Conflct Management

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RESOLVING CONFLICT
Each person's experience – sensory data, feeling, wants and actions – is different and unique. The potential for conflict exists in any of these areas. The way we handle conflict often strenghtens or damages relationships. Once a conflict arises, it moves toward 3 possible outcomes:

• disapperance – the issue goes away by itself as time passes
• impasse – partners get stuck and take no action
• resolution – closure on the conflict due to some action taken

SOME PRECESS USED IN CONFLICT RESOLUTION:

1. Avoidance – skirt around the issue, smooth over it, change the subject, ignore it all attemps to avoid the conflict
2. Persuasion – one person attempts to persuade the other to comply; a fight or impasse may result negavie feelings
3. Floating – partnes discuss and search for solutions but never find answers; no closure; endless table/no action.
4. Compromise – solution is reached through trade offs giving something to get something each gains and loses something the resolution may work but may not be satisfactory to both
5. Collaborate – goes beyond compromise; each person generates solutions that will benefit both parties; more satisfying results due to “both winning”

Steps to Resolving Conflict Collaboratively

1. Identify and define the issue
2. Contract to work through the issue
3. Understand the issue completely
4. Generate OPTIONS: BRAINSTORM – think openly and positively by generating actions you can actually take as the next step. Generate options without pausing to critique them.
5. Choose ACTIONS: Consider worst/best
6. Test the action plan
7. Evaluate the outcome