Conflict Management. All people have conflicts. And that's a fact. Any interaction between individuals entails the formation of contradictions that result in clashes. Conflict management reduces the negative impact of confrontations and resolves seemingly irreconcilable differences. Conflict management in a team should be considered from two sides: internal (individual) and external. The individual aspect includes managing one's own behavioral reactions during an adversarial interaction. It is psychological in nature. The external side of conflict management reflects the organizational and technical aspects of the management process. In this case, the subject of management can be a manager or an ordinary employee.
Conflict management in an organization
The activity of a boss or any other subject of conflict interaction management is characterized by a direct dependence on the general strategy of behavior towards which he is oriented.
Conflict management and conflict resolution require an understanding of the object of confrontation, the immediate cause, the composition of its participants and the degree of tension.
Three key strategies for conflict management can be distinguished: moral-legal or normative, realistic and idealistic strategies.
The goal of the first strategy is to resolve confrontation based on moral principles or on an administrative and legal basis. Participants refer to the legislative and ethical standards of behavioral response adopted in a given team, organization, or institution. The likelihood of a successful resolution of a confrontation directly depends on compliance by all parties involved with the appropriate standards of behavior and the general rules of interaction determined by them. If one of the participants in the confrontation does not comply with the rules of interaction or rejects them altogether, then persuasion or imposition by force of such rules of interaction through threats and sanctions that are legitimate is used.
Management of social conflicts, based on this strategy, is generally focused on peaceful confrontation, which occurs in accordance with certain rules. At the same time, adherence to norms and respect for these rules are more important in the final analysis than winning a collision.
Managing conflicts in a team in accordance with a realistic strategy is based on the understanding of the inevitability of confrontations due to the innate desire of the individual to dominate and possess scarce resources. This strategy in most cases is aimed at short-term resolution of the confrontation using various means suitable in a particular situation.
Conflicts in this strategy are considered as inevitable phenomena, since in any team there objectively exists a subject of management (that is, managers) and an object of management (that is, the managed). Universal equality is unattainable in principle. In any organization there is necessarily fertile ground for the emergence of conflicts, which does not allow achieving “universal peace” and constant trusting cooperation. That is why it is most effective and expedient to focus on a “truce” and short-term conflict resolution. A realistic strategy views confrontation as a zero-sum game, in other words, one participant's gain is equal to the other's loss.
The process of conflict management through an idealistic strategy is aimed at finding common goals and new values that eliminate the significance of previous values that served as a source of confrontation, and in addition, at uniting participants in order to achieve new values. This strategy provides for the victory of all participants in the confrontation as a result of its resolution. Moreover, confrontation is considered as a game with a positive payoff. By resolving the problematic situation that is the foundation of the conflict, all parties will benefit. The implementation of the described strategy transforms the relationships of the participants into a conflict-free plane. In other words, it either completely eliminates the source of confrontation or minimizes its significance, forming a new scale of values and tasks, thanks to which the source of confrontation loses its former significance for the “warring” parties. The variety of tasks, means and ways of resolving contradictions often contributes to obtaining a positive result. However, first of all, everything depends on the existing hierarchy of needs of the opposing side.
The success of the described strategy is directly related to the culture of the individual and the individual significance of altruistic values for him.
Conflicts in the management system are a frequent and quite common occurrence. The emergence of confrontations is due to human imperfection and anomalies in social life.
Many studies by representatives of different scientific fields, in particular, social psychology, theory and psychology of management, are devoted to the problems of conflict interaction and confrontation in the management system. Close attention to this phenomenon is due to the influence of clashes and contradictions on social success, personal well-being of individuals involved in the confrontation, and in general on the productivity of the enterprise.
In organizations, the way conflict is managed may depend on the presence of hidden factors that can give rise to confrontation. Therefore, first of all, before choosing one or another strategy for managing contradictions, it is necessary to analyze the interests of the parties, their desires and positions, since 80% of the causes of conflicts are hidden behind interests.
