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Resolving Confl icts 191

(3) the resulting confl ict. When you dissect them, you will start
to see patterns.

• Two people have the same objective but can’t agree on a
procedure for achieving it. What they want to accomplish is
the same; how they want to accomplish it is different.
• Two people consider their respective views or positions on
a critical issue threatening to each other. Each believes that
relenting will undermine his or her image.
• Two people’s goals are not only different but also mutually
exclusive. If we do A, we can’t do B, and vice versa.
• Two people have different beliefs of what is right and proper
concerning a sensitive employee matter.

• Two people who don’t like each other have to work together
on a project. Their only possible course of action is to fi nd a
way of completing the project to the best of their abilities.
• Your evaluation of what one of your employees contributes
to the department is different from the employee’s own
evaluation.
• A person tries to impose his or her opinion or values on
another person.
• The needs of two people working together are not being met
to the satisfaction of either.

Strategies for Resolving Confl icts

Whether you are mediating a confl ict between co-workers or are
directly involved in a confl ict with an employee or with a manager
from another department, the following approaches can serve you
well when applied judiciously.