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11: Interpersonal Conflict

  • Page ID
    298257
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    Which of your relationships contain the most conflict right now? Your answer to this question probably depends on the various contexts in your life. If you live with family, you may have daily conflicts as you try to balance your autonomy with the practicalities of living under your family’s roof. Or if you live with friends, you may be negotiating roommate conflicts. You probably also have experiences managing conflict in romantic relationships and in the workplace. Think back and ask yourself, “How well do I handle conflict?” As with all areas of communication, we can improve if we have the background knowledge to identify relevant communication phenomena and the motivation to reflect on and enhance our communication skills. In this chapter, we will define interpersonal conflict, describe common conflict approaches, and explain how to be more competent when it comes to more effectively managing conflict in our lives.

    Learning Objectives
    • What is conflict, and what are some of the different ways we behave in conflict situations?
    • How can we approach conflict effectively, and why is it important?

    Successful students will be able to:

    • define conflict
    • explain the importance of effective conflict management
    • identify five conflict styles
    • demonstrate effective strategies for approaching and responding to conflict
    • demonstrate effective apologies
    • recognize how culture affects perceptions of conflict approaches
    • identify four conflict triggers

    • 11.1: Introduction to Interpersonal Conflict
      In this chapter, you will learn theories related to communication and the management of interpersonal conflict. This chapter will call on you to reflect on some of your communication practices and conflict patterns and to apply different perspectives regarding conflict to develop skills to navigate conflict more effectively in the future.
    • 11.2: Interpersonal Conflict Defined
      This section introduces a definition of interpersonal conflict and provides a breakdown of some of the key concepts in this definition. Interpersonal conflict occurs when two or more interdependent parties perceive and experience a struggle over incompatible goals, scarce resources, and interference from others in achieving their goals.
    • 11.3: Conflict Management Styles
    • 11.4: Unproductive Conflict
      In this next section, you will learn about unproductive conflict strategies. Unproductive strategies are communication behaviors that may prevent successful problem solving and cause relationship deterioration. First, you will learn about the Four Horsemen of the Relationship Apocalypse, broad patterns of responses to conflict that harm relationships. Second, this section will introduce you to unproductive communication behaviors that are ineffective for conflict resolution.
    • 11.5: Conflict Resolution
      This section provides an overview of key communication skills for effective conflict resolution, a model of conflict management, and additional tips to help resolve conflicts peacefully.

    Contributors and Attributions

    • Sections 11.3.1: Interpersonal Communication Abridged Textbook (I.C.A.T.); Central New Mexico Community College; 2019; CC BY NC SA 4.0
    • Sections 11.1 – 11.2.5, & 11.3.3: adapted from Communication in the Real World: An Introduction to Communication Studies; University of Minnesota; 2016; CC BY NC SA 4.0
    • 11.0 & 11.3.2: adapted from A Primer on Communication Studies (v. 1.0); CC BY NC SA 3.0

    This page titled 11: Interpersonal Conflict is shared under a CC BY-SA 3.0 license and was authored, remixed, and/or curated by Pamela J. Gerber & Heidi Murphy (https://www.cnm.edu/) via source content that was edited to the style and standards of the LibreTexts platform.