Conflict Resolution

Running head: CONFLICT RESOLUTION STRATEGY

Conflict Resolution Strategy

Running head: CONFLICT RESOLUTION STRATEGY

There are many different conflict strategies one can rely on when trying to resolve an issue. I am going to talk about several strategies that you can use and hopefully after reading this you will understand and implement your own strategies.

You must first be able to identify the problem before you can develop strategies to resolve the conflict. Once the problem has been identified then you can start working on ideas to resolve the issue or issues at hand.

There are two types of conflict that commonly arise when people are working on team projects. The first one is Affective Conflict. Affective Conflict is more likely to have a negative effect on the team and is more emotional. Typically, you hear personal attacks and that creates a very negative working environment for the team. Additionally, there can be a lack of interest in wanting to continue to work with the people in the group because of the attacks. Affective Conflict “has been shown to undermine team harmony.” (Amason & Sapienza, 1997) The second type of conflict is Cognitive Conflict. Cognitive Conflict is not as hostile as Affective Conflict. This conflict occurs when an idea is the focus of the conflict and not the person presenting the idea. There is a more communicative approach to this conflict. People are more open to suggestions, or willing to discuss the options without just shutting you out. There is a much more positive working environment within this conflict than in Affective conflicts. Cognitive Conflict “has been shown to facilitate better decision making and result in higher quality decisions.”(Schwenk & Cosier,1993,Kotlyar & Karakowsky,2007). The size of the team has often been seen as a link between the two conflicts. One sometimes also has to remember that having team members that do not always agree is sometimes more helpful to making a decision than not....