The MTL Professional Development Programme is a collection of 202 PowerPoint presentations that will provide you with step-by-step summaries of a key management or personal development skill. This presentation is on "Managing Conflict" and will show you the options you have in conflict situations, including being assertive.

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MTL: The Professional Development Programme
Managing Conflict
MANAGING CONFLICT
How to turn negative conflict into positive
MTL: The Professional Development Programme

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MTL: The Professional Development Programme
Managing Conflict
Attribution: All images are from sources where a Creative Commons license exists for commercial use. All icons are on subscription
from thenounproject. All clipart is from free sources. The MTL Professional Development Programme is copyright of Manage Train
Learn.
Managing
Conflict
Introduction: Conflict is an ever-present feature in organisations where people work
together. Conflict can arise in your job over differences of opinion; it can also arise on a
personal level between people who don't get on. Often we feel that we have no choices in
conflict. Like nations, if we are attacked we feel we only have the choice of attacking back
or taking things lying down. But we do have choices. And those choices enable us to make
the best decisions about how to respond.

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MTL: The Professional Development Programme
Managing Conflict
1. AVOIDANCE
https://pixabay.com/en/snails-shell-snail-close-250905/
Snails hide inside their shells at the first whiff of danger
Some people react to any kind of conflict by
avoiding it. They blank it out, withdraw and take
no part. While this may be a valuable tactic to
calm things down or take time out, as a default-
response strategy, it allows others to think we are
easy targets and walk all over us. Like the snail
that hides under its shell at the slightest whiff of
danger, it labels us as weak.

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MTL: The Professional Development Programme
Managing Conflict
2. YIELD AND
BEND
https://pixabay.com/en/grasshopper-locust-reed-green-1171704/
Bend like the reed when the wind blows strong
Yielding and bending in the face of force can be a
wise tactical move, especially when others may
be angry, upset, and emotional. It gives you the
chance to wait until the dust settles and then
come back to the issues at a better time and in a
new light. Doing this is like the water reed that
bends in the storm and doesn't break, unlike the
defiant and obstinate oak that does.

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MTL: The Professional Development Programme
Managing Conflict
Aggression means it’s their problem, not yours
3. DIRECT
AGGRESSION
https://pixabay.com/en/fist-bump-boy-outside-fist-gesture-933916/
Aggression often feels like the only option when
faced with aggression from someone else,
particularly if your rights or those you care about
are under threat. However, direct aggression as a
response to conflict suggests you are not
interested in the views of the other side and are
only interested in winning the day. The result of
direct aggression is that you and the other side
are left with bad headaches.

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MTL: The Professional Development Programme
Managing Conflict
4. INDIRECT
AGGRESSION
https://www.flickr.com/photos/90389546@N00/7006278278/
You can be intimidated by the mere threat of force
Overt aggression is easy to spot and acknowledge
but often aggression takes a less obvious guise.
Indirect aggression can appear in many ways,
such as putting people and their ideas down,
lecturing them, offering unwanted advice, prying,
and nagging. It is still a way of saying, "my ideas
and what I want are more important than your
ideas and what you want"; it's just done in a more
manipulative way.

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MTL: The Professional Development Programme
Managing Conflict
Split everything down the middle
5.
ACCOMMODATION
https://www.flickr.com/photos/16210667@N02/12593536595/
Accommodators are people whose response to
conflict is to find some middle ground that will
solve the conflict. It may mean splitting the spoils
down the middle, taking something for yourself
and giving something to the other side. Of course,
not all conflicts can be solved this way. It may
mean you only half-win because you also half-
lose. This approach can leave people feeling that
while something has been gained, something has
also been lost.

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MTL: The Professional Development Programme
Managing Conflict
6.
RESPONDING
TO BULLIES
https://www.flickr.com/photos/pimkie_fotos/2513823044/
Use assertiveness to stand up to bullies
Bullies love conflict. It is their way of getting what
they want without regard to others. Their victims
are often people who are competent at their job
but lacking in the skills of dealing with
confrontation. There is only one way to deal with
bullies in or out of the workplace and that is to
respond without fear of the consequences. It
means standing up for yourself and you can only
do this with the skills of assertiveness.

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MTL: The Professional Development Programme
Managing Conflict
Owls are aware, observant, and wise
7.
ASSERTIVENESS
https://pixabay.com/en/eagle-owl-raptor-falconry-owl-377192/
Assertiveness is the best way to manage conflict.
The assertive principles of standing up for oneself
while acknowledging the rights of others mean
that both tactically and strategically the assertive
person always has a win-win solution to conflict
in mind. If avoiders are snails and aggressors are
tigers, the assertive person is like the owl. Their
solution is always about wisdom never force.

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Managing Conflict
This has been a Slide Topic from Manage Train Learn
AFinal
Word
It is inevitable that, whether you're a manager or team player, you will face conflict in the
workplace either as part of your job role or as part of your relationships with others. The key to
managing it successfully is to approach it not as a negative and destructive process but as a
positive and constructive one.