Whenever multiple people work together, personalities are bound to clash. Even in remote and hybrid environments, conflict often occurs when different employees have opposing views. In fact, research shows that 85% of employees experience workplace conflict. When left unaddressed, disagreements can escalate into toxic work environments and disrupt your business operations.
This is why conflict management training is essential for helping employees resolve their differences and work together peacefully. However, there are many different conflict management styles, and finding the ones that work best for your business can be challenging. We’ve broken down 8 popular techniques and conflict management style examples to help you foster a positive and constructive working environment.
What are Conflict Management Styles?
Conflict management styles are strategies that individuals and leaders use when dealing with disagreements. They define your effectiveness in de-escalating difficult situations and ensure positive working relationships.
On a personal level, conflict management styles are steps individuals can take to avoid conflict or manage differing opinions. From a leadership perspective, they are techniques for reducing friction within teams and ensuring a healthy and comfortable work environment.
8 Conflict Management Styles
Understanding different conflict resolution styles can be key to helping leadership and individual team members manage different personalities and resolve issues in the office effectively. Below are 8 styles of conflict management with examples, as well as the advantages and disadvantages of each.
1. Accommodating
An accommodating style of conflict management helps individuals resolve and quickly defuse difficult situations by giving in to other people’s needs. The goal is to find a solution that is acceptable to one party, even at another’s expense.
Those who prefer an accommodating conflict management style are prone to self-sacrificing and people-pleasing for the sake of quick conflict resolution. While this may be effective short term, it can result in long-term unhappiness for one or more parties.
Example: Two people disagree on the colour scheme for a new project. Although Sarah prefers blue, she agrees to go with Tom’s choice of green to maintain harmony and keep the project moving forward.
Advantage: An accommodating conflict style can benefit leadership as small issues become resolved more easily. It can be a helpful form of conflict management when the problem is more individualised and not involving multiple entities. It also works well for handling differences in preference, since these will often not have lasting negative implications.
Disadvantage: An accommodating leadership style can be challenging to maintain over time without leadership coming across as biased. If one person’s views are regularly accommodated over another’s, the style can become unreliable or be seen as manipulative. Accommodation is also less effective for larger problems or conflicts where multiple parties are involved.
2. Avoiding
An avoiding style of conflict management aims to ignore an issue entirely. This often involves redirecting or postponing difficult conversations to focus on matters that are seen as more urgent or important. Avoidance is a common tactic for leaders with weak communication skills, who want to steer clear of confrontation at any cost.
While avoiding conflict-handling styles can help prevent immediate altercations, they can also cause long-term problems. If issues are regularly ignored and avoided rather than resolved, employees don’t get the opportunity to openly discuss their differences, concerns and issues. This can lead to resentment towards individuals and leadership, which can impact a team’s ability to work together effectively and general employee satisfaction.
Example: During a team meeting, a manager notices a disagreement brewing between two colleagues about a project deadline. Rather than addressing the conflict immediately, they change the subject to avoid confrontation.
Advantage: Avoiding conflict styles can be helpful when dealing with clashing personalities or tempers flaring between individuals. It can allow both parties the time to calm down and de-escalate a tense situation before it turns into a bigger issue within the workplace. Employees can then resolve the conflict when they are in a calmer frame of mind.
Disadvantage: An avoiding conflict management style can be ineffective and damaging in the long term if employees feel that leadership does not take conflicts seriously. It can increase workplace tension, rather than reducing it, and lower employee morale if issues are never addressed directly.
3. Confronting
A confronting style of conflict resolution is the opposite of avoidance. It involves tackling issues head-on and directly addressing difficult situations as they arise. It aims to resolve any misunderstandings and find solutions that work for as many parties as possible. When managed successfully, confronting conflict-handling styles are a win-win tactic. Each party understands others’ points of view and an agreement is reached that everyone is happy with. However, confrontation can take time and can become a win-lose scenario if one person’s needs take precedence over another’s.
Example: A manager notices that a team member is consistently missing deadlines, affecting the team’s progress. They decide to address the issue directly by scheduling a meeting and outlining concerns to correct the behaviour.
Advantage: Encourages open and honest communication which reduces misunderstandings and prevents small issues from escalating. Confrontation can also strengthen trust and promote respect between team members, leading to better long-term working relationships.
Disadvantage: When not handled effectively, a confronting conflict management style can come across as aggressive. The process of confrontation can also be stressful and time-consuming if parties aren’t willing to engage constructively.
