Managing Conflict

Conflict management refers to the long-term management of how people deal with conflicts. It is the label for the variety of ways by which people handle disagreements and grievances — standing up for what they consider to be right and against what they consider to be wrong. Which forms of conflict management will be used in any given situation can be influenced by helping people develop awareness and skills to deal with current and future conflicts as they arise.

Conflict management is not the same as conflict resolution. The latter — conflict resolution — refers to resolving or reaching closure on a specific dispute to the approval of one or both parties, whereas the former — conflict management — concerns an ongoing process that may never have a resolution.

Typical presenting issues that suggest Managing Conflict should be explored:

• Interpersonal conflicts that escalate or drag on and create workplace disruption
• Team conflicts that get in the way of the work of the team
• Cliques or ‘camps’ of coworkers – workplace social divisions
• Patterns of people not discussing issues, avoiding conflicts that need to be addressed, talking about but not to people they’re annoyed with
• Strained silences, office tension, uncomfortable climate
• Patterns of complaints or grievances about respect, trust, communication, fairness, style, expectations, status