what is conflict resolution essay

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What is Conflict Resolution, and How Does It Work?

How to manage conflict at work through conflict resolution.

By Katie Shonk — on December 19th, 2023 / Conflict Resolution

If you work with others, sooner or later you will almost inevitably face the need for conflict resolution. You may need to mediate a dispute between two members of your department. Or you may find yourself angered by something a colleague reportedly said about you in a meeting. Or you may need to engage in conflict resolution with a client over a missed deadline. In organizations, conflict is inevitable, and good conflict management tools are essential.

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What is conflict resolution, and how can you use it to settle disputes in your workplace?

Conflict resolution can be defined as the informal or formal process that two or more parties use to find a peaceful solution to their dispute.

A number of common cognitive and emotional traps, many of them unconscious, can exacerbate conflict and contribute to the need for conflict resolution:

• Self-serving fairness interpretations. Rather than deciding what’s fair from a position of neutrality, we interpret what would be most fair to us, then justify this preference on the bases of fairness. For example, department heads are likely to each think they deserve the lion’s share of the annual budget. Disagreements about what’s fairlead to clashes.

• Overconfidence. We tend to be overconfident in our judgments, a tendency that leads us to unrealistic expectations. Disputants are likely to be overconfident about their odds of winning a lawsuit, for instance, an error that can lead them to shun a negotiated settlement that would save them time and money.

• Escalation of commitment. Whether negotiators are dealing with a labor strike, a merger, or an argument with a colleague, they are likely to irrationally escalate their commitment to their chosen course of action, long after it has proven useful. We desperately try to recoup our past investments in a dispute (such as money spent on legal fees), failing to recognize that such “sunk costs” should play no role in our decisions about the future.

• Conflict avoidance. Because negative emotions cause us discomfort and distress, we may try to tamp them down, hoping that our feelings will dissipate with time. In fact, conflict tends to become more entrenched, and parties have a greater need for conflict resolution when they avoid dealing with their strong emotions.

Given these and other pitfalls, how can you set up a constructive conflict resolution process when dealing with conflict at work and other realms? Conflicts can be resolved in a variety of ways, including negotiation, mediation, arbitration, and litigation.

• Negotiation. In conflict resolution, you can and should draw on the same principles of collaborative negotiation that you use in dealmaking. For example, you should aim to explore the interests underlying parties’ positions, such as a desire to resolve a dispute without attracting negative publicity or to repair a damaged business relationship. In addition, determine your best alternative to a negotiated agreement , or BATNA —what you will do if you fail to reach an agreement, such as finding a new partner or filing a lawsuit. By brainstorming options and looking for tradeoffs across issues, you may be able to negotiate a satisfactory outcome to your dispute without the aid of outside parties.

• Mediation. In mediation, disputants enlist a trained, neutral third party to help them come to a consensus. Rather than imposing a solution, a professional mediator encourages disputants to explore the interests underlying their positions. Working with parties both together and separately, mediators seek to help them discover a resolution that is sustainable, voluntary, and nonbinding.

• Arbitration. In arbitration, which can resemble a court trial, a neutral third party serves as a judge who makes decisions to end the dispute. The arbitrator listens to the arguments and evidence presented by each side, then renders a binding and often confidential decision. Although disputants typically cannot appeal an arbitrator’s decision, they can negotiate most aspects of the arbitration process, including whether lawyers will be present and which standards of evidence will be used.

• Litigation. In civil litigation, a defendant and a plaintiff face off before either a judge or a judge and jury, who weigh the evidence and make a ruling. Information presented in hearings and trials usually enters the public record. Lawyers typically dominate litigation, which often ends in a negotiated settlement during the pretrial period.

In general, it makes sense to start off less-expensive, less-formal conflict resolution procedures, such as negotiation and mediation, before making the larger commitments of money and time that arbitration and litigation often demand. Conflict-resolution training can further enhance your ability to negotiate satisfactory resolutions to your disputes.

What conflict resolution methods have you tried before? Leave us a comment.

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No Responses to “What is Conflict Resolution, and How Does It Work?”

4 responses to “what is conflict resolution, and how does it work”.

Conflict resolution arise due to dispute between two parties involved in any trade , it can be solved with fair negotiation or through Mediator or through arbitrator or through litigation.

Wondful work keep up pls.

Conflict resolution is way of settling misundestanding between two or more bodies on a matter through dialog.

Conflict Resolution can also be defined as a strong will and determination to create solution to a misunderstanding between two or more parties

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Conflict management.

Patricia Elgoibar , Patricia Elgoibar University of Barcelona
Martin Euwema Martin Euwema Katholieke Universiteit Leuven
and Lourdes Munduate Lourdes Munduate University of Seville
https://doi.org/10.1093/acrefore/9780190236557.013.5
Published online: 28 June 2017

Conflicts are part of nature and certainly part of human relations, between individuals, as well as within and between groups. Conflicts occur in every domain of life: family, work, and society, local and global. Conflict management, therefore, is an essential competency for each person. People differ largely in their emotional and behavioral responses to conflict and need to learn how to behave effectively in different conflict situations. This requires a contingency approach, first assessing the conflict situation, and then choosing a strategy, matching the goals of the party. In most situations, fostering cooperative relations will be most beneficial; however, this is also most challenging. Therefore, constructive conflict management strategies, including trust building and methods of constructive controversy, are emphasized. Conflict management, however, is broader than the interaction of the conflicting parties. Third-party interventions are an essential element of constructive conflict management, particularly the assessment of which parties are intervening in what ways at what escalation stage.

cooperation
competition
conflict behavior
conglomerate conflict behavior
constructive conflict management
conflict resolution strategies

Definition of Conflict

Conflicts are part of nature, and certainly part of human relations. People experience conflict with other persons, in teams or in groups, as well as between larger entities, departments, organizations, communities, and countries. Conflicts appear at home, at work, and in our spare-time activities with friends, with people we love and with people we hate, as well as with our superiors and with our subordinates and coworkers. Parties need to accept conflicts as part of life dynamics and learn to deal with them effectively and efficiently. Conflict management refers to the way we manage incompatible actions with others, where others can be a person or a group.

Conflict is a component of interpersonal interactions; it is neither inevitable nor intrinsically bad, but it is commonplace (Coleman, Deutsch, & Marcus, 2014 ; Schellenberg, 1996 ). In the 20th century , Lewin ( 1935 ) concluded that an intrinsic state of tension motivates group members to move toward the accomplishment of their desired common goals. Later on, Parker Follett ( 1941 ) explored the constructive side of conflict and defined conflict as the appearance of difference, difference of opinions or difference of interests. Deutsch ( 1949 ) developed this line of thought and analyzed the relation between the way group members believe their goals are related and their interactions and relationships.

A common definition of conflict argues that there is a conflict between two (or more) parties (individuals or groups) if at least one of them is offended, or feels bothered by the other (Van de Vliert, 1997 ; Wall & Callister, 1995 ). Traditionally, conflict has been defined as opposing interests involving scarce resources and goal divergence and frustration (Pondy, 1967 ). However, Deutsch ( 1973 ) defined conflict as incompatible activities: one person's actions interfere, obstruct, or in some way get in the way of another's action. Tjosvold, Wan, and Tang ( 2016 ) proposed that defining conflict as incompatible actions is a much stronger foundation than defining conflict as opposing interests, because conflicts also can occur when people have common goals (i.e., they may disagree about the best means to achieve their common goals). The key contribution of Deutsch’s ( 1973 ) proposal is that incompatible activities occur in both compatible and incompatible goal contexts. Whether the protagonists believe their goals are cooperative or competitive very much affects their expectations, interaction, and outcomes as they approach conflict (Tjosvold et al., 2016 ).

Characteristics of Conflict

Euwema and Giebels ( 2017 ) highlighted some key elements of conflict.

Conflict implies dependence and interdependence. Parties rely to some extent on the other parties to realize their goals (Kaufman, Elgoibar, & Borbely, 2016 ). This interdependence can be positive (a cooperative context), negative (a competitive context), or mixed. Positive interdependence is strongly related to cooperative conflict behaviors, while negative interdependence triggers competitive behaviors (Johnson & Johnson, 2005 ). Interdependence also reflects the power difference between parties. A short-term contractor on a low-paid job usually is much more dependent on the employer than vice versa. Many conflicts, however, can be seen as “mixed motive” situations.

Conflicts are mostly mixed motive situations because parties have simultaneous motives to cooperate and motives to compete. Parties are, on the one hand, dependent on each other to realize their goal, and, on the other hand, they are at the same time competitors. For example, two colleagues on a team are cooperating for the same team result; however, there is competition for the role as project leader. In a soccer team, the players have a team goal of working together to win, but they can be competing to be the top scorer. The mixed motive structure is very important to understand conflict dynamics. When conflicts arise, the competitive aspects become more salient, and the cooperative structure often is perceived less by parties. Interventions to solve conflict, therefore, are often related to these perceptions and the underlying structures.

Conflict is a psychological experience. Conflict is by definition a personal and subjective experience, as each individual can perceive and manage the same conflict in a different manner. Conflict doesn’t necessarily have an objective basis (Van de Vliert, 1997 ). It depends on the perception of the specific situation, and the perception is by definition subjective and personal.

Conflict concerns cognitive and affective tension. When someone perceives blocked goals and disagreements, he or she can also, although not necessarily, feel fear or anger. Many authors consider that conflict is emotionally charged (Nair, 2007 ; Pondy, 1967 ; Sinaceur, Adam, Van Kleef, & Galinky, 2013 ), although the emotion doesn’t need to be labeled necessarily as a negative emotion. Some people actually enjoy conflict. Emotional experiences in conflict are also scripted by cultural, historical, and personal influences (Lindner, 2014 ).

Conflict can be unidirectional. One party can feel frustrated or thwarted by the other while the second party is hardly aware of, and doesn’t perceive the same reality of, the conflict.

Conflict is a process. Conflict is a dynamic process that does not appear suddenly, but takes some time to develop and passes through several stages (Spaho, 2013 ). Conflict is the process resulting from the tension in interpersonal interactions or between team members because of real or perceived differences (De Dreu & Weingart, 2003 ; Thomas, 1992 ; Wall & Callister, 1995 ).

Type of Conflict: Task, Process, and Relationship Conflict

Early conflict and organizational research concluded that conflict interferes with team performance and reduces satisfaction due to an increase in tension and distraction from the objective (Brown, 1983 ; Hackman & Morris, 1975 ; Pondy, 1967 ; Wall & Callister, 1995 ). Jehn ( 1995 ) differentiated between task and relational conflict, and later also included process conflict (De Wit, Greer, & Jehn, 2012 ). Task conflict refers to different opinions on content (Jehn & Mannix, 2001 ). Examples of task conflict are conflict about distribution of resources, about procedures and policies, and judgment and interpretation of facts (De Dreu & Weingart, 2003 ). Process conflict refers to how tasks should be accomplished (Jehn, Greer, Levine, & Szulanski, 2008 ). Examples are disagreements about logistic and delegation issues (Jehn et al., 2008 ). Finally, relationship conflict refers to “interpersonal incompatibility” (Jehn, 1995 , p. 257). Examples of relationship conflict are conflict about personal taste, political preferences, values, and interpersonal style (De Dreu & Weingart, 2003 ). All three types of conflict—task, process, and personal (relational) conflicts—are usually disruptive, especially personal conflict, which is highly disruptive (De Dreu & Weingart, 2003 ; Jehn, 1995 , 1997 ). A review and meta-analysis by De Wit et al. ( 2012 ) showed that, under specific conditions, task conflict can be productive for teams. Moreover, conflict can wreck a team’s efforts to share information and reach a consensus (Amason & Schweiger, 1994 ). Therefore, research supporting the benefit of task and relationship conflict is not conclusive and each situation varies. What seems to be clear is that managing conflict efficiently to avoid escalation is a priority for teams.

Conflict Behavior, Conflict Management, and Conflict Resolution

Conflict behavior, conflict management, and conflict resolution are different layers of a conflict process and therefore should be distinguished. Conflict behavior is any behavioral response to the experience of frustration, while conflict management is the deliberate action to deal with conflictive situations, both to prevent or to escalate them. Also, conflict management is differentiated from conflict resolution, which is specific action aimed to end a conflict.

Conflict Behavior

Conflict behavior is the behavioral response to the experience of conflict (Van de Vliert et al., 1995 ). Conflict behavior is defined as one party’s reaction to the perception that one’s own and the other party’s current aspiration cannot be achieved simultaneously (Deutsch, 1973 ; Pruitt, 1981 ; Rubin, Pruitt, & Kim, 1994 ). It is both what people experiencing conflict intend to do, as well as what they actually do (De Dreu, Evers, Beersma, Kluwer, & Nauta, 2001 ; Van de Vliert, 1997 ). In conflict situations people often respond primarily, following their emotions, more or less conscientiously.

Many factors affect how people respond to the experience of conflict. Social psychology shows the processes are largely unconscious (Wilson, 2004 ). For example, how people respond to intimidating behavior by their supervisor might be primarily influenced by the context and individual perception, as well as previous relations with persons in authority, including parents and teachers (Gelfand & Brett, 2004 ; Van Kleef & Cote, 2007 ). These natural behavioral responses are also referred to as “conflict styles.” They are rooted in our personality and can differ in context. Some people will naturally respond by being friendly and accommodating, where others will start arguing or fighting (Barbuto, Phipps, & Xu, 2010 ; Kilmann & Thomas, 1977 ; Van Kleef & Cote, 2007 ).

Conflict behavior becomes more effective once we are more aware of our natural tendencies and are also able not to act upon them, and instead to show flexibility in behavioral approaches. This is where conflict behavior becomes conflict management. Therefore, one can be a naturally highly accommodating person who will spontaneously give in to others who make demands, but one will be more effective after learning to assess the situation at hand and to carefully decide on a response, which might be quite different from the natural or spontaneous reaction.

Dual-Concern Model

The dual-concern model holds that the way in which parties handle conflicts can de described and is determined by two concerns: concern for self (own interests) and concern for others (relational interests) (Blake & Mouton, 1964 ; Pruitt & Rubin, 1986 ; Rahim, 1983 ; Thomas, 1992 ; Van de Vliert, 1999 ) (see Figure 1 ). Usually, the two concerns define five different conflict behaviors: forcing, avoiding, accommodating, compromising, and problem solving or integrating. These behaviors are studied at the level of general personal conflict styles, closely connected to personality, as well as at the level of strategies and tactics (Euwema & Giebels, 2017 ).

The different conflict styles have been studied intensively, with three approaches. A normative approach, wherein integrating (also known as problem solving) is seen as the preferred behavior for conflict resolution; a contingency approach, exploring conditions under which each of the behaviors is most appropriate; and a conglomerate approach, focusing on a combination of the behaviors (see “ Conglomerate Conflict Behavior ”).

Figure 1. Dual-concern model.

In forcing, one party aims to achieve his or her goal by imposing a solution onto the other party. Concern for one’s own interests and own vision is what matters. There is little attention and care for the interests and needs of the other party, or the relationship with the other (Euwema & Giebels, 2017 ). This style is appropriate when the outcome is important for one party but trivial to the opponent, or when fast decision making is necessary. It becomes inappropriate when issues are complex, when both parties are equally powerful, when the outcome is not worth the effort for one party, or when there is enough time to make a collective decision. Moreover, forcing decisions can seriously damage a relationship and contribute to bullying in the workplace (Baillien, Bollen, Euwema, & De Witte, 2014 ); however, normative forcing, which is referring to rules and imposing them, can be effective (De Dreu, 2005 ). Note that some alternative terms that have been used for forcing in the literature are competitive , contending , or adversarial behavior .

With avoiding, one party aims to stay out of any confrontation with the other. This behavior prevents efforts to yield, to negotiate constructively, or to compete for one’s own gains. The conflict issue receives little attention, usually because the avoiding party thinks he or she won’t gain from entering into the conflict (Euwema & Giebels, 2017 ; Van de Vliert, 1997 ). Avoiding may be used when the benefits of resolving the conflict are not worth confronting the other party, especially when the problem is trivial or minor; when no good solutions are available for now; or when time is needed (Van Erp et al., 2011 ). An important motive for avoiding also is to prevent loss of face and to maintain the relationship. This is particularly true in collectivistic cultures, particularly in Asian societies (Oetzel et al., 2001 ). Avoiding is inappropriate when the issues are important to a party, when the parties cannot wait, or when immediate action is required (Rahim, 2002 ). Rubin, Pruitt, and Kim ( 1994 ) distinguished between long-term avoidance, which is a permanent move to leave the conflict, and short-term avoidance, defined as temporary inaction.

Accommodating

Accommodating is giving in or going along with the ideas, wishes, and needs of the other party. Accommodating usually is the result of a low concern for one’s own conflictive interests combined with a high concern for the interests and needs of the other party. Giving in often is related to a strong need for harmony and a sensitivity to the needs of the other. Accommodation is useful when a party is not familiar with the issues involved in the conflict, when the opponent is right, when the issue is much more important to the other party, and in order to build or maintain a long-term relationship, in exchange for future consideration when needed. Giving in also can be an educational strategy, giving space to the other to find out what the effect will be. Accommodating is less appropriate when the issue is of great concern, when accommodation creates frustration, or when accommodation reinforces dynamics of exploitation (Spaho, 2013 ). Note that an alternative term for this concept that can be found in the literature is yielding .

Compromising

Compromising involves searching for a middle ground, with an eye on both one’s own interest and the interest of the other. The premise is that both parties must find a middle ground where everyone receives equal consideration, meaning that each party makes some concession (Van de Vliert, 1997 ). Compromising is appropriate when a balance of forces exists and the goals of parties are mutually exclusive (Buddhodev, 2011 ). Compromise leads to a democratic solution; however, it may prevent arriving at a creative solution to the problem and a limited effort to increase resources before distributing them (Spaho, 2013 ).

Problem Solving or Integrating

Problem solving is a win–win strategy aimed at “optimizing rather than satisfying the parties” (Van de Vliert, 1997 , p. 36). Great value is attached to one’s own interests and vision, but also a lot of attention is given to the needs, ideas, and interests of the other. One looks for open and creative solutions that meet both interests. Problem solving or integrating is useful in dealing with complex issues, and it allows both parties to share skills, information, and other resources to redefine the problem and formulate alternative solutions. It is, however, inappropriate when the task is simple or trivial, and when there is no time. Also, it is more difficult to develop when the other party does not have experience in problem solving or when the parties are unconcerned about the outcomes (Pruitt & Rubin, 1986 ). Note that some alternative terms that can be found in the literature for this concept are cooperation and collaboration .

The dual-concern model is used as a contingency model, describing which conflict behaviors are used best under what conditions (Van de Vliert et al., 1997 ), and also as a normative model, promoting integrating behaviors as the most effective style, particularly when it comes to joined outcomes and long-term effectiveness. Forcing, in contrast, is often described as a noncooperative behavior, with risk of escalated and unilateral outcomes (Blake & Mouton, 1964 ; Burke, 1970 ; Deutsch, 1973 ; Fisher & Ury, 1981 ; Pruitt & Rubin, 1986 ; Rahim, 2010 ; Thomas, 1992 ). As a result, authors define forcing and integrating as two opposed behavioral approaches (Tjosvold, Morishima, & Belsheim, 1999 ). Following this model, many scholars during the 1970s and 1980s proposed that individuals use a single behavior in conflict, or that the behaviors should be seen as independent. Therefore, the antecedents and effects of different conflict behaviors are often analyzed separately (Tjosvold, 1997 ; Volkema & Bergmann, 2001 ). However, parties usually try to achieve personal outcomes, and try to reach mutual agreements by combining several behaviors in a conflict episode (Van de Vliert, 1997 ). This is the basic assumption of the conglomerate conflict behavior (CCB) theory (Van de Vliert, Euwema, & Huismans, 1995 ), which established that conflict behaviors are used in a compatible manner, sequentially or simultaneously.

Conglomerate Conflict Behavior (CCB)

In the dual-concern model, a contrast is made between forcing (contending with an adversary in a direct way) and integrating (reconciling the parties’ basic interests) as two opposed behavioral approaches (Tjosvold et al., 1999 ). However, the CCB framework assumes that individual reactions to conflict typically are complex and consist of multiple components of behavior (Van de Vliert, 1997 , Van de Vliert et al., 1995 ). The CCB theory covers the idea that behavioral components may occur simultaneously or sequentially and that the combination drives toward effectiveness (Euwema & Van Emmerik, 2007 ; Medina & Benitez, 2011 ). The theory has been supported in studies analyzing conflict management effectiveness in different contexts, such as in managerial behavior (Munduate, Ganaza, Peiro, & Euwema, 1999 ), in military peacekeeping (Euwema & Van Emmerik, 2007 ) and by worker representatives in organizations (Elgoibar, 2013 ).

The main reason that people combine different behaviors is because conflicts are often mixed-motive situations (Euwema, Van de Vliert, & Bakker, 2003 ; Euwema & Van Emmerik, 2007 ; Walton & McKersie, 1965 ). Mixed-motive situations are described as situations that pose a conflict between securing immediate benefits through competition, and pursuing benefits for oneself and others through cooperation with other people (Komorita & Parks, 1995 ; Sheldon & Fishbach, 2011 ). Therefore, a person's behavior in a conflict episode is viewed as a combination of some of the five forms of conflict behaviors. An example of sequential complex behavior is to first put the demands clearly (forcing), followed by integrating (searching for mutual gains, and expanding the pie), and finally compromising, where distributive issues are dealt with in a fair way. An example of serial complexity can be found in multi-issue conflict, when for some issues conflict can be avoided, while for high priorities, demands are put on the table in a forcing way. Another CCB pattern is the conglomeration of accommodating and forcing. This pattern is sometimes referred to as “logrolling” (Van de Vliert, 1997 , p. 35), and it is a classic part of integrative strategies, to maximize the outcomes for both parties. Logrolling behavior consists of accommodating the high-concern issues of the other party and forcing one’s own high-concern issues. This approach is usually helpful in multi-issue trade negotiations; however, it requires openness of both parties to acknowledging key interests.

How to Explore Your Tendency in Conflict

The most famous and popular conflict behavior questionnaires are:

MODE (Management of Differences Exercise). MODE, developed in 1974 by Thomas and Killman, presents 30 choices between two options representing different conflict styles.

ROCI (Rahim's Organizational Conflict Inventory). The ROCI is a list of 28 items that measures the five styles of conflict behavior described.

Dutch Test of Conflict Handling. This list of 20 items measures the degree of preference for the five styles (Van de Vliert & Euwema, 1994 ; De Dreu et al., 2001 , 2005 ). It has been validated internationally.

Conflict management is deliberate action to deal with conflictive situations, either to prevent or to escalate them. Unlike conflict behavior, conflict management encompasses cognitive responses to conflict situations, which can vary from highly competitive to highly cooperative. Conflict management does not necessarily involve avoidance, reduction, or termination of conflict. It involves designing effective strategies to minimize the dysfunctions of conflict and to enhance the constructive functions of conflict in order to improve team and organizational effectiveness (Rahim, 2002 ).

