Catanduanes Colleges

Virac, Catanduanes

EDUC. 206
Module No. 3

I. Title: Management of conflict: Types, Sources, and Strategies

II. Overview:
In all human and professional relationship in an organization, conflict is a natural and
inevitable occurrence. Since two person are absolutely alike, the differences in thinking and
feeling causes conflict. Conflict may either be the root of personal and social change which
can stimulate interest and curiousity. Research reprts substantiate the idea that the manager or
administrators spend 20 percent of their time in dealing with conflicts in organizations.
Hence, the ability to handle and mange conflicts behavior has become essential.

A. Activities:
Activity 1:
Conflicts are more often viewed by many that these are harmful and must be avoided. Give specific
examples where the conflict situation is harmful and therefore, be avoided?give one precautionary
measure to avoid harmful situation to happen especially in schools.

 When conflict is not productive or healthy, it can be harmful to everyone involved. Sustained,
unresolved conflict can create tension at home or at work, can erode the strength and
satisfaction of relationships, and can even make people feel physically sick or in pain. It can
also cause discomfort, insecurity, insignificance feelings, sadness, resentment, frustration,
and stress. In turn, at the social level, results of hostility, intolerance, and violence are
present. As for the harmful results within the institutions, it can cause tense in the
environment, weakened cooperation, communication failures, poor performance, and an
undisciplined environment. Inevitably, in this way, there is a decrease in education quality.
Effective communication is essential to the school conflicts negotiation, as it enhances: the
fear decrease of being rejected, the anxiety reduction produced in the struggle for acceptance
and recognition, a greater predisposition to listen to the other and recognize their positive
aspects, a strengthening of self-esteem, an increase in the degree of security, and a decrease
in defensive-offensive behavior
 Activity 2:
Conflicts are in different types:
Describe each type of conflict and give a specific situation
1. Interpersonal Conflict
 The meaning of interpersonal conflicts is conflicts between two or more people in any
setting; it may be at work or among friends. These types of conflicts are quite common but
what’s more common is how often we leave them unresolved.
2. Role Conflict
 Role conflict happens when there are contradictions between different roles that a person
takes on or plays in their everyday life. In some cases, the conflict is a result of opposing
obligations which results in a conflict of interest, in others, when a person has roles that have
different statuses, and it also occurs when people disagree about what the responsibilities for
a particular role should be, whether in the personal or professional realms.
3. Goal Conflict
 goal conflict” is a state in which different parts of the system are working towards different
goals and objectives. Goal conflict as it relates to the work-place has been defined as “the
degree to which individuals feel that their multiple goals are incompatible”

Activity 3:
Before solving a conflict, a school manager has to determine first the sources of conflict. Explain how
each of the following sources create conflicts
1. Overlapping Authority
 When two or more managers claim authority for the same activities or tasks, conflict is likely.
2. Different Evaluation and Reward System
An organization’s reward system can be a source of conflict, particularly if the organization sets
up a win-lose environment for employee rewards.For instance, an organization might set a
standard where only a certain percent of the employees can achieve the top ranking for raises and
bonuses. This standard, not an uncommon practice, creates heavy competition within its
employee ranks. Competition of this nature often creates conflict.

3. Scarce Resources
 In sum, the connection between environmental scarcity and civil violence is indirect but
important. Environmental scarcity is never the sole cause of conflict, but it is often an
aggravating or contributing factor.
B. Analysis
From the sources of conflict stated above, what, then, should, a school administrator do to prevent
such conflicts to happen? Give a proactive measure to prevent to each of them to avoid
conflicting issues.

Conflict is inevitable in organizations. But when managed proactively, it can lead to

transformative change and growth. Consider these 7 helpful tips:

1. Analyze Your Conflict Style.

 Ask people you trust for feedback about how you handle conflict. Try to address conflict
directly and constructively. Seek to understand any resistance you or others may have in
dealing with conflict situations.

2 Consider Needs – Not Solutions.

 Although people may disagree about the right solution, their agreement on the need for
one helps the focus shift to creative problem-solving and seeking consensus. Guard
against the tendency to override consensus-building for the “right” answer; this may only
bury conflict temporarily.

3. Seek to Understand Others First.

 Truly strive to comprehend others’ points of view before explaining yours. Summarize
what you hear until others agree that you understand their thoughts, feelings, and
perspectives.

