Introduction
Conflict management is one of the essential qualities of a good manager especially in a world that has a wide range of challenges to be confronted. It would be quite impossible to visualize a leader who lacks these skills in his/ her daily running of the business.
Conflict management has to be anchored on unbiased and balanced judgment in order to adopt a stance that does not favor any individual. It has to be understood that labor strikes in the market occur because of poor conflict management skills among leaders and labor union managers.
Conflict resolution analysis
Together with other factors, cognitive biases tremendously influence decisions made by negotiating parties in attempting to resolve an existing conflict (Deutsch, Coleman and Marcus 243). This mainly occurs due to poor communication between the two sides thus limiting their decisions within the boundaries of self interests.
Emotional tensions further allow individuals to have stereotypes which end up affecting a balance between making good judgment and negative perceptions (Schneider and Honeyman 170). It has to be noted that no conflict can be resolved if interests of the parties are parallel and disjoint.
One of the biases that is common in conflict management is the ease to simplify an existing situation based on stereotypes and opposed interests. This generates inconsistency, where negotiating parties deviate from their initial viewpoints and understanding of the problem. Furthermore, simplifying situations may result into false comprehension of the problem at hand. For instance, one side may view the other side’s aggressiveness as the cause of their defensive reactions.
Additionally, exaggerating the magnitude of opposition between conflicting sides undermines resolution efforts as the success of one side could turn out to be disastrous to the other (Deutsch, Coleman and Marcus 214). This also occurs when one tries to estimate the extreme side of the other side’s beliefs and perceptions. This tendency could result into lose-lose scenarios, where conflicting sides are preoccupied with extreme thoughts and perceptions.
Similarly, emotions play a significant role in conflict management and resolution. From a positive point of view, emotions permit one to be considerate and make decisions that are fair and acceptable. Of significance is empathy which has the power to augment understanding and promote compression between conflicting sides (Deutsch, Coleman and Marcus 268).
As a result, hiding and public display of ones emotions could be considered to be effective tactics when resolving a conflict. When communicated with sincerity, anger can also be viewed as away of affirming commitment and truthfulness. On the hand, fear and anger may negatively affect the effectiveness of a conflict resolution process depending on how it is perceived by the other party.
In dealing with labor strikes, it is extremely important for the parties involved to understand how prejudice affects the process of conflict resolution and management. In general, human beings have the tendency of holding certain theories about the nature of others. The two theories are incremental theory or entity theory. According to entity theorists, the qualities and personalities are fixed as either good or bad, trustworthy or not, among others (Deutsch, Coleman and Marcus 214).
On the other hand, those who believe in incremental theory underscore the fact that people are bound to change their qualities. As such, the theory affirms the possibility of bad people becoming good and vice versa when allowed to go through a slow learning process. These views towards human nature affect the process of reconciliation and conflict management within and outside the labor market.
Conclusion
Generally, conflict management requires that facilitators and involved parties recognize existing differences like attitude and emotions in order to realize amicable solutions to existing conflicts.
Works Cited
Deutsch, Morton., Coleman Peter, and Marcus Eric. The handbook of conflict resolution: theory and practice. Hoboken, New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons, 2006. Print.
Schneider, Andrea and Honeyman Christopher. The negotiator’s field book. Chicago, Illinois: American Bar Association, 2006. Print.