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Getty Images Leader’s Self-Insight 10.3

How Do You Handle Team Conflict?

Think of some disagreements you have had with a team 13. I hold my tongue rather than
member, a student group, manager, friend, or co-worker. argue with another person. _______ _______
Then answer the questions below based on how fre- 14. I raise my voice to get other
quently you engage in each behavior. There are no right people to accept my position. _______ _______
or wrong answers. Indicate whether each item below is
15. I stand firm in expressing
Mostly False or Mostly True for you.
my viewpoints during a
Mostly Mostly disagreement. _______ _______
False True
1. I shy away from topics that might Scoring and Interpretation
cause a dispute. _______ _______ Five categories of conflict-handling strategies are
2. I strongly assert my opinion in a measured in this instrument: competing, avoiding,
disagreement. _______ _______ compromising, accommodating, and collaborating.
3. I suggest solutions that combine By comparing your scores on the following five scales,
others’ points of view. _______ _______ you can see your preferred conflict-handling strategy.
To calculate your five scores, give yourself 1 point for
4. I give in a little when other people
each Mostly True for the three items indicated.
do the same. _______ _______
5. I avoid a person who wants to Competing: Items 2, 14, 15: ______
discuss a topic of disagreement. _______ _______ Avoiding: Items 1, 5, 9: ______
6. I combine arguments into a new Compromising: Items 4, 7, 11: ______
solution from the ideas raised in Accommodating: Items 8, 12, 13: ______
a dispute. _______ _______ Collaborating: Items 3, 6, 10: ______
7. I will split the difference to reach Briefly review the text material (pages 314 and 315)
a settlement. _______ _______ about these five strategies for handling conflict. Which
8. I am quick to agree when some- of the five strategies do you use the most? Which strat-
one I am arguing with makes a egy do you find the most difficult to use? How would
good point. _______ _______ your strategy differ if the other person was a family
9. I keep my views to myself rather member rather than a team member? Are there some
than argue. _______ _______ situations where a strategy in which you are weak
might be more effective? Explain your scores to another
10. I try to include other people’s ideas
student and listen to the explanation for his or her
to create a solution they will accept. _______ _______
scores. How are your conflict-handling strategies similar
11. I offer trade-offs to reach solu-
or different?
tions in a disagreement. _______ _______
12. I try to smooth over disagreements Source: Adapted from “How Do You Handle Conflict?” in Robert
E. Quinn et al., Becoming a Master Manager (New York: Wiley,
by making them seem less serious. _______ _______ 1990), pp. 221–223.

negotiation, conflicts are managed through cooperation and compromise, which
Distributive negotiation fosters trust and positive long-term relationships. Distributive negotiation, on the
Distributive negotiation
adversarial negotiation in which
adversarial negotiation in which other hand, assumes there is a “fixed pie” and each party attempts to get as much

confl icting parties compete to
confl icting parties compete to
win the most resources and give of it as they can. One side wants to win, which means the other side must lose.
win the most resources and give
up as little as possible
up as little as possible With this win-lose approach, distributive negotiation is competitive and adver-
sarial rather than collaborative, and does not typically lead to positive long-term
relationships. Most experts emphasize the value of integrative negotiation for
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today’s collaborative business environment. That is, the key to effectiveness is to
see negotiation not as a zero-sum game, but as a process for reaching a creative
solution that benefi ts everyone. 85
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