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5. Interpersonal Relationships

Introduction 1

  • Effective communication skills are the cornerstone of successful interactions, both personally and professionally.
  • Effective communication involves active listening, empathy, and nonverbal cues, allowing individuals to connect authentically with others and navigate diverse social situations with confidence and ease.
  • Conflict resolution and negotiation are indispensable skills for managing interpersonal conflicts and reaching mutually beneficial agreements.

Interpersonal Communication 2

Conflict Resolution 2

9.1 Understanding Conflict

  • Conflict occurs in interactions in which there are real or perceived incompatible goals, scarce resources, or opposing viewpoints.
  • Elements of conflict:
    • Conflict is inevitable.
    • Conflict by itself is neither good nor bad.
    • Conflict is a process.
    • Conflict and avoid conflict both require energy.
    • Conflict has elements of both content and feeling.
    • We choose to be reactive or proactive in conflict.
  • Some people use the terms conflict, competition, dispute, and violence interchangeably.
  • Level of conflict: the number of individuals involved in the conflict:
    • Within an individual (intrapersonal conflict).
    • Between two parties (interpersonal conflict).
    • Between groups (intergroup conflict).
    • Between organizations (inter-organizational conflict).
  • Keeping conflicts centered around ideas rather than individual differences is important in avoiding a conflict escalation.
  • Types of Conflict:
    • Goal conflict: different desired outcomes.
    • Cognitive conflict: different beliefs or ideas.
    • Affective conflict: different feelings or emotions.
    • Behavioral conflict: different actions or behaviors.
  • The conflict process:
    • Frustration: feeling of tension about the source of conflict; hence, it is the trigger stage.
    • Conceptualization: understanding the conflict, analyzing it, and preparing a strategy or resolution; hence, it is the problem solving stage.
    • Behavior: the action decided in the previous step is being executed to resolve the conflict.
    • Outcome.
  • 5 Modes for conflict resolution:
    • Competing: Defending your position at the expense of others.
    • Collaborating: Working together to find a mutually beneficial solution. Strategies to resolve it include apologizing, having private discussions, and remaining calm.
    • Compromising: Finding a middle ground.
    • Avoiding: Ignoring the conflict, or pretending it does not exist.
    • Accommodating: Giving in to the other party’s demands.

9.2 Conflict Management Strategies

  • Keep in mind that we don’t always consciously choose a style. We may instead be caught up in emotion and become reactionary.
  • Delaying reaction is a good resolution strategy; until you get more information, you can’t make a decision.
  • A powerful tool to mitigate conflict is information exchange. Asking for more information before you react to a conflict-triggering event is a good way to add a buffer between the trigger and your reaction.
  • Another key element is whether or not a communicator is oriented toward self-centered or other-centered goals.
    • For example, if your goal is to “win” or make the other person “lose,” you show a high concern for self and a low concern for other.
    • If your goal is to facilitate a “win/win” resolution or outcome, you show a high concern for self and other.
  • 5 Conflict management strategies:
    • Avoidance.
    • Accommodation.
    • Competition.
    • Compromise.
    • Collaboration.
  • Competing:
    • It indicates a high concern for self and a low concern for others.
    • It is a win/lose strategy, we aim to win the conflict at the expense of the other party’s loss.
    • It may involve using power, authority, or manipulation to win.
    • Manipulation strategies may include request, persuasion, and threat.
    • Temporal win may lead to conflict escalation later.
    • There is a pattern of verbal escalation: requests, demands, complaints, angry statements, threats, harassment, and verbal abuse.
  • Avoiding:
    • The avoiding style of conflict management often indicates a low concern for self and a low concern for other, and no direct communication about the conflict takes place.
    • The avoiding style is either passive or indirect, meaning there is little information exchange, which may make this strategy less effective than others.
  • Accommodating:
    • It indicates a low concern for self and a high concern for other and is often viewed as passive or submissive, in that someone complies with or obliges another without providing personal input.
  • Compromising:
    • It shows a moderate concern for self and other and may indicate that there is a low investment in the conflict and/or the relationship.
    • The compromising style isn’t a win/win solution; it is a partial win/lose.
  • Collaborating:
    • It involves a high degree of concern for self and other and usually indicates investment in the conflict situation and the relationship.
    • It leads to a win/win situation in which neither party has to make concessions because a mutually beneficial solution is discovered or created.
  • STLC Conflict Model:
    • Stop for a moment to analyze the situation.
    • Think about the situation and the possible outcomes.
    • Listen to the other party.
    • Communicate your thoughts and feelings.

Workplace Success 2

  • Stages of Career Development:
    • Growing: Age 14, start thinking about future and possible careers.
    • Exploring: Age 15-25, try out different jobs/fields/careers.
    • Establishing: Age 25-45, chose one career and become good at it by learning and experience.
    • Maintaining: Age 45-65, keep up with changes in the field so that you don’t become irrelevant.
    • Reinventing: Age 65, retire from one career and start using your skills in improving that career or the world.
  • People change careers 7 times in their lifetime.

Videos 3 4 5

References

  1. Learning Guide Unit 5: Introduction | Home. (2025). Uopeople.edu. https://my.uopeople.edu/mod/book/view.php?id=458257&chapterid=560013 ↩

  2. Scarbrough, S. (2023). Psychology of human relations. Open Oregon Educational Resources by Pressbooks.https://openoregon.pressbooks.pub/psychologyofhumanrelations/ Read Chapter 7 – Interpersonal Communication Read Chapter 9 - Conflict Resolution Read Chapter 10 - Workplace Success ↩↩↩

  3. HBS Online. (2022, October 22). 3 Negotiation Skills All Professionals Can Benefit From | Business: Explained [Video]. YouTube. https://youtu.be/BegeGTBWMgE ↩

  4. Simplilearn. (2022, June 17). Top 5 Tips to Improve Communication Skills | Soft Skills for Beginners | Soft Skills | Simplilearn [Video]. YouTube. https://youtu.be/pJ7RgUCEd5M ↩

  5. Success Formulas. (2020, July 10). How To Improve Communication Skills? 12 Effective Tips To Improve Communication Skills [Video]. YouTube. https://youtu.be/v3DiMAPolIs ↩