Importance of Effective Communication in Conflict Resolution - Coursework Example

Importance of Effective Communication in Conflict Resolution Name: Tutor: Subject: Date: Communication is the act of passing information from one person to another. There are three components that complete communication process; these components are the sender, the receiver and the message. Communication, thereby, is the process where the sender conveys the message to the receiver. There are several means through which communication process takes place. In the day to day life communication has been the most important aspect that people cannot live without. Communication occurs in different places at different time. Communication has been used as a tool that enhances achievements of goals. People need information to know what they are supposed to do; therefore different situations determine the type of the message being communicated. Effective communication, therefore, has proven to be a major tool that solves a challenge in many situations (Achua, 2012). Conflict is a situation where two or more parties are in a state of disagreement. The conflicting parties are in a state of incompatible objectives and, therefore, the actions of one party differ from the actions of another party. This causes the two parties to disagree because they have conflicting objectives and all of them want their objectives to be accomplished. Conflicts arise in many situations and you find that there are no other means of resolving these conflicts other that the use of effective communication. Most places that conflict arises are at the workplace, it is, therefore, the role of human resources manager to develop a strategy for conflict management (Cahn, 2013). Conflict management and negotiation is, therefore, the process of dealing with a conflict situation in a mature, rational and effective way. Conflict management involves effective communication between the conflicting parties so that these parties can resort to negotiating and, therefore resolving the conflict. Conflict resolution is different from conflict management in the sense that the conflict resolution is the process of ensuring that the conflict has come to an end. Before reaching a conflict management strategy, it is always important to understand the stages of conflict so as to determine the appropriate means of employing the conflict management tools. Understanding the stages of conflict Latent conflict: this is a conflict stage whereby people or employees have conflicting ideas, personalities, values and needs. This situation exists because people do not agree with the ideas of another one. In the process of debating which ideas agree the best, conflicts will arise. This is the first stage of conflict where people argue with other people’s ideas, but they lack the means of expressing their disagreements (Deutsch et al. 2013). Conflict emergence: at this stage the parties begin to realize that they have different ideas, values and opinions. They, therefore, tend to look for ways of expressing this argument. In the course of one party finding ways to express to the other party that they do not rhyme in their ways of doing things, it will cause tension between the parties. This will cause the emergence of conflict though the parties are in a tense situation. Escalation stage: this is a state where the parties have tried to express their disagreement, but fail to come into a resolution. The conflict will therefore escalate, and the parties will begin to heighten their means of expressing their disagreements (Dozier et al, 2013). There is more tension on this stage and the conflicting parties begin to consider the other opponents as enemies. This is the most feared stages in any conflict because the parties may resort to fighting. The parties’ conflicting may begin to take sides and to increase the intensity of existing tension. Stalemate: This stage that results from escalation stage, during this stage, the conflicting parties have reached into a situation that neither party is willing to accept defeat. It is an intense stage and the conflicting parties have utilized all the resources in trying to out- way their opponents and, therefore, all the energy has been consumed. This is where each party believes that their argument is right and that the other party should step down. They will, therefore, prefer being at the top where both believe they are winners. The conflicting parties at this stage are not willing to accept defeat simply because they are protecting their interests (Egan, 2013).  De-escalation: after a conflict going through all the above stages, there will come a point where the parties accept to negotiate and find ways of trying to resolve the conflicts. This is the stage where the one of the persons involved in a conflict influences the others on the effects of conflicting without resolving. The parties will therefore resort to find ways of calming down the conflict and therefore the conflict will de-escalate. The parties will, therefore, reach a conclusion where they come up with means of ending the conflict and negotiation since they are influenced on the effects of conflicting without reaching for an agreement. Conflict resolution: this is the stage where all the conflicting parties decide to resolve the conflict through negotiating and reaching of an agreement. This is where they decide to involve a third party who will not favor any of the conflicting parties (Farh et al, 2012). Conflict resolution involves parties finding out ways to solve the cause problem of the conflict. In many organizations, this stage involves the use of resources to find an appropriate strategy that will content both parties. The main action taken at this stage is by focusing on the most important aspect that favors the two conflicting parties. Peace building and reconciliation: when the conflicting parties have reached an agreement through resolution and settlement of the conflict, they therefore begin the healing process of peace building and reconciliation. This stage allows for mending the broken relationships caused by the conflict during the process of conflicting. Peace building involves the parties seeking forgiveness from one another and resorting to the agreement in order to work together as a team once more. The conflicting parties therefore spend their time trying to combine efforts through organizing for peace mission and conferences that are intended to bring together the parties and therefore facilitate sharing of ideas and reconciling (Hackman & Johnson, 2013).  