Conflict Management

This is a course for:

• Human Resource Managers, Supervisors and Business owners

• Counsellors and Welfare Workers

• Parents, Teachers or anyone else who is confronted with managing conflict

Conflicts abound in our everyday life. Most conflict arises out of disagreements between how we should behave/act or even think and feel. Conflict is a natural part of life, and without it, we would not challenge each other to do or be better but would merely passively accept what is dished out to us, like robots! More often than not, it’s not the conflict that is the problem, but how we choose to deal with it that brings us negative results and depleted relationships.

Most of us have been conditioned to view conflict as an unpleasant thing. However, conflict is the manifestation of how people think and behave according to their different personal and social histories. It also occurs as a response to frustration, and some would say as an expression of aggressive and competitive instincts. Inner conflicts reflect our difficulties in coming to terms with life’s challenges or in accepting ourselves as we truly are (this does not mean that we must put up with how we are!)

The most valuable aspect of conflict is the energy that it generates. Conflict management is not an attempt to suppress this energy, but to use it constructively. Conflict caused by differing viewpoints may lead to harsh and painful situations, or it can be transformed into creative and productive dialogue. Conflict will become easier to manage if we see it as inevitable but not necessarily destructive, and as a problem to be solved rather than a battle to be won.

There are 8 lessons in this course:

1. Conflict Management and Anger
2. Listening
3. Negotiation
4. Mediation
5. Facilitation
6. Balance of Power
7. Discussion and Group Work
8. Crisis Analysis and Responses

Each lesson culminates in an assignment which is submitted to the school, marked by the school's tutors and returned to you with any relevant suggestions, comments, and if necessary, extra reading.

Aims:

• Describe the nature of human conflict and ways to manage it.
• Explain the importance of listening when dealing with conflict situations, and appreciate different listening techniques.
• Define negotiation and discuss the process of negotiation
• Define mediation and discuss the process of mediation
• Define facilitation and discuss the process of facilitation
• Discuss problems that may arise through negotiation, in particular, balance of power and its connotations
• Explain the importance of working in groups as a means of learning how to deal with group conflicts
• Explain ways of understanding and dealing with different types of crisis.

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