PROFESSIONAL & BUSINESS COMMUNICATION

NAME: RASHMI SUKUMAR

COURSE: MBA (HM) 1ST SEMESTER
ENROLLMENT NO.: A27
FACULTY: DR. SURAJ NANDAKUMAR DHUMAL

MANAGING CONFLICTS
INTRODUCTION

Conflict management is the practice of being able to identify

and handle conflicts sensibly, fairly, and efficiently. Since
conflicts in a business are a natural part of the workplace, it is
important that there are people who understand conflicts and
know how to resolve them. This is important in today's market
more than ever. Everyone is striving to show how valuable they
are to the company they work for and at times, this can lead to
disputes with other members of the team.

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STYLES OF MANAGING CONFLICTS
Avoiding Style: This style aims to reduce conflict by ignoring it, removing the conflicted parties, or evading it in
some manner. Team members in conflict can be removed from the project they are in conflict over, deadlines are
pushed, or people are even reassigned to other departments
Pros: Avoidance can be appropriate when you need more time to think about the conflict and how to best
approach it.
Cons: When the avoidance style is used by a teammate, it can lead others to believe that might lack concern about
the issues creating conflict.

Competing Style: This style rejects compromise and involves not giving in to others’ viewpoints or wants.
Pros: A competing style can be effective during certain difficult situations, like in a crisis, when decisions need to
be made immediately.
Cons: A competitive style can be perceived as aggressive, confrontational and uncooperative. However, the
biggest drawback of a competing style is that it can cause harm to relationships – sometimes beyond repair.
Accommodating Style: Accommodation is for situations where you don’t care as strongly about the issue as the
other person, if prolonging the conflict is not worth your time, or if you think you might be wrong. This option is
about keeping the peace, not putting in more effort than the issue is worth, and knowing when to pick battles.
Pros: Accommodation can be useful to preserve relationships, especially if you want to minimize loss and
prioritize people.
Cons: If your teammate relies on the accommodating style too often, he or she can take on the role of a martyr, but
this can result in feelings of resentment and regret. This tactic can result in increased power imbalances.

Compromising Style: This style seeks to find the middle ground by asking both parties to concede some aspects
of their desires so that a solution can be agreed upon.

Pros: Compromise is typically seen as a good thing. Compromising shows concern for others. It’s also an approach
that can get to a resolution more quickly than other styles.
Cons: Compromising can limit the number of possible creative solutions. By always trying to be fair and
equitable, you might unintentionally be compromising the end result.

Collaborating Style: This style produces the best long-term results, at the same time it is often the most difficult
and time-consuming to reach.

Pros: This style helps build trust, respect, and relationships – all key for a healthy team.
Cons: Collaboration is time-consuming. For conflicts that do not directly involve team members, collaboration
may require too much effort.
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HOW TO MANAGE CONFLICTS
• Talk with the other person
• Focus on behavior and event, not on personalities
• Listen carefully
• Identify points of Agreement and Disagreements
• Prioritize the area of conflicts
• Develop a plan to work on each conflict
• Follow through with your plan
• Build on your success

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Summary

To be successful with this conflict management style, only use it as a temporary fix when time is of the
essence on difficult decisions. If not everyone is pleased with the solution, the issue should be readdressed
later so it can be further discussed.