Types of Conflict Essay Example for Free

Types of Conflict EssayConflict in business meetings usually falls into two categories 1. Real schoolmaster differences Conflict can arise from very real differences in professional opinions. In many incases, these differences dont develop into open encroach. But scrap is more believably when the extinctcome is extremely important, when the decision being made is irralwayssible, or when the impact of making the wrong decision volition reflect badly on those involved. When this typecast of conflict is left unresolved, it can rapidly spoil relationships.2. Power struggles and personality issues Conflict can arise when individuals or groups dislike one-another, or feel that their positions are being threatened. This type of conflict tends to be more approximately peoples personalities than about facts or decisions being made. The techniques rise discuss below still yield, but you whitethorn also need to resolve the underlying problem. For more on this, see our article s on Conflict Resolution (in particular, Thomas and Kilmanns conflict styles) and on Resolving aggroup Conflict.Reducing the Opportunity for ConflictThe best defenses against conflict often involve preparing thoroughly before the meeting, and chairing strongly during the meeting. If you develop a reputation for running tightly structured meetings, theres less chance that individuals who attend those meetings will try to pursue their own agendas. See Running Effective Meetings for practical tips on how to do this. load out the agenda in advance, and when the meeting begins, take on the group to agree to it. Then follow your agenda closely, but dont be overly rigid. If a conflict arises, a good agenda feeds it easier to recognize that the group is leaving off course. If people agree to the meetings goals, interruptions that lead to conflict arent as likely to occur.You should also be alert for meetings where the atmosphere and dynamics of the people involved make it more likely fo r conflict to arise. These include gatherings where known troublemakers individuals or groups with ahistory of causing conflict are present. They also include meetings of new teams that have reached the storming stage of their team development when individuals begin to struggle for influence, but the team hasnt yet ceremonious effective ways of doing. Read more about this in Forming, Storming, Norming, Performing.In these situations, state the meeting rules in advance. For example, meeting rules might be as follows Individuals will be allowed to speak after raising their hands and only one person may speak at a time. The chair may summarize what has been said to make sure everyone understands. Everyone will be invited to contribute, so that one person cannot take over the raillery.As chair, you must be firm about managing and enforcing these rules If the team needs to make decisions, you may also want to establish the decision making process, and ask all participants to a gree to this.Gaining Benefits from ConflictHave you ever attended a meeting in which a conflict probably the real professional disagreement type was successfully resolved? If so, you can apprise the benefits of working through your differences to a satisfactory conclusion.Conflict is not, therefore, slightlything you need to avoid at all costs. In fact, conflict can several(prenominal)times be the quickest and best way to make creative progress. You certainly dont want everyone automatically to say yes to everything without proper discussionSpotting Potential Conflicts EarlyOne key out to spotting the first signs of conflict is watching body language. If the conflict is mostly due to professional differences, rather than personality differences, the sooner you allow people to make their points, the better. Make sure that people have the opportunity to express disagreement as soon a possible, so that issues can be resolved and the discussion can proceed on a correct basis.How d o you know if someone is frustrated? Look for these signs Making facial expressions of amazement or disagreement, much(prenominal) as shaking the head or rolling the eyes. The person may also fidget, or move around in a restless or nervous manner. Looking at other people to see if anyone elses body language or facial expressions reveal their disagreement with the speaker. Whispering or typography notes to another person. This may indicate that the frustrated person is checking on his or her position or trying to gather support for a confrontation. This can apply to both types of conflict. Staring, possibly in an intimidating way, at the speaker or potential target of confrontation.When you spot the signs of conflict brewing, use the resolution approaches set out in the next section proactively rather than reactively. And nipping the problem in the bud is usually better, because then no one will have to exist with the memory of what was said at THAT meeting.Resolving ConflictS o, what if you follow these suggestions, and an unexpected conflict still occurs? What do you do then? here(predicate) are some approaches and techniques you can use.DepersonalizationThis involves wording issues so that they tension on what one party doesnt like rather than the person who is proposing the unpalatable option. How does this work in perform? Lets going back to our earlier example Well, I can see your arguments for appointing Alison. But I just think James would be better, and youre not going to convince me otherwise.As a leader, you need to pick this up and rephrase the statement So what youre saying is that while Alison clearly has strengths, James strengths may well be more important.From here, you can move the discussion into an objective analysis of the relative importance of different qualities.QuestioningAnother approach is to switch your teams focus from conflict to research. Encourage people to provide information, rather than state that theyre angry or disa gree with something. To achieve this, use some carefully phrased questions. Dont just ask yes-or-no questions try to clarify what people are thinking. Ask for specific examples, and perhaps suggestions for how the disagreeable idea would need to be changed to make it acceptable to them. In some cases, the alterations they want may be quite small.When a conflict arises in a meeting, you, as the chair need to take control. Dont let others start wade in to the conflict by interrupting you or the speakers.Remove or Reduce the Perceived ThreatA key cause of anger or conflict is that people may perceive that they, or things they hold dear, are threatened. Perhaps they feel that something being discussed threatens their reputation, judgment, chances of leading a successful project, or chances of getting a bonus. Or perhaps they perceive a threat to a project theyve worked hard to promote, or believe in strongly.There are two split to this the perception of threat, and the threat itself. This is where you need to explore the issue and fully understand what it is. Its possible that the perception may be wrong perhaps based on faulty or incomplete information. Here you need to supply the correct information. Or it may be that the perception is correct, and the person is right to feel threatened. Here you need to address the situation.Another thing you can do is make sure that you clear up unknowns, because the unknown is often treated as a threat. Going back again to our example of the Alison vs James hiring decision, you might ask the supporters of each to talk about what benefits their non-preferred candidate would bring to the team, and what areas for development theyd need to work on.Take Things Off LineThere are times when you cant resolve a situation in a meeting this is particularly the case where problems involve sensitive personal issues, which shouldnt be discussed in public. In this case, youll need to acknowledge the disagreement, and arrange a specific m eeting to address the issue by and by on.