The aim of conflict management is to enhance learning and group outcomes, including effectiveness or performance in an organizational setting.
Five styles for conflict management, as identified by Thomas and Kilmann, are: competing, compromising, collaborating, avoiding, and accommodating.
The mediator listens to each party separately in a pre-caucus or pre-mediation before ever bringing them into a joint session.
[9] This kind of mentality can be destructive when communicating with different cultural groups by creating barriers in negotiation, resolution and compromise; it can also lead the "loser" to feel mediocre.
[10] Blake and Mouton (1964) were among the first to present a conceptual scheme for classifying the modes (styles) for handling interpersonal conflicts in five types: forcing, withdrawing, smoothing, compromising, and problem solving.
In the 1970s and 1980s, researchers began using the intentions of the parties involved to classify the styles of conflict management that they included in their models.
Pruitt argues that problem-solving is the preferred method when seeking mutually beneficial options (win-win).
[citation needed] DeChurch and Marks (2001) examined the literature available on conflict management at the time and Ni established what they claimed was a "meta-taxonomy" that encompasses all other models.
Renner (2007) recounted several episodes where managers from developed countries moved to less developed countries to resolve conflicts within the company and met with little success due to their failure to adapt to the conflict management styles of the local culture.
[17] With an understanding of the communications required, the student will gain the aptitude needed to differentiate between the nature and types of conflicts.
These skills also teach that relational and procedural conflict needs a high degree of immediacy to resolution.
According to Rupp, Baldwin, and Bashur, these organizations "have become a popular means for providing coaching, feedback, and experiential learning opportunities".
Once an assessment program is utilized, action plans may be developed based on quantitative and qualitative data.
[21] When personal conflict leads to frustration and loss of efficiency, counseling may prove to be a helpful antidote.
Although few organizations can afford the luxury of having professional counselors on the staff, given some training, managers may be able to perform this function.
The great strength of the nondirective approach (nondirective counseling is based on the client-centered therapy of Carl Rogers), however, lies in its simplicity, its effectiveness, and the fact that it deliberately avoids the manager-counselor's diagnosing and interpreting emotional problems, which would call for special psychological training.