Conflicts are not necessarily destructive (De Dreu & Gelfand, 2008 ; Euwema, Munduate, Elgoibar, Pender, & Garcia, 2015 ), and research has shown that constructive conflict management is possible (Coleman, Deutsch, & Marcus, 2014 ). The benefits of conflict are much more likely to arise when conflicts are discussed openly, and when discussion skillfully promotes new ideas and generates creative insights and agreements (Coleman et al., 2014 ; De Dreu & Gelfand, 2008 ; Euwema et al., 2015 ; Tjosvold, Won, & Chen, 2014 ). To make a constructive experience from conflict, conflict needs to be managed effectively.

Deutsch’s classic theory of competition and cooperation describes the antecedents and consequences of parties’ cooperative or competitive orientations and allows insights into what can give rise to constructive or destructive conflict processes (Deutsch, 1973 , 2002 ). The core of the theory is the perceived interdependence of the parties, so that the extent that protagonists believe that their goals are cooperative (positively related) or competitive (negatively related) affects their interaction and thus the outcomes. Positive interdependence promotes openness, cooperative relations, and integrative problem solving. Perceived negative interdependence on the other hand, induces more distance and less openness, and promotes competitive behavior, resulting in distributive bargaining or win–lose outcomes (Tjosvold et al., 2014 ).

Whether the protagonists believe their goals are cooperative or competitive very much affects their expectations, interactions, and outcomes. If parties perceive that they can reach their goals only if the other party also reaches their goals, the goal interdependence is positively perceived and therefore parties will have higher concern for the other’s goals and manage the conflict cooperatively (De Dreu et al., 2001 ; Tjosvold et al., 2014 ). On the contrary, if one party perceives that they can reach their goals only if the other party fails to obtain their goals, the interdependence becomes negatively perceived and the approach to conflict becomes competitive (Tjosvold et al., 2014 ). Goals can also be independent; in that case, conflict can be avoided (the parties don’t need to obstruct each other’s goals to be successful). Therefore, how parties perceive their goals’ interdependence affects how they negotiate conflict and whether the conflict is constructively or destructively managed (Alper et al., 2000 ; Deutsch, 1973 ; Johnson & Johnson, 1989 ; Tjosvold, 2008 ).

Successfully managing conflict cooperatively requires intellectual, emotional, and relational capabilities in order to share information, to contribute to value creation, and to discuss differences constructively (Fisher & Ury, 1981 ; Tjosvold et al., 2014 ). In contrast, a competitive-destructive process leads to material losses and dissatisfaction, worsening relations between parties, and negative psychological effects on at least one party—the loser of a win–lose context (Deutsch, 2014 ).

Deutsch’s theory proposes that emphasizing cooperative goals in conflict by demonstrating a commitment to pursue mutually beneficial solutions creates high-quality resolutions and relationships, while focusing on competitive interests by pursuing one’s own goals at the expense of the other’s escalates conflict, resulting in imposed solutions and suspicious relationships (Tjosvold et al., 2014 ).

In summary, Deutsch’s theory states that the context in which the conflict process is expressed drives parties toward either a cooperative or a competitive orientation in conflicts (Alper et al., 2000 ; Deutsch, 2006 ; Johnson & Johnson, 1989 ). In other words, a cooperative context is related to a cooperative conflict pattern, and a competitive context is related to a competitive conflict pattern. When parties have a cooperative orientation toward conflict, parties discuss their differences with the objective of clarifying them and attempting to find a solution that is satisfactory to both parties—both parties win (Carnevale & Pruitt, 1992 ). On the contrary, in competition, there is usually a winner and a loser (Carnevale & Pruitt, 1992 ) (see Table 1 ). In the CCB model, the patterns can include cooperative (i.e., integrating) and competitive (i.e. forcing) behavior; however, the cooperative pattern will be dominated by integrating while the competitive pattern will be dominated by forcing (Elgoibar, 2013 ).

Table 1. Characteristics of Cooperative and Competitive Climates

Source : Coleman, Deutsch, and Marcus ( 2014 ).

How to Manage Conflicts Constructively

The need for trust.

Trust is commonly defined as a belief or expectation about others’ benevolent motives during a social interaction (Holmes & Rempel, 1989 ; Rousseau et al., 1998 ). Mutual trust is one important antecedent as well as a consequence of cooperation in conflicts (Deutsch, 1983 ; Ferrin, Bligh, & Kohles, 2008 ). As Nahapiet and Ghoshal pointed out, “Trust lubricates cooperation, and cooperation itself breeds trust” ( 1998 , p.255). There is ample evidence that constructive conflict and trust are tightly and positively related (Hempel, Zhang, & Tjosvold, 2009 ; Bijlsma & Koopman, 2003 ; Lewicki, Tonlinson, & Gillespie, 2006 ).

Successful constructive conflict management requires maximal gathering and exchange of information in order to identify problems and areas of mutual concern, to search for alternatives, to assess their implications, and to achieve openness about preferences in selecting optimal solutions (Bacon & Blyton, 2007 ; Johnson & Johnson, 1989 ; Tjosvold, 1999 ). Trust gives parties the confidence to be open with each other, knowing that the shared information won’t be used against them (Zaheer & Zaheer, 2006 ). Various studies revealed that trust leads to constructive conglomerate behaviors and to more integrative outcomes in interpersonal and intergroup conflicts (Lewicki, Elgoibar, & Euwema, 2016 ; Lewicki, McAllister, & Bies, 1998 ; Ross & LaCroix, 1996 ).

How can trust be promoted? Developing trust is challenging (Gunia, Brett, & Nandkeolyar, 2014 ; Hempel et al., 2009 ). Numerous scholars have noted that trust is easier to destroy than to create (Hempel et al., 2009 ; Meyerson et al., 1996 ). There are two main reasons for this assertion. First, trust-breaking events are often more visible and noticeable than positive trust-building actions (Kramer, 1999 ). Second, trust-breaking events are judged to have a higher impact on trust judgments than positive events (Slovic, 1993 ). Furthermore, Slovic ( 1993 ) concluded that trust-breaking events are more credible than sources of good news. Thus, the general belief is that trust is easier to destroy than it is to build, and trust rebuilding may take even longer than it took to create the original level of trust (Lewicki et al., 2016 ).

However, there is room for optimism, and different strategies have been shown to promote trust. As held in social exchange theory (Blau, 1964 ), risk taking by one party in supporting the other party has been found to signal trust to the other party (Serva et al., 2005 ). Yet, fears of exploitation make trust in conflict management and negotiation scarce. Therefore, the use of trust-promoting strategies depends on the specific situation, and parties need practical guidance on how and when to manage conflict constructively by means of promoting mutual trust.

How does the possibility of trust development between parties depend on the conflict context? Based on this practical question, some strategies for trust development have been proposed (Fisher & Ury, 1981 ; Fulmer & Gelfand, 2012 ; Gunia, Brett, & Nandkeolyar, 2012 ; Lewicki et al., 2016 ). In relationships where trust is likely, the following strategies can help: assume trustworthiness, prioritize your interests and give away a little information about them, engage in reciprocity (concessions), highlight similarities and spend time together, get to know your counterpart personally and try to be likable, behave consistently and predictably, and paraphrase your counterpart’s positions. In relationships where trust seems possible: emphasize common goals; focus on the subject, not on the people; look to the future and find a shared vision; mix questions and answers about interests and priorities—the fundamental elements of information sharing—with making and justifying offers; take a break; suggest another approach; call in a mediator; and forgive the other party’s mistakes. In relationships where trust is not possible, more cautious strategies can help: make multi-issue offers; think holistically about your counterpart’s interests; engage in reciprocity (concessions); express sympathy, apologize, or compliment your counterpart; and look for preference patterns in your counterpart’s offers and responses.

Constructive Controversy

C onstructive controversy is defined as the open-minded discussion of conflicting perspectives for mutual benefit, which occurs when protagonists express their opposing ideas that obstruct resolving the issues, at least temporarily (Tjosvold et al., 2014 ). Indicators of constructive controversy include listening carefully to each other’s opinion, trying to understand each other’s concerns, and using opposing views to understand the problem better. These skills are considered vitally important for developing and implementing cooperative problem-solving processes successfully and effectively.

Deutsch ( 2014 ) stated that there haven’t been many systematic discussions of the skills involved in constructive solutions to conflict, and he proposed three main types of skills for constructive conflict management:

Rapport-building skills are involved in establishing effective relationships between parties (such as breaking the ice; reducing fears, tensions, and suspicion; overcoming resistance to negotiation; and fostering realistic hope and optimism).

Cooperative conflict-resolution skills are concerned with developing and maintaining a cooperative conflict resolution process among the parties involved (such as identifying the type of conflict in which the parties are involved; reframing the issues so that conflict is perceived as a mutual problem to be resolved cooperatively; active listening and responsive communication; distinguishing between effective relationships between parties and positions; encouraging, supporting, and enhancing the parties; being alert to cultural differences and the possibilities of misunderstanding arising from them; and controlling anger).

Group process and decision-making skills are involved in developing a creative and productive process (such as monitoring progress toward group goals; eliciting, clarifying, coordinating, summarizing, and integrating the contributions of the various participants; and maintaining group cohesion).

Tjosvold et al. ( 2014 ) and Johnson et al. ( 2014 ) also elaborate on the skills needed for facilitating open-minded discussions and constructive controversy. They developed four mutually reinforcing strategies for managing conflict constructively:

Developing and expressing one’s own view. Parties need to know what each of the others wants and believes, and expressing one’s own needs, feelings, and ideas is essential to gaining that knowledge. By strengthening expression of their own positions, both parties can learn to investigate their position, present the best case they can for it, defend it vigorously, and try at the same time to refute opposing views. However, expressing one’s own position needs to be supplemented with an open-minded approach to the other’s position.

Questioning and understanding others’ views. Listening and understanding opposing views, as well as defending one’s own views, makes discussing conflicts more challenging but also more rewarding; therefore, the parties can point out weaknesses in each other’s arguments to encourage better development and expression of positions by finding more evidence and strengthening their reasoning.

Integrating and creating solutions. The creation of new alternatives lays the foundation for genuine agreements about a solution that both parties can accept and implement. However, protagonists may have to engage in repeated discussion to reach an agreement, or indeed they may be unable to create a solution that is mutually acceptable, and then they can both learn to become less adamant, to exchange views directly, and to show that they are trying to understand and integrate each other’s ideas so that all may benefit.

Agreeing to and implementing solutions. Parties can learn to seek the best reasoned judgment, instead of focusing on “winning”; to criticize ideas, not people; to listen and understand everyone’s position, even if they do not agree with it; to differentiate positions before trying to integrate them; and to change their minds when logically persuaded to do so.

Conflict Resolution

Conflict resolution processes are aimed at ending a conflict. So, while conflict management can also include escalation, conflict resolution searches for a way of ending the conflict. The difference between resolution and management of conflict is more than semantic (Robbins, 1978 ). Conflict resolution means reduction, elimination, or termination of conflict.

To find a resolution, parties have to bring an extra piece of information, relate the information they have differently, or transform the issue, change the rules, change the actors or the structure, or bring in a third party (Vayrynen, 1991 ). The most popular conflict resolution processes are: negotiation, mediation, conflict coaching, and arbitration (Rahim, 2002 ). Conflict resolution can also be accomplished by ruling by authorities. Integration of the different techniques sequentially or simultaneously has been shown to support optimal conflict resolution (Jones, 2016 ).

Negotiation

Negotiation is a process in which the parties attempt to jointly create an agreement that resolves a conflict between them (Lewicki & Tomlinson, 2014 ). Walton and McKersie ( 1965 ) were the first to identify the two polar yet interdependent strategies known as distributive and integrative negotiation. Distributive negotiation means that activities are instrumental to the attainment of one party’s goals when they are in basic conflict with those of the other party. Integrative negotiation means that parties’ activities are oriented to find common or complementary interests and to solve problems confronting both parties. Other scholars also focused on the opposite tactical requirements of the two strategies, using a variety of terms, such as contending versus cooperating (Pruitt, 1981 ), claiming value versus creating value (Lax & Sebenius, 1987 ), and the difference between positions and interests (Fisher & Ury, 1981 ).

If a distributive strategy is pursued too vigorously, a negotiator may gain a greater share of gains, but of a smaller set of joint gains, or, worse, may generate an outcome in which both parties lose. However, if a negotiator pursues an integrative negotiation in a single-minded manner—being totally cooperative and giving freely accurate and credible information about his/her interests—he or she can be taken advantage of by the other party (Walton & McKersie, 1965 ). The different proposals that have been formulated to cope with these central dilemmas in negotiation are mainly based on a back-and-forth communication process between the parties, which is linked to the negotiators’ interpersonal skills (Brett, Shapiro, & Lytle, 1998 ; Fisher & Ury, 1981 ; Rubin et al., 1994 ).

Mediation is process by which a third party facilitates constructive communication among disputants, including decision making, problem solving and negotiation, in order to reach a mutually acceptable agreement (Bollen, Munduate, & Euwema, 2016 ; Goldman, Cropanzano, Stein, & Benson, 2008 ; Moore, 2014 ). Using mediation in conflict resolution has been proven to prevent the negative consequences of conflict in the workplace (Bollen & Euwema, 2010 ; Bollen et al., 2016 ), in collective bargaining (Martinez-Pecino et al., 2008 ), in inter- and intragroup relations (Jones, 2016 ), and in interpersonal relations (Herrman, 2006 ). However, mediation is not a magic bullet and works better in conflicts that are moderate rather than extreme, when parties are motivated to resolve the conflict, and when parties have equal power, among other characteristics (Kressel, 2014 ).

Conflict Coaching

Conflict coaching is a new and rapidly growing process in the public as well as private sector (Brinkert, 2016 ). In this process, a conflict coach works with a party to accomplish three goals (Jones & Brinkert, 2008 ): (a) analysis and coherent understanding of the conflict, (b) identification of a future preferred direction, and (c) skills development to implement the preferred strategy. Therefore, a conflict coach is defined as a conflict expert who respects the other party’s self-determination and aims to promote the well-being of the parties involved. Giebels and Janssen ( 2005 ) found that, when outside help was called in, parties in conflict experienced fewer negative consequences in terms of individual well-being than people who did not ask for third-party help.

Sometimes, the leader of a team can act as conflict coach. A study by Romer and colleagues ( 2012 ) showed that a workplace leader’s problem-solving approach to conflicts increased employees’ perception of justice and their sense that they had a voice in their workplace, as well as reduced employees’ stress (De Reuver & Van Woerkom, 2010 ; Romer et al., 2012 ). In contrast, the direct expression of power in the form of forcing behavior can harm employees’ well-being (Peterson & Harvey, 2009 ). A forcing leader may become an additional party to the conflict (i.e., employees may turn against their leader; Romer et al, 2012 ).

Conflict coaching and mediation are different processes. First, in conflict coaching, only one party is involved in the process, while in mediation, the mediator helps all the parties in conflict to engage in constructive interaction. Second, conflict coaching focuses on direct skills instructions to the party (i.e., negotiation skills). In that, conflict coaching is also a leadership development tool (Romer et al., 2012 ). There is a growing tendency to integrate conflict coaching and workplace mediation, particularly in preparation for conflict resolution, because the coach can help the coached party to investigate options and weigh the advantages of the different options (Jones, 2016 ).

Arbitration

Arbitration is an institutionalized procedure in which a third party provides a final and binding or voluntary decision (Lewicki, Saunders, & Barry, 2014 ; Mohr & Spekman, 1994 ). Arbitration allows the parties to have control over the process, but not over the outcomes. Therefore, arbitration differs from negotiation, mediation, and conflict coaching, in which the parties decide the agreement themselves (Posthuma & Dworkin, 2000 ; Lewicki et al., 2014 ). In arbitration, the third party listens to the parties and decides the outcome. This procedure is used mainly in conflicts between organizations, in commercial disputes, and in collective labor conflicts (Beechey, 2000 ; Elkouri & Elkouri, 1995 ).

Decision Making by Authorities

The strategies of negotiation, mediation, conflict coaching, and arbitration have in common that the parties together decide about the conflict process, even when they agree to accept an arbitration. This is different from how authorities resolve conflict. Decision making by authorities varies from parents’ intervening in children’s fights to rulings by teachers, police officers, managers, complaint officers, ombudsmen, and judges. Here, often one party complains and the authority acts to intervene and end the conflict. This strategy is good for ending physical violence and misuse of power. However, the authorities’ decisive power is limited, and therefore in most situations authorities are strongly urged to first explore the potential for conflict resolution and reconciliation among the parties involved. The authority can act as an escalator for the process, or as a facilitator, and only in cases of immediate threat can intervene or rule as a last resort. Authorities who employ this strategy can improve the learning skills of the parties and can impose upon the parties an acceptance of responsibility, both for the conflict and for the ways to end it.

It is important to emphasize the natural and positive aspects of conflict management. Conflict occurs in all areas of organizations and private lives and its management is vital for their effectiveness. Through conflict, conventional thinking is challenged, threats and opportunities are identified, and new solutions are forged (Tjosvold et al., 2014 ). Therefore, when conflict occurs, it shouldn’t be avoided but should be managed constructively.

Managing Conflict with Humor

Improving emotional intelligence (eq), anger management.

Empathy: How to Feel and Respond to the Emotions of Others

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Nonverbal communication and body language.

Gaslighting: Turning Off the Gas on Your Gaslighter

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Meet Our Team

What is conflict?

Causes of conflict in a relationship, how do you respond to conflict, conflict resolution, stress, and emotions, core skill 1: quick stress relief, core skill 2: emotional awareness, nonverbal communication and conflict resolution, more tips for managing and resolving conflict, conflict resolution skills.

Whatever the cause of disagreements and disputes at home or work, these skills can help you resolve conflict in a constructive way and keep your relationships strong and growing.

Conflict is a normal part of any healthy relationship. After all, two people can’t be expected to agree on everything, all the time. The key is not to fear or try to avoid conflict but to learn how to resolve it in a healthy way.

When conflict is mismanaged, it can cause great harm to a relationship, but when handled in a respectful, positive way, conflict provides an opportunity to strengthen the bond between two people. Whether you’re experiencing conflict at home, work, or school, learning these skills can help you resolve differences in a healthy way and build stronger, more rewarding relationships.

Conflict 101

A conflict is more than just a disagreement. It is a situation in which one or both parties perceive a threat (whether or not the threat is real).
Conflicts continue to fester when ignored. Because conflicts involve perceived threats to our well-being and survival, they stay with us until we face and resolve them.
We respond to conflicts based on our perceptions of the situation, not necessarily to an objective review of the facts. Our perceptions are influenced by our life experiences, culture, values, and beliefs.
Conflicts trigger strong emotions. If you aren’t comfortable with your emotions or able to manage them in times of stress, you won’t be able to resolve conflict successfully.
Conflicts are an opportunity for growth. When you’re able to resolve conflict in a relationship, it builds trust. You can feel secure knowing your relationship can survive challenges and disagreements.

Conflict arises from differences, both large and small. It occurs whenever people disagree over their values, motivations, perceptions, ideas, or desires. Sometimes these differences appear trivial, but when a conflict triggers strong feelings, a deep personal need is often at the core of the problem. These needs can range from the need to feel safe and secure or respected and valued, to the need for greater closeness and intimacy.

Think about the opposing needs of a toddler and a parent. The child’s need is to explore, so venturing to the street or the cliff edge meets that need. But the parent’s need is to protect the child’s safety, a need that can only be met by limiting the toddler’s exploration. Since these needs are at odds, conflict arises.

The needs of each party play an important role in the long-term success of a relationship. Each deserves respect and consideration. In personal relationships, a lack of understanding about differing needs can result in distance, arguments, and break-ups. In the workplace, differing needs can result in broken deals, decreased profits, and lost jobs.

[Read: Tips for Building a Healthy Relationship]

When you can recognize conflicting needs and are willing to examine them with compassion and understanding, it can lead to creative problem solving, team building, and stronger relationships.

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Do you fear conflict or avoid it at all costs? If your perception of conflict comes from painful memories from early childhood or previous unhealthy relationships, you may expect all disagreements to end badly. You may view conflict as demoralizing, humiliating, or something to fear. If your early life experiences left you feeling powerless or out of control, conflict may even be traumatizing for you.

If you’re afraid of conflict, it can become a self-fulfilling prophecy. When you enter a conflict situation already feeling threatened, it’s tough to deal with the problem at hand in a healthy way. Instead, you’re more likely to either shut down or blow up in anger.

Healthy and unhealthy ways of managing and resolving conflict

Conflict triggers strong emotions and can lead to hurt feelings, disappointment, and discomfort. When handled in an unhealthy manner, it can cause irreparable rifts, resentments, and break-ups. But when conflict is resolved in a healthy way, it increases your understanding of the other person, builds trust, and strengthens your relationships.

If you are out of touch with your feelings or so stressed that you can only pay attention to a limited number of emotions, you won’t be able to understand your own needs. This will make it hard to communicate with others and establish what’s really troubling you. For example, couples often argue about petty differences—the way she hangs the towels, the way he slurps his soup—rather than what is really bothering them.

The ability to successfully resolve conflict depends on your ability to:

Manage stress quickly while remaining alert and calm. By staying calm, you can accurately read and interpret verbal and nonverbal communication.
Control your emotions and behavior. When you’re in control of your emotions, you can communicate your needs without threatening, intimidating, or punishing others.
Pay attention to the feelings being expressed as well as the spoken words of others.
Be aware of and respect differences. By avoiding disrespectful words and actions, you can almost always resolve a problem faster.

To successfully resolve a conflict, you need to learn and practice two core skills:

Quick stress relief: the ability to quickly relieve stress in the moment.
Emotional awareness: the ability to remain comfortable enough with your emotions to react in constructive ways, even in the midst of a perceived attack.

Being able to manage and relieve stress in the moment is the key to staying balanced, focused, and in control, no matter what challenges you face. If you don’t know how to stay centered and in control of yourself, you will become overwhelmed in conflict situations and unable to respond in healthy ways.

Psychologist Connie Lillas uses a driving analogy to describe the three most common ways people respond when they’re overwhelmed by stress:

Foot on the gas. An angry or agitated stress response. You’re heated, keyed up, overly emotional, and unable to sit still.

Foot on the brake. A withdrawn or depressed stress response. You shut down, space out, and show very little energy or emotion.

Foot on both gas and brake. A tense and frozen stress response. You “freeze” under pressure and can’t do anything. You look paralyzed, but under the surface you’re extremely agitated.

How stress affects conflict resolution

Stress interferes with the ability to resolve conflict by limiting your ability to:

Accurately read another person’s body language .
Hear what someone is really saying.
Be aware of your own feelings.
Be in touch with your own, deep-rooted needs.
Communicate your needs clearly.

Is stress a problem for you?

You may be so used to feeling stressed that you’re not even aware you are stressed. Stress may pose a problem in your life if you identify with the following:

You often feel tense or tight somewhere in your body.
You’re not aware of movement in your chest or stomach when you breathe.
Conflict absorbs your time and attention.

Learn how to manage stress in the moment

One of the most reliable ways to rapidly reduce stress is by engaging one or more of your senses—sight, sound, taste, smell, touch—or through movement. You could squeeze a stress ball, smell a relaxing scent, taste a soothing cup of tea, or look at a treasured photograph. We all tend to respond differently to sensory input, often depending on how we respond to stress, so take some time to find things that are soothing to you. Read: Quick Stress Relief .

