Assertive Or Cooperative Conflict Solver: Find Your Technique With The Thomas Kilmann Conflict Tool

Every business at some point experiences conflicts whether from internal or external sources. Therefore, as a business person, you must empower yourself with conflict management skills to help your business navigate effectively during the period of instability. One of the most effective conflicts solving tools that you should take advantage of to mitigate and solve business wrecking conflicts is the Thomas Kilmann Conflict Mode Instrument. The tool is easy to use for anyone involved in a conflict including team members, line managers, and professionals as it does not require prior knowledge or expertise. The tool helps individuals identify alternative conflict styles and thus, help them reframe and defuse conflict for more productive results.

The Thomas Kilmann tool is unique from other available conflict solving programs because it delivers results that are satisfactory to all involved members using a raft of research to back up its conflict-management solution. The tool also measures how groups and individuals approach and handle conflicts using five effective modes that include competing, accommodating, avoiding, collaborating, and compromising. The Thomas Kilmann conflict instrument (TKI) also helps to identify how different people respond to conflict and how their response affects the conflict outcome. The instrument also provides definite tactics that individuals and businesses can use to resolve the conflict for a more positive and constructive environment.

Swift and satisfactory conflict resolution also helps businesses avoid the costly litigation costs or even losing a productive member of the team because of unresolved conflicts. The TKI addresses conflicts by describing how people respond to the five conflict modes in terms of assertiveness and cooperativeness. Assertiveness is the extent at which an individual tries to impose own concerns while cooperativeness refers to the extent to which an individual tries to address the concerns of the other involved party. In the competing mode, the person is assertive and uncooperative. The person practically stands up for his or her own believe and will use his or her position or power to win the argument.

In the accommodating mode, the person is unassertive and cooperative resulting in selfless generosity. In the avoiding mode, the person is unassertive and uncooperative resulting in the person diplomatically sidestepping the issue, withdrawing from a difficult situation or postponing the problem to a better time. In the collaborating mode, the person is both assertive and cooperative resulting in the parties exploring the disagreement to find a creative solution. In the compromising mode, the person is moderate to both assertiveness and cooperativeness in a bid to find a mutually acceptable solution that partially satisfies both parties.

Conclusion

Every person is capable of using all the five modes as there is no single person with a single style of dealing with conflicts. The tool will help you identify how you mix the conflict-handling modes and empower you to make better decisions in different situations.