Conflict Management Styles Essay -- Business, Handling Conflicts

Conflict is known to be inseparable in all human interactions. In any organization, role differentiation acquires the different uses of conflict handling styles. Work direction, reward, supervision, discipline and performance review also involve the use of conflict handling styles. Organizational change and control is also viewed from a conflict perspective. In attempts to explain the nature or dynamics of a particular organizational phenomenon, conflict may be incorporated as a causal factor (Brown and Peterson, 1993). Our society is concerned with the issue on how the skills of leaders can be enriched so as to enable them to act with greater proficiency when their contributions are from dealing with and through people especially their subordinates. One way of looking into this issue is from the conflict perspectives. The attention to interpersonal relationships is due to our belief that sound leader-subordinate relationships are important and consistent with humanistic and cooperative work environment sought by contemporary leaders. It is also believed that positive interpersonal relationship at workplace is able to increase subordinates’ satisfaction with leader and subordinates with high levels of satisfaction are more likely to be committed to the organization (Brown and Peterson, 1993). Differences in the perception of conflict possess implication in its own right. This is due to leaders uses of conflict styles may be reinforced by subordinates’ responses or the leader may anticipate subordinates’ reaction to the use of conflict styles. It is worthwhile for the leader to be aware of the existence of multiple sources of conflict in work situations and how it promote subordinates’ job satisfaction sin... ...nd Kabanoff (1990) support these dimensions. Applying good management principles in building quality relationships with people will help to prevent or at least lessen conflict. In spite of the best efforts at prevention, conflict does arise. The secret is to learn to cope positively with conflict, and not to see it as an enemy to peace, but an opportunity for growth in relationships (Laue, 1981, and Blome, 1983). In the past, management theorist used the term conflict avoidance, but today this phrase is increasingly replaced with the phrase of conflict management. Conflict management recognizes that while conflict does have associated costs, it can also bring with it great benefits. It is for this reasons that today’s managers seek not to avoid, but to manage conflict within the organization (Nurmi and Darling, 1997; Su-Mei Lin, 2003).