Question

Describe the Five basic conflict styles. Mention some example of each one.

Answer 1

Five basic conflict styles are:

Avoiding an issue is one way a manager might attempt to resolve conflict. This works well when the issue is trivial or when the manager has no chance of winning. Avoiding or withdrawing from a conflict requires no courage or consideration for the other party. By avoiding the conflict, you essentially pretend that it never happened or doesn’t exist. Examples of avoidance or withdrawal include pretending there is nothing wrong, stonewalling or completely shutting down.

Collaborating managers become partners or pair up with each other to achieve both of their goals in this style. This is how managers break free of the win-lose paradigm and seek the win-win. This can be effective for complex scenarios where managers need to find a novel solution. Example: a business owner should work collaboratively with the manager to establish policies and collaborative decision-making is required regarding office supplies, wastes time better spent on other activities

Accommodating: Giving in or accommodating the other party requires a lot of cooperation and little courage. Basically, you agree to accommodate the other party by acknowledging and accepting his point of view or suggestion. This style might be viewed as letting the other party have his way. Example: When a manager knows that other person is the expert or has a better solution he follows an accomodating perspective.

Competing: This is the win-lose approach. A manager is acting in a very assertive way to achieve his or her own goals without seeking to cooperate with other employees, and it may be at the expense of those other employees. This approach may be appropriate for emergencies when time is of the essence. Example: business owners benefit from holding the competitive strategy in reserve for crisis situations and decisions that generate ill-will, such as pay cuts or layoffs.

Compromising: This is the lose-lose scenario where neither person nor manager really achieves what they want. This requires a moderate level of assertiveness and cooperation. It may be appropriate for scenarios where you need a temporary solution or where both sides have equally important goals. Example: Business owners frequently employ compromise during contract negotiations with other businesses when each party stands to lose something valuable, such as a customer or necessary service.