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Communication and Conflict

Cheyenne Rose

COM 325

Professor Jenessa Gerling

5th October, 2022

Communication and Conflict

Introduction

The world we live in is laced with conflict on a regular basis. There are instances

when it is easily identifiable and other times when it is not. Given the frequency with which

we encounter conflict, its resolution should not be too difficult. Because there are many

different forms of conflict, there are also many different approaches that may be taken to

resolve it. There are a lot of different approaches to managing conflicts. In this paper, we will

investigate the many methods of conflict resolution, the factors that contribute to its

occurrence, the strategies for effective communication, the roles played by different

personality types in conflict, and the process of forgiving one another.

Why Conflict Occurs:

People get into conflict if they feel that their needs, interests, or worries are being

threatened in some way. The dispute may originate from inside the organization or from the

outside world; it may involve one person or many; and it may take place in a personal or

professional setting. According to “Cahn, Abigail, & Cahn, 2014), Conflicts develop when

two people who should be working together have different ideas about how to get there.” We

define conflict as "two or more divergent reactions to the same occurrence; disagreements

between and among persons; mutual animosity between individuals or groups; or an issue

requiring settlement."

Management of Conflicts:

There are a variety of strategies that may be used successfully while handling conflict.

However, these techniques may not be the simplest ones to put into practice. It's hard to find

a lasting resolution to a disagreement without first pinpointing its root cause, thus "working

through conflict" requires a thorough grasp of the problems at hand. (Burns, 2017).
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Communication Techniques:

The settlement of conflicts often begins with improvements in communication. It is

essential to have the capacity to articulate, in a way that contributes to resolution, the issues

and points of view that are held by both parties to a dispute. Communication is a key

indication of the health of a relationship since it captures the value of the information

exchanged. This is supported by research (Mohr & Spekman, 1994).

Personality and Its Impact on Conflict:

Every single person is unique. The sort of personality a somebody has a significant

impact on how they respond to and handle conflict. "Conflict does not arise from differences

in character. The truth is that differences in conduct, rather than in character, cause conflicts.

Diverse individuals may cooperate well until their actions begin to clash. When you can tell

your personality from your actions, conflicts become more bearable( DiTullio (2014).

Forgiveness:

In order to get beyond an argument, it's necessary to forgive the other party. In order

to mend fences and move on from a tense situation, it helps to get insight into the emotions at

play. Growing research in the area of decision making points to the importance of emotional

considerations in the deliberative process, suggesting that decisions cannot be made

effectively or even made at all in the absence of emotional investment. Similarly, this study's

findings reveal that the act of forgiving someone emotionally is quite different from the act of

just choosing to forgive. Only those in the emotional forgiveness group were able to forget

offender-relevant qualities, suggesting that true forgiveness requires an emotional investment

(Lichtenfeld, Buechner, Maier, Fernandez-Capo,2015).

Conclusion:

The handling of conflicts effectively is something that is much simpler to say than to

perform. Because there are so many facets to conflict management, there are a number of
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different strategies to deal with it in an efficient manner. By making use of the various tools

that are available to us, we can gain a deeper understanding of why conflicts arise, how to

effectively manage them, improve our communication skills, learn how different personality

types respond to conflict, and discover how we can learn to forgive and move on from them.
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References

Burns, K.M. (2017). Conflict Is Not Always a Bad Thing. Veterinary Team Brief, 5(1), 39-42

Cahn, D. D., & Abigail, R. A. (2014). Managing conflict through communication (5th ed.)

[Electronic version]. Retrieved from https://content.ashford.edu/ (Links to an external

site.)Links to an external site.

DiTullio, L. (2014). Lean in to team conflict. Public Manager, 43(2), 63-65. Retrieved from

https://search-proquest-com.proxy-library.ashford.edu/docview/1539537674?

accountid=32521

:Lichtenfeld S, Buechner VL, Maier MA, Fernández-Capo M(2015) Forgive and Forget:

Differences between Decisional and Emotional

Forgiveness.PLoSONE10(5):e0125561. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0125561.

Mohr, J., & Spekman, R. (1994). Characteristics of partnership success: partnership

attributes, communication behavior, and conflict resolution techniques. Strategic

Management Journal (1986-1998), 15(2), 135. Retrieved from: https://search-

proquest-com.proxy-library.ashford.edu/docview/231139860? accountid=32521.