Five Approaches for Managing Conflict

by Ivan Lasater Author

Wherever there are people working together, there is bound to be conflict. Executive Operations Manager, Ivan Lasater discusses five approaches for managing conflict.

Five Styles of Approaching Conflict

Typically, when there is conflict in the workplace or anywhere else in life for that matter, the potential outcome of managing conflict will result in a win-win, win-lose, or a lose-lose situation. The way you choose to approach the conflict will have a great deal of impact on how the situation is resolved. It’s good in this case to give several types of examples, both positive and negative, to portray a clear depiction of possible outcomes.

The Neutral Party

· The Neutral Party approaches conflict with the attitude that they are not really needed to help resolve the conflict at all. They actually feel like if they kept out of the situation, the conflict would resolve itself. This can be a problem. If the responsible party in mediating and managing conflict suddenly decides that they should have no hand in helping to resolve it, than there is no independent party to help maintain an objective view of the situation. If this person is a manager than they actually have a responsibility to protect the office morale and encourage peaceful and equitable resolution between the conflicting parties. This type of approach often results in a win-lose or lose-lose outcome.

The Middle Man

· The middle man approaches conflict with the purpose of helping those in conflict to see each other’s perspectives. He encourages all the parties to work with one another to come up with a win-win outcome. The middle man approach is sometimes more about finding compromise and reaching an agreement than it is about dissecting the issue. A compromiser has a special responsibility to steer the people in conflict towards a positive outcome and will take the necessary time to give their best shot at it. But sometimes a middle man might be willing to settle for a lose-lose outcome just reach a resolve on both sides but a middle man with a clear vision of how all the parties can stand to benefit through the compromise should be unwilling to settle for anything but win-win.

The Mediator

· The mediator is probably the ideal way of approaching conflict resolution and achieving a win-win result. The mediator is good at conflict resolution and approaches it with confidence and a clear plan to strive for a positive outcome. The mediator will encourage both sides to express themselves and address the important issues. The mediator is focused on allowing all the people involved with the conflict to come up with viable solutions and encourages personal responsibility from all parties. Even though the mediator encourages active participation, they must have a firm grasp on the situation and remain composed and in control.

The Super Optimist

· This is the style of conflict management that everyone would like to take but isn’t necessarily the most constructive approach to conflict resolution. The super optimist has a rose colored view of the situation and believes that the conflict can be resolved if everyone were just in a good mood. The super optimist often times neglects to allow everyone involved with the conflict freely voice their feeling and the consequence of this is that the conflict goes unresolved or all the issues aren’t addressed. The Super Optimist means but clearly doesn’t have a grasp on the effective way to deal with the conflict in order to push for a win-win resolution. The result is usually a win-lose or lose-lose resolution.

The Go-Getter

· The go-getter has a hard time with the concept of working together. The go-getter is in such a hurry to reach a resolution that they will neglect to work towards a win-win resolution. They are willing to settle for a lose-lose or a win-lose just for the sake of getting back to work and being productive. This may be a competitive type person or just someone who isn’t concerned with the need to work towards a win-win resolution. This could also be a party that feels like they have no need to be neutral and they may favor one or more of the people involved over others. Choosing sides can be a critical mistake when mediating a conflict.

Summary

There are many different ways of approaching conflict. There are also many different outcomes to conflict resolution that depend primarily on which style you choose to incorporate. It is always preferable to work towards a win-win resolution. This can take a lot of experience in conflict management. It takes the skills to remain focused on a clear objective and to resolve conflict with each of the parties involved feeling like they came out having their needs and concerns addressed. Resolving conflict with a positive and equitable outcome helps to prevent future conflict and allows the parties involved to settle their conflict and continue being productive. These five approaches for managing conflict help us to anticipate the result of these individual approaches.