4. Use Dialogue and Discussion Appropriately.

 One logically follows the other: A dialogue is an opportunity to leverage divergent
thinking – to explore, ask questions, understand, and discover – without deciding or
excluding options. Then a discussion involves convergent thinking: reaching a solution
through negotiations, analysis and consideration of trade-offs.

5. Depersonalize the Conflict.

 View conflict as a disagreement about goals, ideas, or methods, instead of about
personality or style, because these are much more difficult to resolve. Strive for a
common goal on which everyone can focus and agree to work through areas of
disagreement.

6. Help Others Voice Opinions Constructively.

 Encourage others to share their opinions in a constructive, non-intimidating manner.
Summarize what you hear and facilitate discussions until all ideas and feelings are
understood.

7. Start on Common Ground.

 Build on areas of agreement before addressing areas of difference. Start by clearly stating
your desire to find a solution that is workable for everyone involved. Be sure to solicit
creative alternatives.
 C. Abstraction:
The Thomas – kilman conflict mode instrument (TKI) identified (5) main styles in dealing
conflict that vary in their degrees of cooperativeness and assertiveness.
These conflict resolution strategies are competing, collaborating, compromising, accommodating
and avoiding. By understanding these strategies and the nature and behavior of people in conflict
situations, the school head should be familiar with the theory rffered to as the “Interest – based
Relational (IBR) approach”. In resolving the conflicts using this approach, you follow the rules
stated in the attachments which are:
a. Conflict Resolution strategies and Characteristics
b. Rules in IBR Approach
c. Conflict Resolution Process

D. Application:
Make diagram showing the placements of the strategies as suggested in the meaning of each one.

Conflict Resolution Strategies and Characteristics

competitive

collaborative

Compromising

Accommodating

Avoiding
 Rules in IBR Approach

Step 1: Make Sure Good Relationships Are a Priority.

Step 2: Separate People from Problems.

Step 3: Listen Carefully to Different Interests.

Step 4: Listen First, Talk Second.

Step 5: Set Out the "Facts

Step 6: Explore Options Together.

A Conflict Resolution Process

Step one: Set the scene

Step two: Gather Information

Step three: agree on the problem

Step four: brainstorm possible solutions

Step five: negotiate a solution

End of Module
1. As a teacher or a school head, you must have been in a conflict situation ( with others )
a. Describe briefly the conflict situation
 One teacher in our school complained to me about the school supply I received from MOOE
because it is at most 2x more than what he received. He didn’t ask our school head about the
reason behind the inequality of the supply. Instead, he vented his anger and frustrations
directly to me while labeling our school head as unfair. Turns out, I had the greatest number
of supply because I have the largest enrolment this school year
b. Was the conflict resolution process followed?
 Listen first; talk second and Compromising – What I did was I let him talk first to understand
where all his anger and frustration is coming from and then offered him the school supply
that I don’t need at that very moment.
c. What can you do to lessen possibility of conflict?
 Always maintain an open-communication especially that all of you is in one organization and
is going for a common goal.
d. Give one example of a conflict situation In your school that is not resolved due to the school
heads lack of conflict management skills or personal reason.
 None. Because all the conflicts in our school that I can remember have had been resolved.

2. Write behavioral indicators that manifest the application of the conflict resolution:
Fill the matrix:

Conflict Resolution Strategies Behavioral Indicators

Competitive People who tend to towards a competitive
style take a firm stand and know what they
want.
Collaborative People tending towards a collaborative style
try to meet the needs of all people involved
Compromising People who prefer a compromising style try
to find a solution that will at least partially
satisfy everyone
Accommodating Indicates a willingness to meet the needs of
others at the expenses of the persons own
needs
Avoiding People tending towards this style seek to
evade the conflict entirely

Self-Assessment Activity:
1. In the previous activity given you ( the dialogue you prepared about settling conflicts ) how do
you rate yourself as to the correctness of your process/steps and dialogue in comparison to the
strategies, rules and ideas from this lesson in the module? Explain how/why?
 In a scale of 1-10, I can rate myself 10 for the process/steps I made to resolve the conflict that
I had been in comparison to the strategies, rules and ideas from the lesson in this module
because I had used 2 of them and resolved it in a good manner which ended calmly.