If you handle conflict appropriately, it not only makes you more effective but it can also bring needed change and innovation to your organization. These two approaches to handling conflict have their place in your conflict resolution toolkit but they are not the only tools available to you. There are also some conflict situations when you should assert your own will over others and some times when you should not.

There are some conflict situations when you should collaborate with others and there are some times when you should not collaborate.

The truth is that there is no one right way to handle conflict. The other camp argued that the best approach for handling conflict was being assertive with others to reach your outcome. One camp said the best approach for handling conflict was collaborating with others for win/win solutions. These training and development professionals generally fell in two camps. At that time, many training and development professionals pushed the false view that one style of handling conflict was superior to other styles. This is not something that you want to do in your own conflict resolution efforts.įurther, some early management and leadership training only added to the confusion of how to effectively handle workplace conflict. This gives these managers a “hit and miss” effectiveness when it comes to handling workplace conflict. Rather, it is based on what those managers have found to be effective in the past.

The styles they use are generally not based on what is needed for the situation. Conflict resolution in the workplace is challenging because many managers generally use one, or at most two styles, for handling conflict.

Avoiding conflict quotes