Conflict Styles and Conflict Management

Conflict is a universal part of human interaction. In today’s fast-changing, diverse workplace, conflicts—between managers and employees, with new employees, and within teams—arise daily. Although many people see conflict of any type as a threat to productivity and efficiency, resolving conflicts satisfactorily can actually strengthen your organization and improve results. Conflict occurs naturally when people work together. It is a part of the workplace and part of life. You can’t change that, but you can change the way you react and manage conflict when it occurs.

When conflict occurs, we have a preferred or automatic response that helps us achieve the outcome we want. This response is influenced by our preferred conflict style. We use it because either it tends to get us what we want or it prevents us from losing what we have. There are advantages and disadvantages to the different conflict styles, as they tend to work for us in some situations and against us in others.

The key to managing conflict is to understand our own and other people’s reactions during conflict and the different positions people assume when conflict continues without resolution. As our client, we work with you to develop an understanding of Conflict Styles and Personality Type, through which you can increase your ability to effectively manage and resolve conflict in all of your relationships.