2.4. Personal receptions
This group focuses on the leader's ability to actively confront conflict, which means the following:
- the use of force, rewards and punishment directly against the parties to the conflict;
— changing the conflict motivation of employees by influencing their needs and interests using administrative methods;
— persuasion of the parties to the conflict;
— changing the composition of the participants in the conflict and the system of their interaction by moving people within the organization, dismissal or introduction into voluntary guardianship;
— the supervisor’s entry into the conflict as an expert or arbiter and the search for an agreement through joint negotiations;
Conflict and stress management
Conflictologists and sociologists distinguish two key approaches to confrontation. According to one direction, conflict is a clash of goals and interests, contradiction, competition over limited resources and opposition. The roots of this approach are laid by the sociological concept of T. Parsons, the main idea of which is to achieve a balance of organizational structures. Within the framework of another approach, the proponents of which were L. Coder and G. Simmel, conflict is defined as the process of formation of interaction. This process has a number of invaluable advantages from the point of view of the organization's progress.
From here we can derive a definition: conflicts are a collision of polar goals, objectives, interests, beliefs, views of two or more individuals.
Specific features of confrontation are identified: conflicting views of the parties on a problematic issue, opposing goals and desires, differences in means of solving problems and achieving goals.
Conflicts in the management system are divided into: functional clash and dysfunctional confrontation. The former ensure to a greater extent the implementation of the principle of necessary diversity, contribute to finding a larger number of promising alternatives, make the decision-making operation of the team more effective, ensure the self-realization of the individual, and generally lead to an increase in the productivity of the organization.
The latter do not lead to achieving the goals of the team and satisfying the needs of the individual.
Methods for managing conflicts depend on their types. There are four main types of confrontations, namely: conflicts occurring within an individual and between individuals, clashes occurring between individuals and a group, and intergroup confrontation.
In order for the work of a bull organization to be effective and productive, it is necessary to know the types of conflict management. Because contradictions, if not regulated, have a negative impact on the functioning of the organization as a whole. In addition, excessive stress also negatively affects the productivity of an enterprise. Therefore, the task of a manager is not only to manage the team and the enterprise, but also to neutralize the negative consequences of conflicts and stress.
Stress is a state of increased tension that arises in an individual due to the influence of intense influences. Minor stress is inevitable, but it is harmless. Only excessive stress causes problems for individuals, and therefore for organizations as a whole. For example, due to the accumulation of stress, a person’s well-being decreases, and subsequently, labor efficiency. In addition, life expectancy and performance decreases.
Stress combines excessive tension of a psychological and physiological nature. The physiological response to constant stress is often the appearance of duodenal ulcers, hypertension, heart pain, asthma, and constant headaches. Psychological signs of chronic stress can include: increased irritability, decreased appetite, and depression.
A stressful state is caused by two groups of factors: organizational and personal. The first group includes the following reasons:
- insignificant workload or, on the contrary, overload;
- clash of roles, for example, due to the presentation of conflicting demands;
- role ambiguity - appears when an employee does not understand the requirements and does not know what actions are expected of him;
- uninteresting work.
The second includes various life events, such as: the death of a loved one, divorce, long-term illness, marriage, etc.
Conflict and stress management must occur at two levels simultaneously. That is, both employees and their managers must manage the process of increasing stress resistance and resolving contradictions in the team.
Rational use of personal time helps to reduce or completely avoid stress. For example, highlighting professional tasks and personal goals, delegating tasks and powers, emphasizing work priorities. In addition, it is recommended to develop the ability to present arguments to the manager in favor of one’s own position regarding personal workload, work content, and conflicting requirements. It is also important to be able to rest and fully restore strength. Resistance to stress increases by taking vitamins and herbal medicines, sports, and good nutrition.
The process of conflict management directly affects its role in the team, that is, whether it will be functional or not. And in order to effectively manage it, you need to know the causes, components of the conflict, their types and ways to resolve confrontation situations.
The following components can be distinguished in the confrontation:
— participants (opposing parties) with their divergent tasks;
— intermediaries (optional component);
— object (that is, the subject of confrontation);
— a pre-conflict situation (that is, this is an opportunity for confrontation, but not the confrontation itself);
— incident;
— conflicting actions of participants;
— conflict phase;
— measures to resolve the current conflict situation;
- end of the conflict.
