No two humans are alike and thus, it becomes inevitable for disagreement to arise when people work in a group setting or in such a situation where one would have to coordinate with others. This, in turn, gives rise to a conflict that can further escalate either in a negative manner or can resolve in a much calmer state of solution. 

However, not everyone can manage to resolve conflict in a way to reach a solution — it needs patience, understanding and quite often than not the knowledge of how a conflict started and its steps. With this visual merchandising course online on workplace conflict, one might not only gain in-depth knowledge about how a conflict arises but also how to prevent a conflict from occurring while resolving the ones that have already come out to the open. 

What is conflict resolution?

In a nutshell, conflict resolution is the process of addressing the conflict between the parties who are part of the conflict and letting them reach a mutual understanding or agreement based on their interests. It is, in a way, clearing up the misunderstanding while negotiating with each other to come to an agreement that might be favourable for both.

And while conflict happens outside the workplace too, it is of utmost importance to resolve workplace conflicts as soon as possible to avoid the workplace environment from turning harsh or unwelcoming. This conflict resolution certificate covers exactly that.

Stages of conflict

This conflict resolution course online covers the five stages of grief — from the beginning, when the reasons for conflict start to fester till when the conflict is out in the open and a solution is attempted to be found and applied to resolve the issue. 

Knowing how to respond to such situations can help a lot to avoid conflicts or resolve them when they are emerging only as buds. The early the issue gets addressed, the easier the solution would be to find and execute. This visual merchandising courses online certificate given by Cudoo.com teaches one exactly that. 

There is a total of five stages of any conflict within a workplace: 

1. Latent Conflict 

This is the first phase that considers the potential reasons that may give rise to a conflict. These reasons may or may not cause a conflict but have the potential to escalate. 

This phase is divided further into four parts: 

• Competition: Mostly for limited sources, positions or power.
• Drive for autonomy: Where one party exerts power over the other, under the impression that they are establishing their authority over their domain
• Different interests: Even though two people may have the same goal, their interests towards the goal can differ and clash against each other. In such case, contrasting interests can cause friction between the two parties 
• Role Conflict: This subtype is mostly the mixture of the three previous ones while highlighting the role of a person in such conflicts. It considers that a person can be a reason to start or aim to start a conflict. 

2. Perceived Stage

This is the phase where the conflict or reason for conflict is perceived by either or both the parties involved. Do mind that in this case, there is no necessity for a Latent Conflict to be present and it can occur even without that stage. To resolve the issue here, one simply needs to make the parties communicate each other’s needs or interests with each other.

3. Felt Stage 

This is the phase where people now start forming their feelings and opinions towards the situation of conflict. Since people are now aware of the conflict in the workplace, they will form their feeling and either try to take sides, ignore it and stay away or become anxious and harsh towards anything concerning the conflict.

In simpler terms, this is the phase where most workers personalise the conflict by determining their role and place in it. This is mostly due to the reason that they feel the conflict and try to form what to do about it.

4. Manifest Conflict

This is the fourth phase where the conflict escalates and reaches the level of direct friction and interaction. This is where the parties will engage and try to get a response from the other concerning the conflict. 

The said response can be anything from apathy to crying to even aggression and verbal abuse. To avoid this stage, immediate communication between the parties with the presence of an unbiased mediator is needed. 

5. Aftermath 

This is the last stage which takes place mostly after the conflict has come to the surface. The result here can be either negative or positive — with the negative being that the conflict got worse, and the parties refuse to reach a solution and the positive being that the situation was resolved, and parties have communicated their needs well by the end.

Conclusion 

In the end, the knowledge of these phases can help one to understand the situation and act in accordance with it — however, one cannot resolve conflicts immediately and sometimes need more time to figure out the solution. This conflict resolution course online can help to teach one how to read the situation and understand when the conflict is brewing and how to tackle it before it reaches the surface.