Emotional awareness is the key to understanding yourself and others. If you don’t know how or why you feel a certain way, you won’t be able to communicate effectively or resolve disagreements.

[Read: Improving Emotional Intelligence]

Although knowing your own feelings may sound simple, many people ignore or try to sedate strong emotions like anger, sadness, and fear. Your ability to handle conflict, however, depends on being connected to these feelings. If you’re afraid of strong emotions or if you insist on finding solutions that are strictly rational, your ability to face and resolve differences will be limited.

Why emotional awareness is a key factor in resolving conflict

Emotional awareness—the consciousness of your moment-to-moment emotional experience—and the ability to manage all of your feelings appropriately, is the basis of a communication process that can resolve conflict.

Emotional awareness helps you to:

Understand what is really troubling other people
Understand yourself, including what is really troubling you
Stay motivated until the conflict is resolved
Communicate clearly and effectively
Interest and influence others

Assessing your level of emotional awareness

The following quiz helps you assess your level of emotional awareness. Answer the following questions with: almost never, occasionally, often, very often, or almost always . There are no right or wrong responses, only the opportunity to become better acquainted with your emotional responses.

What kind of relationship do you have with your emotions?

Do you experience feelings that flow, encountering one emotion after another as your experiences change from moment to moment?
Are your emotions accompanied by physical sensations that you experience in places like your stomach or chest?
Do you experience distinct feelings and emotions, such as anger, sadness, fear, and joy, which are evident in different facial expressions?
Can you experience intense feelings that are strong enough to capture both your own attention and that of others?
Do you pay attention to your emotions? Do they factor into your decision-making?

If any of these experiences are unfamiliar, your emotions may be “turned” down or even off. In either case, you may need help developing your emotional awareness. You can do this by using Helpguide’s free Emotional Intelligence Toolkit.

When people are in the middle of a conflict, the words they use rarely convey the issues at the heart of the problem. But by paying close attention to the other person’s nonverbal signals or “body language,” such as facial expressions, posture, gestures, and tone of voice, you can better understand what the person is really saying. This will allow you to respond in a way that builds trust, and gets to the root of the problem.

[Read: Nonverbal Communication and Body Language]

Your ability to accurately read another person depends on your own emotional awareness. The more aware you are of your own emotions, the easier it will be for you to pick up on the wordless clues that reveal what others are feeling. Think about what you are transmitting to others during conflict, and if what you say matches your body language. If you say “I’m fine,” but you clench your teeth and look away, then your body is clearly signaling you are anything but “fine.” A calm tone of voice, a reassuring touch, or an interested facial expression can go a long way toward relaxing a tense exchange.

You can ensure that the process of managing and resolving conflict is as positive as possible by sticking to the following guidelines:

Listen for what is felt as well as said. When you really listen, you connect more deeply to your own needs and emotions, and to those of other people. Listening also strengthens, informs, and makes it easier for others to hear you when it’s your turn to speak.

Make conflict resolution the priority rather than winning or “being right.” Maintaining and strengthening the relationship, rather than “winning” the argument, should always be your first priority. Be respectful of the other person and their viewpoint.

Focus on the present. If you’re holding on to grudges based on past conflicts, your ability to see the reality of the current situation will be impaired. Rather than looking to the past and assigning blame, focus on what you can do in the here-and-now to solve the problem.

Pick your battles. Conflicts can be draining, so it’s important to consider whether the issue is really worth your time and energy. Maybe you don’t want to surrender a parking space if you’ve been circling for 15 minutes, but if there are dozens of empty spots, arguing over a single space isn’t worth it.

Be willing to forgive. Resolving conflict is impossible if you’re unwilling or unable to forgive others. Resolution lies in releasing the urge to punish, which can serve only to deplete and drain your life.

Know when to let something go. If you can’t come to an agreement, agree to disagree. It takes two people to keep an argument going. If a conflict is going nowhere, you can choose to disengage and move on.

Using humor in conflict resolution

You can avoid many confrontations and resolve arguments and disagreements by communicating in a humorous way . Humor can help you say things that might otherwise be difficult to express without offending someone. However, it’s important that you laugh with the other person, not at them. When humor and play are used to reduce tension and anger, reframe problems, and put the situation into perspective, the conflict can actually become an opportunity for greater connection and intimacy.

More Information

CR Kit - Covers causes of conflict, different conflict styles, and fair fighting guidelines to help you positively resolve disagreements. (Conflict Resolution Network)
12 Skills Summary - A 12-step conflict resolution training kit. (Conflict Resolution Network)
Effective Communication - The art of listening in conflict resolution. (University of Maryland)
10.3 Causes and Outcomes of Conflict – Organizational Behavior . (n.d.). Retrieved May 25, 2022, from Link
Başoğul, C., & Özgür, G. (2016). Role of Emotional Intelligence in Conflict Management Strategies of Nurses. Asian Nursing Research , 10(3), 228–233. Link
Corcoran, Kathleen O’Connell, and Brent Mallinckrodt. “Adult Attachment, Self-Efficacy, Perspective Taking, and Conflict Resolution.” Journal of Counseling & Development 78, no. 4 (2000): 473–83. Link
Yarnell, Lisa M., and Kristin D. Neff. “Self-Compassion, Interpersonal Conflict Resolutions, and Well-Being.” Self and Identity 12, no. 2 (March 1, 2013): 146–59. Link
Tucker, Corinna Jenkins, Susan M. Mchale, and Ann C. Crouter. “Conflict Resolution: Links with Adolescents’ Family Relationships and Individual Well-Being.” Journal of Family Issues 24, no. 6 (September 1, 2003): 715–36. Link

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13 Conflict Resolution and Problem Solving

Chapter 13 Check-in:

Identify Conflict Causes and Effects
Explore Conflict Approaches Solutions
Basic Problem Solving Strategy PDCA

Like all communication, good conflict management and resolution requires your time: listen, reflect, and consider all elements of a situation and the people involved. It is not a simple process and there are some steps to help you navigate the process. In the end, it is about the relationship.

Frequently considered a negative, conflict can actually be an opportunity for growth in relationship or work. Your attitude towards the situation and person plays a role in any outcome. Adam Grant, Professor of Psychology at The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania and Saul P. Steinberg Professor of Management, notes that “The absence of conflict is not harmony, it’s apathy. If you are in a group where people never disagree, the only way that could ever really happen is if the people don’t care enough to speak their minds.” (Grant, February 2021).

However, it is easy to feel at a loss in an immediate conflict situation. Here are some brief points to consider when faced with more than just a disagreement.

Conflict is emotional: it is much greater than a difference of opinions. It is usually an expression of not being heard, seen, valued or respected. It is based on a deeply person need and emotional response, based on perceptions which have identified a threat in any form. If conflict is ignored, it can fester and result in such entrenched opinions and sides that resolution appears impossible (Segal et al, 2020).

The first step is to determine what the actual problem is as perceived by all parties. The Conflict Tree analogy is especially useful if you respond well to visuals (O’Connor, 2020). It is an excellent activity for a group or individual to clarify the effects (branches), core problems (trunk), and even causes of the issue (roots).

Once the actual problem is identified, you can move on to tackling a resolution together.

Approaches to Conflict

There are generally five styles for approaching conflict (Benoliel, 2017) and understanding what they are and what style you lean towards, identifies how you will move through the process. These categories are determined by whether the focus is on the relationship or the end goal of a task/project. While these may be more specific to workplace conflicts, they certainly identify personal conflict responses as well.

Collaboration is marked by a balanced focus on the relationship with others and meeting long-term objectives. A Competition style is marked by individuals who are assertive and probably uncooperative who demonstrate that their priority is the outcome of the project more than the relationships. Although few people enjoy conflict, the Avoidance style focuses on the the immediate unpleasantness and therefore avoids the issues. This traditionally marks individuals who are unassertive and uncooperative largely because they assume it is safer to ignore than face an issue. Sometimes there are individuals who will do anything to please others: this Accommodation approach results in self-sacrifice and is usually the route taken by those who care more about the relationship than the outcome. Unfortunately, they are frequently taken advantage of in their efforts to please others. Lastly, there are those who prefer the Compromise strategy. This may seem expedient in the attempt to resolve the problem by aiming for mutually acceptable terms and concessions, it does frequently leaves no one side satisfied even though it allows most to maintain an assertive and cooperative stance.

Strategies for Solutions

Sometimes those involved in conflict turn to an third person for assistance to resolve a conflict. A mediator can listen to the perspectives of those in the dispute and focuses on helping each side hear the concerns and priorities of the other. Working with the individuals in conflict, a mediator aims to help them create a solution acceptable to both sides. Sometimes the third party is an Arbitrator whose role is to hear each side and provide a decision to resolve the dispute. In some cases the conflict results in the even more formal process of a trial.

There are four key skills you need to approach conflict resolution with or without a third party involved (Segal et al, 2020; Fighting Fair, n.d.).

Conflict can be a very stressful experience and your Stress Management is an essential first step. When we are stressed, we can’t think clearly, we can’t understand someone else’s thoughts or feelings, and it makes communication very difficult. Use whatever method works best for you to manage your stress.

Once your stress is managed, it is easier to exert Control over your Emotions. Recognize the emotions you are experiencing to assist in your processing the experience without having a purely emotional response.

With your stress and emotions recognized and managed, it makes it easier to recognize and pay attention to the feelings you and the other people express and you can Identify Non-Verbal Communication. Much is said without words and body language is a good indication of how the other person feels towards the situation.

Respect each other is standard for every communication situation and essential to remember if you are in a position of conflict. Personal attacks, or drawing on personal knowledge, has no productive part in conflict resolution.

Many resources may explain the benefits of humour, but caution should be used. Sometimes an emotional situation is not the best time for humour as you can unintentionally be seen to diminish the importance another person places on the experience.

Work together to identify the problem by taking the time to see it from multiple perspectives. Be clear about the desired results and end goal. Think about the relationships and long term impacts that any course of action may have on all parties. It takes commitment to resolve a conflict.

Problem Solving

We covered Reflection and Feedback in Chapter 12 and these are essential steps for effective conflict resolution and problem solving. Even the Trial and Error process of problem solving relies on evaluating the success of an action before moving on to another attempt.

Many different approaches to problem solving exist though the basic core approach can be seen across geographic and language borders. The PDCA approach – Plan, Do, Check, Act – provides the basic four steps process that can be expanded to suit any profession or experience (Plan, Do, Check, Act, 2021).

Problem solving starts with a clear identification of problem. Then you need to clarify the desired end result. The development of a plan can be as short or as long as necessary. Once you have a plan, you have to implement it: Do. Check is your opportunity to evaluate the success of your plan and make any amendments necessary. Finally, Act: put your strategy into practice. An important point to remember is that the reflection and evaluation should be an ongoing part of the solution you implement.

Chapter 13 Check-out:

Explore Conflict Approaches and Solutions

Remember your last conflict with another person. How was it resolved? How would you like it to have been resolved? What could you have done to implement that change in result?

How do you usually approach problem solving? How successful has it been for you?

What, if anything, would you like to change about how you’ve problem solved in the past?

Resources and References

Benoliel, B. (2017). Five styles of conflict resolution. Walden University. [Online] https://www.waldenu.edu/news-and-events/walden-news/2017/0530-whats-your-conflict-management-style

Fighting Fair to Resolve Conflict. (n.d.). Counselling and Mental Health Centre. University of Texas at Austin. [Online] https://cmhc.utexas.edu/fightingfair.html

Goleman, D. (April 2012). Daniel Goleman Introduces Emotional Intelligence . Big Think. [Online] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y7m9eNoB3NU

Grant, A., (February 2021). The Easiest Person to Fool . The Hidden Brain. NPR Podcast. [Online] https://hidden-brain.simplecast.com/episodes/the-easiest-person-to-fool-f1hbMrGr

Grant, A., (April 2021). The Science of Productive Conflict . TED Podcast. [Online] https://www.ted.com/podcasts/worklife/the-science-of-productive-conflict-transcript

O’Connor, T., (October 2020). 3 Simple Conflict Analysis Tools That Anyone Can Use. [Online] https://medium.com/p/c30689757a0d

Plan Do Check Act: A Simple Problem Solving Methodology. (2021). Educational-Business-Articles.com [Online] https://www.educational-business-articles.com/plan-do-check-act/

Segal, J., Robinson, L., and Smith, M. (2020). Conflict Resolution Skills. Helpguide.org. [Online] https://www.helpguide.org/articles/relationships-communication/conflict-resolution-skills.htm

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Article • 9 min read

Conflict Resolution

8 ways to resolve conflict in the workplace.

By the Mind Tools Content Team

Where there are people, there is conflict. We each have our values, needs and habits, so it's easy to misunderstand or irritate one another – or worse, to fall into conflict.

Left unchecked, conflict can lead to bad decisions and outright disputes, bullying or harassment. Teamwork breaks down, morale drops, and projects grind to a halt. Organizations feel the hit with wasted talent, high absenteeism, and increased staff turnover.

But conflict can be resolved. What's more, it can bring issues to light, strengthen relationships, and spark innovation – so long as you don't try to ignore it!

In this article, we'll explore different types of conflict, what causes conflict, and how to reach a positive outcome when you find yourself in conflict with a co-worker. (To identify the signs of conflict occurring between other people and to help them overcome their conflict with one another, we recommend our follow-on article, Resolving Team Conflict .)

Conflict Resolution Definition

Generally, workplace conflicts fall into two categories:

Personality conflict or disagreements between individuals. These clashes are driven and perpetuated by emotions such as anger, stress and frustration.
Substantive conflict is tangible and task-related, like the decisions leaders make, the performance of a team member, or your company's direction.

If unaddressed, both can spiral into wider conflict between teams, departments or businesses. Conflict resolution can be defined as the process of identifying, addressing, and resolving disagreements or disputes among employees in a professional setting, thereby fostering a positive and productive work environment.

What Causes Conflict at Work?

Some of the most common causes of workplace conflict are:

Unclear responsibilities . Some team members may feel they do more work than others, or resent those who seem to have fewer responsibilities. Blame and frustration can build due to duplicated work or unfinished tasks.
Competition for resources . Time, money, materials, equipment, and skillsets are finite resources. Competition for them can lead to conflict.
Different interests . People may focus on personal or departmental goals over organizational ones. Or be held up and frustrated by others who they rely on to do their jobs effectively.

Read our article on Bell and Hart's Eight Causes of Conflict for more sources of – and solutions to – disputes.

Five Conflict Resolution Strategies

When you find yourself in a conflict situation, these five strategies will help you to resolve disagreements quickly and effectively:

1. Raise the Issue Early

Keeping quiet only lets resentment fester. Equally, speaking with other people first can fuel rumor and misunderstanding.

So, whether you're battling over the thermostat or feel that you're being micromanaged, be direct and talk with the other party. However, if you're afraid of making that approach, or worry that it may make the problem worse, speak with your manager first, or your HR department if the other party is your manager.

Either way, be assertive (not aggressive) and speak openly. This will encourage others to do the same – and you can get to the root cause of a problem before it escalates.

2. Manage Your Emotions

Choose your timing when you talk to someone about the conflict. If you're angry, you may say something you'll regret and inflame the situation. Be careful to avoid playing the blame game .

So stay calm, collect yourself, and ask, "What is it I want to achieve here?", "What are the issues I'm having?" and "What is it that I would like to see?"

See our article Managing Your Emotions at Work for more insight and tips.

3. Show Empathy

When you talk to someone about a conflict, it's natural to want to state your own case, rather than hear out the other side. But when two people do this, the conversation goes in circles.

Instead, invite the other party to describe their position, ask how they think they might resolve the issue, and listen with empathy .

Putting yourself in the other person's shoes is an essential part of negotiation. This helps you to build mutual respect and understanding – and to achieve an outcome that satisfies both parties.

4. Practice Active Listening

To identify the source of the conflict you have to really listen. To listen actively:

Paraphrase the other party's points to show you're listening and really understand them.
Look out for non-verbal signals that contradict what they are saying, such as a hesitant tone behind positive words. Bring these out into the open sensitively to address them together.
Use appropriate body language , such as nodding your head, to show interest and to make it clear that you're following them.

Go further with Empathic Listening or Mindful Listening .

5. Acknowledge Criticism

Some of the things the other person tells you may be difficult to hear. But remember that criticism or constructive feedback is about job behaviors and not you as a person.

So, keep an open mind and use criticism to help you to identify areas to improve, perform better next time, and grow.

Glasers' Three-Step Strategy for Conflict Resolution

Conflict management consultants Peter and Susan Glaser recommend a three-step strategy for resolving conflict, and it draws on many of the skills we've looked at above. You can hear the Glasers talking about their model in our exclusive interview with them. [1]

The steps for these conflict resolution skills are:

Prove that you understand their side.
Acknowledge that you are part of the problem.
Try again if the conversation didn't go well.

Let's try a training exercise and apply each step to a fictional conflict resolution scenario.

Conflict Resolution Training Example

Imagine that the heads of two departments are in conflict. Product Manager Sayid changed the price of a product without letting Marketing Manager Gayanne know. As a result, the marketing team sent out an email to customers with incorrect prices. They had to send out a follow-up email apologizing for the error, and make good on the price some customers paid for the product.

1. Prove That You Understand Their Side

Instead of blaming Sayid, Gayanne asks him how he came to make the decision. She uses her questioning and listening skills to get the information she needs and to show that she's truly hearing Sayid's response.

She discovers that Sayid was pressured by a major client to drop the price or risk losing a contract. She empathizes , saying, "Yes, I've had difficulties with that client before, too."

As Susan Glaser says, "Only when you believe that I understand you, will you be willing to try to understand my perspective." [2]

2. Acknowledge That You Are Part of the Problem

If you're in conflict with someone, it's unlikely you're free of all blame. So admit your part in it. This leads to mutual trust, a better understanding of one another, and makes it easier to find a solution.

In our scenario, Gayanne could say to Sayid, "I should have shared our marketing strategy and email send dates with you. I'll do that right away."

3. Try Again if the Conversation Doesn't Go Well

Despite the progress they've made, relations between the two managers remain frosty, so Sayid calls Gayanne the following week. He says, "I was thinking about our conversation, and I'd like to try again because I'm not happy with how it went. I've had time to take your points on board, and I'd like to talk about how we can work together better going forward."

Remember that you get more than one shot at resolving a conflict. Susan Glaser says, "There's a myth that if we have a bad conversation with someone it's over. In fact, 'do overs' are powerful." [3]

Frequently Asked Questions

Why is conflict resolution important in the workplace?

Unresolved conflicts can hinder productivity and damage team dynamics. Effective conflict resolution helps maintain a positive work environment, promotes collaboration, and ensures issues are addressed before they escalate.

What are some common sources of workplace conflicts?

Workplace conflicts can arise from differences in communication styles, conflicting goals, personality clashes, misunderstandings, resource allocation, or competing priorities. Recognizing these sources is crucial for timely intervention.

How can a team manager effectively address conflicts among team members?

A team manager should act as a mediator and facilitator. Begin by listening to both sides, understanding perspectives, and acknowledging emotions. Encourage open dialogue, find common ground, and work together to find a solution that is fair and beneficial for all parties.

What strategies can managers employ to prevent conflicts from escalating?

Managers can implement proactive measures such as fostering a transparent communication culture, setting clear expectations, defining roles and responsibilities, and promoting team-building activities. By addressing potential sources of conflict early on, managers can prevent minor issues from turning into major disputes.

How does effective conflict resolution contribute to team productivity?

Resolving conflicts promptly maintains a harmonious working environment where team members feel valued and understood. This leads to improved morale, increased focus on tasks, and a more efficient workflow, ultimately enhancing overall team productivity.

When is it appropriate to involve higher management in conflict resolution?

Involving higher management should be considered when conflicts cannot be resolved at the team level or when the conflicts involve larger organizational issues. Higher management can provide a neutral perspective and additional resources to facilitate resolution.

Conflict is common in the workplace. The biggest mistake you can make is to do nothing. Unresolved tensions can affect the health and performance of people and organizations.

So, hone these five conflict resolution skills to pre-empt, manage and fix conflicts with your co-workers:

Raise the issue early.
Manage your emotions.
Show empathy.
Practice active listening.
Acknowledge criticism.

Then try the Glasers' three-step conflict resolution strategy to resolve issues together:

Try again if the conversation doesn't go well.

In the process, you may even discover positives such as improved processes, strengthened relationships, and innovation!

[1] [2] [3] Mind Tools interview with Peter A. Glaser, Ph.D. and Susan R. Glaser. Available here .

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What Makes Conflict? How Are Conflicts Resolved?

Couples do best when both partners have strong conflict resolution skills..

Posted November 14, 2012 | Reviewed by Devon Frye

Why Conflict Is Healthy for Relationships By Elizabeth Dorrance Hall Ph.D.

Conflict is a term that refers to situations in which two or more sides appear to be pulling or pushing in opposing directions.. If the participants stay calm and friendly, we might refer to their way of dealing with the conflict as shared problem-solving . If tensions emerge or anger escalates, the terms arguments or fights may be a better fit.

In these sensitive situations, do you sometimes find yourself insisting on what you want? Do you hold back from verbalizing your perspective on some issues for fear that the conflict will erupt into a fight?

This article explains how to address differences, ie, to deal with conflict, in a way that yields satisfaction for everyone involved. This same collaborative conflict resolution strategy can be used at home, at work, with friends, in business, in politics —in any venue where both parties would prefer to convert their conflicts into effective win-win problem-solving.

Where do conflicts emerge?

As I explain in my book From Conflict to Resolution , conflicts can emerge in any of three realms:

(1) within oneself (which therapists refer to as intrapsychic conflict),

(2) between oneself and one or more others, and

(3) between oneself and a circumstance (e.g., illness, financial difficulties).

Often a conflict has aspects in two or even all three of these realms. For instance, If "Joe" feels conflicted about whether to leave his job, he is likely to experience conflicts within himself—his current salary is great and at the same time, the hours are too long. If a loved one wants Joe to stay and he wants to leave his current job, the conflict has become interpersonal. And if Joe develops an illness, what he wants and the realities of what he needs to do to heal his health problem may conflict.

What causes conflicts to yield fights?

Collaborative dialogue skills are essential to the resolution process. Without the necessary skills, adversarial stances, tension, and anger can make a win-win outcome unlikely.

Bickering, arguing, or getting insistent indicate someone who is unskilled at handling conflicts in a collaborative way. So does going silent about your perspective. Talking in an irritated tone of voice, becoming insistent on your way, ignoring what the other person says, blaming, attacking, and using anger to bully others into doing what you want or, heaven forbid, going to war, all indicate collaborative dialogue skill deficits.

Conflict resolution also takes knowledge of the three-step resolution process. Without clarity about these three steps, participants are likely to end up in a tug-of-war for whose way will win and who will lose. This kind of adversarial process gets settled by who has more power, unlike the win-win plan of action that is the goal of collaborative conflict resolution.

How can you tell when there is a conflict afoot?

Emotional discomfort—that is, negative emotions—alert you to the reality that a situation of conflict is occurring.

Any time two or more people need to pick a shared course of action, they are at risk for experiencing conflict. Decisions, therefore, are one danger point .

