Assignment
Overview
Write a 2-page article on interpersonal conflict. Define conflict and explain how communication behaviors and individual differences contribute to interpersonal conflict. Recommend a strategy for resolving interpersonal conflict.
Conflict is part of our daily lives. Preparing yourself with the needed skills to handle conflict enhances your interpersonal skills and relationships. To understand conflict, you must begin by knowing what it is and how it affects your life.
By successfully completing this assessment, you will demonstrate your proficiency in the following course competencies and assessment criteria:
• Competency 2: Apply theoretical perspectives on conflict.
o Define conflict.
o Describe communication behaviors that can lead to conflict.
Competency 3: Apply appropriate strategies to reduce or resolve conflicts.
o Recommend a strategy to resolve interpersonal conflict.
Competency 4: Analyze the impact of conflict on relationship building in face-to-face, virtual, cyber, and group communication.
o Explain how communication behaviors affect interpersonal relationships.
o Explain how individual differences contribute to interpersonal conflict.
Competency 6: Communicate effectively in a variety of formats.
o Write coherently to support a central idea in appropriate APA format with correct grammar, usage, and mechanics.
Context
What is conflict? Why does it occur? What can be done to prevent it, and-perhaps more importantly-what can we learn from conflict? How can we transform conflict situations from negative to positive?
Conflict arises due to varied perspectives, belief systems, and values. It is natural and common to disagree and to experience conflict. However, there are important differences between constructive and destructive conflict. One tool for examining destructive conflict is what Hocker and Wilmot (2018) describe as "the four horsemen" of destructive conflict-criticizing, defensiveness, stonewalling, and contempt (p. 22).
Communication behaviors also play a critical role in conflict. Krauss and Morsella describe four paradigms of communication (as cited in Coleman, Deutsch, & Marcus, 2014). These paradigms are encoding/decoding, intentionalist, perspective-talking, and dialogic.
References
Coleman, P., Deutsch, M., & Marcus, C. (2014). The handbook of conflict resolution: Theory and practice (3rd ed.). San Francisco, CA: Wiley.
Hocker, J. L., & Wilmot, W. W. (2018). Interpersonal conflict (10th ed.). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.
Questions to consider
To deepen your understanding, you are encouraged to consider the questions below and discuss them with a fellow learner, a work associate, an interested friend, or a member of your professional community.
• What types of interpersonal conflict have you experienced?
• When is interpersonal conflict constructive? What elements do you think need to be present for this to happen?
Instructions
Suppose you have been asked to write an article on interpersonal conflict for a local organization with which you are affiliated. You may choose any type of interpersonal conflict, such as between spouses, among family members, between members of a social group, or other, but your focus must be interpersonal conflict.
Preparation
Search the Capella library and the Internet for scholarly, professional, or other appropriate resources that address the topic of interpersonal conflict. Keep in mind that Wikipedia is not considered an appropriate resource. You will need at least 2 resources to support your work in this assessment.
Requirements
Complete the following:
• Define the term conflict. Do not simply copy a definition from a source!
o What does conflict mean to you?
o How does that compare with how others define conflict?
Describe communication behaviors that can lead to conflict.
Explain how the communication behaviors affect interpersonal relationships. Be sure to consider communication behaviors in a variety of situations.
Explain how differences in gender, age, culture, race, and so on can contribute to interpersonal conflict.
Recommend at least one strategy that can be used to resolve interpersonal conflict.
Format your assignment according to the following formatting requirements:
1. The answer should be typed, double spaced, using Times New Roman font (size 12), with one-inch margins on all sides.
2. The response also include a cover page containing the title of the assignment, the student's name, the course title, and the date. The cover page is not included in the required page length.
3. Also Include a reference page. The Citations and references should follow APA format. The reference page is not included in the required page length.