Conflict Resolution

Conflict Resolution

Throughout life people should consider developing integrated conflict management systems to prevent and resolve conflict and provide practical guidelines for designing and implementing such systems. The principles identified in this document can be used to manage external conflict with customers, clients and the public. Better understanding of people’s personality types is the first step in resolving conflict. Group participation is another area that deserves attention. Understanding the objective of the group will also help to strive towards a common goal, and help to dissolve conflict.

Personalities enter into play in all aspects of life, from the most innocent playground activity in kindergarten to corporate board meetings. Our personalities influence our choice of friends, our job choices and how much we succeed in those jobs and our lives. Personalities are as individual to each of us as our faces, probably more so. Identical twins can have the same face, but their personalities are always unique. We all know someone who is easy to get along with. Those are the people that have a lot of friends and always seem to be in a good mood. Everyone has had a friend or co-worker who is difficult or who always seems to be mad at someone. In a work setting most conversations about people revolve around personalities. Personalities are usually afforded equal standing as job knowledge or technical skills. For example; you will hear, “he’s a great worker but what a jerk to be around,” or, “she doesn’t really know her job very well, but she’s a really nice person.” Job performance is important but you will almost always here a personality qualifier. Everyone’s individual personality comes into play when people get together in groups. Throw in the stress of schoolwork, odd hours, and deadlines, and you have the potential for conflict. Conflict is detrimental to a group’s ability to work together. Although conflict can never be completely avoided, most personality differences can be worked around if you know how to identify them, understand how they affect the group and learn methods to avoid them. Thompson, Aranda, and Robbins (2001) write about two main types of conflict. The first type of conflict is; emotional conflict, or sometimes called A-type conflict. This conflict can threaten productivity. These personality types can take over a group. They bully the other members into accepting their point of view. They can be overbearing, or use anger to overwhelm any opposition to their ideas. They can be so opinionated that no one else has a chance to speak up or get their point across. The next type of conflict is; cognitive conflict, or sometimes called C-type conflict. This conflict usually revolves around the merits of ideas or plans. Although disagreement can occur, this type of conflict can be used to stimulate creativity. Looking at a problem from different