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Write a 2-3 page article on interpersonal conflict
Write a 2-3 page article on interpersonal conflict. Define conflict and explain how communication behaviors and individual differences contribute to interpersonal conflict. Recommend a strategy for resolving interpersonal conflict.Introduction
What is conflict? Why does it occur? What can be done to prevent it, and—perhaps more importantly—what can we learn from conflict? How can we transform conflict situations from negative to positive? Conflict arises due to varied perspectives, belief systems, and values. It is natural and common to disagree and to experience conflict. However, there are important differences between constructive and destructive conflict. One tool for examining destructive conflict is what Hocker, Berry, and Wilmot (2022) describe as "the four horsemen" of destructive conflict—criticizing, defensiveness, stonewalling, and contempt (p. 23).Communication behaviors also play a critical role in conflict. Krauss and Morsella describe four paradigms of communication (as cited in Coleman, Deutsch, & Marcus, 2014). These paradigms are encoding/decoding, intentionalist, perspective-talking, and dialogic.References
Coleman, P., Deutsch, M., & Marcus, C. (Eds.). (2014). The handbook of conflict resolution: Theory and practice (3rd ed.). Wiley. Hocker, J. L., Berry K., & Wilmot, W. W. (2022). Interpersonal conflict (11th ed.). McGraw-Hill.Demonstration of Proficiency
Conflict is part of our daily lives. Preparing yourself with the needed skills to handle conflict enhances your interpersonal skills and relationships. To understand conflict, you must begin by knowing what it is and how it affects your life.By successfully completing this assessment, you will demonstrate your proficiency in the following course competencies and assessment criteria:
Competency 2: Apply theoretical perspectives on conflict.
- Define conflict.
Describe communication behaviors that can lead to conflict.
Competency 3: Apply appropriate strategies to reduce or resolve conflicts.
Recommend a strategy to resolve interpersonal conflict.
Competency 4: Analyze the impact of conflict on relationship building in face-to-face, virtual, cyber, and group
communication.
Explain how communication behaviors affect interpersonal relationships.
Explain how individual differences contribute to interpersonal conflict.
Competency 6: Communicate effectively in a variety of formats.
Write coherently to support a central idea in appropriate APA format with correct grammar, usage, and mechanics.
- Preparation
Search the Capella library and the Internet for scholarly, professional, or other appropriate resources that address the topic of interpersonal conflict. Keep in mind that Wikipedia is not considered an appropriate resource. You will need at least two resources to support your work in this assessment.Instructions
This assessment will be scored on the following criteria:
Define conflict.
- Describe communication behaviors that can lead to conflict.
- Explain how communication behaviors affect interpersonal relationships.
- Explain how individual differences contribute to interpersonal conflict.
Recommend a strategy to resolve interpersonal conflict.
- Write coherently to support a central idea in appropriate APA format with correct grammar, usage, and mechanics.
- Suppose you have been asked to write an article on interpersonal conflict for a local organization with which you are affiliated. You may choose any type of interpersonal conflict, such as between spouses, among family members, between members of a social group, or other, but your focus must be interpersonal conflict.Complete the following:
- Define the term conflict. Do not simply copy a definition from a source!
What does conflict mean to you?
- How does that compare with how others define conflict?
- Describe communication behaviors that can lead to conflict.
- Explain how the communication behaviors affect interpersonal relationships. Be sure to consider communication behaviors in a variety of situations.
Explain how differences in gender, age, culture, race, and so on can contribute to interpersonal conflict.
- Recommend at least one strategy that can be used to resolve interpersonal conflict.
Expert Solution
Interpersonal Communication and Conflict Resolution
Human beings have different perspectives about what they believe in and follow specific principles that guide their reasoning. When a situation presents two or more parties, they will try to reason as per their principles, thereby creating understanding or conflict. Therefore, conflict is the battle or fight between two or more parties when they have entirely competitive perspectives to a situation. My definition of conflict aligns with David Austin’s definition in 1972, which defined conflict as the disagreement between two parties or among many individuals whereby each party or group pushes their views to be recognized and accepted as superior to the other parties’ views. This paper defines conflict and focuses on the interpersonal and communication behaviors that may lead to conflict, and proposes recommendations for solving interpersonal conflicts.
Poor communication is one of the critical elements attributed to as the causes of conflict between parties. Verbal communication and non-verbal cues can be a source of conflict. The way individuals stare at one another and whatever they say may lead to miscommunication, thereby triggering conflict (Valitova & Besson, 2021). For instance, when two people are conversing about a contentious issue, and one fails to maintain meaningful eye contact with the other party, one would assume that some information is being hidden, and therefore there is no transparency. Also, an individual’s tone may lead to misinterpretation during the communication process, leading to conflict. These can be interpreted as undermining attitudes towards the other party and therefore trigger conflict.
An individual’s anger or a confronting situation always causes aggressive communication behavior, which could only escalate to unprecedented levels when not dealt with immediately. Also, assertive communication always causes conflict and is witnessed when both parties feel that they individually have the right to be heard and therefore should control the situation on their terms. Also, passive communication behavior can influence an individual’s interpersonal relationship, whereby one party may choose to prioritize the other person’s interests (Valitova & Besson, 2021). This may be seen as a friendly approach by the other party, but it may be equally harmful since they fail to recognize their feelings. Moreover, passive-aggressive communication behavior is whereby one of the parties presents their arguments through sarcasm, procrastination, patronizing, gossips, or complaints. Therefore, they communicate their anger in a non-violent fashion. One of the parties may exhibit all these behaviors while communicating depending on the factors that influence the situation.
Communication is influenced by many factors that touch on age, gender, race, and culture. As children grow, they tend to portray a passive-aggressive communication behavior and prioritize their beliefs when communicating with others. As they grow into young adults, their communication and interactions are affected by what they experienced when they were young and therefore developed different perspectives in dealing with conflict. In terms of gender, women seem to be more compassionate when communicating, attributed to their female naturing abilities (Hutagalung, 2017). However, men often seek dominance, thereby leading to several attempts to fight during conflicts. Moreover, culture plays a significant role in interpersonal communication and competitions since it relates to heterogeneous moral and religious beliefs. Therefore, individuals may need to be recognized regarding what they believe is religiously correct or morally right, thereby leading to conflicts.
The best interpersonal conflict resolution and prevention strategy would be to develop compassion for other individual’s views. This does not mean that you have to agree with them. Still, it is essential to listen to their opinions and talk about your differences without depicting behaviors that can trigger conflict. This is only applicable when both parties decide to listen to one another with compassion. Some disputes cannot be solved to provide solutions that fully satisfy the parties. Still, they can arrive at a manageable compromising situation without any one of them losing the conflict. Therefore, they live to understand the risks and the sacrifices they made to improve the status quo and avoid more conflicts.
OUTLINE
INTERPERSONAL COMMUNICATION AND CONFLICT RESOLUTION
Thesis statement: This paper defines conflict and focuses on the interpersonal and communication behaviors that may lead to conflict, and proposes recommendations for solving interpersonal conflicts.
- Definition
- Communication behaviors that lead to conflict
- How communication behaviors affect interpersonal relationships
- How individual differences contribute to interpersonal conflict.
- Recommendations
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