Similarly, seeing a situation differently and/or wanting different outcomes can also provoke conflict.

Fortunately, there are ways to disagree that prevent conflicts from emerging in these situations. (I write about these in my post " How To Disagree Agreeably. "

The 3 Steps of Collaborative Conflict Resolution

To settle a disagreement without getting mad, sad, or anxious , take the following three steps:

Recognize that there is a problem that needs to be solved by noting differing ideas of what to do.
Explore the underlying concerns.
Create a mutually agreeable solution.

For this 3-step process to proceed effectively, participants need to feel as if they are sitting on the same side of the table facing the problem rather than as opponents sitting across from each other. Sustaining a friendly and cooperative attitude is essential.

What would these steps of conflict resolution look like for addressing a real problem?

Jim and Barbara were a couple in my therapy practice who disagreed about what to do on their summer vacation. Their usual disagreement strategy had been to argue over my, way, no my way until one gave up, gave in, and was left feeling depressed and resentful. Collaborative conflict resolution was new for them.

STEP 1: Note Differing Ideas of What to Do

Recognize that there is a problem that needs to be solved. Usually, that recognition comes when two or more people are each advocating for different action plans.

To begin a process of conflict resolution, Jim and Barbara had to recognize that they had hit a conflict. The conflict had arisen because they need to make a decision together. Becoming irritated, Jim was tempted to continue in bickering mode. Jim responded positively though when I suggested that the rising tension indicated an opportunity to use their new three steps of conflict resolution.

Jim: Let’s take a trip to Peking this summer. I want to travel and explore.

Barbara: (Feeling alarmed) That's what I was afraid you would say. Not me. Travel sounds totally unappealing to me. I'd prefer to just stay home.

Jim : So where do we go from here? If I want to travel and you want to stay home, we're stuck already.

Thus the first step in moving forward toward resolving a conflict consists of both sides saying what is initially on their minds with regard to what they want to do. Both sides speak and both listen to the other, even though what they want seems to be in conflict.

Danger: Participants who at this point head straight for the third step, finding solutions, will find themselves locked in a tug-of-war, a power struggle over whose way will prevail. Far better to note the conflicting ideas and therefore proceed immediately to step two.

STEP 2: Explore the Underlying Concerns.

This second step requires a shift from talking about actions—the solution that each participant has proposed—to exploring the underlying concerns . Concerns are the factors that have motivated each person's initial suggestions. Concerns are desires, fears, and other factors that matter to you in a given situation.

All the concerns, that is, the concerns of both or all the participants, go on one list. Any concern of one party that way becomes a shared concern.

Jim: I was thinking of an exploring vacation because I want to be physically active during our time off. At my job, I sit at my desk all day. On my vacation, I'd like to move around, to walk long distances, to meet new people. Besides, seeing new places and meeting new people feels invigorating, fun.

Barbara: That makes sense to me, that you want physical activity. And I agree that new is often fun. As for me, I want to stay home because I've been working such long hours. I want to rest. I want to relax, slow down, and recuperate. I also would love time to read, since I have so little time to read most of the year.

STEP 3: Create a Mutually Agreeable Solution

Finding solutions can be launched by summarizing aloud all the items on the concerns list.

Each participant then offers a modification of their original suggested solution, or new ideas altogether, so that the plan of action is responsive to their concerns and also to the partner's concerns.

The resolution brings a sense of calm, closure, and mutual satisfaction when a plan of action includes elements responsive to each and all of the underlying concerns of both parties.

Jim: So I want to be able to move around a lot, walk, see new sights, and meet new people. You want to be able to sit still, read, and relax. How about if we go to a beach resort? You can sit and relax on the beach; I can do beach sports like surfing or volleyball and take long suns along the shoreline. You can relax alone in the sun. I can meet the people participating in sports with me. We can go to a place that is new for us, and with a lot of activity options which I would like. That way we could stay in one place which you would prefer. and where you can do activities that are restful for you.

Barbara: Sounds perfect! Sometimes I'd be glad too to go for long walks with you. And I would be okay with flying to a new place if once we arrive I can mostly just sit on the beach. That actually sounds even better than staying home.

Note that even though this couple's eventual solution was different from the initial suggestions of either of them, because the plan of action was responsive to the concerns of both people, it felt good—better even for both of them than either of their first ideas. That is, the solution was “win-win”—not because one or both of them "got their way," but because the solution was responsive to the underlying concerns of both of them.

Conclusions

While the dilemma above was a relatively simple conflict to resolve, the same three steps apply to any conflict, simple or complex. Note too that the three steps described above apply to solving conflicts that have occurred within any of the three potential conflict realms: within one person’s wishes, fears, or values; between people; or between people and difficult circumstances.

Staying on pathways of collaborative communication keeps the conflict resolution process moving forward. Communication errors like blame, criticism or dismissive listening can throw the process off track. Similarly, slippage into a tone of voice that conveys a negative attitude—for example, contempt, irritation, sarcasm, or anger—also risks triggering a stance of adversarial conflict.

Collaborative dialogue plus cooperative conflict resolution skills make people more effective and productive at work and enable them to live more harmoniously as families, They create a peaceful and harmonious way of living in the world. Sound worth a try?

To learn more about how to handle conflict in ways that enhance your relationships, check out Dr. Heitler's books and website .

Susan Heitler, Ph.D ., is the author of many books, including From Conflict to Resolution and The Power of Two . She is a graduate of Harvard University and New York University.

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Essays About Conflict in Life: Top 5 Examples and Prompts

Conflict is a broad and gripping topic, but most struggle to write about it. See our top essays about conflict in life examples and prompts to start your piece.

Conflict occurs when two people with different opinions, feelings, and behaviours disagree. It’s a common occurrence that we can observe wherever and whenever we are. Although conflicts usually imply negative aspects, they also have benefits such as stronger relationships and better communication.

To aid you in your paper, here are five examples to familiarize you with the subject:

1. Useful Notes On 4 Major Types Of Conflicts (Motivational Conflict) By Raghavendra Pras

2. encountering conflict by julius gregory, 3. complete guide to understanding conflict and conflict resolution by prasanna, 4. analysis of personal conflict experience by anonymous on gradesfixer, 5. personal conflict resolving skills essay by anonymous on ivypanda, 1. conflict: what is and how to avoid it, 2. conflicts in our everyday lives, 3. review on movies or books about conflicts, 4. actions and conflicts , 5. conflicts at home, 6. conflicts that changed my life, 7. my personal experience in covert conflict, 8. cascading conflicts, 9. how does conflict in life benefit you, 10. the importance of conflict management.

“Conflict… results when two or more motives drive behaviour towards incompatible goals.”

Pras regards conflict as a source of frustration with four types. Experimental psychologists identified them as approach-approach, avoidance-avoidance, approach-avoidance, and multiple approach-avoidance. He discusses each through his essay and uses theoretical analysis with real-life examples to make it easier for the readers to understand.

“The nature of conflict shows that conflict can either push people away or bring them into having a closer, more comfortable relationship.”

The main points of Gregory’s essay are the typical causes and effects of conflicts. He talks about how people should not avoid conflicts in their life and instead solve them to learn and grow. However, he’s also aware that no matter if a dispute is big or small, it can lead to severe consequences when it’s wrongly dealt with. He also cites real-life events to prove his points. At the end of the essay, he acknowledges that one can’t wholly avoid conflict because it’s part of human nature.

“…it is important to remember that regardless of the situation, it is always possible to resolve a conflict in some constructive or meaningful way.”

To help the reader understand conflict and resolutions, Prasanna includes the types, causes, difficulties, and people’s reactions to it. She shows how broad conflict is by detailing each section. From simple misunderstandings to bad faith, the conflict has varying results that ultimately depend on the individuals involved in the situation. Prasanna ends the essay by saying that conflict is a part of life that everyone will have to go through, no matter the relationship they have with others.

“I also now understand that trying to keep someone’s feelings from getting hurt might not always be the best option during a conflict.”

To analyze how conflict impacts lives, the author shares his personal experience. He refers to an ex-friend, Luke, as someone who most of their circle doesn’t like because of his personality. The author shares their arguments, such as when Luke wasn’t invited to a party and how they tried to protect his feelings by not telling Luke people didn’t want him to be there. Instead, they caved, and Luke was allowed to the gathering. However, Luke realized he wasn’t accepted at the party, and many were uncomfortable around him.

The essay further narrates that it was a mistake not to be honest from the beginning. Ultimately, the writer states that he would immediately tell someone the truth rather than make matters worse.

“To me if life did not have challenges and difficult circumstances we were never going to know the strength that we have in us.”

The essay delves into the writer’s conflicts concerning their personal feelings and professional boundaries. The author narrates how they initially had a good relationship with a senior until they filed for a leave. Naturally, they didn’t expect the coworker to lie and bring the situation to their committee. However, the author handled it instead of showing anger by respecting their relationship with the senior, controlling their emotion, and communicating properly.

10 Helpful Prompts On Essays About Conflict in Life

Below are easy writing prompts to use for your essay:

Define what constitutes a conflict and present cases to make it easier for the readers to imagine. To further engage your audience, give them imaginary situations where they can choose how to react and include the results of these reactions.

If writing this prompt sounds like a lot of work, make it simple. Write a 5-paragraph essay instead.

There are several types of conflict that a person experiences throughout their life. First, discuss simple conflicts you observe around you. For example, the cashier misunderstands an order, your mom forgets to buy groceries, or you have clashing class schedules.

Pick a movie or book and summarize its plot. Share your thoughts regarding how the piece tackles the conflicts and if you agree with the characters’ decisions. Try the 1985 movie The Heavenly Kid , directed by Cary Medoway, or Where the Conflict Really Lies: Science, Religion, and Naturalism by philosopher Alvin Plantinga.

In this essay, describe how actions can lead to conflict and how specific actions can make a conflict worse. Make your essay interesting by presenting various characters and letting them react differently to a particular conflict.

For example, Character A responds by being angry and making the situation worse. Meanwhile, Character B immediately solves the discord by respectfully asking others for their reasons. Through your essay, you’ll help your readers realize how actions significantly affect conflicts. You’ll also be able to clearly explain what conflicts are.

Essays about conflict in life: Conflicts at home

Your home is where you first learn how to handle conflicts, making it easier for your readers to relate to you. In your essay, tell a story of when you quarreled with a relative and how you worked it out. For instance, you may have a petty fight with your sibling because you don’t want to share a toy. Then, share what your parents asked you to do and what you learned from your dispute.

If there are simple conflicts with no serious consequences, there are also severe ones that can impact individuals in the long run. Talk about it through your essay if you’re comfortable sharing a personal experience. For example, if your parents’ conflict ended in divorce, recount what it made you feel and how it affected your life.

Covert conflict occurs when two individuals have differences but do not openly discuss them. Have you experienced living or being with someone who avoids expressing their genuine feelings and emotions towards you or something? Write about it, what happened, and how the both of you resolved it.

Some results of cascading conflict are wars and revolutions. The underlying issues stem from a problem with a simple solution but will affect many aspects of the culture or community. For this prompt, pick a relevant historical happening. For instance, you can talk about King Henry VIII’s demand to divorce his first wife and how it changed the course of England’s royal bloodline and nobles.

People avoid conflict as much as possible because of its harmful effects, such as stress and fights. In this prompt, focus on its positive side. Discuss the pros of engaging in disputes, such as having better communication and developing your listening and people skills.

Explain what conflict management is and expound on its critical uses. Start by relaying a situation and then applying conflict resolution techniques. For example, you can talk about a team with difficulties making a united decision. To solve this conflict, the members should share their ideas and ensure everyone is allowed to speak and be heard.

Here are more essay writing tips to help you with your essay.

Maria Caballero is a freelance writer who has been writing since high school. She believes that to be a writer doesn't only refer to excellent syntax and semantics but also knowing how to weave words together to communicate to any reader effectively.

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Conflict Resolution, Essay Example

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Conflict resolution in any work place is a challenge to employees and employers. There are many causes of conflicts that include poor communication which leads to misunderstandings and differing personalities.

According to the Make Talk Work Bookmarks, there are a number of ways that conflicts can be managed and avoided in any work place. For example, in the first concept ‘To Keep an Open Mind’, one is required to listen to other people without interrupting them, to consider their ideas and ask questions in order to understand them better. The ‘try brainstorming’ concepts talks of individuals in an organization listing all ideas in any exercise they are engaged in, avoiding criticizing other people in the same entity, considering all sides(pros and cons) and formulating solutions that can solve the problem at hand. Finally individuals are required to accept personal differences, to acknowledge the feelings of their workmates and to put themselves in the same state as their workmates under the ‘try to understand others’ concept.

As a conflict resolution consultant, I will have to use the concepts presented in the bookmarks to teach the employees conflict management skills. The main objective of the workshop is to create an understanding of each other in order to avoid conflicts in the work place. The objective includes listening to each other’s ideas, eliminating criticism and accepting individual differences. In order to foster these skills, the above mentioned bookmarks will be used in a group within the work environment.

The trainees will have to work in groups that will help them understand each other’s weaknesses. The groups will also help them appreciate the different abilities and individual differences that exist in a work environment. Assignments will be handed out on a weekly basis which requires employees to work in groups and present their findings on the last day of the week. The exercise will run for three weeks. Every week poses a new challenge for employees to tackle. They will be required to research together and come up with a final draft or model of their findings. The findings have to be presented at the end of the week and every member of the group must participate in the presentation. By the end of the three weeks, the employees could have learnt to tolerate each other which reduces criticism that is a source of conflict among them. They would also have learnt to accept the different personalities and abilities that exist in any workplace. They would have understood each other well, which goes along way into improving the way they communicate to each other and will eventually have a positive impact on the productivity levels of the organization.

In order for the employees to fulfill the objectives of the exercise and to learn the intended conflict resolution skills, as the training manager I will have to put them through a number of self driven conflict resolution practices. They will practice on their own the skills imparted through the training exercise. For example, I will have them work on more challenging exercises without my supervision. In order to complete the self driven assignments and to find out whether they met the objectives of the workshop, they will have to work with other people they have not met before within the same work environment. At this stage, as the training manager, I will only observe to see if the employees understood the concepts of the workshop and if they would be able to follow and apply them without any supervision. If they manage to work harmoniously with the new colleagues and manage to accomplish the set tasks within the given time without any misunderstandings or delays related to conflicts, then it will be concluded that the workshop was a success. If they have conflicts and are unable to resolve them and as a result lead to delays in completing the set task, then it will be concluded that the workshop was not a success. They must be able to avoid conflicts, or to resolve any conflict that arises in their midst and still be able to work harmoniously to deliver as required by their employer.

Make Talk Work. Try Brainstorming.

Make Talk Work. Try To Understand Others.

Make Talk Work. To Keep an Open Mind

Masters, M. F., & Albright, R. R. (2002). The complete guide to conflict resolution in the workplace. New York: AMACOM.

“Emotional Intelligence and Conflict Resolution: Implications for Human Resource Development .” Advances in Developing Human Resources . N.p., n.d. Web. 7 Mar. 2013. <http://adh.sagepub.com/content/4/1/62.

“Conflict Resolution in the Culturally Diverse Workplace: Some Data from Hong Kong Employees – Chan – 2003 – Applied Psychology – Wiley Online Library.” Wiley Online Library . N.p., n.d. Web. 7 Mar. 2013. <http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/1464-0597.00143/full>.

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Home — Essay Samples — Sociology — Conflict Resolution — Conflict resolution and mediation in schools

Conflict Resolution and Mediation in Schools

Categories: Conflict Resolution Mediation

About this sample

Words: 749 |

Published: Mar 25, 2024

Words: 749 | Pages: 2 | 4 min read

Introduction, importance of conflict resolution and mediation in schools, benefits of implementing conflict resolution and mediation in schools, challenges in implementing conflict resolution and mediation in schools, recommendations for successful integration.

Improved relationships: Conflict resolution and mediation promote understanding, empathy, and communication skills, enabling students to build healthier relationships with their peers and teachers. By teaching them to resolve conflicts constructively, schools can create a positive social climate that encourages collaboration and teamwork.
Enhanced academic performance: When students are preoccupied with conflicts, their focus on academic tasks diminishes. By addressing conflicts through mediation, schools can help students regain their concentration and improve their academic performance. Moreover, conflict resolution skills contribute to critical thinking and problem-solving abilities, which are essential for success in the classroom.
Reduced disciplinary issues: Conflict resolution and mediation can reduce disciplinary issues by addressing the root causes of conflicts rather than merely punishing the surface behaviors. By encouraging dialogue and understanding, schools can prevent recurring conflicts, promote self-discipline, and reduce the need for disciplinary interventions.
Resistance to change: Resistance from school administrators, teachers, or parents who are unfamiliar with or skeptical about conflict resolution and mediation can hinder the integration of these practices. Overcoming resistance requires comprehensive training, awareness campaigns, and evidence-based research showcasing the positive outcomes of such approaches.
Limited resources: Schools often face resource constraints, including time, personnel, and funding, which can impede the implementation of conflict resolution and mediation programs. To address this challenge, schools should seek external partnerships, collaborate with community organizations, and prioritize conflict resolution as an essential component of the curriculum.
Lack of training: Conflict resolution and mediation skills are not innate; they need to be taught and continuously reinforced. However, many educators may lack the necessary training to effectively mediate conflicts. Integrating conflict resolution training into teacher education programs and providing ongoing professional development opportunities can help address this challenge.
Comprehensive training: All school stakeholders, including teachers, administrators, support staff, and students, should receive comprehensive training on conflict resolution and mediation techniques. This training should focus on active listening, problem-solving, communication, and negotiation skills.
Clear policies and procedures: Schools should establish clear policies and procedures for conflict resolution and mediation processes. These policies should outline the steps involved, roles and responsibilities of involved parties, confidentiality guidelines, and measures for evaluating the effectiveness of interventions.
Integration into the curriculum: Conflict resolution and mediation should be integrated into the school curriculum across grade levels. By teaching conflict resolution skills explicitly, schools can promote a culture of peace, empathy, and understanding.
Supportive school climate: School leaders should foster a supportive climate that values open communication, empathy, and collaboration. Encouraging the involvement of students, parents, and community members in conflict resolution initiatives can enhance their effectiveness.

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International

March 22, 2024 Israel-Hamas war

By Kathleen Magramo , Sana Noor Haq, Adrienne Vogt and Aditi Sangal , CNN

Our live coverage for the day has ended. Follow the latest Israel-Hamas war news or read through the updates below.

Palestinians say they had to walk over "people’s body parts" while escaping Israeli raid on Al-Shifa Hospital

From CNN’s Mohammad Al Sawalhi, Abeer Salman and Sana Noor Haq

Palestinians who fled Al-Shifa Hospital say they were stripped, interrogated, blindfolded and forced to leave injured relatives behind, in a desperate attempt to escape Israel’s raid on the medical complex in Gaza City.

CNN spoke to women and children who fled south along the coastal Al-Rasheed Street on Thursday, days after the Israel Defense Forces laid siege to Gaza’s largest hospital. Eyewitnesses recounted terrifying scenes of running from the facility under the thunderous blast of Israeli snipers, gunshots and tank fire – after they say the IDF told them to leave the vicinity.

“They shot at us, and they fired missiles from the tanks ... They interrogated us, they stripped us naked,” said Ibrahim Shamala, a teenage boy who fled the hospital.

Another Palestinian, Yasmin Hamdan, said she could not catch her breath as she escaped the besieged health complex. “We couldn’t stop for a second because it was horrific, there were many dead and injured people on the way, no one could reach and rescue them,” Hamdan said.

“We have no one left, not our husbands, nor our families or neighbors. We are all separated and lost, we are walking but we don’t know where we are going,” added Hamdan.

Rawand Abu Hassan, a woman who fled her home near Al-Shifa, told CNN: “We were walking on bodies of martyrs, there are people's body parts in the streets. Where is religion and conscience? We are so tired, what did children do to deserve this?”

What Israel says: The Israeli military raided Al-Shifa after it claimed “senior Hamas terrorists” were using the facility to “conduct and promote terrorist activity.” It claims to have detained a senior Hamas operative during the operation. CNN cannot independently verify the IDF’s statements. Hamas has previously denied using hospitals for their operations.

CNN videos show large groups of people fleeing violence at Gaza's largest hospital

From CNN’s Kareem Khadder, Abeer Salman and Celine Alkhaldi

Videos filmed by CNN along Gaza’s coast, west of the Al-Shifa Hospital, show large groups of people fleeing the violence as the Israeli military continues its raid of the complex.

Nuzha Awad, a displaced woman carrying her 8-month-old triplets, told CNN that the route away from Al-Shifa was “full of tanks, and Israeli snipers on buildings shooting towards people.”

“Tanks are shelling the houses where people are sheltering to force people to leave, and they’re not allowing people to take blankets, pilots or even a bottle of water,” she said.

"The situation at Al-Shifa is catastrophic, no food, no water. It is besieged and getting bombed. Even the graveyard that was dug at the hospital was struck. They (Israeli soldiers) surrounded us. I counted 15 tanks other than the bulldozers," she said.

The Government Media Office in Gaza accused the Israeli military of deliberately killing 13 patients inside the hospital by depriving them of medicine, medical supplies and electricity. The figure includes four patients on ventilators in intensive care who died after their oxygen was cut off, according to the media office statement. CNN has reached out to the Israel Defense Forces for comment about the allegations.

Earlier Friday, the IDF said that together with the Israel Security Agency, their forces are “continuing to conduct precise operational activity in the Shifa Hospital area while preventing harm to civilians, patients, medical teams, and medical equipment.”

Israeli raid on Gaza’s Al-Shifa Hospital continues for a fifth day

Smoke rises during an Israeli raid at Al-Shifa hospital and the area around it in Gaza City on March 20.

The Israeli military’s raid at Al-Shifa medical complex in Gaza City continued for a fifth day on Friday, with Palestinian health officials reporting that hundreds of patients are still trapped in the hospital and dozens of medical personnel forcibly detained.

The Gaza health ministry accused the Israeli military of detaining about 240 patients and their companions, as well as 10 health care personnel inside the hospital’s radiology department. Dozens of medical workers were also arrested and taken away from the hospital, a ministry statement added.

What Israel says: The Israel Defense Forces said Friday it has killed 150 Palestinian militants in or around the hospital and arrested hundreds of suspects since the raid began on Monday. CNN cannot independently verify these claims.

Allegations of violence: Hamas has accused Israeli soldiers of detaining and abusing civilians sheltering in and around Al-Shifa, including medical personnel.

Umm Rami, a Palestinian woman living close to the hospital, told CNN Friday that Israeli soldiers had raided her family home in the early hours of Monday and took away her 78-year-old father-in-law, Freij Hallaq, and a number of his male grandchildren. Rami found out Thursday afternoon that her father-in-law had died after sustaining gunshot wounds and bleeding to death. He was among several men who were detained from their homes in the area surrounding Al-Shifa.

“Yesterday, we received information in the afternoon that my father-in-law’s corpse was found lying on a chair in a room,” she said, adding that he was not wearing any clothes.

The IDF did not immediately respond to CNN’s request for comment on Freij’s death.

