Conflict management

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Conflict management refers to the long-term management of intractable conflicts. It is the label for the variety of ways by which people handle grievances — standing up for what they consider to be right and against what they consider to be wrong. Those ways include such diverse phenomena as gossip, ridicule, lynching, terrorism, warfare, feuding, genocide, law, mediation, and avoidance. Which forms of conflict management will be used in any given situation can be somewhat predicted and explained by the social structure — or social geometry — of the case.

Conflict management is NOT the same as conflict resolution. The latter — conflict resolution — refers to resolving the dispute to the approval of one or both parties, whereas the former — conflict management — concerns an ongoing process that may never have a resolution. For example, gossip and feuds are very common methods of conflict management, but neither entails resolution. Neither is it the same as conflict transformation, which seeks to reframe the positions of the conflict parties.

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[edit] Scientific studies

Scientific study of conflict management (also known as social control) owes its foundations to Donald Black, who typologized its elementary forms and used his strategy of pure sociology to explain several aspects of its variation. Research and theory on conflict management has been further developed by Allan Horwitz, Calvin Morill, James Tucker, Mark Cooney, M.P. Baumgartner, Roberta Senechal de la Roche, Marian Borg, Ellis Godard, Scott Phillips, and Bradley Campbell.

Utilizing a multidisciplinary approach and avoiding semantic discussions, we could also state that the father of conflict management is Thomas C. Schelling, an American economist and Nobel Prize winner, who authored the Strategy of Conflict in 1960. Schelling’s main goal was to lay the foundation for a theory of conflict that would include the fields of economics, psychology, sociology and the law. Conflict is an omnipresent trait of human societies since it is almost impossible to find two parties with entirely overlapping interests, thus a general theory for bargaining and negotiation to address conflict is useful not only in the field of international politics or business management, but also at the personal and intimate level.

[edit] Counseling

When personal conflict leads to frustration and loss of efficiency, counseling may prove to be a helpful antidote. Although few organizations can afford the luxury of having professional counselors on the staff, given some training, managers may be able to perform this function. Nondirective counseling, or "listening with understanding", is little more than being a good listener — something every manager should be. [1]

Sometimes the simple process of being able to vent one's feelings — that is, to express them to a concerned and understanding listener, is enough to relieve frustration and make it possible for the frustrated individual to advance to a problem-solving frame of mind, better able to cope with a personal difficulty that is affecting his work adversely. The nondirective approach is one effective way for managers to deal with frustrated subordinates and co-workers.[2]

There are other more direct and more diagnostic ways that might be used in appropriate circumstances. The great strength of the nondirective approach (nondirective counseling is based on the client-centered therapy of Carl Rogers), however, lies in its simplicity, its effectiveness, and the fact that it deliberately avoids the manager-counselor's diagnosing and interpreting emotional problems, which would call for special psychological training. No one has ever been harmed by being listened to sympathetically and understandingly. On the contrary, this approach has helped many people to cope with problems that were interfering with their effectiveness on the job.[2]

[edit] References

  1. ^ Henry P Knowles; Börje O Saxberg (1971). Personality and leadership behavior. Reading, Mass.: Addison-Wesley Pub. Co., Chapter 8. OCLC 118832. 
  2. ^ a b Richard Arvid Johnson (1976). Management, systems, and society : an introduction. Pacific Palisades, Calif.: Goodyear Pub. Co., 148-142. ISBN 0876205406 9780876205402. OCLC 2299496. 

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[edit] See also

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