4. Collaborating
A collaborating style of managing conflict is another win-win type of conflict resolution that involves working with others to find a solution that meets everyone’s needs. While there are similarities between a confrontational and collaborative approach to conflict resolution, their methods and aims differ significantly. While a confronting style is direct and assertive, a collaborating style is cooperative and inclusive. It’s focused on mutual benefit and sees all parties openly discussing opinions and finding common ground, rather than having a manager make a decision that may benefit one party over others.
This style of conflict management is best used when a problem is not urgent, since it can take time for colleagues to work together and find a mutually beneficial outcome for everyone.
Example: Let’s use the same example of a manager noticing that a team member is consistently missing deadlines. A collaborative management style would involve bringing the team together to discuss different work styles and approaches to deadlines. One team member may prefer to complete tasks ahead of time, while another finds they work better under pressure. Together, the team agree on a workflow that accommodates multiple working styles while also ensuring that tasks are completed on time and without unnecessary stress.
Advantage: A collaborating conflict style brings teams closer together, improving working relationships and boosting overall employee satisfaction. The result is always a win-win scenario, with everyone being satisfied with the results.
Disadvantage: The downside to a collaborating conflict management style is that it takes significant time to ensure that everyone is on the same page. This makes it a good fit for important decisions and big conflicts, but less appropriate for small difficulties that can be resolved quickly with another management style.
5. Compromising
A compromising conflict style involves finding a middle ground for all parties in a mutually agreeable resolution. Many businesses consider this a lose-lose situation, as neither party gets exactly what they want. However, it can be better described as ‘partial win-partial lose’, since the goal behind compromising is that no party is completely unhappy with the solution either.
This conflict management style can be helpful in scenarios where there is a standstill with resolving an issue. Having a manager step in and make a decision becomes more important than finding a solution that meets any individual’s preferences. A compromise is an unbiased way to leave all parties partially satisfied, resulting in less conflict.
Example: Two managers are trying to decide on a budget allocation. One wants to spend more on marketing, while the other prioritises product development. They agree to split the budget evenly between the two areas, with each giving up part of their preferred allocation to reach a quick resolution.
Advantage: A compromising style of conflict management in the workplace facilitates quick decisions and agreements. It’s particularly useful when two people have contradictory viewpoints and neither wants to back down. It can also foster better collaboration in the future if the compromise is well-communicated and understood by all involved.
Disadvantage: In a compromising situation, none of the people involved will be completely satisfied. This can lead to future difficulties if one person feels that they regularly need to compromise on their stance. It can also have an impact on overall employee satisfaction if staff feel that their views aren’t taken into serious consideration.
6. Negotiating
A negotiating conflict management strategy is similar in some ways to compromising styles. They also involve finding a middle ground between conflicting viewpoints. However, negotiating involves more discussion and bargaining, rather than giving up ground. It’s about exploring different options and leaving both parties feeling that they have gained something of value from the resolution.
The detailed and strategic nature of a negotiating conflict management style means that it takes longer to find an agreeable solution for all parties. This makes it unsuitable for issues that require quick decisions. However, the result will foster better overall employee satisfaction and help teams work together more effectively and productively in the long term.
Example: Let’s look at the compromising conflict style example again. Two managers disagree about budget allocation between marketing and product development. Instead of splitting the budget, they engage in a detailed discussion and demonstrate the benefits of their stances. In the end, they decide that a phased approach will be best, where the initial focus is on marketing with a planned increase in product development spending later. They reach an agreement that aligns with both their goals and adds value for the company overall.
Advantage: Negotiating is a valuable soft skill in itself. It promotes collaboration and joint problem-solving, boosting critical thinking within your team and improving colleague relationships. When used effectively, the result is a win-win scenario, with all parties happy with the outcome.
Disadvantage: Negotiating can be a lengthy process, making it less suitable when quick solutions are needed. If one party is better at negotiating or communicating than another, it can also lead to a win-lose situation with their view dominating, even if it’s not the best solution for all involved.
7. Competing
A competing conflict style is a confrontational method of handling disagreements. It involves one person asserting their authority or insisting that their solution be followed. The technique is often used by high-level management and stakeholders who have a detailed understanding of organisational goals. They also have the authority to make decisions that will meet the company’s needs, even if it means overriding employee objections.
A competing style of conflict management is a win-lose approach and can result in lower employee satisfaction if the decision is controversial. However, it can be effective when immediate resolutions are needed, and in scenarios where a decision can have a significant impact on operations.
Example: Company management needs to make a decision on whether to expand the business or stabilise current operations. The senior management team argue for stabilisation, as they have concerns about the risk of expansion and the potential strain on existing resources. However, the company’s CEO decides that rapid growth is essential for the company’s success and overrides the team’s reservations.
