Conflict Management Styles: 7 Conflict Resolution Strategies

Conflict management is how a person mediates a dispute between coworkers, romantic partners, friends, family members, or any other group of people. The main goal is to guide all parties to an agreeable solution for everyone. There are many different approaches to achieving this objective, but seeking out opportunities to compromise is perhaps the most common.

When it comes to conflict in the workplace, human resources professionals often work alongside department managers to resolve issues between team members. For more personal problems, people might turn to a therapist or life coach in more civil circumstances. In messier situations, they might seek out an alternative dispute resolution professional or lawyer.

There are several different ways a person can approach conflict management. Consider these three conflict resolution styles:

1. 1. Avoidance: Some people might feel it’s best to simply avoid the conflict, hoping it blows over without too much of a stir between the interested parties. Occasionally, this strategy works. People might just need to air their grievances and move on after blowing off steam. Still, it can also allow resentments to fester, making it a risky maneuver for handling conflicts in the long run.
2. 2. Confrontation: Depending on the organizational psychology of a given company, a more firm and confrontational approach might help manage conflicts. The conflict manager takes over decision-making in this style, informing everyone else that what they say goes. Confrontation and dominance of this kind can feel like an authoritarian way of managing conflict to many people, so it can occasionally backfire by leading to increased resentment between parties and toward the conflict manager as well.
3. 3. Engagement: To achieve effective conflict resolution, taking on an engaging and collaborating style as a manager can prove extremely useful. When the conflict manager comes alongside the disputing parties and helps them craft a compromise unique to their circumstances, everyone can leave the table feeling heard. Still, there are certain circumstances where such a diplomatic approach proves impossible.

Conflict management might be hard work, but it’s also rewarding and necessary. Remember these seven strategies for managing and resolving interpersonal conflict:

1. 1. Communicate effectively. Effective communication skills double as conflict management skills. Do your utmost to choose words well and convey calm body language as you try to manage other people’s conflicts. If someone tells you what they want out of a negotiation, repeat back their words to them in your own verbiage to ensure you understand what they’re asking. Convey the desires of one party to another with as much accuracy and honesty as possible.
2. 2. Exhibit empathy. Assure all interested parties you both understand the causes of conflict in their situation as well as all of their unique viewpoints when it comes to that conflict. When you exhibit empathy and emotional intelligence, people will find it easier to trust you to help resolve their disputes. As you take on the perspective of each person involved in the conflict, you’ll find it easier to advocate for their position while also keeping everyone else’s interests in mind.
3. 3. Facilitate dialogue. The ability to facilitate healthy dialogue in tense situations is hands down one of the most essential conflict resolution skills. Set ground rules for how all interested parties can expect to communicate throughout the conflict management process. You might set these rules yourself or call for a brainstorming session between all people privy to the conflict depending on the nature of the situation.
4. 4. Hear everyone out. Practice your active listening skills as you strive to find a conflict solution satisfactory for everybody. Hear out all the different points of view about the source of conflict without judgment. Ask questions rather than injecting your own commentary as people spell out why they’ve found themselves in this situation.
5. 5. Lead when necessary. Although working alongside conflicting parties is generally more effective, you might sometimes still need to exhibit more assertiveness as the conflict manager. Depending on the type of conflict, it might be nearly impossible for each side to negotiate in good faith with each other, in which case you might need to step up and more firmly dictate a fair course of action.
6. 6. Maintain objectivity. Arbitration and mediation require a neutral conflict manager. To achieve a positive outcome that will maximize everyone’s well-being, do everything in your power to display total objectivity. Whether in interpersonal or workplace conflict, you’ll lose your moral authority to help manage the situation if you seem to offer preferential treatment to one side over another.
7. 7. Strive for creative compromise. Reach out to all conflicting parties in the interest of creating common ground. Resolving conflict most often means doing your best to find an integrative, win-win solution for everyone at odds with each other. Do what you can to create a diplomatic work environment wherein everyone can have their concerns heard and bargain with each other to creatively compromise.

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