Main Body
Leadership Guide to Conflict and Conflict Management
Fadi Smiley
“A part of effective leadership is caring for and supporting one another, even when there is conflict or a difference of opinion.” -Ty Howard
Introduction
Conflict may occur between people or within groups in all kinds of situations. Due to the wide range of differences among people, the lack of conflict may signal the absence of effective interaction. Conflict should not be considered good or bad, rather it may be viewed as a necessity to help build meaningful relationships between people and groups. The means and how the conflict is handled will determine whether it is productive or devastating. Conflict has a potential to create positive opportunities and advancement towards a common goal, however, conflict can also devastate relationships and lead to negative outcomes ((Kazimoto, 2013; Fisher, 2000; Evans, 2013).
Today’s healthcare leaders are taught to lead change, development, and transformation in organizations. Leadership may be described as the ability to emphasize the pursuit of goals and motivate others to pursue them as well. Northouse states that leadership is a process whereby an individual influences a group of individuals to achieve a common goal (Northouse, 2016). Others characterize leadership as the ability to inspire trust, build relationships, encourage followers.
An under-reported aspect that is not commonly discussed among leadership qualities is the ability to handle conflict (Guttman, 2004). Guttman explains that there might be two reasons as to why there is little recognition of conflict management in leaders. One is called rationalistic fallacy, and Guttman explains that most of the literature available focuses on arming leaders with all necessary leadership concepts and success will just follow, almost as if it is assumed that leaders will automatically know how to manage conflict. Secondly, Guttman explains that leaders may have a fatalistic attitude towards conflict. Leaders may look at conflict as situation that will never be resolved, so why bother addressing it? We should focus on what can be addressed and changed (Guttman, 2004).
Conflict management is a skill that leaders must be able to employ when needed to help foster a productive working environment (Guttman, 2004). There is a realization that conflict management should be a skill that leaders need to give priority to learning and mastering (Kazimoto, 2013). The inability of a leader to deal with conflict will not only lead to negative outcomes but may also undermine the credibility of the leader (Kazimoto, 2013). Whereas if a leader is able to establish an atmosphere of cooperation and foster teamwork, making it clear that this is his/her value system, there is a likelihood that this value system will be adopted by the entire organization (Guttman, 2004). Therefore, it is very important that we discuss and address conflict management as a leadership skill.
This chapter will discuss t