Create a Pleasant Working Environment

Although it can be uncomfortable, conflict is a normal part of daily life. While much of this is minor and can be solved quickly and easily, responding to serious conflict situations is often considerably more challenging.

This workshop builds upon an Australian developed self assessment instrument designed to help you discover the conflict style you are most likely to use in the majority of conflict situations.

Conflict Styles

The Integrating approach is a style that draws upon all others to a varying degree but also has behaviors of its own including strong exploration of issues, a positive desire to genuinely solve problems and an expectation that both parties will remain as flexible as possible.

Suppressing behaviour is essentially characterized by an attempt to smooth personal relations or create a calm and harmonious atmosphere.

This approach looks to get rid of conflict by denying that the differences that caused it are very great, or even exist at all. This leads to strong denial behaviour and withdrawal from the conflict situation.

Usurping draws upon a strong personal power base to usurp or take over the issue and relentlessly pursue resolution in very self-interested terms.

Exchanging behaviour is most commonly seen as ‘professional negotiating behaviour’, with the model being that both parties ‘trade’ until they eventually meet, somewhere on middle ground.

In understanding and responding to conflict this workshop also considers the five Situational Factors that can have an underlying influence on any conflict situation and need to be identified if the real issues are to be resolved.

 

Situational Factors

Relationship issues often have the greatest influence on disputes and can lead to ever increasing spiral of potentially destructive behaviour.

Conflicts about personal aims are usually caused by the strongly held, incompatible goals of the parties involved.

Data conflicts arise when people don’t have the information needed to make an informed decision, are misinformed in some way, disagree on what information is relevant or interpret information differently.

Attitude conflicts typically arise as a result of real or perceived incompatibility in values or beliefs.

Conflicts that are restricted or constrained in some way are usually caused by external forces. Limited authority, time, insufficient resources etc. can all make conflict appear like a crisis because every avenue seems to be blocked off or restricted.

By developing your understanding of both the Conflict Styles and the underlying Situational Factors, you will increase your ability to identify and apply the style that is most likely to be successful in a particular conflict situation.

This workshop includes a personalised profile and a comprehensive workbook to reinforce what you learn during the day. As a public workshop morning and afternoon tea and lunch is also provided.


For information on customised in-house workshops contact david@activetd.com.au.