Interpersonal Conflict

This book explores the process of interpersonal conflict - from the initial decision as to whether or not to confront differences through to how to plan the actual confrontation. It deals extensively with negotiation and, where negotiation proves unsuccessful, with third-party dispute resolution. To avoid destructive or violent behaviour, Donohue emphasizes the importance of keeping conflicts under control and of focusing on the pertinent issues. He argues that the key to managing conflict is to address differences collaboratively so that the parties can create better solutions and, ultimately, strengthen their relationships.

Communicating Interpersonal Conflict in Close Relationships: Contexts, Challenges, and Opportunities provides a state-of-the-art review of research on conflict in close personal relationships. This volume brings together both seasoned and new voices in communication research to address the challenges in evaluating conflict. Contributors review the current state of research on themes related to power, serial arguments, interpersonal and family dynamics, physiological processes, and mechanisms of forgiveness by presenting theoretical reviews, original unpublished data-driven research, and discussions about the methodological challenges and opportunities in studying interpersonal conflict. An essential resource for graduate students and faculty interested in interpersonal conflict in close relationships between romantic partners, families, or friends, this volume is intended for advanced coursework and individual study in communication, social psychology, and close relationship scholarship.

An introduction to the theory and practice of conflict management. This text first describes the components and dynamics of interpersonal conflict then the various strategies for negotiation, bargaining and resolution.

Interpersonal Conflict explains the key dynamics of personal conflicts that we all face. Written for courses such as Communication and Conflict, Interpersonal Conflict, Conflict Management, Conflict and Negotiation, and Conflict in Personal Relationships, this textbook examines the central principles of effective conflict management in a wide variety of contexts--whether at home or on the job. Its combination of up-to-date research and examples gives students a theoretical and practical foundation in conflict management. Instructors and students can now access their course content through the Connect digital learning platform by purchasing either standalone Connect access or a bundle of print and Connect access. McGraw-Hill Connect® is a subscription-based learning service accessible online through your personal computer or tablet. Choose this option if your instructor will require Connect to be used in the course. Your subscription to Connect includes the following: • SmartBook® - an adaptive digital version of the course textbook that personalizes your reading experience based on how well you are learning the content. • Access to your instructor’s homework assignments, quizzes, syllabus, notes, reminders, and other important files for the course. • Progress dashboards that quickly show how you are performing on your assignments and tips for improvement. • The option to purchase (for a small fee) a print version of the book. This binder-ready, loose-leaf version includes free shipping. Complete system requirements to use Connect can be found here: http://www.mheducation.com/highered/platforms/connect/training-support-students.html

This book is about reactions to interpersonal conflict such as avoiding, negotiating, and fighting. It breaks away from the prevailing assumption that conflict behaviours are mutually isolated reactions having mutually isolated effects. Instead, reactions are viewed as components of complex conflict behaviour that influence each other's impact on the substantive and relational outcomes. The simultaneous and sequential occurrence of, for example, problem solving and fighting should therefore be studied together and not separately. The author presents a ladder of stepwise increases in theoretical quality, and designs the sequence of chapters in such a way that the theoretical value increases step by step. The lower steps lead to the description of behavioural components and to a model of integrative and distributive dimensions. The upper steps lead to the dimensions of dual concern for one's own and the other's goals and to complexity explanations in terms of the novel paradigm of conglomerated conflict behaviour. The chapters are summarised into thirty-four interrelated propositions. Six empirical studies demonstrate the validity of crucial propositions at each level of the theoretical framework. This monograph primarily reaches out to an academic readership. However, due to its clear structure, its comprehensive propositions, its frequent use of figures, and its glossary, the book will also provide an invaluable resource for any student and practitioner interested in conflict management and negotiation.

Interpersonal Conflict provides a psychotherapeutic and philosophical understanding of the nature of interpersonal conflict. Arguing that facilitating conflict resolution has little to do with objective logic or rationale, and everything to do with personal (and cultural) values and aspirations, Karen Weixel-Dixon uses the lens of existential psychotherapy to provide innovative skills for conflict management. The book offers a deeper understanding of those theories and practices surrounding currently held perspectives on conflict, and extends the repertoire of communication skills relevant to difficult interpersonal situations, offering theoretical and practical input into the possibilities of reaching a therapeutic result. Interpersonal Conflict will be an engaging and informative guide for professionals in psychotherapy, health, HR, legal and teaching professions working with conflict, as well as students taking courses involving conflict resolution.

Types and sources of conflict; Methods of conflict resolution and problem solving; The language of conflict and problem solving; Personal styles of conflict resolution; Attitudes and problem solving; Organizing for conlict or cooperation; Early stages of integrative decision making; Later stages of integrative decision making; Changing conflict resolution skills and behavior.

From roommate disputes to family arguments, trouble is inevitable in interpersonal relationships. In Everyday Troubles, Robert M. Emerson explores the beginnings and development of the conflicts that occur in our relationships with the people we regularly encounter—family members, intimate partners, coworkers, and others—and the common responses to such troubles. To examine these issues, Emerson draws on interviews with college roommates, diaries documenting a wide range of irritation with others, conversations with people caring for family members suffering from Alzheimer’s, studies of family interactions, neighborly disputes, and other personal accounts. He considers how people respond to everyday troubles: in non-confrontational fashion, by making low-visibility, often secretive, changes in the relationship; more openly by directly complaining to the other person; or by involving a third party, such as friends or family. He then examines how some relational troubles escalate toward extreme and even violent responses, in some cases leading to the involvement of outside authorities like the police or mental health specialists. By calling attention to the range of possible reactions to conflicts in interpersonal relationships, Emerson also reminds us that extreme, even criminal actions often result when people fail to find ways to deal with trouble in moderate, non-confrontational ways. Innovative and insightful, Everyday Troubles is an illuminating look at how we deal with discord in our relationships.

This text demonstrates the uses of competent communication in interpersonal conflict using current research to show effective and appropriate interpersonal management. The first two chapters lay out a conceptual foundation for understanding interpersonal conflict. It then describes the nature of conflict messages, how different people define and react to conflict and the consequences, both positive and negative, of conflict interactions. Chapters 7-10 explore conflict in four settings. The text concludes with a look at the conflicts students may face in their lives and the need to adopt an ethical stance in managing conflict.