It should be understood that the degree of sufficiency and necessity of each of the listed components is different. For example, the opposing parties are a necessary component, and the mediator may not always be present. A pre-conflict situation is always observed, regardless of its duration. It is believed that the conflict itself begins with a pre-conflict situation, reinforced by an incident. Without an incident, a pre-conflict situation often does not transform into a confrontation.
Effective management of conflicts and stress is carried out in the following sequence:
— study of the factors that provoked the development of the conflict;
— limiting the number of opponents;
— analysis of a conflict situation;
- resolution of confrontation.
Conflict management in an organization can be briefly represented by the following methods: structural and interpersonal.
The first are associated with the use of transformation of the organizational structure to resolve problematic situations that have previously developed. Their goal is to reduce the intensity of the conflict and prevent its escalation. There are four structural methods:
— explanation of the requirements for professional activities;
— integration and coordination mechanisms (hierarchy of powers, in other words, an appeal to the head of both conflicting parties so that he makes the final decision);
— organization-wide comprehensive goals, that is, to direct the efforts of all parties involved to solve a single problem of the organization;
- an adequate structure of the reward system helps individuals understand how they should behave in a confrontation situation so that their behavior meets the desires of management.
Interpersonal methods represent the choice of a specific behavioral style. This choice must be made taking into account one's own behavioral style and the styles of all parties involved.
The behavioral style of any individual in a conflict is determined by: the degree of satisfaction of one’s own aspirations, the activity of actions or passivity, the degree of satisfaction of the desires of the other party, joint or individual actions.
Conflict management in an organization briefly implies the following areas: monitoring the social environment, a positive position, assessing favorable conditions and negative factors, and their revaluation.
2.5. Negotiation
Of all the ways to overcome confrontation between the parties, negotiations between them are the most effective. They are characterized by the fact that the parties try to achieve at least part of what they want and take on certain obligations. In order for negotiations to be possible, certain conditions must be met:
— interdependence of the parties to the conflict;
— lack of significant differences in power among the subjects of the conflict;
— correspondence of the stage of development of the conflict to the possibilities of negotiations;
— participation in negotiations of those parties who can actually make decisions in the current situation.
Properly organized negotiations go through several stages:
1) preparation for the start of negotiations. Before starting negotiations, it is necessary to diagnose the state of affairs, determine the strengths and weaknesses of the parties to the conflict, predict the balance of power, clearly formulate your goal and possible results of participation in the negotiations, resolve procedural issues: Where is the best place to negotiate, what kind of situation is expected, is good relations with the enemy important? in future. According to many researchers, the success of all activities depends 50% on this correctly organized stage, and the lack of information leads to suspicion and mistrust of the participants, that is, to a deepening of the conflict;
2) initial choice of position (official statements of the negotiators). This stage allows you to show your opponents that you know their interests and take them into account, determine the field of maneuver and try to leave as much space for them as possible. There are several possible tactics for starting negotiations:
- you can be aggressive in order to put pressure on your opponent, to suppress him;
— successful negotiations contribute to the establishment of relaxed personal relationships, the creation of a friendly atmosphere, and the demonstration of interdependence;
- small concessions can be used to achieve a mutually beneficial compromise;
- obtaining a small advantage contributes to the provision of new facts and the use of manipulations;
— simplicity of the procedure is achieved by joint search for information;
3) search for a mutually acceptable solution, psychological struggle. At this stage, the parties test each other’s capabilities, trying in every possible way to seize the initiative. Opponents come up with facts that are beneficial only to them, and claim that they have all sorts of options. The goal of each participant is to maintain balance or a slight advantage. The mediator's task at this stage is to direct the negotiations towards finding specific proposals. In the event that negotiations begin to dramatically affect one of the parties, the mediator of the new party must find a way out of the situation;
4) completion of negotiations or exit from stagnation. There are already a significant number of different proposals and options for this stage, but agreement on them has not yet been reached. Time begins to run out, tension increases, and some decision needs to be made. A few last-ditch concessions by both sides could have saved the whole thing. But here it is important that the parties to the conflict clearly remember which concessions do not affect the achievement of their main goal, and which ones nullify all previous work. The mediator, using the power given to him, resolves final disagreements and leads the parties to a compromise.
