CONFLICT MANAGEMENT BPS201

Learn how to successfully resolve conflicts

Conflict is destructive when it:

  • diverts energy away from important work or other issues (consider, much scientific and social progress has been made during war times. This is not to say that war is good, but that conflict can encourage progressive thought and action)
  • destroys morale
  • polarises groups
  • deepens differences in values
  • produces violence

Conflict is constructive when it:

  • opens up and clarifies important issues and helps solve them
  • increases involvement of individuals in important issues
  • makes communication more authentic
  • releases pent-up emotion, stress or anxiety
  • helps build group cohesiveness
  • helps individual growth, provided there is reflection on the conflict

This course will provide you with a range of conflict management techniques. You will better understand of conflict and conflict resolution

Dealing with conflict

Conflicts can occur in a range of situations from home life to work, and on a broader scale between countries. If they are not resolved they result in increased tension and sometimes that tension overflows resulting in injury or harm. There is always a need for people who are able to diffuse conflict situations and this course equips students with techniques and strategies to do just this. Conflict management is an important skill for counsellors and therapists but one that can also be applied into other areas of work. 

 

Conflict resolution course for work education

Take this course to:

  • Learn to manage conflict at work, at home, in society
  • Develop skills as a counsellor, manager, supervisor, or simply a concerned person
  • Assist with negotiations or mediation in group conflicts

Develop an understanding of the nature of conflict, the importance of listening skills, and the use of resolution techniques such as negotiation, mediation and facilitation.

 

COURSE STRUCTURE AND CONTENTS

There are eight lessons in this course, as follows: 

1. Conflict Management and Anger

What is Conflict
Conflict Handling Techniques
Conflict Handling Styles
Comparing Strategies to Handle Conflict
Scope and Nature of Anger
Approaches to Hanling Anger
Anger Management Techniques
Dealing with Anger in Yourself and Others

2. Listening

Channels of Communication
Stages of Listening
Obstacles to Listening
Empathic Listening
Ground Rules for Listening
Listeners in Control
Emotions
Traps for Listeners

3. Negotiation

Scope and Nature of Negotiating
The Establishment Group
The Community Group
Bargaining in Negotiations
Win-Win Bargaining or Integrative Bargaining
Being a Skilled Negotiator
The Joint Problem Solving Approach
Writing a Brief
Guidelines
Negotiating Mistakes
Dealing with Difficult People
Finding a Solution

4. Mediation

What is Mediation
When is Mediation Called for
The Mediators Role
The Mediation Process
Team Work
Mediation Model
Alternative Dispute Resolution

5. Facilitation

Scope & Nature of Facilitation
Preparing the Facilitation Meeting
Attributes of a Good Facilitator
Stress and the Fight or Flight Response
Symptoms and Effect of Stress
A Stress Management Response Program

6. Balance of Power

Problems with Negotiation
Problem of Re-entry
Balance of Power
Dealing with Power Imbalance
Verbal Bullying
Asking Questions
Information and Experience
Agenda Setting
Role Playing
Needs Exploration
Ending a Meeting

7. Discussion and Group Work

Group Conflict Management Exercises
Anger Exercises
Listening Exercises
Negotiation and Mediation Exercises
Joint Problem Solving Exercises
Role Play Exercises
Conducting Structured Exercises in Small Groups
What to Avoid
Evaluation

8. Crisis Analysis and Responses

Nature and Scope of a Crisis
Response to Crisis
Guidelines
Interventions
Principles and Goals of Crisis Intervention
Crisis Intervention Techniques
Debriefing


Course Duration: 100 hours

 

TIPS FOR CONFLICT HANDLING

Conflict handling is an important area in many different situations and careers. From law enforcement, to personnel, human resources, management, teaching, social work, counselling and many more.

In many conflict situations we can choose how to behave and how to respond. It is well worth reflecting on some of the most common ways of handling conflict because this will increase our awareness of possible responses. It will also enable us to check out our usual reactions and consider whether they are appropriate for what we are trying to achieve in a particular situation.

There are five main styles which can be adopted to handle conflict: competing, soothing, avoiding, compromising, or joint problem solving.

  • Competing is assertive and uncooperative. It involves an individual pursuing their own concerns at another person's expense. This is a power oriented mode in which one uses whatever power seems appropriate to win one's own position - one's ability to argue, one's rank, or economic sanctions. Competing might mean standing up for your rights, defending a position which you believe is correct, or simply trying to win.
  • Soothing is unassertive and cooperative; often tantamount to giving in. A soothing individual attempts to preserve the relationship at all costs, emphasising areas of agreement and failing to confront thorny issues.
  • Avoiding is unassertive and uncooperative. The individual does not immediately pursue his/her own concerns or those of the other person. He/she does not address the conflict. Avoiding might take the form of diplomatically sidestepping the issue, postponing the issue till a later/better time or simply withdrawing from a threatening position.
  • Compromising is intermediate between assertiveness and cooperativeness. The objective is to find expedient, mutually acceptable solutions which partially satisfy both parties, it falls in the middle ground between competing and accommodating. It addresses issues more directly than avoiding, but it doesn't explore it in as much depth as in joint problem solving. Compromising might mean "splitting the difference", exchanging concessions, or speaking a quick middle ground position.
  • Joint Problem Solving is both assertive and cooperative - the opposite of avoiding. It involves an attempt to work with the other person to find some mutually satisfying solution. It means digging into an issue to identify the underlying concerns of the two individuals and to find an alternative which meets both sets of concerns. Joint problem solving might take the form of exploring a disagreement, in order to learn from each other's insights.

Here are just some of the things you may cover:

  • Different types of conflict handling styles
  • Dealing with Anger
  • Controlling listening and Traps for listeners
  • Empathic listening
  • Negotiation between community and establishment
  • Practical suggestions for negotiation, breaking the rules, alternatives
  • Responsibilities of a mediator, mediation processes, agreements, team work, settling behaviours
  • Factors influencing the balance of power
  • Role play
  • Conducting structured experiences in small groups

 

How This Course Could Help You

This course is aimed at those interested in:

  • Counselling
  • Psychotherapy
  • Psychology
  • Mediation
  • Marriage guidance
  • Council positions
  • Police
  • Security
  • Correctional services


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