Israeli offensive in Rafah would be devastating, says US nurse who cared for Palestinians in southern Gaza

From CNN’s Sana Noor Haq

An American nurse who treated Palestinians in the coastal town of Al-Mawasi warned a looming Israeli ground assault on the nearby southern Gaza city of Rafah would be “the ultimate demise."

In February, Amy Leah Potter set up an improvised primary health care clinic in the coastal town with Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF). She told CNN that children displaced in tents sustained burns while crowding around fires for warmth in cold winter conditions. Others were treated for upper respiratory infections because they were inhaling smoke.

“We'd have burns from children who aren't used to living with fire around them,” said Potter. “We would see a lot of skin infections because hygiene is nonexistent through no fault of the population.”

Some background: Israel’s military offensive in Gaza has forcibly displaced about 1.7 million Palestinians, according to the UN. Many of those forced to flee are crammed in sprawling tent camps that cannot offer basic sanitation – leading to the spread of disease. Israeli attacks on Gaza since October 7 have killed at least 32,00 Palestinians, according to the health ministry in the strip.

Potter recounted working under the constant whine of Israeli drones and ringing blasts. “There was not a day that went by that I didn't hear an explosion,” she said. “The Palestinian people, their resilience is unbelievable.”

“The only thing that's going to save these people is a ceasefire,” said the nurse. “They are the definition of innocent civilians. And unfortunately, they're often referred to as collateral damage. That's tragic.”

Israel says it's investigating video of Israeli airstrike on 4 apparently unarmed Palestinian civilians

From CNN's Mohammed Tawfeeq, Celine Alkhaldi, Kareem Khadder, and Mitchell McCluskey

Video footage apparently retrieved from a downed Israeli drone in Gaza and released by Al Jazeera on Friday purportedly shows the killing of four unarmed Palestinian civilians in a targeted Israeli air attack.

Al Jazeera said the incident occurred in the area of Al-Sikka, Khan Younis, in early February without providing a precise date.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said the incident has been "transferred for examination" by the General Staff’s Fact Finding and Assessment Mechanism.

In the video, four men are seen walking down a bulldozed dirt road lined with rubble and destroyed buildings. The men appear to be unarmed and carrying nothing in their hands. Al Jazeera reported they were in search of their homes to determine what remained following Israeli bombardment of the area.

Suddenly, the four men are hit by an apparent airstrike, instantly killing two of them. The other two men continue moving after the initial attack — one slowly walks while other crawls — when they are both hit by successive follow up direct hit missile strikes.

The remains of the men have been blurred in the video published by Al Jazeera, which stated that "it is not possible to show the full pictures after the first missile fell due to its brutality."

No other drones or military equipment are visible in the video.

CNN cannot verify the video's authenticity or Al Jazeera's account of what it depicts.

In a statement, the IDF claimed that forces had often encountered terrorists who were disguised as civilians in the area.

Netanyahu doubles down on plan for Rafah offensive after meeting with top US diplomat. Catch up here

From CNN staff

A boy holds a tray with food as he walks near destroyed houses, in Rafah, Gaza, on March 22.

US Secretary of State Blinken traveled to Israel and met Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu Friday, as part of an intensive diplomatic push to reach a “sustained and immediate ceasefire” in Gaza and deter an Israeli offensive into the southern city of Rafah .

However, following the meeting, Netanyahu publicly doubled down on his commitment to carry out an offensive — with or without US support . Blinken said this offensive would risk “further isolating Israel around the world and jeopardizing its long-term security and standing.”

US Vice President Kamala Harris told reporters she doesn’t see a safe way for civilians to evacuate Rafah ahead of the possible offensive. “ There is nowhere for those people to go ,” Harris said. “One and a half million people of a population of 2.2 million people who are now in that area — and let's remember why they are there, because they were told to go there.”

Here are some other top headlines:

US ambassador calls for immediate ceasefire: The US proposed a United Nations Security Council resolution that called for “an immediate and sustained ceasefire … in connection with the release of all remaining hostages.” Analysts said it was a major departure from US policy on Israel during the war, as the resolution included phrasing that the US was unwilling to use before as Israel’s most prominent defender on the world stage.
Russia and China veto US resolution : Still, Russia and China vetoed the draft resolution . Algeria also voted against it. Russian Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia said the US decision to propose a resolution now is "sluggish," as the US has previously vetoed ceasefire proposals .
Death toll surpasses 32,000 in Gaza: The total death toll in Gaza since October 7 now stands at 32,070, according to the Gaza Ministry of Health, which reported that 82 people were killed the over the past 24 hours in the strip. An additional 74,298 people have been injured, the ministry said. CNN cannot independently verify the casualty figures in Gaza.
More funding resumes for UNRWA: Finland will restart donations to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), according to the Finnish public broadcaster Yle. Several Western countries had suspended funding after Israel alleged that 12 out of 13,000 employees participated in the October 7 attacks. CNN cannot confirm the allegations. Finland's decision to resume funding for UNRWA comes after Canada, Australia, the European Union and others also resumed funding.

Nurse treating Palestinians in southern Gaza says Israeli strikes have "decimated" the health care system

Amy Leah Potter will never forget the 9-year-old girl who wailed in pain from her unhealed broken leg. She first met the displaced Palestinian orphan in February, at a primary health care center in the coastal town of Al-Mawasi, in southern Gaza.

“She was crying and screaming,” said Potter, an American nurse working with Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF). “She kept saying, ‘I want to die. Just let me die.’”

The young child broke her leg in an Israeli strike that killed her parents and siblings in Gaza City, in northern Gaza, in October. Her surviving relatives had no access to crutches or physical therapy – leaving her severe injury swollen and in excruciating pain.

Potter, who set up an MSF-led clinic treating displaced patients in Al-Mawai and visited Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir al-Balah, in central Gaza, told CNN that Israel’s bombardment and besiegement has "decimated” the medical system.

Severely injured Palestinians cannot access life-saving care or rehabilitation because there is barely enough equipment or medication. Loved ones desperately scramble d to keep wounded relatives alive, while health care workers are forced to care for patients on the floor. Others are unable to make emergency calls to ambulances because Israel’s offensive has crushed communication lines .

“The paramedics are unbelievably overwhelmed. There's also no real reliable ability to call for help,” added Potter. “The whole health system is gone. It doesn’t exist ... It feels sometimes like we're putting a Band-Aid on a decapitation.”

Blinken says Israeli offensive into Rafah risks "further isolating Israel around the world"

From CNN’s Jennifer Hansler

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken speaks to the media, before departing from Ben Gurion International airport, Tel Aviv, Israel, on March 22.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Friday that a looming Israeli ground offensive into the southern Gaza city of Rafah would risk “further isolating Israel around the world and jeopardizing its long-term security and standing.”

The top US diplomat’s blunt message comes after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu — following a meeting with Blinken — doubled down on his vow to carry out the military campaign with or without US support.

Blinken said he had “candid conversations” with Netanyahu and the Israeli war cabinet, and told them the US “shares Israel’s goal of defeating Hamas” — but that “a major military ground operation in Rafah is not the way to do it.”

Blinken would not give details on the ongoing negotiations to secure an immediate ceasefire and the release of hostages.

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👍 good conflict essay topics, 📑 simple & easy conflict essay titles, 📌 writing prompts about conflict, 🔎 unique conflict topics to write about, 💡 interesting topics to write about conflict.

