1. McGraw-Hill © 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
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Conflict
Management

2. McGraw-Hill © 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
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Table of Content
• INTRODUCTION: .………………………………………………..
• Definition of Conflict, Types of Conflict, Levels of Conflict, Causes of
Conflict at different levels, Signs of Conflict
• Definition of Management and Conflict Management ……............
• SECTION 1: CONFLICT MANAGEMENT: ……………………
• The Aim ……………………………………………………………….
• The Importance of Conflict Management ….………………………
• SECTION 2: CONFLICT IN FAMILY/HOME: …………………
• Causes of Conflict in Family/Home ………………..…………….
• Conflict Management in Family/Home ……..……………………

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Table of Content (cont.)
SECTION 3: CONFLICT IN RELATIONSHIP: ………………….
Causes of Conflict in Relationship ………………………………….
Conflict Management in Relationship ……………………………...
SECTION 4: CONFLICT AT WORKPLACE: …………………
Causes of Conflict at Workplace ………………………………...
Conflict Management at Workplace ……………………………..
CONCLUSION: ………………………………………………….
RECOMMENDATION: …………………………………………
EXAM QUESTIONS: ……………………………………………
SELF ASSESSMENT TEST: …………………………………….

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INTRODUCTION
What is Conflict?
Amos 3:3

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It is a part of life and is inevitable due to
clash of interest, viewpoints, value, ideas
and action on issues about life in general.
Conflict is a normal and necessary part of
healthy relationships that cannot be avoided.
However, it can have negative and positive
effects on the parties involved;

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Negative Conflict
• Takes attention away from other activities
• Damages the spirit of the team or an
individual
• Divides people and groups, and makes
cooperation difficult
• Makes people or group focus on their
differences
• Leads to harmful behavior, like fighting or
name-calling

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Positive Conflict
• Brings about solutions to problems
• Gets everyone involved in solving issues
• Causes real communication
• Release emotion, anxiety, and stress in a positive
way
• Helps people learn more about one another and
cooperate
• Develops understanding and skills
• Spirit of competition drives all to excel to higher
levels, as weaknesses are exposed and creative
solutions are proposed

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Types of Conflict
Understanding the basic types of conflicts that
may occur in your environment can help you
avoid disagreements or learn the best way to
deal with them;
• Conflict of ideas, values, interests
• Conflict of feelings (often called personality
conflict)
• Conflict in relationships
• Conflict in personality

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• Conflict in leadership
• Conflict in style
• Conflict in ethics
Types of Conflict (cont.)

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Levels of Conflict
• Interpersonal
• Inter-group
• Inter-organizational
• Inter-State
• Multi-party
• Inter-national

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Causes of Conflict at all levels
 Communication
failure
 Leadership
Personality
 Value differences
 Cultural
differences
 Ethnic differences
 Civilization
 Goal differences
 Technology
Differences
 Lack of cooperation
 Group cohesion
 Economic competition
 Military competition
 Competition over natural
resources such as water, forests,
oil etc.

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Signs of Conflict
Typical signs include but not limited to:
• People not speaking to each other or
ignoring each other
• Contradicting and bad-mouthing one
another
• Deliberately undermining or not co-
operating with each other, to the downfall of
a group, team, state and nation at large

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It is the process of dealing with or controlling
things or people as defined by Oxford
Dictionary
What is Management?

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It is the process of planning to avoid conflict
where possible and organising to resolve
conflict where it does happen, as rapidly as
possible in a rational, effective and balanced
way
What is Conflict
Management?
Mathew 18:15-17

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Conflict Management
Understanding and learning how to manage conflict
rather than avoiding it is very important. Conflict
Management involves tactics that are enforced when
violent conflict is deemed likely before a situation
escalates into war and can be introduced at all levels
of conflict.
When conflict is mismanaged, it can harm the
relationship.
But when handled in a respectful and positive
manner, it provides an opportunity for growth,
increase in productivity and ultimately strengthening
the bond between people.

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• To prevent the eruption of destructive
conflict.
• To facilitate a move from violent to spoken
conflict
• To enable a transformation from conflict to
lasting peace by addressing root causes of
conflict
Conflict Management
Aim

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It prevents fall out between family members,
friends, relatives, neighbours, colleagues, groups,
nations etc. and makes life peaceful and stress free.
No idea can ever be implemented if the individuals
fight among themselves.
It is used as a preventive measure to negative
consequences during conflict.
It makes people feel motivated and happy.
Importance
Conflict Management

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Conflict Management
– Proactive conflict management—work
to prevent conflict before it starts.
– Collaborative conflict management—
deal with conflicts by developing a
process to work through them.
Types

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5 ways to Manage Conflict
Conflict Management

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Conflict Management can vary in terms of
its concern for people and its concern for
results as there is need to develop several
styles to decide which is valuable at every
given point of conflict.
Want to work toward “win-win” if possible
– The 1,1 style is the hands-off approach, also
called avoidance.
Conflict Management

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– The 1,9 position, also called accommodation, is
excessively person-oriented.
– The 5,5 position represents a willingness to
compromise.
– The 9,1 is the bullheaded approach, also called
competing.
– The optimum style for reducing conflict is the
9,9 approach, also called collaboration.
Conflict Management