Humanity has accumulated vast experience in negotiations. In recent decades, a number of rules and procedures for their implementation have been defined. The parties to the negotiations, the direct participants, the topic, channels of mutual communication, and information are determined. It was noted that there are difficulties in establishing criteria for assessing both the progress and the results of the negotiations. In general, the behavior of the participants largely depends on the situation, as well as on their educational and cultural level, will and other personal characteristics.
Conflict Management Techniques
When the potential gain seems greater to the parties involved in the confrontation than the expected losses, then the conflict occurs, as a result of which there is a need to manage it. The consequences of confrontation situations will be more functional the more effective conflict management and conflict resolution are. In addition, the possibility of the emergence of future conflicts depends on the adequacy and success of methods for managing contradictions in a team. In other words, by managing conflicts, you can either eliminate the causes that provoked them, or create new ones.
The most famous in foreign conflictology are the tactical methods of managing the conflict process proposed by K. Thomas:
- avoiding conflict - denying the existence of a problem situation, delaying the resolution of a problematic issue (used if the cost of a potential conflict is very high, there are more important circumstances, there has been a cooling of emerging passions, one side is afraid of the opposing side, the time for confrontation is bad);
- the method of inaction - a variation of the previous method - consists in the complete absence of any calculations or actions;
- concessions and adaptation, for example, the administration gives in, thereby reducing its claims (used if management discovers its own mistake, if it is more profitable for it to listen to the positions of the opposite party, if it is more important to satisfy the claims of the other party for the sake of future productive activity);
— smoothing – used in enterprises aimed at collective means of interaction;
- the method of hidden actions is used when conflict resolution involves the use of hidden means of control, for example, due to a combination of socio-psychological or political-economic circumstances that make open confrontation impossible, reluctance to openly conflict due to fear of losing image, lack of resource parity or power equality of participants colliding with each other;
— the “quick decision” method is used when there is a shortage of time to make a decision, the desire of both parties to participate in the search for optimal agreements, and the absence of a clear aggravation of the situation of confrontation, that is, there is no need to carefully analyze decisions;
- compromise - taking both sides a middle position within the existing disagreements and areas of problems;
— cooperation is about focusing on resolving the situation, focusing on common information and ideas rather than differences, searching for integrated solutions, finding alternatives that allow both participants to benefit;
— the method of force consists in the desire of one subject to impose his own decision on another.
Alternative dispute resolution methods
Resolving a conflict situation through litigation is far from ideal - the legal system is heavy and cumbersome, expensive and time-consuming. The result does not bring mutual reconciliation and does not take into account the interests of both parties.
That is why an alternative solution is becoming increasingly popular. This is a technique for resolving a situation through negotiations - it includes friendly, arbitration, arbitration and other courts, which are based on mediation.
Mediation as a method of conflict resolution is the settlement of disagreements with the help of a neutral mediator. This technique has proven itself well, since an independent mediator works to find a solution acceptable to all parties to the conflict, and not to clarify the question of who is right and who is wrong.
Conflict management involves the use of knowledge, skills, methods and methods to keep the confrontation of interests that has arisen at a level that is safe for all types of relationships, as well as the subsequent resolution of the problem taking into account the interests of all parties involved.
Conflict situation with a client
Let's consider another interesting situation. A 25-year-old guy named Andrey approached me.
The company where he worked signed a contract to carry out work on SEO promotion of the site. The project manager on the customer’s side was Andrey’s acquaintance, who bullied him as a child. Having transferred that moment to “modern rails,” he in every possible way interfered with the normal work process. In conclusion, he stated that he did not want to sign the work completion certificate until Andrei completed one more task.
The whole piquancy of the situation lies in the fact that Andrei’s memory contains scenes of conflicts from the past. He needs to put this aside and try to concentrate on the main thing.
