Ways of Successful Conflict Resolution - Essay Example

Leadership also helps in influencing the efforts of the conflicting parties and ensuring that parties take responsibility for ending the conflict (Donohue & Kolt, 1994). Leadership also ensures that all parties involved participate in decision-making through the provision of opportunities to express their perspectives, feelings, and points of view regarding the conflict (Lansford, 2008). I have learned that leadership in conflict management must aim at proper planning of meeting schedules, installing shared beliefs, and strengthening social cohesion. Accordingly, leadership will enable conflict experts adequately identify tasks, differing interests, or objectives that require cooperation in ending conflicts (Donohue & Kolt, 1994).

From my interview with Professor Marco Turk, I have acknowledged that values play an important role in conflict resolution. The Professor agreed that personality traits, beliefs, and perceptions of the conflicting parties might either hinder or foster successful conflict resolution. I agree that openness to new challenges, open-mindedness, and cooperative values will foster shared goals during the conflict resolution process among the conflicting parties (Jeong, 1999). Openness to new experiences, self-motivation, and organizational skills enables conflict experts to brainstorm and implement creative ideas for the conflict (Donohue & Kolt, 1994). For instance, the Professor noted that the ability of conflicting parties to move from their self-interest positions to points of view is critical in the process. Accordingly, the Professor managed to demonstrate how leadership would use charismatic power to influence the conflicting parties to foster cooperation and mutual trust during the process (Donohue & Kolt, 1994). Values such as emotional intelligence, self-awareness, and emotional stability help the conflicting parties minimize negative perceptions or aggressive behaviors such as verbal attacks that may compromise the process (Donohue & Kolt, 1994).

My modified personal working model for conflict resolution is ideal for interpersonal conflict as well as group-to-group situation conflict (Jeong, 1999). However, leadership, trust, and values are more essential in resolving interpersonal conflicts compared to group-to-group situations. Interpersonal conflicts mainly result from differences in personality, poor communication, cross-cultural differences, and task conflicts between two or more members of an organization (Donohue & Kolt, 1994). Power struggles and poor leadership within an organization may also lead to instances of conflicts among the staff. The first step is to identify the underlying causes of conflict. Accordingly, I believe the conflicting expert will then create urgency for a solution by identifying the detrimental impacts of the conflict on the workplace. Successful leaders must be able to identify the possible negative impacts such as a decline in profitability, poor relationships among conflicting employees, poor customer service, and lack of cooperation within the organization (Donohue & Kolt, 1994). According to my modified model, the next step will involve creating a favorable environment for resolving the conflict. This step will involve the use of essential leadership qualities such as the ability to ensure open communication, and the ability to encourage dialogue and appreciate the diversity of opinions among the conflicting parties (Jeong, 1999). In addition, the conflicting parties will have to attain mutual trust amongst themselves through the open expression of emotions. The conflict expert must be able to use certain personality traits such as empathy, honesty, and hard work to create trust and foster dialogue (Donohue & Kolt, 1994). I have learned that it is essential for conflicting parties to understand the unique personalities, perceptions, and viewpoints of the parties in an interpersonal conflict. In this case, Professor Marco Turk conquered with me that conflict experts must articulate the shared vision of the process and foster feedback between the parties to the conflict. The Professor outlined that this stage entails using leadership skills and values to build trust, foster quality relationships and cooperate toward achieving a mutually acceptable solution (Donohue & Kolt, 1994).

According to my model, the next step will entail brainstorming for several solution alternatives (Lansford, 2008). This stage will entail creativity, appreciation of differing opinions, and avoidance of obstacles that may lead to avoidance or compromise of the conflict (Donohue & Kolt, 1994). Values such as agreeableness, extroversion, emotional maturity, and openness to new ideas are critical at this stage. The fifth step will include the evaluation of the conflict solution alternatives using an acceptable criterion.