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As earlier stated, there are different levels of
conflict and causes. For the purpose of this
training we will be looking at conflict in
family/home, conflict at workplace and
conflict in relationships; their causes and how
they can best be managed.
Conflict Management

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There is a saying that charity begins at
home. Our families play vital roles in our
lives. It is the bedrock of all virtues.
Therefore we’ll focus first on causes and
ways to manage conflict in our
family/homes.
Family/Home
Conflict

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Communication
Finances
Differing Values
Differences in upbringing
In-laws and extended family
Remarriage
Sex
Work
Causes

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• Communication (Prov. 15:1): Guides us to
reframe how we express ourselves and hear others
• Empathy (Phil 2:4): With this technique, we try to
put our opponent interest first
• Dialouge: Each party tries to say what he/she feels
about the dispute
Conflict Management in
Family/home

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• Anger Management (Eph 4:26): We should
try to control emotions during conflict
• Peace (Matthew 5:9): It begins at home, with
how we live our lives and relate to others
• Forgiveness and Reconciliation (Col 3:13): It
doesn’t mean that we ignore the wrong
committed against us rather, we will no
longer allow the wrong to be a barrier to the
relationship.

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For most of us, a relationship with that special person,
between two or more friends, neighbours, relatives etc. is one
of our most prized and valuable assets. A relationship
provides
a feeling of completeness and a general sense of well being.
According to many researchers, if a relationship is healthy
there is a far greater likelihood that an individual will be more
satisfied with life, more productive at work and more likely to
be happy. However, conflict is an inevitable part of any
close relationship
Relationship Conflict
Matt 5:43-45

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These include but not limited to;
Communication: Inability to communicate
clearly.
Money: Disagreements about money have
always been one of the most common causes of
relationship conflict among friends, relatives
etc. especially in business.
Differing in Values: We all come from
different backgrounds which in one way the
other form who and what we are.
Causes

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Jealousy: Sometimes jealousy appears
as a result of unrealistic expectations, low
self esteem, greed etc.
Lack of Trust: Trust does not happen
by accident, you earn it. This may take
some effort especially if a person has
been betrayed in the past

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• Take time off: Take some time to cool off
and plan on discussing issues when
emotions are high
• Keep pride off: Try to put your pride aside
and focus on what you need to do in order to
feel better. Be willing to apologise.
Conflict Management in
Relationship

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• Don’t shout: Express your feelings calmly
and in control
• Acknowledge that both contribute to the
conflict: We need to acknowledge that the
other party, like each one of us, possesses
both bad and good qualities
• Do not try to control the other party
• Focus on the present and don’t drag up the
past

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For any organisation to be effective and
efficient in achieving its goals, the people
in the organisation need to have a shared
vision of what they are striving to
achieve, as well as clear objectives for
each team/department and individual.
Workplace Conflict

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Causes or sources of organisational conflict
can be many and varied. The most common
causes are:
Conflicting Perception
Conflicting Goals
Poor Communication
Poor Organisation
Different personal values
Conflicting Resources
Workload
Stress
Causes

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There are various positive ways workplace
conflict can be managed. However, listed
below are the five (5) ‘As’ ways of managing
conflicts;
Assessment: Investigate and gather all
information related to the conflict e.g What is
conflict? Who is responsible for the conflict? Etc.
Conflict Management in Workplace

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Acknowledgment: Make sure everyone
involved knows exactly what the issue is
and why they're arguing
Attitude: Both parties must participate in
the process with the right attitude
Action: Taking action and giving feedback
are the two critical key success factors
Analysis: Taking action and giving
feedback are the two critical key success
factors

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Conclusion
• Conflict may have some desirable
consequences
• It may be destructive when out of control
• We would expect more conflict-producing
behaviors from those high in aggression,
dominance, and the need for autonomy.
• One of the most important factors related to
conflict is the style of leadership and the
resulting group norms regarding conflict

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Recommendation
The following recommendations are made
without drawing any distinctions among the
different types of conflict mentioned above;
• Talk with the parties involved to determine
the real cause of the conflict.
• Help the parties develop norms for dealing
with confrontation and conflict.
• Communicate clearly. Say what you mean,
but say it positively

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• Do not meet separately with people in
conflict as this may encourage favouritism
• Encourage individuals to understand their
personal triggers to better deal with conflict
situations in the workplace
• By developing and implementing a sound
conflict management system, tension and
further escalations will become a thing of
the past.

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Questions
1. It is difficult to demonstrate the ability to be objective,
unbiased, and trustworthy in situations that involve
personal conflicts of interest. Describe a situation in
which you found this most difficult to do.
2. Describe two situations in which you exhibited foresight
to identify and defuse conflicts before they occurred.
3. Discuss a situation where some of your team members
disagreed with your ideas or approach. How did you
handle the situation?
4. “Conflict is a normal and necessary part of healthy
relationships that cannot be avoided”. Discuss
5. Mention the two types of Conflict Management and
situations they apply.

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Self Assessment Test for Conflict
Management
• See the other attachment (Manuscript)