Having understood the conflict stages, it is therefore important for conflict management because it is easier to identify the conflict stage and therefore the appropriate means of resolving it will be applied. Since the communication is the most important tool for resolving conflicts, it is, therefore, important to understand these stages so as to decide on the ways of communicating at different stages. Effective communication is, therefore, important in conflict management since it will help the conflicting parties to realize their mistakes and also it will open up their minds so that they will understand the effects and impacts of conflicts. When conflict arises in any situation, it leads to time wastage and resource waste because the parties will utilize the resource in fighting against each other thus resulting in failure to achieve the goals as per planned. Communication in conflict management and resolution Communication is the most powerful tool in managing any type of conflict. Therefore, effective communication strategy should be employed so that the conflicting parties will understand their views and will resort to settling for an agreement. When communicating, it is important to acknowledge the existing situation and emphasize on the difficulties that accompanies the situation. This will enable the parties to realize that they are in a difficult situation which calls for a solution. The third party in this case the person communicating should be open to both parties to enhance understanding and trust (Heath & Bryant, 2013).  Effective communication involves letting the conflicting parties expresses their feelings. When each party expresses their views and how they feel against the other party, it will bring a sigh of relief and, therefore, the process of resolving the conflict will be easier for each of the parties have expressed his or her views. This is the most difficult situation because it requires a third party to understand and have a deep thought about each view from the two parties. The third party will, therefore, be required to avoid bias when interpreting these views. This will make the resolving process easy. Defining the problem is also another aspect in conflict resolution that requires effective communication. This is a process where the third party is required to define the cause of conflict. Research should be done by going through the conflict In order to come up with an immediate cause effect. This process also involves interacting with people from both parties and collecting their views on what could cause a problem. It is important to communicate effectively by employing different tactics of communication skills so as to enhance understanding and, therefore, arriving at a conclusion on the cause of the problem (Keashly & Nowell, 2011). Determining the exact need as to why the parties are conflicting is also another challenge to the third party. When managing and solving conflicts, it is important to understand that the cause of that conflict was as a result of an identified need that requires accomplishment. When communicating to the parties in conflict, it is not aimed at deciding the winner and the loser. Therefore, the parties should understand that the importance of communication is to arrive at a solution in which the parties will be contented with. Discovering their needs through communicating will aid in arriving at an appropriate means of ending the conflict (Ting-Toomey, 2012).  Communication also helps in finding areas of agreement where the third party and the conflicting parties come together and decide on the means to resolve the conflict. This occurs when the parties agree on the cause of the problem and find a way of resolving it. The parties will therefore agree concerning the procedures to be followed in ending the conflicts, this means that they have to contain the worst case and the best case scenario and also accept the changes that will be intended to ensure that the conflict has been resolved (Krontiris & Bekris, 2011). In the process of emphasizing the effectiveness of communication during conflict management, it is also important to incorporate the ways of conflict management into the communication aspect of managing the conflict. Collaborating technique is one of the conflict management strategy used and it involves the two parties accepting to work together despite their conflicting ideas (Thistlethwaite, 2013). This occurs in situations where the parties trust each other’s ideas and are willing to collaborate without arguing so as to achieve organizational goals. The parties agree to end the conflict through this management agreement because they fear to be fully responsible in the ongoing activities. Communication during the application of such technique should aim at being neutral and making rational decisions. This technique is complex and it is