciting opinions and ideas, generate deeper understanding, and help us enhance and strengthen our personal and professional relationships. In this unit, we explore some alternatives to the potential lose-lose outcome of conflict. You will become familiar with ways to diagnose conflict and apply new strategies for solving the problems associated with conflict.

    Completing this unit should take you approximately 11 hours to complete.

    • Upon successful completion of this unit, the student will be able to:

      • identify and employ effective communication, problem-solving, and influence techniques appropriate to a given situation;
      • diagnose negotiating problems; and
      • describe new negotiation ideas and practices.

    • 5.1: Intra-Organizational Conflict

      • Teaching Open-Source Communities about Conflict Resolution Page

        This interview compares bad and good conflict resolution. Compassion and respect are at the heart of effective conflict resolution, and you should look deeper at a situation to discover why conflict occurs. Although many task-oriented people do not want to discuss their feelings and emotions, they should take the time to address underlying issues rather than avoid conflict.

      • Managing Conflict Page

        Read this article to learn that substantive and affective conflict can occur in intra-organizational (within the organization) and inter-organizational (among two or more organizations) situations. How does substantive conflict contrast with affective conflict?

      • Understanding Conflict Page

        This article discusses three types of conflict: intrapersonal, interpersonal, and intergroup. Although a moderate level of conflict (task conflict, for example) may be beneficial, personal conflicts are never healthy because they cause stress and distress, which undermines performance. Complete the exercises at the end to practice.

    • 5.2: Mediation

      • Mediation Page

        Mediation is relatively inexpensive, fast, and confidential. A downside to this method of alternative dispute resolution (ADR) may be that mediation relies on the parties' willingness to participate and on the skill of the mediator. The description of mediation has traditionally been focused on presenting the problem of the parties. The mediator looks at the conflict as a solvable problem. The objective is similar to a win-win negotiation, where the goal is to have both parties' interests met. In problem-solving mediation, success for the mediator is to have a resolution of the dispute. In transformative mediation, the mediator's goal is to increase each party's empowerment and recognition of each other rather than a one-time settlement of the dispute.

      • Transformative Mediation Page

        Conflict tends to destabilize each party's experience of themselves and others so that each party feels both more vulnerable and more self-absorbed than they did before the conflict. According to the transformative theory, people can regain their footing and shift back to a restored sense of strength or self-confidence. This outcome matters most to the parties in conflict. A transformative mediator will view empowerment and recognition as successful outcomes for the parties. How would you compare and contrast the objective of traditional mediation with that of transformative mediation?

    • 5.3: Arbitration

      • Arbitration Page

        Arbitration is another alternative dispute resolution that differs in its process and function from mediation. In arbitration, a third party reviews evidence in a dispute and makes a legally-binding decision for all involved. Arbitration can be used to resolve international, commercial, investment, and interstate conflicts. You will learn about the advantages and limitations of this type of ADR and how arbitration was used historically to settle boundary disputes.

      • Arbitrating and Mediating Disputes File

        Read pages 3–5 (Introduction, Context, and Importance), page 7 (AMD Results), and page 23 (Conclusion). This paper describes foreign investors' need to have assurances that disputes in other countries are settled fairly and promptly. Unfortunately, there is great inconsistency among global economies regarding policy and best practices. There are several opportunities for improvement, including greater flexibility in domestic arbitration regimes, reduction of the length of arbitration proceedings in many parts of the world, and specialized courts with the capacity and experience to deal with commercial arbitral awards. Significantly, many economies have acceded to the New York Convention to recognize and enforce arbitral awards.

    • Unit 5 Assessment

      • Unit 5 Assessment Quiz
        Receive a grade

        Take this assessment to see how well you understood this unit.

        • This assessment does not count towards your grade. It is just for practice!
        • You will see the correct answers when you submit your answers. Use this to help you study for the final exam!
        • You can take this assessment as many times as you want, whenever you want.