Conflict Resolution

Types of Conflict Resolution

Resolving conflict refers to a variety of strategies, which include compromise, negotiation, mediation, and arbitration. These techniques are applied to settling interpersonal, organizational, business, community, and international disputes. Robert Blake and Jane Mouton identified five strategies of managing conflict in business organizations that are frequently cited in the conflict resolution literature. These strategies are smoothing, forcing, withdrawal, compromising, and problem solving. These strategies also apply to a variety of relationships, which include friends, rivals, and close intimates.

Smoothing involves the loser of the win-lose configuration and represented the loser cooperating with the winner and being low in assertiveness. The winner of the win-lose model undertook forcing, which included the winner being low in cooperation and highly assertive with the loser. Traditional conflict avoidance (withdrawal) was seen as low in both assertiveness and cooperation. Compromise is moderate in both assertiveness and cooperation. Compromise represents high cooperation with the needs of others along with low assertiveness of one's own needs. Neither party is completely satisfied or dissatisfied. Sometimes, this compromising has been referred to as lose-lose because both parties may feel frustration at not achieving their optimal goals. The final strategy, problem solving, reflects a win-win option in which there is mutual accomplishment of goals that integrates both high assertiveness of one's own needs coupled with high cooperation in solving the needs of others.

Measurement

Conflict resolution is measured through a variety of procedures including self-report questionnaires, behavioral observation and coding of arguments and conversations, and clinical interviews. A popular scale that has been validated cross-culturally and measures conflict and violence is Murray Straus's Conflict Tactics Scale (CTS). The scale measures the frequency and intensity of the following strategies: withdrawal, reasoning, verbal threats, moderate physical coercion (e.g., slapping, scratching), and severe coercion (punching, choking). The CTS is a popular instrument that measures physically coercive strategies (e.g., hitting) as well as withdrawal, threats, and calm discussions. It has been cross-culturally tested in over 31 countries and discriminates between the sexes with men using more intense strategies such as punching and women using less severe strategies such as slapping.

The behavioral observation of conflict tactics in which verbal and nonverbal behaviors are coded is used by a variety of scholars. For example, research has examined the conflict resolution tactics among happy and unhappily married couples who end up divorcing. Sample codes for husband-wife include complaints versus criticisms. Complaining is constructive, while criticisms are destructive. Complaints are concerned with a specific issue (e.g., failure to be on time for a specific appointment). Conversely, criticisms are more global and reflect negative judgments about the partner's personality. “You always” or “you never” statements are common as well as ridicule and sarcasm. Happy couples use more complaints, while unhappy couples more often criticize.

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