applicable to those conflicting parties whom both have a winning power. The needs of both parties should be balanced so that they will be equal and, therefore, given a chance to both according to their preferred ideas. Compromising technique is another conflict management strategy that involves the conflicting parties coming to an agreement that they resort to working together while each maintaining his or her original position in the conflict. This technique is applied to conflicting parties whose goals are equal and important and also they are equal in terms of their status. Communication in this process is important because it helps the third party to understand the goals of each party through interaction and, therefore, conveying the message of the ability to compromise the situation (Lelieveld et al, 2013). Another technique of conflict management and resolution is accommodating strategies. This is where the conflicting parties accommodate each other’s view. They will tend to concentrate on the issues that will lead to success or rather achievement of their goals and leave the rest. One party may accept the ideas of the other party simply because they are trying to protect the end result of escalating conflicts. The parties will, therefore, contain each other’s ideas and reach an agreement. The purpose of effective communication will help the parties to understand the consequences of conflicts by providing the information on the positive and negative impacts. The party that needs to protect their interests will, therefore, resort to accommodating the other party and thus resolving the conflict (Roloff, 2014). Competition: this is another technique whereby conflicting parties decide to remain at a stalemate and neither wants to be defeated. They, therefore, decide to utilize the resources in trying to compete against each other so that there will be a winner and a loser. This strategy calls for more consideration on the end result of both the winning party and the losing party. When they decide to compete, there will be no conflict after the result on who won and who lose and; therefore, they should set the terms and agreements. This situation occurs when the goals of one of the parties are more important and the only solution is to use the power. Communication in this case helps the parties in understanding their goals better (Sanford, 2014). Avoiding is the last technique that is used in managing conflicts. This is a situation whereby the end result of the conflict will have no winners and no losers. Avoiding strategy occurs by the conflicting parties stepping down upon realizing the effects of continued conflicts on their perceived interests. Conflicting parties will resort to withdrawing the conflict when they have more important issues to deal with and also when one party feels inferiors over the other opponent they will step down (Thill & Bovée, 2013).  Conclusion In conclusion, communication is, therefore, an effective means of resolving conflicts because it helps the third party to understand the cause of the problem and find an appropriate remedy for managing the conflict. Communicating with conflicting parties is also an important step in understanding their views and their goals. The purpose of communication, therefore, helps in achieving positive outcomes in resolving process. Reference Achua, R. L. (2012). Leadership:theory application and skill development. Cengage learning. Cahn, D. D. (Ed.). (2013). Intimates in conflict: A communication perspective. Routledge. Deutsch, M., Coleman, P. T., & Marcus, E. C. (Eds.). (2011). The handbook of conflict resolution: Theory and practice. John Wiley & Sons. Dozier, D. M., Grunig, L. A., & Grunig, J. E. (2013). Manager's guide to excellence in public relations and communication management. Routledge. Egan, G. (2013). The skilled helper: A problem-management and opportunity-development approach to helping. Cengage Learning. Farh, C. I., Seo, M. G., & Tesluk, P. E. (2012). Emotional intelligence, teamwork effectiveness, and job performance: The moderating role of job context. Journal of Applied Psychology, 97(4), 890. Hackman, M. Z., & Johnson, C. E. (2013). Leadership: A communication perspective. Waveland Press. Heath, R. L., & Bryant, J. (2013). Human communication theory and research: Concepts, contexts, and challenges. Routledge. Keashly, L., & Nowell, B. L. (2011). Conflict, conflict resolution, and bullying.Bullying and harassment in the workplace developments in theory, research and practice, 423-445. Krontiris, A., & Bekris, K. E. (2011, September). Using minimal communication to improve decentralized conflict resolution for non-holonomic vehicles. InIntelligent Robots and Systems (IROS), 2011 IEEE/RSJ International Conference on (pp. 3235-3240). IEEE. Lelieveld, G. J., Van Dijk, E., Van Beest, I., & Van Kleef, G. A. (2013). Does communicating disappointment in negotiations help or hurt? Solving an apparent inconsistency in the social-functional approach to emotions. Journal of personality and social psychology, 105(4), 605. Roloff, M. R. (2014). CONFLICT AND COMMUNICATION. Managing Interpersonal Conflict: Advances Through Meta-Analysis, 42. Sanford, K. (2014). A latent change score model of conflict resolution in couples Are negative behaviors bad, benign, or beneficial?. Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, 0265407513518156. Thill, J. V., & Bovée, C. L. (2013). Excellence in business communication. R. B. Chatterjee, & K. Subramanian (Eds.). Pearson. Thistlethwaite, J. (2013). Communication learning needs of health professionals: conflict resolution. The clinical teacher, 10(6), 418-419. Ting-Toomey, S. (2012). Communicating across cultures. Guilford Press. Read More