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Conflict in the Public Sector: Management and Resolution This occurs due to the varying attitudes of people and understanding among the different clients; considering all these facts, the public sector needs to design strategies that would prove to be helpful in dealing with […]
Peace and Conflict Resolution: External Intervention This is mainly due to the root cause of the conflict in reference to internal and external factors and the possible consequences of the intervention to the parties involved, citizen and the world as a […]
Types of Conflicts and Ways to Resolve Them In addition, the paper will examine the advantages and disadvantages that are related to conflict in the workplace, and effective ways of managing conflict.
The Art of Conflict Resolution Conflict style theory: This theory stresses the importance of cooperativeness and the assertiveness of the parties in a conflict Since conflict resolution is an art, there are several skills that are required in resolving it.
Social and Political Conflicts: Analysis The Declaration stated that the Constitution of the United States restricted the power of the certain states. After the long period of slavery, the Declaration of the Civil Rights Act of 1866 was the breakthrough […]
Intrapersonal and Interpersonal Conflict and Its Consequences The last two changes are conflict mitigation and conflict resolution. Group conflict is one of the most common forms of interpersonal dispute in the workplace.
Hamlet’s Renaissance Culture Conflict The death of Hamlet as the play ends indicates that though he was the definite answer to all the questions before him as he faced death, he was not in any position to give any […]
Achilles and Agamemnon’s Conflict and Its Reasons The conflict between Achilles and Agamemnon is one of the major plotlines in the Iliad. However, Achilles was blinded by the revenge and refused to fight for the Achaeans.
Oscar Wilde’s “The Importance of Being Earnest”: Function of Conflict Through the external conflicts between Jack and Algernon’s opposing beliefs of love and honesty, their continuous disagreements about marriage and romance, and the fixation of the name Earnest between the men and their love interests, […]
Non-Violence Approach to Conflicts The rarity of success of non-violence approach to conflicts is a clear indicator that there is the need for further analysis of both the failure and success of non-violent movements.
Conflict Between Aristotle and Copernicus Copernicus continued his research and developed a new model of the universe which contradicted Aristotle’s paradigm since the Earth was not the centre, but one of the planets moving around the Sun.
Contact and Comparison of Types of Conflicts in White’s Charlotte’s Web and Munsch’s The Paper Bag Princess The conflict can be identified at the beginning or in the middle of the story, and it is usually solved at the end. The actions and thoughts of the main characters lead to the resolution […]
Karl Marx’s Sociology and Conflict Theory Thus, in Marx’s opinion, Capitalism causes the alienation of the masses and the constantly growing indignation of the proletariat for being exploited by the bourgeois.
Family Conflict in Unigwe’s, Kwa’s, Gebbie’s Stories Coincidentally, “The kettle on the boat” seems to communicate the same theme that Dipita illustrates in the “honor of a woman”.
Youth Crime According to Conflict Theory The second one is that the youth might engage in criminal activities and violence due to misappropriation of resources, lack of jobs, and inadequate strategies to meet their social needs.
Ivan Turgenev: Intergenerational Conflict in “Fathers and Sons” In the first half of the novel, Turgenev demonstrates father son dynamic which exhibits the separation between the son and his father’s world views.
Conflict of Interest Trying to define the problem of the conflict of interests within the professional of a chemical researcher, the specific examples are going to be considered with the possible ways of solving those situations.
Youth Crime in Functionalism and Conflict Theories The analysis will focus on determining factors contributing to youth engagement in criminal acts, examining the types of delinquencies they are likely to commit, and establishing the socio-psychological facets associated with the teenagers in the […]
Experience of Interpersonal Conflicts I believe that my case is closely related to the course materials and scholarly articles because the newly obtained knowledge might be beneficial for determining the appropriate model of communication with my parents and coping […]
Death of a Salesman Conflicts and Themes It is a significant confusion that Willy has thought that for one to be successful, he has to be well-liked by people.
Conflict and Anxiety by Psychoanalysts and Behaviourists This paper shows that the main differences between the psychoanalytic and behavioural interpretations of conflict and anxiety are the conceptions, treatments, and perceived causes of both concepts.
Arab-Israeli Conflict At the time, Palestine was still under the Ottoman Empire and the success of the Jews settled in the area was determined largely on the policies of the empire.
Global Conflict Likelihood The world is changing rapidly and the changes are likely to lead to a global conflict in the future. The awareness will rekindle the animosities that existed between the civilizations in the past and each […]
Amazon Labor Union: Conflict Description Before the formation of the union, Amazon was not as open to negotiations as the workers, which is why the union was formed.
Conflict Analysis and Resolution Procedures This essay explores the conflict phenomenon with a specific focus on the analysis and application of the conflict resolution procedures that exist in the conflict ethos to real life.
The Conflict Between Behaviourism and Rationalism in Linguistics The theory regards as areal’ the various aspects of language that are addressed in the quest made by the theory. The nature of mind is closely related to that of the language.
Socialization Process and Conflict Resolution This study aims to understand the process of socialization as well as find out how I deal with conflicts arising from the various agents of socialization The process of socialization starts in the family as […]
Inequality in Society: Conflict and Functionalism Theories Functionalism theory views inequality as unavoidable and important to the society while conflict theory considers inequality to result from conflict and coercion in the social system.
Conflict Theory Applied to Technology-Related Issues Examples are personal choices and social forces: while the former contributes to one’s personality and psychology, the latter is connected with social norms and influences of other people.
Constructive Conflict Management in Tesco Tesco’s internal conflict with its employees has so far been dealt inappropriately resulting in the escalation of tension and the company’s perception by both employees and consumers has suffered.
A Brief History of the Conflict Between India and Pakistan This essay gives a brief history of the conflict between India and Pakistan, with special coverage on the genesis of the conflict, historical wars and efforts, which have been witnessed in finding a lasting solution […]
Internal Conflict in the “King of the Bingo Game” For the protagonist to win the jackpot, he has to press a key linked to a spinning wheel. As the protagonist is standing on the stage, forcing the wheel to continue spinning, he discovers that […]
Conflicts in the UAE’s Governmental Organizations Being devoted to the principles of conflict management and DSD, the paper adds to the existing knowledge on the topic by analyzing the situation at the chosen organization and reflecting on improvement opportunities.
Etisalat Company’s Conflict Management Practices Conflict management serves as a vital component of modern management to achieve the prosperity and success of a company. This dimension is most applicable for the selection and application of a relevant organizational conflict management […]
NIKE – Channel Conflict The success of the proposed solutions can be evaluated through analyzing the behavioral performance of the channels and distinguishing forewarning signs of unacceptable performance within the channels.
Conflict: Theories and Examples The needs and problems of individuals in a society have to be understood and addressed so that the issues that preoccupy the groups and people lose significance and therefore conflict can be resolved.
Conflicts and Disagreements Between Co-Workers Encouraging employees to work as a team reduces the chances of conflicts. One should approach conflicts like any other challenge expected in the job environment to promote peaceful relations among the employees.
Wal-Mart’s 2005 Channel Conflict and Resolution Overall, it is evident that Wal-Mart can leverage channel power because it keeps track of latest trends in the industry and has access to many resources.
Conflict and Its Resolution Within the U.S. Military and Department of Defense Hence, the aim of the paper is to regard the key types of conflicts that appear within the organization, define how does the government manages these conflicts, and what can be made for resolving these […]
Impact of Online Social Media in Conflict Situations A study commissioned by The George Washington University indicates that determining the actual effects of the new media in conflict situations is cumbersome due to methodological challenges and the newness of the subject. The use […]
Life Conflict: “Anna Karenina” by Leo Tolstoy The problem of non-adherence to the conventional role of a married woman becomes a paradigm for the analysis of the problems that are created in interrelated patterns.
Functionalist, Conflict, and Interpretive Theories The overview of the mass society theory connotes the influence of industrialization on independence, the deterioration of religious principles, and the significance of propaganda.
Conflict at Hotel Fortina The aim of this paper is to discuss the conflicts that are likely to arise within and between the departments of Hotel Fortina.
Conflict Perspective of the Immigrants Most of the immigrants are required to learn new languages or culture and these requirements are too tasking for some of the immigrants and they prefer to stay in foreign lands only for a particular […]
The United States Preparing to Future Conflicts The degree of technological development in the United States encourages obvious and hidden adversaries to attack the country in the realm of cyberspace to disrupt the operations of financial institutions, government websites, or law enforcement […]
Conflict Resolution: Causes, Factors, and Strategies In this case a proper knowledge of the protocols to follow is essential to reduce the amount of conflict and increase the performance of the worker.
Person vs. Society Conflict in Atwood’s “The Handmaid’s Tale” This is the best description of the person vs.society conflict; it allows the reader to understand, analyze the handmaid’s feelings and emotions, and come to a logical definition of the subject of this confrontation.
The Political and Social Conflicts Between the French and the English The differences in the value that the English and the French attached to land and industry also contributed partly to the conflicts.
Internal Managerial Conflicts: Jones and Shephard Accountants, Inc. The success of projects will to a large extent rely on the interests, support, and commitment of the senior management. A deep analysis of the organizational structure of Jones and Shephard Accountants, Inc.is prone to […]
Organizational Behavior: Conflicts and Negotiations If negotiation is based on a personal conflict, the differences between people are at the base of the problem and have a direct influence on its solution. In every type, personal differences can stall the […]
Sikh-Muslim Conflict and Guru Nanak’s Philosophy Many Sikhs and Muslim are oblivious of the fact that Guru Nanak sole aim was to promote friendly relationships between the Hindu and the Muslim people. The violent nature of Sikh-Muslim relationship is a manifestation […]
Conflict Resolution Among Children It is essential to ensure that the children understand the meaning of conflict. It is essential to discuss the techniques involved in the fair settlement of disagreements.
Interpersonal Conflict: Definition and Analysis Therefore, the notion of a conflict encompasses a rather broad range of issues in personal interactions, from a misunderstanding to the feeling of mutual resentment. Typically, conflicts occur as a result of a mismatch in […]
The Conflict Within “Incident” by Countee Cullen Incident is one of the most famous poems by the prominent African-American poet and author Countee Cullen who is a leading figure in the Harlem Renaissance. The conflict described in the poem is one of […]
Social Theories in Conflict and Examples of Application The needs and problems of the people involved in conflicts have to be understood and addressed so that the issues that preoccupy the groups and people lose significance and therefore conflict can be resolved.
Rise of Islam and Social Conflict in Mecca Believers in Islam or the Muslims adhere to the recordings of the Quran with special emphasis on the life of Prophet Mohammad and his teachings.
The Israel-Lebanon Conflict: Media Opinion In doing so, MEMRI opened a Pandora’s box of anti-Semitism: on Hamas TV a drama portrayed Jews as blood drinkers, and also on Hamas TV the Friday sermon cites the Protocols of the Elders of […]
Competitiveness and Intercultural Conflict in Qatar With a clear knowledge concerning different cultures and the way they apply in partnerships, the paper also shows why Saran and other women of her caliber can be effective in Qatar and other parts of […]
Conflict Management in “The Avengers” Movie This character trait is often sought after by managers in their employees since this often indicates that this individual is more willing to work with others and will do as they are told for the […]
Three Major Sources of Interpersonal and Intergroup Conflict Here, structure is defined in the context of the level of leadership style, member goal compatibility, the degree of dependence enjoyed by team members, the degree of specialization, and the size of a group.
Cross-Culture Conflicts in the Corning-Vitro Venture Inc demonstrated that, the need to access foreign markets was one of the factors that prompted it to look for joint ventures with foreign companies.
Effects of Conflicts in a Country Further, it is of importance to note that whenever there is a war or a conflict within a country; so many sufferings are experienced especially by the women, children, and the elderly.
Intergroup Conflicts in Organisations In using a political approach, the management has to understand the different kinds of power, the sources of power and the impact they have on the employees.
Why Are There So Many Conflicts in the Middle East? History about the conflict in the Middle East reveals that the close of the 1800s showed increasing concerns regarding how the Jews would prevail over the maltreatment and anti-Semitism in Europe. The political and social […]
Workplace Conflicts and Resolution in Nursing The solution to emerging problems leads to the fact that conflicts between the nurse and the patient arise more and more often.
Cultural Property and Its Protection in Armed Conflicts The response of the international community to the mass destruction of cultural property in the Middle East was immediate, and many governments referred to the goals and principles of the 1954 Hague Convention as well […]
Inter-Jurisdictional Conflict Management The term could also mean the extent of power or items that such power controls or protects.”Inter” means between or among, therefore, inter-jurisdictional conflict signifies a conflict among two or more powers over something that […]
Conflict Management in Japanese Culture Japan and its culture truly represent the cultural compromise that determines the development of the entire Japanese spiritual tradition.
Conflict Resolution Style: Thomas-Kilmann Assessment On the example of one of the recent conflicts that occurred in the workplace, it is possible to describe the importance of leadership measures with regard to the problem discussed.
Ethnic Conflicts According to Humanistic Theory The proponents of the humanistic theory hold that cultural diversity is not a justification for conflict but a chance to learn how to appreciate other people’s culture so that if all different cultural experiences are […]
Religious Conflicts in Rational Choice Theory In the same breadth of analysis, this theory would be used to explain how religion gives people a higher sense of purpose for their existence in a way that would make them sacrifice their existence […]
Conflict Communication in Family Relationships People in conflict have to be ready to analyze their situations and problems to achieve the goals and come to a certain conclusion.
Law Obedience and Moral Obligation Conflict This means that the duty to obey the law applies to all the individuals that exist within the jurisdiction of the law.
Culture and Conflict Paul looks at how understanding and communication are essential to analysing issues of culture and conflict among people from different cultural backgrounds.
Applying Constructive Conflict Management to a Conflict The prelude phase describes the situation that made the conflict possible, taking into account its participants, their relationship, and the environment where the conflict takes place.
Yugoslav Wars: Ethnic Conflicts and the Collapse of Power However, the collapse of the Soviet Union meant the end of this era and the start of the post-Cold War period, with its unique peculiarities of the international discourse.
Tourism and Environmental Conflict The Routledge Handbook of Tourism and the Environment by Holden and Fennel is a popular source that addresses the issue of tourism and the environment.
Durkheim’s Functionalism and Marx’s Conflict Theory According to Durkheim, there is vital interconnectivity of all the elements of any society that share common ideas and principles, and the sum of these elements is not as great as the society itself.
Conflict Management as a Study Subject Reflection In the following journal entries, I will summarize my thoughts and ideas after exploring the module’s activities and lectures and discuss some theories and practices in relation to my past and future experiences.
Theory Definition, Building, and Conflict With Practice The theory forms the interface of systematic investigation, including analysis of data and interpretation, and the cognitive ability of researchers. The problem with most theories is that many researchers find it a problem to make […]
Israel and Palestine: Conflict Resolution This essay will discuss the perceptions that both the Arab and the Israel people have towards conflict, how they have tried to solve it, the barriers that they have encountered and what can be done […]
Functional Conflict, Its Sources and Resolution Styles The decision to shut down the cafeteria and do away with the bonus plan does not consider the interests of the employees who work hard to ensure the success of Beauchamp.
Walt Disney Company’ Conflict This situation also strained the relationship between the CEO and the company’s stakeholders. This dispute between the CEO and the two members of the board also affected the company’s performance.
Southwest Airline Company: Unresolved Conflict The purpose of this report is to explore unresolved conflict at Southwest Airlines Company and provide an alternative creative solution to resolve the conflict.
Conflicts at Work Places and Conflict Resolution The definition according to an organizational context is that conflict is a leakage or a disruption in the standard channels of making decisions in the organization which hinders the choice of alternative options by either […]
Causes of Conflict and Its Resolution The guard wanted to inspect my backpack as part of the security procedures at the cafe. As an expert, I see the problem in the conflict with the guard as a clash of egos.
Thanatos, Eros and Oedipal Conflict in the Story “Rapunzel” by Grimm Brothers This indicates that the life of the two is a mixture of both the feelings of eros and Thanatos at the same time.
Conflict Criminology and Crime Causation Theories If we connect the theory of relative deprivation to the stratified society and criminology, we will see that the majority of social movements are based on the phenomenon of relative deprivation.
Global Conflict and Poverty Crisis The contemporary issue of global conflict and poverty crisis requires the attention of international communities and governments. The study of international conflicts and poverty crisis is important for individuals, communities, and nations across the world.
Conflicts in the Business Communication With the help of other employees, the situation calmed down and the fight was put to an end between the two workers.
Change Management and Conflict Resolution in Communities The different levels of perceptions on emerging issues among the members of the community are the source of conflicts. The management of such conflicts augments the quality of the choices in the project’s operation processes.
Conflicts and Their Effects on Group Performance On the other hand, task conflict is moderated by open discussions which tend to restore trust and respect of the group members.
International Conflict Analysis and the Main Actors In the study of international conflict, there is no one single method that can be termed as the dominant or most preferred in the analysis of the various processes, reasons and genesis of the conflicts.
Conflict Resolution Within an Organization There has been renewed interest on conflict in the organization context in the past decade which can be evidenced by establishment of the International Association for Conflict Management which facilitates in the research and development, […]
Work-Study Conflict in University Life This research objectives include: to observe the extent to which students of property and construction are devastated from burnout; to establish a model of the work-study connection, describing the relationship between time commitment to paid […]
Social Conflict Theory The structure for setting a theory which views society as a ring of inequality which bears conflict and change is known as a social conflict approach. There is unequal distribution of power and rights among […]
Pelasgus’ Conflict in The Suppliants by Aeschylus Since he has not had the time to asses the strength and weaknesses of the pursuing band, the likelihood that his Kingdom could be overrun in the pretext of re-capturing the girls is eminent.
“King of the Bingo Game”: Internal Conflict The first paragraphs introduce the conflict between the Northern and Southern parts of the country, between black and white people, between the rich and the poor.
Conflicts in Social Work Depicted in Movies The newly crowned king must reunite the rest of the tribes of Wakanda and use the might of Black Panther to gain victory over his enemies and assure the safety of Wakanda and the whole […]
Psychology of Conflict Communication One of the most pressing issues today is the search for conflict resolution mechanisms in the organizational environment of the conflict, since the conflict has a critical impact on the organizational behavior of any organization […]
Culture War in Australia: Conflict Between the Conservatives and Liberals This paper will attempt to investigate the origin of culture wars and Australia’s involvement since early 1990, its relation with the struggle between Keating and Howard, the Media’s role in promoting a focus on culture, […]
Orientalism and East and West Conflicts Today, the lines are blurred as to determine whether it should be an east or west conflict as it could also be any form of war against one ethnic group by a whole nation or […]
Overt vs. Covert Conflict The position of the professor is understandable, and there is a logic in his words. Therefore, the position of Professor Nicholson regarding the danger of covert conflicts is justified and relevant.
Male-Female Conflict in Education System Many people claim that girls outperform boys due to the feminization of the system where such masculine attributes as competition and assertiveness are the subject of debates.
Ethnic Conflicts in “A Different Mirror” by Takaki In his book A Different Mirror, Ronald Takaki examines the narratives of the British settlers and their attitude toward Native Americans and Africans.
Singapore Airlines Conflict Management and Negotiation The study will entail analysis of the policies used by Singapore Airlines to manage conflicts among employees, the ethical dilemma facing the HR staff, and the alternative solutions.
Customer Service Conflict Management Strategies The key difficulty is, therefore, to find out what type of customer the support is dealing with and, thus, to choose the appropriate strategy to calm him/her down.
Conflict at Walt Disney Company: A Distant Memory? The conflict between Michael Eisner and the Weinstein brothers, the two board members, and Steve Jobs was related to a dysfunctional form of conflict.
Concept of Marital Conflict This is one of the pitfalls that should be avoided. This is one of the aspects that can be singled out.
Conflict in Organisations Lastly the struggle of power in the organisation may also be a cause of conflict in the organisation. The major problem that comes about upon occurrence of a conflict within the organisation is the renunciation […]
Conflict of the Sexes in Play “Medea” by Euripides The man cannot understand that things mean nothing to a woman if her family is being destroyed. Thus, Jason’s biggest mistake is that he thinks Medea simply wants to remain his only wife.
Cultural Conflict Between Christian Western Countries and Islamic Countries of the East In the eyes of the democratic western world, the violence is directly attributed to the oppressive political systems of the East.
Culture Clash as a Great Conflict The way of life of people is a measure of their level of civilization. That is the reason as to why there is a big disparity on the issue of abortion.
General Hospital’s Conflict Resolution Harding has also refused to meet separately with the dissenting group of workers or the physicians as the problems caused by their rigidity in spending affects the entire institution.
SEC vs BlackRock: Conflict of Interest Case Together with Bartholomew Battista, BlackRock failed to deliver to the board of directors and clients the information about Rice’s intentions and activity.
The Balfour Declaration: Israel Creation and Palestinian Conflict While the establishment of the new state brought benefits to the Jewish people, the Balfour Declaration is also responsible for the beginning of a still-continuing conflict between Israel and the Arab world.
The Spratly Islands and Maritime Conflict It is paramount to say that the area is incredibly important because it provides populations in this region with resources and is critical from the geopolitical point of view.
Organizational Conflict: Pros, Cons, Prevention This essay seeks to analyze the view that conflict in organizations is harmful and should be eliminated through an analysis of both the negative and positive effects of conflict.
Literature Review on Intergroup Conflicts in Organisations The book speaks of the competent manager who is able to use all the resources available in the organisation to move the organisation forward. The author discusses the causes of intergroup conflict, power and political […]
Conflict in The Age of Innocence and Manhattan Transfer Gray gives the history of the literature of America, and he highlights the conflicts featured in this literature. Harry introduces the concerns of Poe’s literature, and he shows that Poe deals with the conflicts in […]
The Effectiveness of Marriage Conflict Resolution Programs in the USA Therefore the rationale for this research paper will be to gain greater understanding of how divorce prevention programs work and in which way such programs can be enhanced to ensure their effectiveness in reducing cases […]
Social Worker Profession and Conflict Theory I find social work fascinating because it requires me to be stress-tolerant and motivated to help those in need, and my work data is based on reading a journal of articles written by experts in […]
Perceptions of Parties in Conflict Individual perceptions can only be addressed during conflict management by listening to the concerns and issues raised by conflicting parties. Individual perceptions can be addressed during the conflict management process by actively listening to involved […]
Causes and Conflict of the Peloponnesian Wars While each of the four issues deserves attention, the desire of Athens to control all the other states of Greece seems to have served as the major impetus for the Peloponnesian Wars outbreak.
Event Management and Evaluation With Conflict Theory As such, the event and the performance of the staff and the managerial team worked in accordance to appropriately provide for them.
Religious Impact on Cultural Conflicts Numerous conflicts in the modern world include a religious component. The conflict between the colonists and the natives resulted as a result.
Thrive Skilled Pediatric Care: The Nurse Manager’s Conflict The example of the conflict situation was related to the relationships between the clinician and nurse. It was vital for the manager to be ready to persuade both sides to show respect and readiness to […]
Colonialism in the Case of Conflict Between Wet’Suwet’en and Coastal GasLink The example of the conflict between Wet’suwet’en and Coastal GasLink is indicative of the ongoing colonization of indigenous settlements in Canada.
Managing a Sexual Harassment Conflict at Sony In Sony, as in any other company, conflicts also occur, and managers strive to establish a common language between all sides involved, though the result of the conflict may be disappointing for one of the […]
Conflict of Interest vs. Code of Ethics A code of ethics differs from a conflict of interest because it is a set of guidelines established to regulate professional conduct. The commission acts as the representative of public interests in overseeing and implementing […]
Workplace Conflicts of Interest The alignment of interest increases the chance of accurate perception, and conflict of interest raises the probability of erroneous perception. Evidently, the interest of a buyer, in this case, is to purchase the goods that […]
Culture and Individualism: The Conflict Analysis The described stance is supported by a range of philosophical and cultural perspectives, including the notions of multiculturalism, cultural relativism, and the theory of rational choice, to name just a few. Therefore, active cross-cultural communication […]
Conflicts in the Workplace: The Role of Leaders Leaders should know how they handle conflicts, foster a collaborative workplace culture, and take conflict resolution courses. Training leaders is essential for corporate culture by boosting staff motivation, raising participation and output, lower employee burnout, […]
The Kashmir Conflict Between India and Pakistan Both countries need to prioritize the people of Kashmir; otherwise, their moral dignity will plummet, and they will indulge in immoral actions violence.
Workplace Conflict Gap Analysis The issue caught the attention of the management and an investigation was launched into the matter by conducting interviews among all the members of the team.
The Balfour Declaration of 1917: Beginning of the Israel-Palestine Conflict Despite the passing of the century, the main ideas of the Balfour Declaration of 1917 still govern the US foreign policy in the Middle East. The first signs of the possible conflict were in the […]
Leadership: Conflict and Conflict Management Overall, the concept of leadership and additional terms that are embedded into it are quite flexible because they can be aligned with specific individual characteristics and objectives that a person is pursuing.
The Gender Conflict Theory and Martineau’s Approach to Social Analysis To understand the prevalence of modern biases in the relations between men and women, two theories are essential to explore the gender conflict theory and Martineau’s approach to social analysis. The latter explores the unjust […]
Interpersonal Conflict Among AGC Corp.’s Employees In the case study team, the Canadian, Mexican, and Chinese cultures might have posed difficulties in communication and sharing beliefs and practices. The priority is to communicate with the team to address the issue.
Uses of Stand4 App in the Peace and Conflict Resolution Field If someone from anywhere in the world shares a message on peace and conflict resolution in the app, that message will spread to as many users as possible.
Sociology and Theory of Conflict On the other hand, my friend who got bitten by a dog in the past may now only think of these animals with fear and resentment. The best example of functional perspective is religion and […]
Counseling for Family Conflicts Resolution Family conflicts are considered in the project, and it is expected that the intervention will lead to a decreased incidence of the given phenomenon.
Gender-Based Conflicts in Relationships Indeed, gender-based conflicts occur often, and it causes individuals to discuss relationships between males and females. The article is dedicated to conflicts between women’s and men’s interests.
Colonial Style and Post-Colonial Ethnic Conflict in Africa
The Human Body as a Site of Active Conflict
Pediatric Operating Room: Conflict Management Strategies
Post-Conflict State Building in Sierra Leone
IT Systems Theories: Conflict Resolution in the Workplace
Arab-Israeli Conflict’s Cultural and Political Context
Researching of Conflict Styles
Addressing Interprofessional Team Conflict
Interpersonal Conflict: Causes, Outcomes, and Resolutions
Conspicuous Consumption: Conflict Theory
The Role of Workplace Mediation in Conflicts
Intergroup Conflict at Primerica Company
State-Building, Expansion and Conflict
How to Handle a Conflict in the Workplace
The Ongoing Ukrainian Conflict: Historical Context and International Response
Discussion: Managing Conflict of Interest
Conflict and Reconciliation in South Sudan
The US, Russia, and China Cybersecurity Conflict
Women and Girls in Armed Conflicts
The Conflicts in Organizations: Experiences in the Kindergartens
The Specific Expectation: Adopting a Problem-Solving Approach to Conflict
The Sarah Celeb vs. Star Weekly Conflict Statement
Medical Care Crisis From Conflict Perspective
Russo-Japanese War and American-Japanese Conflicts in the Pacific
Conflict Resolution at Workplace
Five Conflict Management Styles
Analysts, Securities Firms, and Conflicts of Interest
Communication Skills for Conflict Resolution
Post-Conflict State-Building: Approaches and Strategies
Cultural Differences and Origins of Conflict
Conflict Management in the Healthcare Workplace
The Business Conflict: Red-Holdings Case
Impact of Conflicts in a Group
Conflict Resolution for the Helping Professions
Discussion of Conflict Capability
Impact of Conflict Resolution for Best Conversations
Transformative Mediation: Conflict Management
The Moral Conflict in Antigone: The Familial Values Against the Law
Resolution of Conflicts of Heirs to an Estate
Machiavelli’s Views on Free Will and Class Conflict
The Work Conflict and Its Influence on the Future Reactions to Conflicts
Contrast, Conflict and Tension in The Glass Menagerie by Tennessee Williams
Culture Lag and Conflict Theory of Change
Resolving Conflicts in the Healthcare Setting
Global Health Challenges and Cultural Clashes and Conflict Resolution
Analysis of Role of Conflict in Society
Conflicts in the Workplace: Solving and Decision-Making
Interpersonal Conflicts in the Workplace
Communication Conflict and Climate in Relationships
Free Speech vs. Anti-Discrimination Practices Conflict
Win-Win Solutions in a Potential Conflict Scenario
Withdrawal as Conflict Solving Technique
Racial Conflict in Ferguson
Interpersonal Conflict: Management, Economics and Industrial Organization
Sociological Perspectives: Functional, Conflict, or Symbolic Interaction
Theories in Have a Nice Conflict by Scudder et al.
Criminal Justice Inequality in Conflict Theory
The Palestinian-Israeli Conflict
Age Diversity and Conflicts in the Workplace
Culture and Conflict Reflection Essay
Organizational Behavior: Employees Conflict
Social Conflict Theory Overview
COVID-19 Pandemic and Conflict Theory
Conflict and Social Change
Exploring Workplace Problems, Issues, or Conflicts: Managing Complex Healthcare Systems
Conflict Theory: The Basic Principles
Fundamental Analysis of Regional Conflicts on Dubai Financial Markets
World Wars and National Conflicts: What Were the Reasons?
How Climate Change Affects Conflict and Peace
Third Party Intervention in Conflict
Successful Negotiation in Conflict
The Nature of Power in Conflict
Communication and Moderating Conflict
Communication and Conflict Styles
Deviances Viewed by Labeling, Conflict, and Merton’s Strain Theories
Conflict of Interests at the Workplace
Cross-Functional Teams Conflicts
Charting a Course for Conflict Resolution – “It’s a Policy”
Manifestation of Strategic Cultures in Cyber Conflict
The Karabakh Conflict: True Causes and the Role of Mediation
Irregular Warfare: Asymmetric Conflicts in Recent Years
Conflict: The Cutting Edge of Change in a Medical Team
Conflict and Change in Medical Teams
Edwards Engineering Inc. and Kiel A.G. Conflict
Conflict as a Result of an Ineffective Leadership Style
Social Networks: Functional Analysis and Conflict Theory
Consulting Service-Client Problematic Cooperation: Communication & Conflict
Conflict Management in Human Services
Conflicts of Police Officers With the Members of the Minority Groups
Emotional Intelligence and Conflict-Handling Styles in Nurses
Ethical Conflict in Nursing
Negotiation Strategies: Investor-Government Conflicts
Conflict Management: Styles, Strategies, and Their Effect
Conflicts Between Nursing Ethics and Law
Conflicts Between Ethics and the Law in Healthcare
Principles of Conflict Resolution
Conflict Scripts and Styles Learnt in Childhood
Conflict Between Research and Ethics
Factortame Litigation: Conflict Over Fishing Waters Legislation
Aerial Experiment Association & Wright Brothers Conflict
Adverse Drug Reactions Reporting Conflict
Armed Conflict as a Public Health Problem
Effectiveness of European Regime Vs English Common Law System in Conflict of Law
European Regime Approach to Jurisdiction in Conflict of Laws
Conflict Management Efficiency in Team Leaders
Cultural Diversity and Conflict in the Health Care Workplace
Researching Conflict of Laws
Study-Work Conflict and the Risk of Burnout
The Conflict Between Banks and Financial Speculation
Communication and Conflict Management
Conflicts That Nurses Encounter in Their Practice
“Revisiting America: Readings in Race, Culture, and Conflict” by S. Wyle
Activities Coordinator and a Conflict of Interest Situation at Cooinda Nursing Home
The Parallel Between Crime and Conflicts in Africa, Asia and Latin America
Conflict and and Crisis in the Neovida Research Hospital
Theories and Styles of Conflict Resolution
Assessing the Role of Conflict in the Health Care Environment
Humor Application in Conflict Management: Facilitating and Regulating Communication
Methods of Conflict Resolution: Solving the Disagreements
Stages of History, Capitalism, Class Conflict, and Labor Theory in Adam Smith’s Writings
The Israel and Palestine Conflict: One Land Two Claimants
Peace and Conflict in Film Adaptation of Book “Hungry Games” by Collins
Major Conflict Between Britain & Their US Colonies
Environment and Land Conflict in Brazil
Syrian Conflict and Women Rights: Way to Equality or Another Discrimination
Conflict Resolution Plan Draft and Strengthening the Team
Internal Conflicts Within the Ottoman Empire During the Era of Decline
Mediation and Arbitration: Ways of Resolving Conflicts
Communication Techniques as a Way to Resolve Conflicts
The Impact of Improper Conflict Resolution
The Impact of Global and Regional Conflicts on Infrastructure in the US
Ethnicity and Religion as Sources of Conflict
Effective Business Meetings and Conflict Management
Opening Scene of a Play: Conflict, Intrigue, Suspense
International Journal of Conflict Management Critique
Using Conflict in Organizations Written by C.K.W De Dreu and E.V. De Vliert
Conflicts of Interest in Governmental Contracting
Gulf War Deterrence. The Most Viable Way of Dealing With Conflicts
Israeli-Palestinian Conflict: Key Issues at Stake
Teamwork Dynamics, Motivation, Conflict Resolution, and Leadership
The Conflict Between Two Key Employees
“The Final Failure” and “Crisis and Conflict”: Credibility of the Sources and Contents
Conflict Management Concepts Implementation and Outcomes
Intergroup Conflict and Its Management
Managing Conflict Situations in Nursing
PSDM Model Usage in Solving Family Conflicts
Orbit Limited: Conflict Resolution
Conflict Resolution: Definition of Problem, Criteria for Effective Solution, Root Causes
Collective Bargaining and Conflict
Conflict Management Approaches
Eros, Thanatos, and the Oedipal Conflict, Adam and Eve Themes or Patterns
Conflict in Breaking Smith’s Quarter Horse: The Story Full of Chaos, Unrest, and Deceit
Identity Based Conflict: Zamri and Gordon
Rwandan Conflict as a Deep-Rooted and Identity-Based Conflict
How Did the Movie “Life as We Know It” Demonstrate the Conflict in a Family Institution?
Human-Wildlife Conflict: Vehicle Collisions With Animals
Responding to Conflict Creatively
Negotiation and Conflict Resolution at the Workplace
Civil Peace as Absence of War or Physical Conflict
Options for Resolving an Environmental Conflict
The Conflict Between Fate and Free
“The Difference Between Conflict Prevention” by Robert Bakal
Personal Conflict of King Lear in Play by Shakespeare
Child Soldiers Use in an Armed Conflict Is Justified
Natural Resources and Conflicts in Asian Countries
Understanding Conflict Management
Conflict and Collaboration: Workforce Investment Act
Conflict Resolution Strategies and Relationships
Fathers’ Work, Conflicts and Children’s Self-Esteem
Conflict and Culture, Based on Articles’ Analysis
Conflict and Marriage Satisfaction
Conflict in ‘The Yellow Wallpaper’ by C. Perkins Gilman
The Profound Social Conflict and Social Forces in USA
Matters of Social Conflicts
Conflict Theory: Gender Differences in Cultural Capital and Educational Opportunities
The Right Side in the Palestinian-Israeli Conflict
Israeli-Palestine Conflict and US-China Relationship
Religious Conflict in the History: The Key Causes of Conflicts
Communication at Work: Discussion, Relational Development, Conflict
Conflict Management in Empyrean Company
Diversity and Conflicts in Education in Idaho
Conflict of Poor and Wealth From Two Perspectives
Strategies to Handle Conflict
Conflict Management and Negotiations
Culture and Conflict: Yanomami Conflict
Conflict Management: Teambuilding and Dynamics
The Northern Ireland Conflict or “The Troubles”
Conflict Between Medical Research and Ethics
Interracial Conflicts: Issue Histrory
A Conflict Theory: Term Definition
HRM Skills of Communication and Conflict Resolution
Conflict Resolution Tactics and Bullying
Science and Technology Conflict Between the United States and Japan in the Late 1980s
The Wars of Weak and Strong: Asymmetrical Conflict
Workplace Overview Conflict Between Two Engineers
Conflict Between Lobby Groups and UK Retailer
Human Communication and Conflict Management in Family
Conflict Theory: Racial Profiling
Indigenous Groups and Ethnic Conflicts as Social Problems
Psychology: Conflict Resolution and Leadership
Conflict Resolution and Cross-Cultural Negotiation
Internal Conflict in Business: Greenway Industries
Conflict Management Challenges in Trade Unions
Kenya and Brazil: Comparing Environmental Conflict
Humanitarian Aid as a Cause of Conflict in Syria
Mass Communications: History and Review of the Profit vs. Duty Conflict
Israelis and Palestinians Ethical Conflict
Personal Conflict Resolving Skills
Geography. Australia’s and New Zealand’s Conflicts
Conflicts in European History: Relations Between the Individual and the Government
Culture and Its Effects on Ethnic Conflict: Theoretical Comparisons
Israeli-Palestinian Conflict: Policy Recommendation
Enron vs. Andersen: Ethical Issues and Conflicts of Interests.
Conflicts of the 20th Century: Roles of Civilizations
Implications of Religious Conflicts in Present World
The Role of the USA in the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict
America and Darfur Conflict Analysis
Chechnya and Russia: A History of Conflict
Ethnic Conflict in Somalia Analysis
The Conflict Between Individualism and Community in Andersen’s “Hands”
The Israeli-Palestinian Conflict: Origins and Evolution
Final Take Home Exam: The Arab-Israeli Conflict
The Nagorno-Karabakh Security Conflict and Outcome
Non-Violent Resolution to the Conflict Between America and Iraq
Conflict as an Aspect of Managing People
The Ku Klux Klan: Conflicts & Compromises
Trends in Global Terrorism. Conflict Resolution and Iraq
Sociology of Ethnic Conflict Analysis
Educational Administration: Conflict Management and Resolution
The Iranian Revolution: Conflicts Between Leaders
Covert Conflicts in Business Organizations
Do the Structures of Global Governance Deal With the Drivers of Conflict in Fragile States?
Mergers, Acquisitions, and Cultural Dilemmas
China and the World: International Conflict
Peace Conflict and Social Identity
Politics, the Israel-Palestine Conflict, and Oil: After the WWII
World Political Science Discussion: Conflict Analysis
Conflicts Between Japanese Americans and Chinese Americans During the 1920s-1940s Period
Military Conflicts at the Civil War
Cultural Interpretations of Conflict: Western Perspective vs. Eastern Concepts
Diversity and Conflict: Working Approaches
Conflict Management Styles Applied in Healthcare
Co-Development and Racial Conflict in “Kindred” by Butler
Conflict Management: Gender Pay Gap in Hollywood
Conflict, Negotiation, and Group Behavior
Neo-Nazism: Conflict and Power Theories
Theater Stage Manager’s Conflict Resolution
Conflicts and Disputes at Workplace, and Their Resolution
Parental Responsibilities and Related Conflicts
Conflict in a Multicultural Context
Organizational Behavior: Conflicts in the Workplace
Organizational Behavior and Workplace Conflicts
Hate Speech in “The Office”: Mitigating Conflicts
Workplace Conflicts and Their Sources
Managing Organizational Conflict: Rahim’s Meta Model
Conflict and Culture in the Organizational Behavior
Post-Soviet Eurasia’s Conflicts and Reconciliation
“Nash in Najaf”: Game Theory in Iraqi Conflict
Conflict & Crime Control vs. Consensus & Due Process Model
Zimmerman vs. Martin Conflict and Its Resolution
Conflict Management Styles: Zimmerman vs. Trayvon Martin
Approach to Negotiation and Conflict
Negotiation, Pricing and Conflict Resolution
Ethical Issues and Conflicts of Interest in the Company
The Class on Cross Cultural and Conflict
Containing Violence Conflict: Peacekeeping
The Scholarship Coordination Office: Conflict and Leadership
Teams and Conflict at Riordan Manufacturing
Cultural Differences and Conflicts
Interpersonal Communication: Relationship Climate and Conflict
Manufacturers and Retailers Conflicts
Class Conflict in Marxism and Other Theories
Leader’s Mood Impact on Conflict Resolution
Workplace Conflicts and Effective Communication
Schneider National Inc.’s Conflict Management
Conflict in the “Wanda’s Visit” Play by Durang
Journalistic Mechanisms for Covering Death in Violent Conflicts
Martyrdom Culture in Israeli-Palestinian Conflict
Group and Gender Conflicts and Their Resolution
The Rwandan Conflict and Social Network Approaches
Positive Conflict Management Strategies
Personal Communication and Conflict Styles
Custom Chip Inc.’s Management Issues and Conflicts
Conflict Analysis: Suitable Negotiation Process
Donaldson’s Type 1 Conflict and Its Resolution
Employee Empowerment and Conflict Resolution
Workplace Conflicts and Rational Choice Theory
Modern Workplace Issues: Stress, Conflict, Quality
Interpersonal Conflict Resolution at the Workplace
Intergenerational Conflict at the Workplace
Tucker Company’s Restructuring for Conflict Resolution
African Union Military Force in Darfur Conflict
Motivation and Conflict: Analysis and Design Methods
Co-Owners’ Conflict of Hiring New Employee
Concourse Equity Inc.’s Conflict Management
Managerial Conflict Resolution for Marketing Team
Cultural Conflicts in Fadiman’s “The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down”
Forgiveness for Workplace Conflict Resolution
Oil in Fueling Violent Conflicts in Libya
Abu Dhabi Department of Culture and Tourism’s Conflict Management
Masdar City Project and Conflict Management
Abu Dhabi Sports Council’s Conflict Management
Justice and Conflict & Cooperation and Competition
Anxiety and Cultural Models in the Conflict
Conflict of Interest and Ethical Administration
Inner Conflicts in Twain’s “Adventures of Huckleberry Finn”
Conflicts of Interest in the Financial Services Sector
Personality Conflicts in Professional Relationships
Arab National Identity in Israeli-Palestinian Conflict
Hybrid Channel Conflict in the Business
Sources of Conflict Between Parents and Teenagers
Mergers and Acquisitions: Cultural Concerns
International Court Punishing Rape in Armed Conflict
The Israeli-Palestinian Conflict: Theory and Analysis
Team Communication: Conflict and Performance
Conflict Management in Nursing Decision-Making
Incentive Conflicts Caused by Communication Disruption
Geographic Factors of Civil Conflicts’ Duration
Teacher Shooting as an Organizational Conflict
Early Years Educators’ Work in Conflict Areas
Stress, Conflict and Misunderstandings in the Workplace
The 1994 Major League Baseball Strike and Conflict
Empire and Democracy Conflict by Thucydides
Sunni–Shia Religious Conflict in Iraq
Principal’s Conflict Defusing Technique
History of Yemen Conflict
Intragroup Conflict in a Nursing Environment
The Current Conflict Between Sunni and Shia
Qatar and GCC Countries Conflict
Human Resource Management: Conflict Case
Benchmarking and Creativity’s Conflict
Gender and Conflict in Prisons
Conflict in Hobbes’, Marx’s, Rousseau’s, Plato’s Works
The Arab-Israeli Conflict Analysis
Marbles Construction Company’s Conflict Management
Unnecessary Conflict in the Workplace: NDC Company
Man-Animal Conflict: “To Build a Fire” by Jack London
Employee Conflict Sources and Resolution Approach
Multicultural Conflict in the Engineering Setting
Interracial Conflict in “Dutchman” by LeRoi Jones
Engineering Ethics and Conflict of Interests
American Involvement in African and Eastern Conflicts
Empathy in Conflict Resolution
Interweaving Conflict in “Star Wars” Series’ Plot
Adolescent Development, Changes and Conflicts
Nile River Conflict Between Egypt, Ethiopia, Sudan
Newlywed Conflict on Expectations and Duties
Complementary Conflict Patterns in Families
Internal Conflicts in Congo and Yemen
Marxism vs. Feminism: Human Nature, Power, Conflict
Conflicts in the “Finding Forrester” Movie
Conflicts and Negotiations in the Real World
Middle Eastern Conflicts and Regional Factors
The Libyan Conflict and Required Leadership Skills
International Business Conflicts Resolution
Native Americans and Colonists’ Conflict
Project Regulation, Staffing, Conflict Resolution
Conflict Theory and Politics in Criminology
Conflict Management: Importance and Implications
Western Media Portrayal of the Arab‐Israeli Conflict
Conflict in South Sudan and Its Influence
Regional Conflicts and Dubai Financial Markets
Media Contribution to Majority-Minority Conflict
Conflict in Teams: Leveraging Differences
Business Protocols and Personal Values Conflict
Teams and Conflict: Triggers and Solutions
Controlling Emotions in Conflict Situations
Organisational Conflict: Unitarist vs. Pluralist Views
Ancient Rome: Visigoths’ and Rome’s Conflict
Sudan Conflict: Historical Stages and Events
Common Conflict Areas in Marital and Couple Relationships
The UAE’s Reaction to Yemeni Political Conflict
The Renewal of Imperial Conflict
Indians and Colonists Relations and Conflicts
Cultures in Conflict and Modernity
Group Conflicts in Business Organizations
Middle East’s Conflicts and History: What Went Wrong?
Conflict of The Beatles and the Religious Far Right
The South Sudanese Inter-Ethnic Conflicts
Racial and Ethnic Conflicts in “The Help” Film
Third Parties in Conflict Resolution
Ethnic Group Conflict in the United States
ISIS and the Middle East Conflict
War and Conflict in North Africa and Southwest Asia
Israeli-Palestinian Conflict: Optimistic Prognosis
Conflict Resolution in Management Teams
Conflicts in Anglophone and Francophone Africa
Social Conflicts in “Animal Farm” by George Orwell
Conflict in Syria: Jihadi and Western Views
Conflict Resolution Theory in Arab-Israeli Issue
Arab League and US in Israel-Palestine Conflict
Uppsala Conflict Data Program’s Report for 2012
Asia Pacific Regional Cooperation and Conflicts
Project Success and Interpersonal Conflicts
Maritime Conflict: Offshore Political Geography
Ethnicity Significance in the Post-World War Conflicts
Palestinian-Israeli Conflict in the Film Industry
The Israeli-Palestinian Conflict: History and Concept
Race Conflict in London: Mark Duggan Case
Battle of the Holy Land: The Israeli-Palestinian Conflict
The Conception of Conflict Between Iran and the US
The Police Agency’ Conflict Management
Class Conflict: Karl Marx and Mikhail Bakunin Ideas
“Divine Intervention” Film: The Palestinian-Israeli Conflict
Bahrain Conflict: Historical and Analytical Study
Conflict in Afghanistan: Pakistan Funds the Taliban Fighters
Ethnic Conflicts and Misrepresentation of Rwandan Hutus
Water Related Conflicts in Africa
Basic Conflict in Antigone by Sophocle
Negotiation and Conflict Resolution in Business
Hutus and Tutsis Ethnic Groups Conflict
Early Scholars’ Views on the Internet
Family Conflicts Assessment
When Ethics and Euthanasia Conflict?
Wasta Company Conflict Managment
Employee Motivation, Conflict and Personnel Management
Prejudice, Aggression and Social Conflict
Climate and Conflicts: Security Risks of Global Warming
Communication: Negotiations, Pricing, and Conflict Resolution
Conflict Theory as a Tool to Study Social Situations
Human Security in International Conflicts
Conflict Over Human Rights
Dealing With Political Conflicts: Strengths and Weaknesses
Ethno-Religious Nationalisms in Conflict in Bosnia
India Political Conflicts in the XVII Century
Organisational Conflict Resolution
War and Conflict in Africa and Asia
Conflict and Racial Hostility
Riordan Manufacturing: Diversity and Conflict Management
Effective Leadership: Coaching and Conflict
Role of Coaching in Conflict Management
The Main Characters’ Conflict in “Yellow” by Del Shores
Structural Functionalism and Social Conflict Theories
Management Issues: Conflict Mediation

