Conflict Management Strategies

Conflict is a disagreement that will occur between two parties or two individuals who feel threatened by the opposing parties’ or individuals opinions and feelings. Conflicts occur for a variety of reasons but they are an inevitable part of our lives because even the smallest things can spark a conflict. This is the reason why conflicts are an everyday occurrence. Often, the problem escalates and becomes too big to be resolved. When this occurs, there might even be a need for an entire relationship to dissolve which isn’t productive and should be an avoidable result. We might not be able to stop the conflict from occurring but we can gain knowledge of resolving it to prevent further and future damage. This is the reason for conflict management. Its sole purpose is to reduce or limit the negative aspects of conflict and bring about the positive ones. There are many various methods to solving conflict but ultimately they revolve around three main strategies which are avoidance, collaboration and compromise.

According to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the Thomas and Kilmann Conflict Mode Instrument (TKI) use of collaboration is an effective way of management conflict. When using this strategy, both conflicting parties are usually looking for a ‘win/win’ situation where both parties are looking to achieve their goals and maintain the relationship. This outcome is an effective and productive result which applies to everyone who comes into contact with conflict. This method best works when there is a high level of trust, when the people involved are willing to change their viewpoint as new information is brought up and new opinions are suggested. This style engages people to effectively listen, to face the situation head on without hostility, to evaluate the situation and to find the true nature of the problem. However this strategy can lead to one party taking advantage of the other since trust and openness are involved, one may easily manipulate the other. This process also takes a lot of time and energy.

When avoiding conflict, a natural outcome of this strategy is where neither party ‘wins’ nor ‘loses’. The dictionary defines avoidance as to keep away from or to prevent from happening. Both parties have a mutual desire to avoid addressing the problem. People who resolve to use this method usually do have common ground to do so. For some, the issue could be too small to let it damage the relationship that they would just avoid it. This also happens when the particular problem is less important when stacked up against more urgent matters that it is just easier to avoid it. Sometimes it is all a matter of power and how much control one has in the situation. When an individual or when one side of the party is in a position of lesser authority or power, the chances of getting the problem addressed and resolved is resoundingly low. Some may try to postpone the problem so it can be resolved at later date or simply just to reduce tensions.  According to the TKI, Rahim, and Kozan models, avoidance will lead to neither party getting their concerns met. In the decade between 1990 and 2000, one of Kozan’s Group Conflict Management models, the harmony model was not seen as an opportunity to find solutions to problems, but as a harmful state of affairs. When conflict does occur, it is often handled through mediation by third parties. After the millennium, Rahim’s methods appear to be the most ‘current’ of conflict management. Rahim’s model and the TKI method share the same view point. Both models believe that avoidance is appropriate when the issue is minor, when the potential effects of confronting the other party outweigh the benefits of resolution, and that a cooling off period is needed. However the TKI model believes that there are learning capabilities from using avoidance. Certain skills can be developed in this style such as using foresight in knowing when to withdraw, learn to sidestep loaded questions or sensitive areas by using diplomacy, become skillful at creating a sense of timing, and practice leaving things unresolved.

Lastly, people can use the compromising approach to managing conflict. In this method, not all concerns are met but both parties don’t walk away ‘empty-handed’. Merriam-Webster’s dictionary defines compromise as a settlement of differences by consent reached by mutual concessions. Both parties will usually have mutual goals that can be achieved for the benefit of both, but certain conflicting points of view will have to be foregone, sort of like winning something while losing a little. According to Rahim’s method of compromise, both parties must be equally powerful. If one was in a better standing then the other or had leverage over the other, it would result in a competing or accommodating view. Compromise is used when the goals are mutually exclusive and important, when an agreement cannot be reached, when the integrating or dominating style is not successful or when a temporary solution to a complex problem is needed. The TKI method shares the view that both parties must be equally powerful. However, it only produces temporary solutions and is used when time is a concern. People who excel at compromising are able to come out of it with great communication skills. Keeping an open dialogue is extremely important as both parties need to find a solution that is fair to both parties. It is an extremely effective use of conflict management as lack of it will lead to unnecessary confrontations, frequent power struggles, and ineffective negotiating.

