Managing Conflict and Assertive Communication

What’s Conflict?  Conflicts occur when the feelings, interests, or ways of behaving of one person interfere with the feelings, interests, or ways of behaving of another person.

Strategies for Dealing with Conflict  Avoidance  Capitulation  Coercion  Fighting  Separation  Cooperative Conflict Resolution – Ideal Solution 1.Negotiation 2.Compromise

Minimizing Conflict Before it Happens  Cultivate a Positive Group Climate  Create norms that discourage unnecessary conflict  Gauge the importance of conflict  Evaluate how much conflict affects the group and individuals  “Is the conflict really whether I like this person or not?”  Working relationships do not necessarily mean warm, personal relationships between members!

Confronting Conflict  Be part of the solution by recognizing you are part of the problem  Use I-language and active listening skills  Validation deescalates conflict  In confrontation:  Look to the behavior, not the personality  Talk about the issue, not the person  How does the issue affect YOU  Try to see the other person’s perspective  Ask questions rather than make statements  Allow for feelings  Declare a break  Make rules for conflict  Separate the solution from the decision

Dealing with Difficult People  Offensive or obnoxious behavior may be indicative of a large personal or group problem  Look for and anticipate sensitivities and problem areas  Find common ground  Remind the difficult person of the greater goal

Critical Thinking, Problem Solving and Group Think

Conformity Conformity: changing behavior because of real or imagined group pressure Ashe’s Conformity Study Participants were asked to select the line closest in length to X. When confederates gave obviously wrong answers (A or C), more than 1/3 conformed and agreed with the incorrect choices.

Obedience

Group Think  Arises from too much conformity and harmony in a group  “a deterioration of mental efficiency, reality testing, and moral judgments that results from in-group pressures”  Groups tend to make bad decisions if the group has a high premium on unity and people feel they cannot express or criticism ideas BUT groups with high openness and negotiation make good decisions

Critical Thinking Skills TAKE PRACTICE! Divergent Thinking: ability to produce many alternatives or ideas; linked to creativity (e.g., reordering the letters “grevenidt” to form many new words) Convergent Thinking: attempting to find one correct answer; linked to conventional, non-creative thinking (e.g., = ?)

Problem Solving Step 1: Preparation—identifying, separating, and defining Step 2: Production—generating possible solutions (hypotheses) by using algorithms and heuristics Step 3: Evaluation—judging hypotheses in Step 2 against the criteria in Step 1

Thinking—Five Key Barriers to Problem Solving  1. Mental Set: persistence in using strategies that have worked in the past  2. Functional Fixedness: thinking of an object as only functioning in its usual way

 Confirmation Bias: preferring information that confirms preexisting positions or beliefs, while ignoring contradictory evidence  Availability Heuristic: judging the likelihood of an event based on how readily available other instances are in memory  Representativeness Heuristic: estimating the probability of something based on how well the circumstances match (or represent) a previous prototype Thinking—Five Key Barriers to Problem Solving

1. Generate a list of numbers that conforms to this set: -- 2, 4, 6 2. John is 6 foot 5 inches what occupation does he hold? 3. Using no more than four lines, can you connect all nine dots without lifting your pencil from the paper?  4. How would you Use these objects ↓ to attach the candle to the wall

Back to Conflict Resolution...

Confronting Conflict  Be part of the solution by recognizing you are part of the problem  Use I-language and active listening skills  Validation deescalates conflict  In confrontation:  Look to the behavior, not the personality  Talk about the issue, not the person  How does the issue affect YOU  Try to see the other person’s perspective  Ask questions rather than make statements  Allow for feelings  Declare a break  Make rules for conflict  Separate the solution from the decision

How to Handle Crisis Generally Includes:  Assessment of Needs  Resolving Immediate Problems  Determining a Follow-Up Plan

Steps to Handling Crisis 1.Plan and conduct a thorough lethality/danger assessment 2.Make psychological contact and establish rapport 3.Identify major problem(s) 4.Encourage exploration of feelings 5.Generate and explore coping strategies 6.Restore functioning through an action plan 7.Create a follow-up plan