conflict

STAGES OF CONSTRUCTIVE CONFLICT 1

Stages of Constructive Conflict Management

Tara Thompson

University of Arizona

Professor: Janessa Gerling

August 2, 2021

STAGES OF CONSTRUCTIVE CONFLICT 2

My husband works for the City in the Water Management department; he's responsible

for connecting, disconnecting, and servicing water meters. He has call duty monthly, which

consists of two other coworkers and a crew leader. There is always a conflict between the call

duty team and the crew leaders regarding who receives a call, the order the work is distributed

based on where the on-call person lives about the location that needs servicing. Last month the

crew leader sent my husband on a call, he responded to the call; once he arrived at the site, he

noticed that it was a two men job. He immediately contacted his crew leader asking for help;

since the crew leader lived about thirty minutes away, he stated, "I'm not coming back out to

assist anyone." My husband asked the crew leader if he could send another person out to assist;

the crew leader responded, "I don't have anyone else to send," my husband explained. This

particular job would take longer, and I need safety reasons another man to assist. They ne ver

agreed until my husband calls their supervisor. The supervisor, my husband, and the crew leader

sat down and discussed the situation and realized it was a lack of communication. The crew

leader wasn't listening; he was more adamant about not driving back; he never considered it a

real safety issue at that time of night and the length of time it would take for one crew person to

complete the job.

Potential opposition or incompatibility

The first stage in the conflict process describes the present opportunities or chances of a

conflict (Van Bussel, 2015). When they arise, the cause for disputes is categorized into three

categories: communications, structure, and personal variables. Communication, exchange of

words, and communication that has noise are likely to start a conflict. The design, the degree of

dependence among individuals, the style of leadership, and the reward system also cause conflicts;

hence the size and the specialization cause conflict. Personal variables are individual attributes

STAGES OF CONSTRUCTIVE CONFLICT 3

such as authoritative, which trigger conflicts easily. This scenario resulted in the two individuals

responding to the call and the crew leader showing authority. They created noise, and the crew

leader displayed control, not wanting to lose the argument, which further escalated the conflict and

control.

Cognition and personalization

At this stage, both parties decide and come to realize the main reason behind their conflict.

The involved parties at this stage are driven by their emotions in whatever they are doing and the

conversation their having. In the scenario, the main reason for the conflict was getting mistreated

and feeling unsafe, not providing the appropriate help, not being a team player, and not act ively

listening. The crew leader was driven by emotions when he stated he would not come back to

assist.

Intentions

They are the decisions to act in any given way to intervene in people's emotions and actions

of their behavior (Maltarich, 2018). They provide guidelines to people with conflict., an

individual's intention is defined by the choice they make, which can also determine the dispute.

The choice can change when in a match due to the reaction of emotions to the other party's

behavior. The parties both changed their meaning because the feelings of the other triggered each

individual.

Behavior

During this stage, it is when the conflict is visible to everyone around and themselves. The

step comprises actions, statements, and reactions made by the individuals engaged in battle. The

STAGES OF CONSTRUCTIVE CONFLICT 4

individuals, in this case, started exchanging words between themse lves which later resulted in an

argument and misunderstanding. Their exchange of words and the demanding behavior was so

heated that a clear understanding was never reached.

Outcomes

After any conflict, there are always consequences amongst th e conflicting parties. The

conflict outcomes can be the ones that will build individuals or destroy the relationship

permanently. After calming down the disagreement between the two parties, they talked, and the

crew leader realized he was not actively listening. They forgave each other and vowed to work

harmoniously without causing any conflict again. The outcome was forgiveness, and respect was

gained.

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Reference

Mark A. Maltarich, M. (n.d.). Conflict in Teams: Modeling early and Late Conflict States and the

interactive effects of Conflict processes - Mark A. Maltarich, michael kukenberger, greg Reilly,

John MATHIEU, 2018. Retrieved August 03, 2021, from

https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/1059601116681127

Van Bussel, M, & Doherty, A. (2015). An examination of the conflict process in nonprofit community

sport boards. (n.d.). Retrieved August 03, 2021, Retrieved from:

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/16184742.2015.1019534