To sum up, although there are many different strategies that can be applied to managing conflict, the three most effective ways appear to be avoiding, compromising and collaborating. Conflict isn’t something anyone would like to go through and yet it is still an unfortunate part of our everyday lives. As a rule of free will and a free thinking society, people will have their own views and opinions. Conflict will naturally show up when two individuals have opposing views and ideas. Maintain balance and peace in any group whether it be among friends, family members or even at work is crucial to life. And that’s what conflict management is all about, maintaining that balance. As Mahatma Gandhi once said, “Joy lies in the fight, in the attempt, in the suffering involved, not in the victory itself.”

Needs

What does the term ‘needs’ mean to the average person today, and how does it differ from one person to another?

A need or needs, by definition are what people require to survive and live. It is necessary and a necessity and shouldn’t be confused with wants which is just a human emotion of desire are not as essential and important when it comes to survival. As times change, so do people and their needs and that will affect all the decisions they make in order to ensure every possible need is met. As people will always have their own needs to fulfill and as such differ to each individual, needs can best be sorted by using Maslow’s Hierarchy of needs which include the basic, safety and security, social, esteem and self-actualization.  

The most basic needs refer to the most absolute and essential of needs, for which without it people cannot live, such as food, water, shelter, sleep and metabolic requirements. Fifteen million children die of starvation every year. The World Bank estimates that in Asia, Africa and South America, over five hundred million people are living in “absolute poverty” and cannot afford clean water, food and hygiene requirements. Shelter functions to protect people against the elements. People need a place to sleep, to offer protection against the rain or sun. The United Nations Commission estimates that there are over a hundred million people worldwide who are homeless. In 2005, the World Bank revealed that almost eighty percent of the world’s population is living under the poverty line. At this level on the hierarchy of needs, every human on the planet will have in common as without the basic needs fulfilled, the human body cannot function.

Security comes next on the level of needs after the basics have been satisfied. All people will require a sense of stability and control in their lives and this comes from the safety and security needs on the hierarchy. This along with the basic physiological needs is another necessity for people. The basic fundamentals are job/financial security, health and well being, and safety against accidents and illness. The basic of all these requirements is money. This is a problem that is faced everyday by billions of people as some struggle to survive on just $2.50 a day. All throughout life, people will require financial security whether it is to start a family or to add to that savings account for a comfortable retirement. Health and well-being is something everyone strives too because having a poor health can result costing more than being healthy. Skipping a day’s work or if it is more serious that involves admission into a hospital. Adequate health care is becoming an increasing crisis that faces the world and especially in Africa, the third world countries of Asia, South America and the Middle East where people below the poverty line are unable to receive proper health care because it is unaffordable.  Almost fifteen million people die every year in low income countries from diseases.

The requirement for self esteem and a social acceptance is a need that can differ from person to person. The feeling of belongingness to a group of friends, family or the office setting is another human requirement. Maslow believed that esteem can be divided in to a lower one and a higher one. Esteem achieved from the lower one comes from status, recognition, prestige and attention given from other people. The higher one is the need for self-respect, self-confidence, independence and freedom. A deprivation of these needs will result in psychological imbalances, inferiority complex, social anxiety and clinical depression. The need for acceptance and love is equally important as without these, serious mental and physical effects will start to project and result in the deterioration of a person’s well being. The seriousness of these consequences of these have resulted in the loss of 850 000 lives a year and is estimated by the World Health Organization that 154 million suffer from depression, 25 million from schizophrenia, 91 million from alcohol use disorder and 15 million drug use disorder.

The last need for self actualization is a desire to realize and achieve one’s full potential and become everything that one is capable of becoming. Maslow came to the conclusion that in order to achieve this, all other levels must be mastered first. This level of need refers to each individual’s own goals and dreams and their want to accomplish them. This need however will in fact differ from every individual as arriving at this need requires motivation and an individual desire.

To sum up, any person’s needs can be met with the six levels in the hierarchy that begins with basic needs, the need for security, a strong self esteem and a sense of belonging, - and ultimately the desire for self actualization. People will differ in their needs. Some people may only require the basics and maybe job security to fulfill the simplest of needs. Others may require recognition and praise and status to prove they have succeeded in life. In my opinion, hierarchy of needs is the reason why some people have a different perception to what is ‘needs’.  Some may perceive being fulfilled as being self-actualized, that is reaching what they are capable of becoming or being even more than what they are capable of but to others it may just reach the level of love and belonging. All needs should be met, as each are equally important and is only to maintain an individual’s good health ( be it physical or psychological) and well-being.