Conflict Handling Styles

From the “Conflict Handling Styles” exercise, determine the styles with which you are most comfortable and discuss how these style preferences would most likely impact leadership and team behaviors of a team you manage (or expect to manage in the future). Include discussion on the pros and cons of your preferences.

The collaborating style is the one I feel most comfortable with and the one which is most versatile in my mind. The collaborating style involves getting all parties together to resolve the conflict such that each party is satisfied with the result. In this style, everyone has a voice, goals of each party are clearly heard, and relationships are preserved, possibly even strengthened, through the conflict. A relatively recent development in American businesses is the quality movement. Modeled after Edward Deming’s management approach, it seeks to involve workers at all levels in the company in defining efficient business processes. Quality action teams are formed whenever a problem needs to be solved. Each team is led by a facilitator who keeps the group focused on problem resolution. This cross-departmental approach to problem resolution can be an effective way to define new processes or fix broken ones with a high degree of consensus at implementation time. This is a good example of the collaborating style of managing conflicts.

The collaborating style takes time to plan and execute. It requires that the parties stay focused on one another’s respective goals and interests. The parties must be kept from attacking each other personally. Progress must be highlighted to the group to encourage them to continue. Collaboration requires a heavy investment of thought and time. Success in the collaborative approach will yield a group of people who are willing to implement the agreement, who are closer to one another than before, and whose goals have each been met.

Of all the styles, collaboration is the one which will consistently yield the best results. It...