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Conflict Management Introduction Conflict is inevitable in business situations. At times conflict can cause discord that gets in the way of a team reaching its goals. But conflict is not always bad. When conflict is addressed and dealt with, it can lead to growth and a higher level of goal attainment. If conflicts do occur, it's important that they be recognized early and handled promptly for the team to function at its highest level. It's also important, however, to realize that disagreements among team members are not in and of themselves conflict, and are vital in getting different opinions and information and helping the group to make better choices. Dealing with conflict up front leads to open communication, conscious cooperation among team members, and increased productivity! Having an understanding about how people deal with conflict can make managing and resolving conflict a little easier. Everyone uses a variety of styles in conflict situations. When looking at conflict resolution, the persons involved, the importance of the issue, emotional states, and desired outcomes may all come into play. Everyone uses, to some degree, the five styles below when dealing with conflict. Five Conflict Handling Modes 1. Avoiding - When team members avoid conflict, they often withdraw and detach themselves from the issue. When avoiding conflict, team members are not willing to assert their own wants nor are they willing to work with other members of the team to move toward reaching others’ wants. 2. Accommodating - When team members accommodate others to avoid conflict, they will do whatever they can to help the other person get what they want, often to their own detriment. They give in to demands, even unreasonable ones, to avoid disagreement. 3. Competing - When team members compete to "be right," their primary interest is in resolving the conflict their way. They have no interest in helping others get what they want. They become very defensive of their position and have difficulty understanding the reasons others don't see things their way.
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