How to communicate and resolve conflict effectively

Effective communication can be the key to resolving conflict while ineffective communication often may be the cause of and exacerbate conflict. This comment was made in a paper presented by (Schwartz, Howard, Szeto, Mary Ping, Stewart, Carol, 1999) in a workshop for the Nonprofit Coordinating committee of New York.

Among factors recognized as affecting communication were conscious or unconscious “screens”. This can include values, perceptions, assumptions, body language, facial expressions, emotional status, and physical appearances, past personal experiences, stereotypes, cultural differences, nationality, race and gender, one’s use of the English language, and positioning and power.


Five broad styles of dealing with conflict are identified to include;

1) the accommodating style which entails giving in maybe because the relationship is more important than the conflict.

2) The competing style which involves win/lose scenario where one person gets what he wants at the expense of another.

3) The avoiding style where the conflict is not addressed at all.

4) The compromising style where one party meets the other half way usually giving up something in order to get something and

5) the collaborating style where the parties equally value their relationship and each others needs

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