Darrell Coleman

Composition
4/26/13

5 Conflict Management Strategies

Conflict is an expressed struggle between at least two parties who recognize interference
from others in achieving their goals. (Charles Green) According to brainyquote.com, Mahatma
Gandhi said it best First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you
win. By using multiple reliable sources, there will be classifications of different conflict
management strategies including withdrawal, smoothing, forcing, compromising and
collaborating as well as mention their effectiveness and outcomes.
One method of dealing with conflict as Mahatma Gandhi said best insists the first way to
handle conflict confirms simply to withdraw one from the conflict. Lets take Jim for example,
he appears to be an extremely tough minded male. He illustrates that he will never gain the talent
to become organized and in return makes Jan upset. He constantly loses his keys, and always
relies on Jan to find them. Jan took the liberty of putting a nail next to Jims pride and joy the
refrigerator, in the wall for Jim to hang his keys. Jim says, Honey, have you seen my keys?
Jan replies if you would have left them where they should be then you would know. Jan throws
him his keys, and starts to go on a tirade about how unorganized he proves to be. When Jim
senses conflict he declares surrender and rejects confrontation by quickly hitting the door instead
of dealing with the conflict. Withdrawal can be a useful technique in cooling off both sides,

however it doesnt work towards solving anything in the long run solutions to certain issues.
(Natalie Chandler, 2013).
Another way of dealing with conflict is smoothing. Lets take Jesse for instance, he often
gets in daily hassles with his roommate Jordan because he tends to always be playing loud music
while Jesse tries to do doing homework repeatedly. Essentially, Jesse becomes sick and tired of
this music so, he confronts Jordan. This means to talk about only things that both sides can agree
on. Jesse confronts Jordan during the Super Bowl, and Jordan proves to be a slick talker. Jesse
mentions his frustration and Jordan replies, Man, Im sorry wont happen again BUT did you
see that last play?? Similar to avoidance due to these factors of smoothing it is somewhat of a
method like sweeping things under the rug. In the short run, both sides show appreciation
toward each other but all problems initially stated are going to go unsolved. (Howard Culbertson,
2013).
Forcing or competing(Chandler) unlike smoothing, exhibits the will for one side to
compete during the conflict. By competing, you essentially dominate the conflict and specialize
it to ones own beliefs. According to International Quality and Productivity Center, forcing
occurs in 3 kinds of ways (1) when one person defeats the other by having more power in the
organization/situation, (2) when parties refer their dispute to a shared person in power, (3) or
when someone who can make it stick says this is going to happen and you have to deal with it.
One major problem is the fact that the most powerful person may not be the best to make the
decision and it almost always leaves the losing party upset in some way. Forcing most
commonly happens when a strong personality is trying to steamroller you and you dont want to
be taken advantage of. (Culbertson).

More efficient than forcing, compromising is another common method to conflict

resolution that often takes place. Alike smoothing however, its more of a process of give and
take. Lets take this situation for example. Jaren would like to go see the new romance movie,
but Jake would like to go see the UFC fights on television at Buffalo WildWings. Any other day
Jaren would kindly accept this offer but, she isnt willing to because she has to work every
morning for the rest of the week besides the following morning. By the time she is done with her
work week the movie will be out of the theatre and she will have to wait to go rent it from Red
Box. Jake understands why she wants to go so bad, yet in order for him to watch the fights at
home he will have to purchase the $60 pay-per-view UFC package. By using the compromising
method, each side moves from their original position to common ground. Jaren says fine, we
can go see the fights as long as we go catch the matinee after work tomorrow. Jake replies, I
promised my mother, I would take her out to eat, it will be fine, how about we rent the new UFC
movie and stay in for tonight? Like most conflict managing strategies compromising has its
weaknesses. The outcome is less appealing to both sides and the original issues are yet to be
dealt with. (Green, 2013).
On the contrary, while using collaboration, it involves both parties to reach a solution that
satisfies the concerns of each side. In essence, it is somewhat of a discussion that shows each
others differences. During collaboration, relevant facts and feelings are mentioned. Two kinds
of behavior are necessary for collaboration to occur. You have to be open minded to and be able
to listen to others point of view as well as make sure you get your points across clear. By doing
so, wont lead to any further controversy. This conflict is the most difficult because it requires
extreme behavior changes. Some feel that collaboration is soft but on the other hand, they may

feel more superior by using forcing. Collaboration takes more time and effort than any of the
prior conflict reactions/resolutions. (University Alliance Online).
After discussion of the 5 major ways of dealing with conflict those being, avoiding,
smoothing, forcing compromising and collaborating. I have found there are many different
outcomes. In a single sentence summary of each resolution I will break down the results using
Howard Culbertsons beliefs on which side wins and why. Avoiding is considered a lose/lose
because it doesnt take any facts of the argument into consideration. Alike avoiding, smoothing
only takes the facts that doesnt cause any controversy in which also results in a lose/lose
scenario. Forcing is win/lose, because the more dominant party is always in favor. Similar to
avoiding and smoothing, compromising is also a lose/lose because the original issues are yet to
be solved. Last but not least, the most effective conflict management strategy is collaboration it
always results in a win/win however, it is the hardest to conquer because both sides must become
willing to participate.
With all conflict management styles being taken into consideration, Harriet B. Braiker
once said, Conflict can and should be handled constructively; when it is relationships benefit
conflict avoidance is not the hallmark of a good relationship. On the contrary, it is a symptom of
serious problems and of poor communication.