How to Manage Conflict in Small Groups

Conflicts often involve a struggle or threat, either real or imagined.

People often avoid conflict because they fear confrontations or consider disagreements unproductive. Sometimes, however, conflict can be healthy and productive. A person's way to manage conflict may stem from behavior learned or observed as a child. By examining and assessing your own conflict strategy, you can better learn to manage conflict in small groups.

Things You'll Need

• Paper
• Writing instrument

Instructions

1. Advise participants to express their feelings using the "W.I.N" method described by Michigan State University. "W" stands for "When you." "I" denotes "I feel." "N" represents "I need."

   Thus, for example, a participate might say, "When you leave a mess in the kitchen, I feel disrespected. I need you to clean up after yourself."

2. Establish ground rules before beginning to discuss the conflict. Focus discussion on the problem at hand, not on the people having the discussion. Address the issues at the root of the problem, and steer the discussion away from personal attacks; they make participants more emotional, increasing the stress and conflict.

3. Allow all parties directly involved in the conflict to take turns explaining their positions. Let the rest of the group ask open-ended questions, which cannot be answered simply "yes" or "no."

4. Find common ground amid the differences of opinion, and use it to build a solution. Determine a desired outcome, then ask everyone in the group for suggestions on how to achieve it.

5. Brainstorm the pros and cons of each possible solution the group suggests. Write each possible solution down on paper, and list the positive and negative aspects of each.

References

• Ohio State University: Conflict Management in Community Organizations
• University of Florida: IFAS Leadership Development--Managing Conflict Creatively
• Michigan State University: Managing Conflict--Escalating and De-Escalating
• University of Maine Cooperative Extension: GroupWorks--Working with Group Conflict
• Penguin Group: Quick Guides--Resolving Conflict in the Workplace