Handling Conflict with Others

Handling Conflict with Others

No one can complete a working career without experiencing conflict, so it is essential for you to handle this conflict in the most effective way.

To handle conflict well, you need to build up a repertoire of techniques.

These techniques require you to behave differently from your natural instincts at times.

Therefore, a good starting point is to establish what your instinctive approaches to conflict are, and where these attitudes stem from.

This will enable you to decide on a range of different approaches to conflict, based on a spectrum that goes from being only concerned about your own needs, to only being concerned about other people's needs.

This spectrum gives rise to five possible strategies for dealing with conflict.

Whatever strategy you apply, some core techniques will make you more effective.

These involve three main actions:

1.Confronting the conflict

2.Communicating with the other party

3.Determining an acceptable outcome.

Sometimes, the conflict in the workplace just surrounds you, even though you are not involved directly.

You then have to learn how to avoid taking sides, or becoming a scapegoat.