According to the Office of Quality Improvement and Office of Human Resource Development at University of Wisconsin-Madison, conflict refers to a disagreement through which parties involved perceive a threat to their needs, interests or concerns.

In the workplace, interpersonal conflicts often happen among co-workers, supervisors and subordinates, or customers and staff.

A conflict is caused by different perceptions. A situation can be interpreted differently by each individual.

Lastly, a conflict arises because there is a threat to one’s needs, interests or concerns.

Dr. Sandra Collins, associate Teaching Professor of Management at University of Notre Dame, pointed out conflicts are rooted in three major groups of factors: situational factors, relationship factors and personal factors.

Work-related stress is the most common situational factor which contributes to conflicts.

Common contributors to work stress include the pressure of accomplishing more tasks in a shorter period of time, working in a highly competitive environment or concerns over job security.

When diversity is mentioned, people are usually referring to race, ethnic, gender, or age differences.

However, diversity is also determined by a broader set of characteristics, such as a person’s class, religion and educational background.

A person’s conflict management style refers to an individual’s preferred way to respond to conflict.

In the 1970s, Kenneth Thomas and Ralph Kilmann identified five distinct styles of handling conflict. These styles are classified based on two dimensions: assertiveness and cooperativeness.

A competitive style is high in assertiveness and low in cooperativeness.

People who prefer a compromising style try to “split the difference” to reach an agreement in the middle. Both parties are expected to give up something in order to gain what is most important to them.

Unlike the compromising style, which suggests parties meet half way and sacrifice some of their interests, the collaborative style encourages both parties work effectively to fully meet their goals.

A collaborative attitude, active listening and positive language are three tools to help people resolve the problem.

A collaborative attitude describes a positive mindset of which disputing parties take efforts to build or maintain a healthy relationship with each other.

Good listening skills go beyond the ability to pay attention, maintain eye contact and eliminate distractions.

Words have the power to shape our perceptions. While negative language focuses on the problems, positive language leads to solutions.

In conflict resolution, one can use the reframing technique to create a constructive and positive viewpoint for the situation.

Third party intervention describes a phase in the conflict resolution process where a neutral outsider gets involved to help the disputing parties solve the problem.

There are three basic forms of intervention: facilitation, mediation and arbitration.

Facilitation is used when parties believe they can reach a solution, but need a third party to manage the process.

An arbitrator is an authority to hear all sides of a case, discuss it with each party, and make a final decision based on the information gathered.

It is important for a mediator to treat everybody in the disputing parties equally and fairly. A mediator's unbiased attitude is one of the key factors of successful conflict management.