Dealing with Disagreements: Five Conflict-Handling Styles
Even if you’re at the top of your game as a manager, working with groups and teams of people will now and then put you in the middle of disagreements, sometimes even destructive conflict. There are five conflict-handling styles, or techniques, you can use for handling disagreements with individuals: avoiding, obliging, dominating, compromising, and integrating.161 Figure 13.4 shows how each of the styles can be distinguished from the others by the parties’ relative concern for others (on the y-axis) and for themselves (on the x-axis).
Avoiding—Avoiding is ignoring or suppressing a conflict. It is appropriate for trivial issues, when emotions are high and a cooling-off period is needed, or when the cost of confrontation outweighs the benefits of resolving the conflict.
Obliging—An obliging or accommodating manager allows the desires of the other party to prevail. This style may be appropriate when it’s possible to eventually get something in return or when the issue isn’t important to you.
Dominating—Also known as “forcing,” dominating is simply ordering an outcome, when a manager relies on their formal authority and power to resolve a conflict. It is appropriate when an unpopular solution must be implemented and when it’s not important that others commit to your viewpoint.
Compromising—In compromising, both parties give up something to gain something. It is appropriate when both sides have opposite goals or possess equal power.
Integrating—In this collaborative style, the manager strives to confront the issue and cooperatively identify the problem, generating and weighing alternatives and selecting a solution. It is appropriate for complex issues plagued by misunderstanding.
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