Course:PSYC208TM/Avoiding and Dealing with Conflict

Conflict Avoidance Guidelines

Correcting Framing Problems (Conflict Research Consortium, 1998)

Framing problems tend to be problems of perception, emotion, and communication. For example, it is common for people to interpret (or frame) a conflict based on what has happened to an individual in the past, what values are important to them, one’s life experiences and their background. These accumulated perceptions of an individual, therefore shapes how particular events that happened to that individual is interpreted.

Try to correct perception or framing problems:

Look at the situation from the other person's perspective. It is important to understand what they think or feel even though you may not agree with their perceptions of the situation. Try to understand why they feel that way.
Never assume the worst in a team member. Try to avoid any assumptions you may have about the person when evaluating their work or listening to their ideas.
Avoid blaming the other person for the problem. It will only make the individual more defensive and is generally counterproductive.

Emotional Problems

Emotional problems include distrust, fear, anger, and humiliation. These emotions are very strong, and may affect the completion of the project (Burgess, 2007).

Try not to react emotionally to the other person and let him or her express their emotions to you. Try to listen to the other person actively showing that you understand both the content and the emotion of the message they are trying to express.
Try apologizing or expressing sympathy to the situation and is it may help defuse the strong emotions present.

Misunderstandings

The following are some communication strategies that can help avoid miscommunication between team members.

These include:

When a team member is speaking, show that you are paying attention and not directing your attention elsewhere.
When it is your time to speak or suggest something, don’t just respond immediately but think about what you actually want to say before you speak.
Always use active listening, which helps you show the other person that you understand both the content and the feelings behind the words.
Using I-messages will allow you to express your feelings without directly “attacking” the person you are talking to.

Example: I feel that we need to arrange another meeting so we can further discuss our research topic.

Focus on Interests, Not Positions

When a problem arises, instead of arguing who did not do this or who did not do that and finding someone within the team to blame, you should try to understand each other’s perspectives. Blaming others in your team means that someone will “lose" the dispute. Instead of thinking of losing or wining the dispute, focus on coming up with a compromise or solution that satisfies everyone to a certain extent. When working in a team, not everyone will be happy with all collective decisions but it is important to listen and consider everyone’s opinions and try to make collective decisions as democratic as possible.

Consider the following when there is a dispute:

Try discovering what your team member’s needs and demands are and then try to understand what the real problem is about. Sometimes problems can be solved after understanding the problem and talking about it openly. If you are not able to understand the problem talk to your other team members as they may be able to explain the problem or come up with a solution.

If the dispute is about a team member not contributing his or her share, determine the underlying reason that causes the person to feel that the deadline is impossible to meet. Evaluate the workload of all team members and collectively determine if responsibilities can be redistributed so that everyone feels their workload is fair and reasonable.

DEALING WITH CONFLICTS (Srinivas, 2010):

One-Way to peacefully resolve conflict is for each side

To come together voluntarily.
To work cooperatively on the issues.

Bring your conflicted parties together in a private location, and:

Gather information: identify key issues without making accusations.
Focus on what the issues are, not who did what.
Avoid accusations, finding fault, calling names.

Each party;

States their position and how it has affected them; others listen attentively and respectfully without interruption.
Tries to view the issue from others’ points of view beside the two conflicting ones.
Brain storms to find the middle ground, a point of balance, creative solutions, etc.
Volunteers what he or she can do to resolve the conflict or solve the problem.

Then:

A formal agreement is drawn with agreed-upon actions for both parties;
A procedure is identified should disagreement arise.
Progress is monitored.
Progress rewarded or celebrated.