Advantage: A competing conflict management style is effective when important decisions need to be made quickly. It can simplify the decision-making process and help to quickly define roles and responsibilities for ensuring the strategy is successful. However, it is best used by those in leadership positions.
Disadvantage: A competitive conflict style can be the most divisive, and can easily result in lowered employee satisfaction if it’s not handled carefully. While it can be effective in certain scenarios, conflict management strategies that consider multiple perspectives are generally more suitable.
8. Mediating
Mediation is a conflict management technique focused on finding common ground between parties with opposing views. It involves a neutral third party who facilitates discussion, helping the parties explore differing opinions and reach a mutually agreeable solution. The mediator provides an unbiased perspective, balances power dynamics, and ensures the process is fair for everyone involved. This approach aims for a win-win outcome, reducing tension and promoting lasting solutions.
Example: A department head notices that two team members are in conflict over resource allocation. They are too close to the situation themselves, so bring in another department head to facilitate a discussion between the colleagues to help them understand each other’s perspectives and find a fair solution.
Advantage: Mediating styles of managing conflict can quickly defuse tense situations and improve communication between team members. It helps parties with differing opinions better understand each other, fostering stronger relationships and collaborative environments.
Disadvantage: Mediation may not always be effective, particularly if neutrality is difficult to maintain or if parties are unwilling to engage in open and honest dialogue. In cases where individuals are rigid in their positions and unwilling to consider others’ viewpoints, other conflict resolution methods may be more successful.
How To Choose a Conflict Management Style
1. Assess the Situation
Determine the importance and urgency of the conflict. Some management styles are better suited to resolving minor disputes, while others work well for finding long-term solutions. By understanding the severity of the issue at hand, you’ll be able to find the quickest and most appropriate course of action.
Need Help Determining the Best Conflict Management Style?
Our customisable template is the tool you need.2. Understand the People Involved
It’s important to consider the personalities and preferences of the people involved in conflicts. Take into account their roles and responsibilities as well as any previous disputes that they may have been involved in. This can help you to identify underlying issues or recurring patterns that may influence this and other conflicts.
3. Determine Desired Outcomes
Not all conflicts need a lasting solution. Sometimes you may just want to defuse a tense situation, while other times you may want to focus on collaboration for long-term cooperation. Pinpointing what you want to achieve will help you to determine the right approach to take.
4. Select the Appropriate Conflict Management Style
Minor disputes can often be resolved without significant time and effort. Accommodating, avoiding and competing styles of resolution can de-escalate tensions and temporarily address disputes without deeply exploring underlying issues.
In situations where relationships between team members are of critical importance, compromising, negotiating and mediating techniques are beneficial. These styles focus on improving communication and fostering collaboration, ensuring that all parties work together more effectively and maintain positive relationships.
Where long-term solutions are needed, confronting, collaborating, and negotiating conflict management styles are appropriate. They involve in-depth discussions and aim to address underlying issues, leading to resolutions that satisfy all parties’ needs and fully resolve their concerns.
6. Engage in Effective Communication
No matter which conflict management style you choose, communication is critical. Make sure that all parties understand why you’ve chosen your approach to the situation. You should also encourage their feedback to ensure that your style works as intended and doesn’t cause additional conflict.
Find Courses to Help With Conflict Management Training
While resolving conflict is often seen as a crucial management skill, providing your teams with conflict management training can help them to better handle difficult scenarios. The right training program can help your employees respond to conflict, understand and express emotions, and communicate effectively to avoid unnecessary arguments.
At Cloud Assess we offer a wide variety of free courses. If you don’t want to look through all of them to find the right one, check these course lists that can help improve your conflict management skills:
Cloud Assess Can Help You Manage Conflicts
If you want to bring your employees up to speed with the latest conflict management styles, it’s important to implement workplace training. This is where Cloud Assess can help. With our blended learning approach, we provide training for a wide range of workplace skills. Simply Explore Pricing to see how we can benefit your business today.
Conflict Management Style FAQs
What is conflict management?
Conflict management is the process of constructively identifying, addressing, and resolving disputes or disagreements between individuals or groups. You can use various techniques to address the root causes of conflicts and facilitate effective communication, minimising disruption and maintaining positive relationships within the workplace.
What are the conflict management styles organisations use most often?
Organisations most often use styles such as accommodating, avoiding, competing, collaborating, compromising, negotiating, and mediating. Each style serves different purposes and will be most effective in varying scenarios.
