Consultants propose steps to prevent conflict

Posted by Elena del Valle on October 7, 2011

Have a Nice Conflict book cover

Have a Nice Conflict book cover

Photos: News & Experts

For most of us conflict is part of daily life. At home and at work, with friend and colleagues most people an constantly exposed to conflicts or potential conflicts. Recent research, according to Tim Scudder, CPA, suggests that the top reason people leave their jobs is because of a poor relationship with their immediate supervisors.

Scudder, chief executive officer, Michael Patterson, Ed.D., vice president of business development, and Kent Mitchell, vice president of communications, of Personal Strengths Publishing, Inc., an international firm that prepares companies and their executives to better deal with conflict in the workplace, believe it is possible to prevent conflict.

Anticipate, prevent, identify, manage and resolve are the five steps they propose to prevent conflict. It is their opinion that conflict can become an opportunity to resolve long-standing issues and lead to more fulfilling and productive lives.

Tim Scudder, coauthor, Have a Nice Conflict

Tim Scudder, coauthor, Have a Nice Conflict

In Have a Nice Conflict: A Story of Finding Success and Satisfaction in the Most Unlikely Places (Personal Strengths Publishing, $19.95), a book they coauthored and published this year, they present a fictional conflict case study to address the conflict process.

“Unresolved or poorly managed conflict costs companies is ways they can’t even calculate,” said Scudder. “Lost institutional memory, low productivity, bad morale, high turnover all cost real companies real dollars. On the other hand, well-managed conflict can not only prevent all those losses, but it can also promote higher productivity and a stronger bottom line. So, the end result will not only be fewer conflicts, but also nicer ones with positive results.”

The 233-page hardcover book is divided into ten chapters. The three authors illustrate conflict issues by presenting Relationship Awareness Theory through the conflicts faced by John Doyle, a fictional character. They believe the character’s approach to conflict leads to positive results that resolve problems and “enhance the relationships of the people involved.”

Michael Patterson, Ed.D., coauthor, Have a Nice Conflict

Some of the suggestions shared in John’s Notebook at the end of the book include seeking to work well with others, helping to make people feel worthwhile, meeting others where they are and building the relationship whenever possible.