❓ Essay Questions on Conflict

Are Science and Religion in Conflict?
Can the Functional and Conflict Theories Help Us Understand Change?
Does Ideology Cause Conflict or Is It Just an Exacerbating Factor?
Does Nationalism Inevitably Breed Rivalry and Conflict?
Does Nuclear Deterrence Work in Preventing Conflict?
How Does Class Conflict Affect Society and What Are Its Consequences?
How Does Lloyd Jones Present the Setting, and Use It to Develop Conflict?
How Does Lofgren Manage Conflict?
How Modern and Ancient Military Conflict Differs?
What Are the Five Main Causes for Conflict?
How the London Docklands Conflict With Its Current Development?
How Would Conflict Theory Explain Homelessness?
What Are Conflict and Functionalist Perspectives?
What Are Some Types and Sources of Channel Conflict?
What Are the Causes of Ethnic Conflict?
What Are the Factors That Caused the Northern Ireland Conflict?
What Causes Conflict in History?
What Are the Historic and Current Factors Contributing to the Palestinian Conflict?
What Causes Conflict Between Adolescents and Their Parents?
When Does Ethnic Diversity Turn Into Ethnic Conflict?
Why Have Nuclear Weapons Not Been Used in Conflict since 1945?
What Was the Greatest Conflict in History?
What Is Ideology Conflict?
Which Two Ideology Were Involved in a Conflict during the Cold War?
What Conflicts Is the US Currently Involved In?
What Is the Biggest Conflict Right Now?
What Are the Causes of Conflict in Europe?
What Are the Major Conflicts in Africa?
Chicago (A-D)
Chicago (N-B)

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Middle East Crisis Top U.N. Court Orders Israel to Ensure Aid to Gaza

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Israeli soldiers along the Gaza border. Amir Cohen/Reuters
In Kiryat Ono, Israel, families of Israeli soldiers calling for their release from Gaza. Hannah Mckay/Reuters
Smoke rising over Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, where the Israeli military said it was carrying out raids. Agence France-Presse — Getty Images
An injured Palestinian being assisted outside Al-Ahli Arab Hospital in Gaza City on Wednesday. Agence France-Presse — Getty Images
A memorial for Israeli victims of the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas at the site of the Nova music festival in Re'im, Israel, on Wednesday. Ronen Zvulun/Reuters

The U.N.’s top court orders Israel to allow ‘unhindered’ aid into Gaza.

In its strongest language yet, the International Court of Justice in The Hague on Thursday ordered Israel to stop obstructing humanitarian aid to Gaza as starvation there spreads, calling for Israel to increase the number of land crossings for supplies and provide its “full cooperation” with the United Nations.

The ruling is part of a case filed by South Africa at the I.C.J., the United Nations’ highest court, that accused Israel of committing genocide, an allegation that Israel has categorically denied. In an interim ruling on Jan. 26 , the court ordered Israel to ensure that more aid would be allowed into Gaza. Since then, the “catastrophic living conditions of the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip have deteriorated further,” necessitating further measures, the court said on Thursday.

Israel, the court ruled, must ensure that its military doesn’t violate Palestinians’ rights under the Genocide Convention, “including by preventing, through any action, the delivery of urgently needed humanitarian assistance.”

South Africa requested this month that the court issue further emergency orders to lift Israeli restrictions on aid amid warnings from experts that Gazans have been facing a looming famine. The South African government welcomed the new orders on Thursday as a “significant” step by the I.C.J., saying the ruling indicated that the court agreed that Israel’s failure to comply with the previous order had worsened conditions in Gaza.

Israel’s foreign ministry said in a statement in response to the ruling that Israel had gone to great lengths to mitigate harm to civilians and to facilitate the flow of aid into Gaza, accusing South Africa of attempting to “exploit” the court to undermine Israel’s right to defend itself.

In its new ruling , the I.C.J. unanimously ordered Israel to “take all necessary and effective measures to ensure, without delay, in full cooperation with the United Nations, the unhindered provision at scale by all concerned of urgently needed basic services,” including food, water, fuel and shelter as well as medical and sanitation supplies. Israel must also increase the capacity and number of land crossing points and keep them “open for as long as necessary,” the court said.

The ruling touches on some issues that leading aid organizations have called Israeli impediments contributing to the risk of famine in Gaza. Those groups have cited inspection backlogs at the few open border crossings, problems in the Israeli military’s system for coordinating with aid workers, and outright denials of missions to bring in food, fuel and sanitation supplies. Palestinians, U.N. officials and aid workers have voiced concerns about diseases spreading , hospitals collapsing and children beginning to starve to death .

The court said on Thursday that Palestinians in Gaza were “no longer facing only a risk of famine,” as it noted in its interim ruling, “but that famine is setting in.” Among the evidence the court cited was a report from the global authority on food security that found a full-scale famine was imminent in northern Gaza, and a U.N. report that found acute malnutrition among children under 2 years old in that region had doubled over the course of the past month.

The court also noted that at least 31 people across the enclave, including 27 children, had already died from malnutrition and dehydration, according to reports from the U.N. and local health officials.

The judges have not yet taken up the core question of whether a genocide has been taking place in Gaza, a complex charge that would likely take months or years to decide.

Despite the court’s authority and the weight of the allegations before it, the court does not have any means of forcing Israel to comply with its orders. But it is the highest arbiter of international law, and its decisions carry moral and symbolic weight. “If there is noncompliance, the global community must ensure adherence when it comes to the sanctity of humanity,” the South African government said in its statement on Thursday.

Since finding the dangers of genocide “plausible” in January, the court has ordered a series of measures, which amount to temporary injunctions, aimed at protecting Palestinian civilians. Aharon Barak, the ad hoc judge Israel appointed to the court for the genocide case, argued in a separate opinion on Thursday that the court was, with some of the measures it ordered, “leaving the land of law and entering the land of politics.”

Several judges assessed the war in stark terms in separate opinions, including Judge Abdulqawi Yusuf from Somalia, one of the court’s more senior judges and a former president of the court.

“The alarm has now been sounded by the court,” he wrote in his opinion. “All the indicators of genocidal activities are flashing red in Gaza.”

The court’s current president, Nawaf Salam, strongly hinted at the risk of genocide in his opinion. The court, he said, was “faced with a situation in which the conditions of existence of the Palestinians in Gaza are such as to bring about the partial or total destruction of that group.”

But judges also wrestled with what influence they could exert in the conflict. “The court cannot order a cease-fire, as the conflicting parties are not all before it,” Hilary Charlesworth, an Australian judge, wrote, referring to Hamas and other armed groups.

But, she wrote, the court “can at least mitigate” the risk to Palestinians by directing the parties before it: South Africa and Israel.

Johnatan Reiss and Victoria Kim contributed reporting.

— Anushka Patil and Marlise Simons

Aid organizations voice worry for patients at embattled hospitals.

The Israeli military said on Thursday that it was carrying out raids in and around two hospitals in Gaza, as the United Nations and aid groups expressed alarm for patients and medical workers there and warned of the rapidly deteriorating state of Gaza’s health care system.

Fierce battles have been raging in and around Al-Shifa Hospital , the largest in the strip, since an Israeli assault there began 10 days ago.

The renewed fighting around the hospital, which Israel first raided in November, underscores the problems Israel has had in maintaining control of parts of Gaza its forces have supposedly captured. So far, the Israeli government, led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, has not agreed on a detailed plan for governing the enclave.

The Israeli military said in a statement that nearly 200 people whom it called “terrorists” had been killed in the area and that its troops had taken fire from militants inside and outside one of the hospital’s buildings. Gazan authorities said that over the course of the raid, more than 200 civilians had been killed and another 1,000 had been detained. Neither claim could be independently verified.

Israel maintains that Hamas, the armed group that led an attack into southern Israel on Oct. 7, is using hospitals in Gaza for military purposes, a claim that Hamas and hospital administrators have denied.

Witnesses have described days of fear as fighting has continued at the Al-Shifa complex, with several patients dying as a result of the assault.

“We are constantly hearing strikes and gunfire day and night and seeing smoke rising from buildings,” said Ezzeldine al-Dali, who lives less than a mile from Al-Shifa. He said that several homes in the area were set on fire by Israeli forces after their occupants evacuated. That claim could not be independently verified.

“The scale of destruction around us is indescribable,” said Mr. al-Dali, 22, in a voice message on Thursday. “The homes that have not been reduced to rubble have been burned,” he added.

Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the leader of the World Health Organization, said on Thursday that Gaza’s health system was “barely surviving.” He called for “an immediate end to attacks on hospitals” and for the protection of medical staff, patients and civilians.

Israel initially raided Al-Shifa Hospital in November, and struggled to prove its early claim that Hamas maintained a command and control center beneath the site. Evidence examined by The New York Times suggests Hamas has used the hospital for cover, stored weapons inside it and maintained a hardened tunnel beneath the complex.

The fact that the Israeli military’s operation at the hospital and in the neighborhood has lasted longer than its previous raid there in November suggests that Hamas and allied groups have returned and have built up a significant force there, perhaps in recent weeks, military analysts say.

That in turn suggests that Israel’s strategy in north Gaza involves repeated raids in places where Hamas or other groups have reasserted themselves after Israeli forces have tried to clear them, according to military analysts.

But the problems Israel has faced in securing the hospital and its vicinity also raise the question of how easily Israel’s military could eliminate the threat from Hamas without a long term-presence in Gaza or an alternative governing structure in the territory.

Israel has withdrawn most of its forces from the north and its current strategy involves raids, according to Yaakov Amidror, a retired major general who served as national security adviser to Mr. Netanyahu in an earlier government.

He described the operations as “mopping up” and “cleaning up the area” and said they would unfold over months based on information gathered not least through interrogations of detainees.

“In the north, whenever we go into places based on intelligence we fight both on and under the ground,” he said in an interview, referring to a network of tunnels built by Hamas.

At least six Palestinian militias have participated in recent attacks targeting Israeli forces in and around Al-Shifa, and there have been more than 70 such attacks since the raid began on March 18, according to an analysis by the Institute for the Study of War, a research group based in Washington.

“This high rate of attack indicates that Palestinian militias retain a significant degree of combat effectiveness in the area, despite continued Israeli clearing efforts around Gaza City,” according to the analysis, which did not elaborate on the nature of each attack.

The Israeli military said that its forces were also continuing to operate around Al-Amal Hospital and the town of Al-Qarara, in the Khan Younis area of southern Gaza, and had killed dozens that it said were terrorists.

Al-Amal went out of service on Monday night after Israeli forces besieged it a day earlier and forced everyone inside to leave before closing off its entrances with earthen barriers, according to the Palestine Red Crescent Society, which runs the hospital.

Embattled hospitals in Gaza

“The loss of Al-Amal is another blow to an already collapsing health system,” the International Committee of the Red Cross said on Thursday . It added that thousands of people in need of medical treatment were not able to receive it.

Cassandra Vinograd contributed reporting from Jerusalem, and Matthew Mpoke Bigg from London.

— Hiba Yazbek Reporting from Jerusalem

Maps: Tracking the Attacks in Israel and Gaza

See where Israel has bulldozed vast areas of Gaza, as its invasion continues to advance south.

Netanyahu has ‘abandoned’ Israel’s captive soldiers, their relatives say.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday had his first meeting with frustrated relatives of Israeli soldiers held captive in Gaza who say the government has “abandoned” their loved ones.

Hamas and other armed Palestinian groups took more than 240 people captive in an attack on Israel on Oct. 7. About 100 hostages, most of them women and children , were released during a cease-fire in November, and at least 30 others are believed to have died in captivity, according to Israeli officials . That may leave around 100 alive, most of them men who are Israeli citizens . It is unclear how many were members of the military on active duty when they were captured.

Diplomatic efforts to secure another pause in the fighting and the release of more hostages have focused on first freeing women, children and older adults. Male soldiers have largely been treated as their own category.

Mr. Netanyahu had met previously with the families of other captives, and at a news conference on Thursday, before the meeting, family members said it was past time to discuss their relatives, too.

Omer Neutra, a dual American-Israeli citizen , is one of them. His mother, Orna, said that the families of soldiers had “humbly and resignedly” waited for more hostage exchanges. But nearly six months into the war, she said, there is still “no deal.”

“To anyone who thinks there is no place now to discuss the soldiers, we say, There is no other time,” Ms. Neutra said.

Anat Engerst, whose son Matan is held captive, said that soldiers’ families had “remained silent at the request of the country” and questioned why it had taken nearly six months and multiple requests to secure a meeting with Mr. Netanyahu.

“Why does the country agree to put their heroic brothers at the bottom? Are they less important than others?” Ms. Engerst said at the news conference. She said former hostages who have been freed had described how some soldiers were being held in “inhuman conditions.”

“Our sons were abandoned,” she added.

In a statement to the families at the start of the meeting in Jerusalem on Thursday, Mr. Netanyahu expressed his commitment to securing the release of “them all, and not just some of them.”

“I know that every passing day is hell for you,” he told the families, according to a statement from his office. “Your boys are our heroes.”

Mr. Netanyahu added that he was personally working “around the clock” to bring the captives home, saying, “I will not leave anyone behind.”

Johnatan Reiss contributed reporting.

An earlier version of this article misstated the title of Benjamin Netanyahu. He is the prime minister of Israel, not the president.

How we handle corrections

— Cassandra Vinograd and Rawan Sheikh Ahmad

Ireland will intervene in South Africa’s genocide case against Israel at the top U.N. court.

Ireland plans to file an argument in South Africa’s genocide case against Israel at the International Court of Justice, according to the Irish government, making the move as the country has strongly condemned Israel’s actions against civilians in Gaza.

South Africa has brought a case against Israel in the I.C.J., the United Nations’ highest court, arguing that Israel is committing genocide, a claim Israel has denied. Ireland did not outline the argument it planned to advance, but the country’s lawmakers have made repeated calls to prioritize the protection of civilians in Gaza.

The United Nations allows countries to “intervene” in proceedings if they are parties to the United Nations’ 1948 Genocide Convention. Micheál Martin, the Republic of Ireland’s foreign minister and deputy leader, said that officials were working on a “declaration of intervention” in the case that, if approved by the Irish government, would be filed with the court, in The Hague.

“It is for the court to determine whether genocide is being committed,” Mr. Martin said on Wednesday. “But I want to be clear in reiterating what I have said many times in the last few months: What we saw on 7 October in Israel, and what we are seeing in Gaza now, represents the blatant violation of international humanitarian law on a mass scale.”

