Conflicts are an inevitable part of life. When you interact with different people having different personalities, disagreements are surely going to take place. Conflict means any difference in opinion or a disagreement between two or more persons on any issue. Therefore, when a conflict takes place, it is important to resolve it. If left unresolved the parties can ruin their relationship and pass on the effect to many related people. In this article, we will list down some of the best approaches for resolving conflict.
- One of the common methods for resolving a conflict is collaboration or confronting. In this method, the parties involved in the conflict come together with an open mind to discuss the matter. Their focus is on arriving at the best possible solution. Their only intention in such meeting to resolve the matter by keeping in mind the best of their team. The parties carry no emotional baggage and the outcome is a win-win for everyone.
- Another type of solution to resolve a conflict is compromise or reconciling. In this type of resolution, the parties try to find a middle path and each party decides to give up on something. This is a temporary solution for a problem and often the outcome is loss-loss for both parties. This is because both parties feel that because of this resolution they have lost something.
- Some of the conflicts can be decided when the parties involved decide to withdraw or avoid the conflict consciously. In such situations, one of the parties to the conflict withdraws themselves or avoids the conflict by maintaining silence. This type of resolution is perfect when one of the parties is emotionally charged up or angry. Such a way of resolving a conflict gives a cooling-off period and the parties involved can sit together some other time when things are normal to find a meaningful solution.
- In some of the situations, the conflict can be resolved by forcing the other party. When one of the parties involved in the conflict is powerful, it can enforce his decision-making on other parties and resolve the conflict without even hearing them. The outcome of the conflict is win-lose. Win for the party forcing his decisions and lose for other parties who have to agree forcefully. This type of resolution of conflicts is apt when the conflicts are unnecessary and can break the team.
- Another way of resolving a conflict is smoothing or accommodation. In this type of conflict, one of the parties takes the charge and decides to come up with a solution. The party tries to make things smooth and make other parties accommodate by using nicer words. Using this approach, the conflict solving party emphasizes the point of disagreement and tries to resolve them. This method is ideal for offices or organizations where it is important to win the trust of employees and encourage them to overcome conflict.
The above mentioned are some of the approaches to resolving conflict. You should always remember that good thing can happen only when conflicts are resolved. If at any point in life, you need any assistance regarding resolving conflicts, you may get in touch with Living In Wellbeing’s expert counsellors.
