People who are effective at dealing with conflict are flexible in the way they approach conflict. In this session we explore the five ways that conflict can be approached. Participants complete a conflict profile before this unit to understand their preferred style and approach.

1. Dr Tim Baker
tim@winnersatwork.com.au
www.winnersatwork.com.au
The Five Approaches to
Dealing with Conflict

2. Unit 1—The Five Approaches to
Dealing with Conflict
Unit 2—Understanding People
& their Personalities
Unit 3—Managing Emotion in
Conflict Situations
Unit 4—Being Assertive, Not
Aggressive or Passive
Unit 5—Essential
Communication Skills for
Conflict Resolution
Unit 6—Giving & Receiving
Constructive Criticism

3. Learning
Platform

4. The Five
Approaches
When to use the
five approaches
Case studies

5. Conflict &
Negotiation
Options

6. Competing
• When speed & decisiveness are
necessary
• When parties refuse to cooperate &
are trying to take advantage of you
• When an unpopular decision needs
to be made then a competitive
decision may be necessary.

7. Accommodating
• When the relationship is more
important than the issue
• When there is no hope of having
your wishes met
• When it is not very important

8. Avoiding
• When diplomacy can help smooth a
situation
• Putting off a decision until a better time or
when people have calmed down
• When neither the relationship or the issue is
important to you
• When you need to know more before you
take action

9. Collaborating
• In situations where both the issue & the
relationship are important
• Where an outcome that satisfies both
parties is sought
• When all parties need to be committed to a
solution
• When a creative solution needs to be found

10. Compromising
• Useful when time is running out & decisions
need to be made
• Sometimes can be used when collaboration
or competing has failed
• Can be a temporary, short term solution to
conflict while collaborative efforts continue
• Sometimes compromise is the only way

11. Organisational Change & Leadership Development

12. Situation 1
A customer calls and wants
you to handle an order for
him. You no longer work in
that team and it would create
a major problem internally if
you crossed departments.
However, the customer who
orders a moderate amount of
product has been very
insistent with you.

13. Situation 2
You’ve had your car in for
repair and although the claim
it's fixed you have the same
problem. It is not a regular
fault and is obvious. You paid
your bill when you collected
the car and are not prepared
to pay more. They are the
only dealer that is at all
convenient for you. You want
your car fixed properly NOW!

14. Situation 3
You are the Manager of a
team that currently has a
manual recording system and
your analysis shows greater
productivity if it's automated.
Susan Jones runs the same
kind of operation in another
team. She disagrees with your
proposition citing customer
concerns and employee
resistance plus technical
problems with the system you
are proposing.
Your Manager has told you to
resolve the situation with
Susan because you must both
run the same way.

15. Situation 4
Your boss has a personal
dislike of one of your team-
and is insisting you not
renewing their contract.
Whilst you recognise some
occasional problems, you can
manage that quite easily and
that person is in fact,
important to the team output.

16. Situation 5
As manager, you want to
design a new system in a way
that suits you. Your approach
at the managers’ meeting is to
raise it with the other
managers who are all affected
by the proposed new system.
One of the other Managers
says it’s too costly that way
and that each Manager should
simply offer their approach
and the GM make the
decision.
How do you respond?

17. Key Messages …
be flexible
don’t overuse your
preferred style
If plan A doesn’t
work …

18. Your homework
Complete the diagnostic in the learning platform to establish your preferred conflict
resolution style.

19. Unit 1—The Five Approaches to
Dealing with Conflict
Unit 2—Understanding People
& their Personalities
Unit 3—Managing Emotion in
Conflict Situations
Unit 4—Being Assertive, Not
Aggressive or Passive
Unit 5—Essential
Communication Skills for
Conflict Resolution
Unit 6—Giving & Receiving
Constructive Criticism