Within organizations, it is the manager who most often manages conflicts and who is most responsible for dealing with them. According to a 1996 report from Accountemps, bosses in U.S. companies are spending twice as much time settling employee disputes as they did a decade ago.
What does this mean to you? A need to understand and deal with conflict.
5 ways to manage conflict:
- Avoidance
- Competition
- Accommodation
- Compromise
- Collaboration
There are five ways of managing conflict, and each has its place.
There are many instances when a manager might chose to avoid conflict. For example, if the conflict is a flare-up between volatile persons who will soon forget the conflict, there is no point for the manager to get involved. Similarly, if the conflict is unimportant it may also be prudent to avoid it.The point is, sometimes avoidance is a good policy. (Sometimes in my family life, I will avoid a conflict if it appears that my spouse is tired or grouchy, for example.)
Often conflict cannot be avoided at which point we engage.