Conflict management consists of identifying and handling conflict efficiently and effectively. So you may ask; why exactly do we have to manage conflict in the first place? Well, “all men have an instinct for conflict: at least, all healthy men.” (Belloc, 1941) Furthermore, it is estimated that there are currently a staggering 6,955,425,064 people living in the world today. If 5% of the world population began disagreeing with one another tomorrow, and conflict management did not exist, I doubt we’d like to imagine the situation. Conflict management, however, should not be confused with conflict resolution. Conflict management involves strategies that help to minimize the dysfunctions of conflict as well as to bring out the constructive functions of conflict, whether or not it leads to a resolution. Some of these strategies include domination, compromise and accommodation.
Domination is used when a forceful approach in managing conflict is required. This is where one party pushes their own viewpoints regardless, or firmly resists all actions from an opposing party. This may be appropriate when less forceful methods are ineffective, when aggression and pressure needs to be resisted in order to stand up for something, or when force is justified in order to attain a quick resolution. An example of force being justified would be the recent riots in the United Kingdom, in which a large police force had to be mobilized in order to stop rioters who were damaging property and causing harm to innocent people. Domination can be advantageous in such situations as the resistance of one party in response to the aggression of another can possibly draw respect to the resisting party. Of course, a forceful approach can often end in negativity as well. Relationships may be temporarily as well as permanently affected. It could also erupt into a much bigger conflict if the aggressor resists the resistance.
The compromising approach involves looking for a mutually acceptable solution between conflicted parties. In theory, a mutually acceptable solution would be one that at least partially satisfies all the parties involved, in other words a win-win situation. However, some analysis has shown that compromise can also result in neither party being satisfied, a lose-lose situation, as they believe that they should have gotten more out of the compromise. In some situations though, one of which being when the cost of conflict is higher than the cost of losing ground, using compromise to manage the conflict may work better than other means.
The accommodative style of conflict management is necessary when peace is more valuable than winning. It involves one party willingly giving in to another party at the expense of their own needs. Researchers believe that accommodation is not a very universal style of conflict management. It can really only be utilized to the full extent when one party does not care at all about the outcome of the conflict, or when one party believes that keeping the peace is more important than “winning” the conflict. The problem with being accommodative however, is the tendency to become too accommodative. When the opposing party sees you as over accommodative, they could possibly exploit it in the future. It is because of this that some people feel that accommodation should be used sparingly and possibly even as a last resort.
There are of course, more ways to manage conflict aside from domination, compromise and accommodation. It really boils down to the type of conflict, the nature of the situation as well as the attitude of the conflicting parties when it comes to managing conflict. Conflict definitely cannot be avoided in this present world and everybody has to experience conflicts or conflictive views frequently. This is why conflicts have to be managed although different people may adopt or prefer differing styles of conflict management.
References:
Belloc, H. (1941). The Silence of the Sea. North Stratford, NH: Ayer Company Publishers.
U.S. Census Bureau. (2010). U.S & World Population Clocks. U.S Census Bureau. Retrieved on August 14, from http://www.census.gov/main/www/popclock.html.
Cedanet. (N.D.). The CEDA Meta-Profession Project. Cedanet. Retrieved on August 14, from http://www.cedanet.com/meta/conflict_management.htm.
Personality Explorer. (N.D.). Conflict Management Techniques. Personality Explorer. Retrieved on August 14, from http://www.personalityexplorer.com/home/FREEResources/ConflictManagementTechniques.aspx.
Mind Tools. (N.D.). Conflict Resolution. Mind Tools. Retrieved on August 16, from http://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newLDR_81.htm.
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