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Understanding and identifying the sources of conflict as well as positive
and negative aspects of conflict is the first step to good leadership. To
165
that end, it is important to identify the causes of a conflict and explore its
effects. Conflict, when properly managed, is a positive source of

competitiveness and collaboration in a workplace. Executives and
managers must learn to identify constructive conflict and manage it
effectively. Conversely, leadership must identify negative conflict and deal
with it decisively and completely. In other words, effective leaders must
differentiate between conflict that will boost productivity and build
stronger teams, and conflict that will decrease output and hinder

teamwork. Clearly, the challenge of good leadership is to resolve conflict
and channel it into positive competition and collaboration. 166

Fostering effective conflict resolution is a skill with a number of
dimensions that leaders can and need to learn. To begin with,
disagreements may often be solved by simple clarification and
understanding the other party's point of view. However, the resolution of
adversarial conflict generally requires a more proactive effort to bring the

individuals or parties to a place of agreement.

Figure 10 demonstrates how people typically deal with conflict:

165 Melissa McDowell, et.al., “Managing Models for Resolving Conflict in the Workplace.”
http://www.westbrookstevens.com/conflict_Resolution.htm.
166 Melissa McDowell, et.al., “Managing Models for Resolving Conflict in the Workplace.”
http://www.westbrookstevens.com/conflict_Resolution.htm.

David Kolzow 150