Conflict Styles in Negotiations

Now that you understand each conflict management style, work through this lesson about conflict that includes examples and sample problems. This will help you to determine what your initial response might be in a given conflict and what you might be able to improve upon when confronted with conflict. Complete each activity and read the sample conversations. Also, be sure to answer the related questions.

Conflict Management

Purpose

Conflict can have both positive and negative consequences. When conflict is not managed properly, it can be destructive and ruin relationships by creating some dissenting feelings. Unmanaged conflict can create feelings of opposition not only in the people directly experiencing the conflict, but also in people observing - or even hearing about - the conflict. However, when conflict is properly managed, it can be healthy. Learning to manage conflict is a necessary skill for all aspects of life.

There is not one single method for handling conflict. Each situation may call for a different method to manage it. Combining conflict management techniques, with good communication skills, facilitates effective conflict management.

In this tutorial, you will learn some reasons for conflict, why you should be concerned with managing disputes, and five conflict-handling modes. These skills will help you to manage and understand conflict in your everyday life, with friends and family, and with situations that may arise during school and/or work.
 

Goals and Objectives

Upon completion of this tutorial, you will be able to:

  1. list the reasons for conflict as demonstrated by personal reflections on possible sources of conflicts.
  2. demonstrate the importance of managing conflict by personally interpreting examples of conflict.
  3. distinguish the five modes of handling conflict by correctly identifying the conflict handling mode uses in a series of three scenarios.

Source: Penn State University, https://pennstatelearning.psu.edu/istudy_tutorials/conflictmanagement/
Creative Commons License This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 License.