Study Conflict Management

Make yourself an indispensable member of your work team, or enhance your personal skills repertoire. There will always be demand for people with the skillset to diffuse conflicts.

Successful completion of this course will enable you to recognise conflict situations and to negotiate or mediate change in order to resolve those conflicts without making the situation worse.

Need For Conflict Resolution

Conflicts are part of everyday life. Whilst they are often perceived as being something terrible, conflicts do encourage us to negotiate and become involved in issues. They can be beneficial if resolved amicably but if not, they can cause stress and feelings of anger and frustration. During any conflict situation, there is a great deal of energy produced. The secret of good conflict resolution is to manage this energy into constructive methods of negotiation.

Study online at a time convenient for you and learn more about:

• Conflict management
• Conflict mediation
• Negotiation
• Conflict handling techniques
• Anger management
• Listening skills
• Balance of power in conflict situations
• Crisis analysis and response in conflict situations
• Assessment in conflict situations
• Counselling in conflict situations

This course is aimed at professionals. It is most suited to people who frequently work in conflict situations such as police officers, security personnel, counsellors, mediators, social workers, and others who may encounter conflict situations occasionally. Study the course to become a successful conflict mediator or negotiator.

COURSE CONTENT

Lessons: The course comprises 8 lessons as detailed, below.

1. Conflict Management and Anger

• What is Conflict?
• Conflict Handling Techniques.
• Conflict Handling Styles.
• Comparing Strategies to Handle Conflict.
• Scope and Nature of Anger.
• Approaches to Handling Anger.
• Anger Management Techniques.
• Dealing with Anger in Yourself and Others.

2. Listening

• Channels of Communication.
• Stages of Listening.
• Obstacles to Listening.
• Emphatic Listening.
• Ground Rules for Listening.
• Listeners in Control.
• Emotions.
• Traps for Listeners.

3. Negotiation

• Scope and Nature of Negotiating.
• The Establishment Group.
• The Community Group.
• Bargaining in Negotiations.
• Win-Win Bargaining or Integrative Bargaining.
• Being a Skilled Negotiator.
• The Joint Problem Solving Approach.
• Writing a Brief.
• Guidelines.
• Negotiating Mistakes.
• Dealing with Difficult People.
• Finding a Solution.

4. Mediation

• What is Mediation?
• When is Mediation Called for?
• The Mediators Role.
• The Mediation Process.
• Team Work.
• Mediation Model.
• Alternative Dispute Resolution.

5. Facilitation

• Nature and Scope of Facilitation.
• Preparing the Facilitation Meeting.
• Attributes of a Good Facilitator.
• Stress and the Fight or Flight Response.
• Symptoms and Effect of Stress.
• A Stress Management Response Program.

6. Balance of Power

• Problems with Negotiation.
• Problem of Re-entry.
• Balance of Power.
• Dealing with Power Imbalance.
• Verbal Bullying.
• Asking Questions.
• Information and Experience.
• Agenda Setting.
• Role Playing.
• Needs Exploration.
• Ending a Meeting.
  

7. Discussion and Group Work

• Group Conflict Management Exercises.
• Anger Exercises.
• Listening Exercises.
• Negotiation and Mediation Exercises.
• Joint Problem Solving Exercises.
• Role Play Exercises.
• Conducting Structured Exercises in Small Groups.
• What to Avoid.
• Evaluation.

8. Crisis Analysis and Responses

• Nature and Scope of a Crisis.
• Response to Crisis.
• Guidelines.
• Interventions.
• Principles and Goals of Crisis Intervention.
• Crisis Intervention Techniques.
• Debriefing.

Aims

• Describe the nature of human conflict and ways to manage it.
• Explain the importance of listening when dealing with conflict situations, and appreciate different listening techniques.
• Define negotiation and discuss the process of negotiation.
• Define mediation and discuss the process of mediation.
• Define facilitation and discuss the process of facilitation.
• Discuss problems that may arise through negotiation, in particular, balance of power and its connotations.
• Explain the importance of working in groups as a means of learning how to deal with group conflicts.
• Explain ways of understanding and dealing with different types of crisis.

What You Will Do

• Different conflict handling styles.
• Dealing with Anger.
• Controlling listening and Traps for listeners.
• Empathetic listening.
• Negotiation between community and establishment.
• Practical suggestions for negotiation, breaking the rules, alternatives.
• Responsibilities of a mediator, mediation processes, agreements, team work, settling behaviours.
• Factors influencing the balance of power.
• Role play.
• Conducting structured experiences in small groups.

Sample Course Notes - Why Don't People Listen to each other?

It is important to consider obstacles to listening that may have an impact when involved in negotiating or discussion with others. 

Anxiety

Listening, like learning, is difficult in an atmosphere of anxiety or threat. In a negotiating situation for example, this presents difficulties for both sides, particularly when one group has more immediate power than the other. Discussing this problem beforehand or at least thinking about it will help; as will having some knowledge of the wider background of the conflict.

Bias

We all have basic convictions and beliefs, and are prejudiced in various ways, but if we enter a discussion with closed minds, the listening process breaks down. Facts that might soften our attitudes are rejected. Cultural myths are used as a defensive screen against truth.

Language Problems

Crucial discussions in a second language will exhaust the listener and cause resentment, particularly if the language of a more powerful party is being used frequently. Misunderstandings due to language barriers can both tire people and can cause serious problems.

Emotional Problems

Certain terms and assumptions will trigger resistance and generate anger in a listener, such as words like boycott and terrorist. Dislike of the speaker or the subject will also distract from the information being presented.

Attitude, Tone and Words

Listeners may be tired, hungry, thirsty, and uncomfortable, disturbed by noise, cold, heat, or simply distracted by some personal matter. Concentration is lost under any such conditions. Some people might also have an attitude of thinking they already know everything. This can be a particular problem in an emotional negotiation.

Talkativeness

If a member of a group is too talkative, it may be a distraction for others in the group, and will restrict others in putting their point across. Other people may not be talkative enough, so may not put their point across. The best technique to use in dealing with this situation is to get the other people to bring pressure on the talkative people to quieten down (e.g. a democratic or consensus approach). An autocratic approach (i.e. imposing rules) will not be as effective and should only be used as a last resort. Asking direct questions of those people that are not talkative enough may help with the negotiation process. 

Personality Clashes

Clashes of personality can escalate and become uncontrollable. A good negotiator should try to anticipate this and prevent it from happening. Intervention must be quick to minimise the damage. 

Be aware that all people in a meeting or session, including you, are filtering and interpreting every word through a personal screen of attitudes, values, assumptions, past experiences and strong feelings. Be aware too that listening behaviour will be influenced by factors such as age, sex, cultural background and even physical appearance and mannerisms.

Why Study Conflict Management?

Conflict management is an important skill for counsellors, mediators and therapists.  It is also a highly valued skill which can be applied to many different work roles and situations. Choose this course if you work in  

• Counselling
• Psychotherapy
• Psychology
• Mediation
• Marriage guidance
• Council positions
• Police
• Security
• Correctional services

What Next?

Do you want to learn more about handling conflicts?

Do you want to improve your people management skills?

Do you want to help people to resolve their conflicts?

Then enrol into conflict management now, and take your learning to the next level.

If you have any questions about finding a course to match with your aims and professional development, or want to know more about studying with ACS, get in touch with our specialist Psychology and Counselling tutors. They can help explore the different options available to you, and will be happy to answer any questions you may have.