Conflict Management

Running Head: CONFLICT MANAGEMENT 1
Conflict Management
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CONFLICT MANAGEMENT 2
Conflict Management
In an ordinary definition, conflicts are defined as disagreements that arise within an
individual, between individuals, institutions, communities or nations. However, the definition of
conflict varies based on the disagreements arising in relationship or association with other
people, communities, organizations or nations. According to the research conducted by Trinn &
Wencker (2018) conflict can be defined as an incompatibility of intentions regarding a contested
object between at least two actors who endeavor to obtain the object for themselves by taking
measures that lie outside established procedures of regulation. Therefore, conflict management
involves taking appropriate actions to resolve contested issues with an objective of unifying two
conflicting partners (Lê, & Jarzabkowski, 2015). In the context of businesses, conflicts arise in
most of the time, and these business organizations use varying approaches to resolve disputes.
Businesses entities can conflict over several issues, which in all probability will require to be
solved. When businesses want to resolve their conflicts, they use conflict management styles
such as collaboration, accommodation, compromise, avoidance, and competition based on the
situation at hand. Preferably, collaboration and compromise are considered the most effective
and reliable conflict management styles businesses can employ to resolve contested issues.
In the business world, collaboration has been perceived as an efficient style to resolve
conflicts because it offers a win-win outcome for both parties. Gunkel, Schlaegel, & Taras
(2016) argue that collaborating/integrating style entails problem-solving, exchange and
assessment of differences to find solutions that both parties can accept. For instance, a business
can have a bad company policy that is unfavorable and frustrates its workers. This can be a
company policy that denies employees paid leave, holiday or medical cover. In this scenario,

CONFLICT MANAGEMENT 3
employees will not be committed to their duties and in some instances, they can boycott work. In
another situation, employees may want a pay hike which the employer refuses intentionally to
effect. This creates a room for an industrial action such as a go slow. In a case like this one, the
employees and company/employer shall have a conflict. Based on this scenario, the collaboration
will first bring the conflicting parties together; assess the concerns of each party before arriving
at a binding resolution. Ideally, collaboration allows the conflicting parties to arrive at a
resolution where nobody loses. In essence, businesses that are in constant conflicts with their
employees or customers due to poor company policy or dissatisfaction can use collaboration to
reach a resolution that each member can accept.
Collaboration is ideal for building customer loyalty in business. A resolution where both
parties feel that they benefit and do not have something to lose cultivates loyalty. If customers
feel that the business is meeting their needs and at the same time they are getting value for their
money, they can be loyal to the business. A business should examine any available opportunities
to collaborate with their customers to create mutually beneficial relationships. Watson, Beck,
Henderson, & Palmatier (2015) opine that achieving customer loyalty is a primary marketing
goal for any business that can help it build loyalty and reap significant rewards on ongoing
challenges. They add that loyalty includes attitudes and purchase behavior that a business starts
to gain over competitors. For customers to have positive attitudes and confidence in a business,
an organization will have to examine itself or scan its environment to identify weaknesses that
scare customers. Once a business scans itself and improves its operations to the expectation of
customers, it will gain customer loyalty. As a result, customers will patronize the business by
shopping their frequently. Consequently, a business will enjoy higher sales and increased profits
just for applying collaborating style in managing its conflicts.