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DEALING WITH CONFLICT IN GROUPS

John D. Rockefeller once said, “The ability to deal with people is as purchasable a commodity as sugar or coffee, and I will pay more for that ability than for any other under the sun.”
The skill of dealing with people is very important today with the pressures of our current environments. Being able to recognize and handle conflict in a productive way is recorded as the most challenging skill for a majority of people to learn.
“Don’t be afraid of opposition. Remember, a kite rises against, not with, the wind,” quoted Hamilton Wright Mabie. One just needs to know how to deal with conflict.
The first step to dealing with conflict is to look to oneself and realize what type of personality they have for dealing with conflict, otherwise known as a Conflict Reaction profile. The three different types of personalities are; Passive, Assertive, and Aggressive.
Those individuals who are the Passive type, they may be such a pushover that they allow difficult people to force their opinion upon them. They will benefit greatly from learning to assertively stand up for their thoughts and opinions in a diplomatic and tactful way. For those people who are more Assertive, they are able to declare positively their opinion when dealing with people, especially difficult people. They need to continue to be open to listening to points of view that conflict with their own, and express any thoughts and opinions appropriately. For those that are Aggressive, they may be so combative that certain individuals might go out of their way to avoid interacting with them. They would benefit immensely from learning to listen and express their opinions more efficiently.
Once the reaction type has been determined people will be better suited for recognizing and handling conflict. The next step would be to determine the type of conflict being dealt with. Five types of conflict exist when working in a group. Process...