[MUSIC] In this particular module, we decided to separate the five conflict approaches, and focus on the most successful approach, which happens to be a collaborative solution, which also translates to a win win. And in order to do that, you have to get to the facts. And through that process, there are several questions that you need to ask. You need to ask yourself and you need to ask your team members involved. Exactly what are our approaches to take and what are the responses to these questions. So what are the facts surrounding the particular conflict that you have is something that you need to spend some time on. You need to allow yourself to embrace that information and separate the facts from emotion. Some people and often times in conflict situations individuals tend to emotionalize the position that they're taking, which is very difficult then to try to seek a resolution. So when you're getting to the facts, you want focus on one, who are the groups involved, and who do they represent? That's critical information that you need to have in order to get to the next step. Is there past history of the conflict? Is this something that's been existing for a period of time? Maybe time before you even started working in the division or even the company. These are again, most important things that you want to identify and get answers to, in order for you to help move through the resolution stages. Another most important thing that can be connected to history, or maybe it's not, is how did the conflict rise to begin with? Was it a personal encounter? Was it some time of interface with individuals? Was it something more from a corporate decision, maybe it was due to a merger or an acquisition. But, you need to really flush out the reasons for why we even have conflict at this moment in time, and also identifying what the core issues are. Again, separating the emotion out of it and establishing the issues, the core issues with respect to the facts that are involved in the resolution process. You also need to identify if it's negotiable. Are these core issues something that can be worked on? Is this conflict something that either exists that can't and even it goes beyond negotiation skills. Is it something that is just a fact, in other words, we are now changing something and your word is just to accept it, versus to dialogue for change. You have to determine what that is. Many times, conflict arises around a company, corporation, a division making a decision that will take place that employees don't respond to. Well that goes back to the good do great kind of concept, which is you either embrace the new direction or you don't. Then you have to decide what place you're going to put yourself in. Are you going to continue to resist it? And if you are, then you're not sure that this is a negotiable situation. Reality is that if there's a decision being made, while it may cause conflict, you have to learn to embrace some decisions, and just get on the boat, just go with the flow, and accept that this is the direction the company is going in. One of the other things is that you need to understand that if there are group stances that will separate and cause more conflict to take place. And are there any common interests? Once you can define a level between two different groups, that there is a common interest, maybe a production level needs to get completed, ,aybe a product needs to be launched. That's the common interest. And now you're going to help resolve the conflict by identifying that common interest and how both of you can work together to get to that achieved goal. Now, when you talk about values with respect to conflict, there is particular subject that needs to take place on this, because maybe it's a position that an individual's taken, because they have certain core values that don't allow them to move forward in that change. Now while that can be a complicated thing, because values tend to be something that individuals bring to a company, and you really need to then evaluate are the values that the company have in line with the individual values. If there's separation there, then of course conflict will exist. So you need to try to help individuals understand that their values are theirs, and that while they're at work they need to embody the values of the organization. Conflict resolution takes a lot of time and energy, and if you follow these core steps of getting to the facts, it'll help you resolve conflict and move towards the resolution in a more expedient and productive manor. [SOUND]