To do this you need:
- talk harshly with the offender and put him in a businesslike mood;
- cite penalties from the contract as arguments;
- make it clear that he is not going to be altruistic.
Seeing such an attitude, the project manager will immediately change his behavior and communicate normally.
How to learn this?
Continuing the conversation about innate and acquired skills, it is important to say that from birth a person does not have any knowledge. Any information is absorbed by a person over time
Skills develop in a similar way. If a person has a predisposition to something, in our case, to function competently in conflict situations, with practice his skills will be honed and will be useful in life. But if a person does not have such a predisposition, he has to learn solely by trial and error. But the main thing is to learn, because, as the famous proverb says: “It’s hard to learn, it’s easy to fight.” Moreover, a person has an amazing ability to learn anything, naturally, with effort. You can learn in two ways: by studying theory and applying knowledge in practice.
- Conflictology in theory is information that you can find in books, textbooks, get from other people and from other sources;
- Conflictology in practice is the use of received information in real life.
However, situations when a person does not go beyond theory are no exception. Yes, he has information, but it does not bring him any benefit. And this is not because the information is of poor quality or useless, but because, as a rule, he simply does not know in what direction to direct his efforts so that something starts to work out.
Taking this nuance into account, we developed our training. Its goal is not just to introduce the reader to a powerful theoretical base, but to bring to his consciousness the idea of its practical application, to teach him how to use it in his life.
Keep in mind that our conflict management training has both theoretical and practical aspects. The theoretical part will introduce you to the basics of conflict management and answer the most common questions within the framework of the topic under consideration. And the practical part contains valuable tips, tricks and methods that you will apply. Moreover, both theory and practice are supplemented with simple illustrative examples in order to eliminate the factor of misunderstanding.
Want to test your knowledge?
If you want to test your theoretical knowledge on the topic of the course and understand how suitable it is for you, you can take our test. For each question, only 1 option can be correct. After you select one of the options, the system automatically moves on to the next question.
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Additional materials
As additional materials for our training, we decided to use books and articles devoted to the topic we are considering.
Books on conflictology
Books on conflictology are an excellent source of both basic and additional information about conflicts and everything connected with them. As a rule, their authors are authoritative experts in the field. Using these books, you can deeply immerse yourself in a detailed study of conflictology, glean the missing information and get answers to all your questions.
On our website there is a small selection of books with a small description and summary, which you can see on this page:
- Psychology of conflict (2nd ed.). Grishina N.V.
- Reader on conflictology. Antsupov A. Ya., Shipilov A.
- Workshop on conflict management. Emelyanov S. M.
- Introduction to conflictology. Kozyrev G. I.
- Conflictology: textbook. Kibanov A. Ya.
Articles on conflictology
Articles on conflictology are unique collections of information related to conflicts. Articles, of course, are not as voluminous as books, but in many cases they represent the quintessence of a large amount of data, the study of which may require months of painstaking work. In the articles you will find both now classic points of view on the problem of conflict, and the opinions of modern experts, corresponding to the latest trends in science and social life.
- 7 effective strategies for dealing with conflict
- Conflict resolution strategy: how to get what you want
- How not to give in to provocations and avoid conflicts
- Pezeshkian positive psychotherapy
- And other materials in the section of our blog “Leadership and Relationships”
Practice - preliminary preparation
1. Take several past conflict situations that are significant to you and go through all 7 points. Determine your positions, desires, behavior, your personal scenarios and conflict management styles, weak areas. Analyze the tensions that arise - their localization, accompanying emotional reactions, causes in character.
2. Strengthen your faith in yourself and the whole/God/Tao. Increase inner stability, lightness and grounding.
3. Develop constructive positive thinking and independence. This will dramatically reduce the amount of empty and self-created complications in life.
Since conflict is largely an energetic, mental and political/economic confrontation, the winner is, first of all, the one who is more trained, prepared and persistent, using noble methods of conducting conflict. The need for regular training, increasing endurance and the general level of physical development are obvious in martial arts, but there, in parallel with combat skills, they also hone the moral and psychological aspect of the fighter’s strength and personality.