He urged Israel to call a cease-fire, and then listed a number of pressing issues, including “the purposeful withholding of humanitarian assistance to civilians,” “the targeting of civilians and of civilian infrastructure” and “the collective punishment of an entire population.”

“The list goes on,” he said. “It has to stop. The view of the international community is clear. Enough is enough.”

Irish lawmakers were among the first in Europe to call for the protection of people in Gaza last year, a reflection of Ireland’s longstanding support for Palestinian civilians , rooted in part in a shared history of British colonialism. Ireland’s own experience with a seemingly intractable and traumatic sectarian conflict — The Troubles, which came to a close with the 1998 Good Friday Agreement — has also driven that affinity.

The decision to file a declaration of intervention was made in consultation with several partners, including South Africa, Mr. Martin said. The Irish government does not plan to take a side in the dispute, the government told several Irish news outlets.

Germany in January became the first country to announce that it would intervene in the case, saying that there was “no basis whatsoever” to South Africa’s claim that Israel was committing genocide in the war. The United States has called the case meritless, and several European countries have rejected it, too.

Irish politicians have made repeated calls for Israel to prioritize the protection of civilians in Gaza over their military aims. Mr. Martin said that the intention is that its declaration would be filed once South Africa has filed its written arguments, a process that is likely to take months.

The allegation that Israel has carried out genocide in Gaza — one of the most serious crimes a country can be accused of — is particularly significant in Israel, which was founded after millions of Jewish people were murdered during the Holocaust.

The U.N. genocide convention , to which Israel is a signatory, defines the crime as one with a proven intent on the part of perpetrators to physically destroy a national, ethnic, racial or religious group.

The South African government maintains that it is pursuing its case to stop a genocide, but analysts say it is also motivated by longstanding domestic support for the Palestinian cause. Israeli leaders have said that South Africa’s allegations pervert the meaning of genocide and the purpose of the 1948 genocide convention.

— Megan Specia

The Palestinian Authority has formed a new cabinet, but doubts remain about its independence.

The Palestinian Authority’s new prime minister presented his cabinet on Thursday amid skepticism over its ability to meet international pressure for reform given the power wielded by the president of nearly two decades, Mahmoud Abbas.

Mr. Abbas, 88, is widely unpopular among Palestinians and has long ruled by decree. His appointment of Muhammad Mustafa as prime minister this month amounted to a rejection of international demands to make the authority more technocratic and less corrupt, in the hopes that it could help govern postwar Gaza. Mr. Mustafa is a longtime insider and has been a senior adviser to the president, posing little threat to his power.

On Thursday, Mr. Abbas approved the cabinet selections of Mr. Mustafa, according to Wafa , the Palestinian Authority’s official news agency.

Analysts have said that Mr. Mustafa’s choices for ministers of the interior, finance and foreign affairs — all of whom are close to the authority’s president — would be a good indicator of whether his government would signal at least a modicum of change.

The current interior minister will stay in place but the finance ministry will get new leadership, Wafa reported. Mr. Mustafa, an economist who has worked for the World Bank and the Palestine Investment Fund, will serve as foreign minister in addition to prime minister, the agency reported.

“All of the indications are that this government is completely under Abu Mazen’s thumb,” said Ghaith al-Omari, a former adviser to Mr. Abbas, using Mr. Abbas’s nickname. “There’s nothing to show that there will be a change of policy.”

Mr. Mustafa’s government will face significant challenges, not least because it is widely expected to operate in Mr. Abbas’s shadow.

As president, Mr. Abbas remains firmly in charge of the government. There is no functional Parliament, and Mr. Abbas exerts wide influence over the judiciary and prosecution system. There has been no presidential election in the Palestinian territories since 2005 and no legislative election since 2006.

The Palestinian Authority has limited governing powers in the Israeli-occupied West Bank and is dominated by Mr. Abbas’s faction, Fatah. The group lost control of Gaza when Hamas routed its forces there in a brief civil war in 2007.

Analysts say that the Palestinian Authority’s ability to play an effective role in governing Gaza hinges, in part, on getting the backing of Hamas, whose popularity and influence in the West Bank have grown since the war began.

In a joint statement after Mr. Mustafa’s appointment this month, Hamas and three other Palestinian factions blasted the change, saying that it reflected the “gap” between the authority’s leadership and the Palestinian people. The factions contended that forming a new government without a national consensus would “deepen the division.”

The authority will also be in desperate need of cash to pay the salaries of public sector employees, and Israel could undermine its ability to operate in Gaza.

Sharhabeel al-Zaeem, who is slated to be justice minister, said in an interview on Thursday that he was aware of the “huge obstacles” before the incoming government and expressed dismay that it didn’t have the backing of Hamas. But he emphasized that it was “essential in order to start a process to help the people in Gaza.”

Mr. al-Zaeem, a prominent lawyer from Gaza City who fled the strip in late December after being displaced and moving to Khan Younis and Rafah, said the public should wait to examine the authority’s performance before judging it.

“I hope we will be able to serve our people,” he said.

— Cassandra Vinograd and Adam Rasgon

The U.S. says Israel has agreed to try to reschedule a canceled trip.

A White House spokeswoman said on Wednesday that the Israeli government had agreed to try to reschedule a visit by a group of officials whose trip to Washington to discuss a possible assault on a key southern city in Gaza was scrapped over the U.S. decision not to veto a U.N. resolution calling for an immediate cease-fire.

President Biden had asked Israel to send a delegation to Washington to discuss alternatives to a ground offensive in Rafah, the southern Gaza city where more than a million people have sought refuge. But Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, called off the delegation’s trip at the last minute after being angered by the U.S. decision to abstain from a vote on the resolution at the U.N. Security Council on Monday.

“The prime minister’s office said that they want to reschedule this meeting so that we can talk about the Rafah operations,” the White House press secretary, Karine Jean-Pierre, told reporters on Wednesday. “We welcome that. And we’re going to work with their teams to make sure that happens.”

John F. Kirby, a White House spokesman, added on Thursday that the administration was working with the prime minister’s office and other Israeli officials to finalize a date for the rescheduled meeting. “We’re hoping that this meeting can be scheduled in person here in Washington as was the original plan,” he told reporters.

There was no immediate confirmation of a desire to reschedule from Mr. Netanyahu’s office, which, just hours before Ms. Jean-Pierre’s comments, had issued a statement denying reports that a meeting was back on. “Contrary to reports, the prime minister didn’t approve the departure of the delegation to Washington,” the statement said.

On three prior occasions, the United States had vetoed a cease-fire resolution. But by abstaining on Monday, it allowed the resolution, which was less strongly worded than previous ones and called for a cease-fire for the holy month of Ramadan, to pass.

Mr. Netanyahu denounced the abstention in a statement, calling it “a retreat from the consistent American position since the beginning of the war.” The Biden administration insisted on Monday that the abstention did not signify a change in the United States’ position.

Friction between the two allies has increased over the toll on civilians in Gaza after more than five months of fighting set off by the Hamas-led Oct. 7 attack, which, according to Israeli officials, killed about 1,200 people.

Health officials in Gaza say that more than 32,000 people have died during the Israeli military operation, and the fighting has created dire conditions on the ground, with humanitarian groups warning of a looming famine.

Asked about Mr. Netanyahu’s earlier denial of reports that the meeting would be back on, Ms. Jean-Pierre was adamant that his office had agreed to try to reschedule.

“When we have a date, certainly we will share that with you,” she said. “That is what we know from our side.”

The announcement came a few hours after Israel’s defense minister, Yoav Gallant, wrote on social media that he had completed a successful visit to the United States. The trip coincided with the U.N. vote and its fallout.

During his visit, Mr. Gallant met with several senior U.S. officials, including Jake Sullivan, the national security adviser, and Defense Secretary Lloyd J. Austin III, who made Rafah a central part of his agenda.

After the meeting, a senior Defense Department official said Mr. Austin had presented the broad outlines of the Biden administration’s alternative approach to a major combat operation in Rafah, including a focus on precision targeting intended to root out Hamas leadership.

The official, who spoke on a call with reporters on the condition of anonymity to discuss confidential talks, said that the Israelis were receptive and that there would be additional meetings in the future.

Ms. Jean-Pierre said the United States remained hopeful that it could help broker a temporary cease-fire and a release of hostages held by Hamas.

In an interview with Israel’s Channel 12 aired Wednesday night, Mr. Kirby acknowledged that the talks were stalling.

“We felt like the gaps were closing, and that we were getting closer to having a deal where we can get those hostages out,” he said. “Now it appears that we’re not moving forward, at least not in the way that we all had hoped, but that doesn’t mean we’re going to give up the effort.”

Johnatan Reiss and Katie Rogers contributed reporting.

— Zach Montague reporting from Washington

The United States and Britain impose sanctions on a Gazan news outlet over ties to Hamas.

The United States and Britain imposed sanctions Wednesday on Gaza Now, a news organization based in the enclave that the allies accused of raising money for Hamas and helping to finance its terrorist activities.

The Treasury Department said that Gaza Now started a fund-raising effort in support of Hamas following its attack on Israel in October. The measures also target the founder of Gaza Now and two companies that donated thousands of dollars to the news outlet.

The sanctions are the latest attempt to disrupt the flow of funds to Hamas since the Oct. 7 attack. The United States estimates that Hamas controls $500 million worth of assets that it uses to finance terrorism, and the Biden administration has been working with American allies to crack down on sanctions evasion.

“Treasury remains committed to degrading Hamas’ ability to finance its terrorist activities, including through online fund-raising campaigns that seek to funnel money directly to the group,” Brian E. Nelson, the Treasury’s under secretary for terrorism and financial intelligence, said in a statement.

The sanctions freeze any Gaza Now assets held in the United States or Britain and cut its backers off from much of the global financial system.

Gaza Now operates a website and broadcasts television coverage and commentary over a satellite channel and on social media platforms.

Media organizations are not common targets of U.S. sanctions, but the Treasury Department did in 2022 impose financial restrictions on Russian outlets that were spreading disinformation.

Although the Biden administration has been trying to curtail the finances of Hamas, it has also been using sanctions to curb violence by Israelis accused of attacks on Palestinians in the West Bank.

— Alan Rappeport Reporting from Washington

A majority of Americans disapprove of Israel’s actions in Gaza, a new poll shows.

A majority of Americans disapprove of Israel’s military actions in Gaza, in a pronounced shift from November, according to a new poll released by Gallup on Wednesday.

In a survey conducted from March 1-20, 55 percent of U.S. adults said they disapproved of Israel’s military actions — a jump of 10 percentage points from four months earlier, Gallup found.

Americans’ approval of Israel’s conduct in the war dropped by an even starker margin, from 50 percent in November, a month after the war began, to 36 percent in March, while the proportion of Americans who said they had no opinion on the subject rose slightly to 9 percent from 4 percent.

The findings are the latest evidence of growing American discontent with Israel over the course of the five months in which it has killed more than 32,000 Palestinians in Gaza, including nearly 14,000 children, according to local health officials and the United Nations. Israeli officials say roughly 1,200 people were killed in Israel during the Hamas-led attack on Oct. 7.

The Gallup poll found that American approval of Israel’s military actions dropped across the political spectrum: While a majority of Republicans still said they approved, that figure dropped from 71 percent in November to 64 percent in March. Independents’ approval dropped to 29 percent from 47 percent, and Democrats’ approval dropped to just 18 percent from 36 percent.

An AP-NORC poll conducted in late January found that half of U.S. adults felt Israel’s military response in Gaza had “gone too far,” up from four in 10 in November. That poll also showed a rise in public disapproval across political parties, by some 15 percentage points for Republicans, 13 for independents and five for Democrats.

Another recent survey from the Pew Research Center — which, like Gallup and AP-NORC, is a well-regarded leader in the polling industry — found notable schisms in public opinion along generational and religious lines. Younger adults and Muslim Americans were significantly more likely than older adults and Jewish Americans to say that the way Israel was carrying out its response to Hamas’s Oct. 7 attack was unacceptable, according to the poll conducted from mid-to-late February.

It oversampled Muslim and Jewish Americans, weighted to reflect their respective proportion of the overall population, to more reliably and separately analyze their views.

— Anushka Patil

Who was Marwan Issa, the Hamas commander killed by Israel?

The Israeli military has confirmed that Marwan Issa, the deputy commander of Hamas’s military wing in Gaza and a presumed mastermind of the Oct. 7 assault on southern Israel, was killed in an Israeli airstrike this month.

A senior U.S. official, Jake Sullivan, had previously told reporters that Mr. Issa, one of the highest-ranking officials in Hamas, had been killed. But before a statement Tuesday , Israel’s military had said only that its warplanes had targeted Mr. Issa and another senior Hamas official in an underground compound in central Gaza.

With his death, Mr. Issa, who had been among Israel’s most wanted men, became the senior-most Hamas leader to be killed in Gaza since the start of the war. Israeli officials have characterized the strike as a breakthrough in their campaign to wipe out the Hamas leadership in Gaza.

But experts cautioned that his death — which Hamas has still not acknowledged — would not have a devastating effect on the armed group’s leadership structure. Israel has killed Hamas’s political and military leaders in the past, only to see them quickly replaced.

Here is a closer look at Mr. Issa and what his death means for Hamas and its leadership.

What was Mr. Issa’s role in Hamas?

Mr. Issa, who was 58 or 59 at the time of his death, had served since 2012 as a deputy to Mohammed Deif, the elusive leader of the Qassam Brigades, Hamas’s military wing. Mr. Issa assumed the role after the assassination of another top commander, Ahmed al-Jabari.

Mr. Issa served both on Hamas’s military council and in its Gaza political office, overseen by Yahya Sinwar, the group’s highest-ranking official in the enclave. Mr. Issa was described by Palestinian analysts and former Israeli security officials as an important strategist who played a key role as a liaison between Hamas’s military and political leaders.

Salah al-Din al-Awawdeh, a Palestinian analyst close to Hamas, described Mr. Issa’s position in the group as “part of the front rank of the military wing’s leadership.”

Maj. Gen. Tamir Hayman, the former Israeli military intelligence chief, said Mr. Issa was simultaneously Hamas’s “defense minister,” its deputy military commander and its “strategic mind.”

What does his death mean for the group?

Experts described Mr. Issa as an important associate of Mr. Deif and Mr. Sinwar’s, though they said his death did not represent a threat to the group’s survival.

“There’s always a replacement,” Mr. Awawdeh said. “I don’t think the assassination of any member of the military wing will have an effect on its activities.”

Michael Milshtein, a former Israeli military intelligence officer and an expert on Palestinian affairs, said Mr. Issa’s death was a significant blow to the Qassam Brigades, though he conceded it wasn’t “the end of the world” for Hamas.

“He had a lot of experience,” Mr. Milshtein said. “His death is a big loss for Hamas, but it isn’t a loss that will lead to its collapse and it won’t affect it for a long time. In a week or two, they’ll overcome it.”

Mr. Milshtein added that even though Mr. Issa’s opinion was valued at the highest levels of Hamas, the fact he did not directly command fighters meant that his death did not leave a gaping hole in Hamas’s operations.

How has he been described?

Mr. Issa was a lesser-known member of Hamas’s top brass, maintaining a low profile and rarely appearing in public.

Gerhard Conrad, a former German intelligence officer who met Mr. Issa more than a decade ago, described him as a “decisive and quiet” person lacking charisma. “He was not very eloquent, but he knew what to say, and he was straight to the point,” Mr. Conrad said in an interview.

Mr. Conrad said he met Mr. Issa, Mr. al-Jabari and Mahmoud al-Zahar, another senior Hamas official, about 10 times between 2009 and 2011 in Gaza City. The men met as part of an effort to broker a prisoner swap between Israel and Hamas.

“He was the master of the data on the prisoners,” Mr. Conrad said of Mr. Issa. “He had all the names to be negotiated on.”

Mr. Conrad, however, said it was apparent at the time that Mr. Issa was a subordinate to Mr. al-Jabari. “He was a kind of chief of staff,” he said.

Mr. Issa’s prominence grew only after Mr. al-Jabari’s assassination, but he still was keen to stay out of view. Few images of Mr. Issa are in the public domain.

Mr. Awawdeh, the analyst, called Mr. Issa a man who liked to “remain in the shadows” and who seldom granted interviews to the media.

In one of those rare interviews , Mr. Issa spoke in 2021 about his role in the indirect talks that resulted in Israel exchanging more than 1,000 Palestinian prisoners for a single Israeli soldier, Sgt. First Class Gilad Shalit, and his hopes for a future conflict with Israel.

“Even if the resistance in Palestine is monitored by the enemy at all hours, it will surprise the enemy,” he told Al Jazeera at the time.

In a separate interview with a Hamas publication in 2005, Mr. Issa lauded militants who raided Israeli settlements and military bases, calling the actions “heroic” and an “advanced activity.”

What is known about his early life?

Mr. Issa was born in the Bureij area of central Gaza in 1965, but his family hails from what is now the Ashkelon area in Israel.

A Hamas member for decades, he was involved with the militant group’s effort of pursuing Palestinians who were believed to have collaborated with Israel, according to Mr. Awawdeh.

Mr. Issa spent time in prisons operated by both Israel and the Palestinian Authority.

Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari, a spokesman for the Israeli military, has said that Mr. Issa helped plan the Hamas-led Oct. 7 attack. Mr. Issa is also thought to have planned operations aimed at infiltrating Israeli settlements during the second intifada in the 2000s, Mr. Milshtein said.

An earlier version of this article misstated the surname of a former Israeli military intelligence chief. He is Tamir Hayman, not Heyman.

— Adam Rasgon Reporting from Jerusalem

Days after the U.N. cease-fire resolution, has anything changed in the war in Gaza?

Although the United Nations Security Council passed a resolution on Monday that demands an immediate cease-fire in the Gaza Strip, it remains to be seen whether it will have a concrete effect on the war or prove merely to be a political statement.

The measure, Resolution 2728, followed three previous attempts that the United States had blocked. It passed by 14 votes, after the United States abstained from voting and did not employ its veto.

The resolution also calls for the unconditional release of all hostages and the end to barriers to humanitarian aid.

Israel’s government condemned the vote, and early indications are that the U.N.’s action has changed little on the ground or spurred diplomatic progress.

Days after the vote, here’s a look at what has changed and what might happen next:

Has the resolution affected fighting?

Senior Israeli officials said that they would ignore the call for a cease-fire, arguing that it was imperative to pursue the war until it has dismantled the military wing of Hamas, the militant group that led the Oct. 7 attack on Israel.

Since Monday, there has been no apparent shift in the military campaign . Israel’s air force continues to pound Gaza with strikes, and Hamas is still launching attacks.

Israel’s military is pressing on with a raid at Al-Shifa Hospital in northern Gaza, the territory’s biggest medical facility, as well as its offensive in Khan Younis, the largest city in the south, where fighting has been fierce.

If Israel doesn’t heed the resolution, what can the U.N. do?

The Security Council has few means to enforce its resolutions. The Council can take punitive measures, imposing sanctions against violators. In the past, such measures have included travel bans, economic restrictions and arms embargoes.

In this case, however, legal experts said that any additional measure would require a new resolution and that passing it would require consent from the council’s five veto-holding members, including the United States, Israel’s staunchest ally.

There may be legal challenges as well. While the United Nations says that Security Council resolutions are considered to be international law, legal experts debate whether all resolutions are binding on member states, or only those adopted under chapter VII of the U.N. charter , which deals with threats to peace. The resolution passed on Monday did not explicitly mention Chapter VII.

U.N. officials said it was still binding on Israel, but some countries disagreed. South Korea said on Monday that the resolution was not “ explicitly coercive under Chapter VII,” but that it reflected a consensus of the international community.

Crucially, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, maintained that the resolution was nonbinding . The United States, which holds significant power on the Security Council because of its permanent seat, likely views the passage of the resolution as more a valuable political instrument than a binding order, experts said.

The U.S. abstention sends a powerful signal of its policy priorities even if, in the short term, the Security Council is unlikely to take further steps, according to Ivo H. Daalder, a former American ambassador to NATO.

“Neither Israel or Hamas is going to be swayed by a U.N. resolution,” Mr. Daalder said.

What about aid?

Israel controls the flow of aid into Gaza, and after five months of war, Gazans are facing a severe hunger crisis bordering on famine, especially in the north, according to the United Nations and residents of the territory.

Aid groups have blamed Israel, which announced a siege of the territory after Oct. 7. They say officials have impeded aid deliveries through inspections and tight restrictions.

Israel argues that it works to prevent aid reaching Hamas and says that its officials can process more aid than aid groups can distribute within the territory. Growing lawlessness in Gaza has also made the distribution of aid difficult, with some convoys ending in deadly violence.

Little has changed this week. The number of aid trucks entering Gaza on Tuesday from the two border crossings open for aid roughly matched the average daily number crossing this month, according to U.N. data. That figure, about 150 trucks per day, is nearly 70 percent less than the number before Oct. 7.

How has the resolution affected diplomacy?

Israel and Hamas appear to still be far apart on negotiations aimed at brokering a halt in fighting and an exchange of hostages for Palestinian prisoners.

Mediators have been in Qatar to try to narrow the gaps. But late Monday, Hamas rejected Israel’s most recent counterproposal and its political leader, on a visit to Tehran this week, said the resolution showed that Israel was isolated diplomatically.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel has argued that the resolution set back negotiations, emboldening Hamas to hold out for better terms.

The biggest sticking point in the cease-fire talks had recently been the number of Palestinian prisoners to be released, in particular those serving extended sentences for violence against Israelis, U.S. and Israeli officials have said.

— Matthew Mpoke Bigg

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Definition of Conflict

Characteristics of Conflict

Type of Conflict: Task, Process, and Relationship Conflict

Conflict Behavior, Conflict Management, and Conflict Resolution

Conflict Behavior

Dual-Concern Model

Accommodating

Compromising

Problem Solving or Integrating

Conglomerate Conflict Behavior (CCB)

How to Explore Your Tendency in Conflict

Table 1. Characteristics of Cooperative and Competitive Climates

How to Manage Conflicts Constructively

Constructive Controversy

Conflict Resolution

Negotiation

Conflict Coaching

Arbitration

Decision Making by Authorities

Further Reading

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Managing Conflict with Humor

Effective Communication

Setting Healthy Boundaries in Relationships

What is conflict?

Conflict 101

Speak to a Licensed Therapist

Healthy and unhealthy ways of managing and resolving conflict

The ability to successfully resolve conflict depends on your ability to:

How stress affects conflict resolution

Is stress a problem for you?

Learn how to manage stress in the moment

Why emotional awareness is a key factor in resolving conflict

Assessing your level of emotional awareness

What kind of relationship do you have with your emotions?

Using humor in conflict resolution

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13 Conflict Resolution and Problem Solving

Approaches to Conflict

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Problem Solving

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Conflict Resolution

Conflict Resolution Definition

What Causes Conflict at Work?

Five Conflict Resolution Strategies

1. Raise the Issue Early

2. Manage Your Emotions

3. Show Empathy

4. Practice Active Listening

5. Acknowledge Criticism

Glasers' Three-Step Strategy for Conflict Resolution

The steps for these conflict resolution skills are:

Conflict Resolution Training Example

1. Prove That You Understand Their Side

2. Acknowledge That You Are Part of the Problem