What Is Functional Conflict?
Whether you’re a parent, spouse, teacher or supervisor, you know how common conflict in relationships can be. While conflict is inevitable, functional conflict is a choice. It involves learning to deal with disagreements in a healthy and balanced way. Functional conflict will help you and whomever you relate to learn the art of harmonious and efficient compromise.
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Respect
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In order to engage in functional conflict, the parties involved must respect each other’s opinions. Speaking negatively about another person’s viewpoint will only make the conflict more difficult to resolve, and the person being insulted will start to take the conflict personally.
Interruption
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Functional conflict involves allowing the other person to completely verbalize a thought without interruption. In so doing, respect is shown for the other person's point of view and it becomes more likely that the conflicted parties will reach a compromise.
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Cooperation
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Those that engage in functional conflict know that the other party is not the enemy. Each person can provide valuable insights and suggestions that will help solve the problem--a willingness to cooperate proves this.
Coercion
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In order for functional conflict to be successful, each party must avoid resorting to coercion. Forcing someone to do things he doesn’t agree with is not an effective way to resolve a conflict--simply state your case and work with the other person’s viewpoint to come up with a compromise.
Resolution
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Functional conflict focuses on finding a resolution to the problem. Personal feelings about the other party that have nothing to do with the conflict should not be considered when trying to solve the problem; focusing on a specific solution will correct the issue quickly.
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