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Humans feel a wide array of emotional and physiological states, from joy, hunger, sadness, anger, and fear. There are even mixes of these states, like “Hanger” for example, that people experience. These states of mind can influence how a person carries or present themselves, and, occasionally, stronger experiences can influence decision-making. Reflect on some personal experiences, was there ever a time an emotion had influenced behavior or a choice that was made? Anyone who has gone grocery shopping while “hangry”, probably bought more food than they needed.

With mental states influencing our behavior whether someone is aware of it or not this can lead to misunderstandings and even conflict. Everyone has experienced something they have said or done being misunderstood, more so if it was said or done while experiencing strong emotions. Emotions and mental states are powerful and influential, they can influence a person’s behavior, but it is often overlooked how these mental states affect interactions between people. Ever tried making a point while feeling frustrated? Often the other person will start to feel frustrated too or even defensive, they begin ignoring what is being said and no one leaves that conversation happy or satisfied. 

These mental states can easily get someone in trouble, as previously mentioned, they can even cause conflict and miscommunication. So, what happens when someone must smooth things over and make amends after an emotional misunderstanding? Well, Dorothy Walker’s TED Talk on conflict resolution highlights the importance of emotional state and provides a simple 3-Step approach to resolving conflict that is easy to understand and anyone can use.

A critical part of her 3-step approach, however, is energy or simply put, that all parties involved are in a calm and neutral state of mind, and that calm state continues throughout the resolution process. Dorothy emphasizes that energy impacts conflict resolution in many ways from how receptive someone is, how negotiations are perceived, and the overall success of resolving the issue. 

The takeaway students can get from this TED Talk is that no matter what conflict resolution style, method, or approach is picked, it all starts with being calm and collected so as not to add any more tension or create further misunderstandings. Two angry people trying to resolve an issue will not get very far because their emotional state clouds their judgement and both parties are feeding off each other’s negative energy. Once a calm and neutral state has been achieved, only then can the steps to resolution be done. People can actively and objectively listen to each other and come to an agreement that can resolve conflict.

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“Where there are people, there is conflict,” the resource states, and it actually is. There are a thousand Hamlets in a thousand people's eyes. Everyone has different ideas, and this is normal, because everyone is affected by various factors such as the environment in which they were born, the environment in their family, the environment in which they grew up, the level of education, the difference of culture, and the understanding of society. Therefore, everyone's outlook on life and values will be different, which can lead to the difference of how they react to conflict and how to handle it. Despite all the differences in how people behave, ultimately their purpose is to resolve conflicts and live, study and work peacefully. Although it is not easy to achieve, people can seek help in this resource. 

As a new student, it is hard to quickly and smoothly integrate into a new group. Students from different cultures suddenly have to do one project together and conflicts will obviously come up. To maintain a satisfied grade and a good relationship with members, conflict resolution seems to become a significant thing to do. In this article, students can find how to deal with conflicts positively, what soft skills are needed in teamwork, and great examples of conflict resolution.  

Students are gonna be in the workplace sooner or later. It is never too early to start to learn about conflicts in the workplace. It is not healthy if students are under too much pressure when they just find a job, and it is not good for students’ mental health, so being prepared can help students to release some pressure when they are actually working. Knowing what can cause conflict at work is always important to know since they can just avoid conflicts before conflicts occur. For example, uncleared responsibility can cause conflict. Equity is important when working in a team. If someone feels like he does more work than others, he will not be happy and may resent others. At this time, conflict rises and may lead to work not done or the team dissolve. How to deal with this scenario? The answer is in the article. 

Emotion management, active listening, empathy showing, etc. are all significant factors of conflict resolution. An effective resolution will need all of the soft skills. As a new student, you may think these kinds of skills are useless in your life and you just want to be yourself when in a team. Actually, these skills can make you become a better person and makes you survive in each teamwork, no matter in school or workplace. 

Conflict Resolution - 8 Ways to Resolve Conflict in the Workplace

Discover skills and strategies for resolving conflict with your colleagues and reach positive outcomes even when you don't see eye to eye.

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The How Can I Say This… Podcast comes highly recommended as a communication tool. The presenter Beth Buelow covers many topics related to developing communication skills over the course of the series and can condense complex issues into digestible short form podcasts that will leave the listener with a deeper understanding and actionable recommendations for improving their interpersonal language skills regardless of their level of experience in the subject.

This episode Humility, Ego, Civil Conversations focuses on the interplay of being a strong communicator who advocates for their ideas and can fight for their point of view while still maintaining the humility required for collaborative communication and effective conflict resolution. People will communicate their ideas most effectively when they are passionate and knowledgeable about a topic, but with knowledge and passion come feelings of righteousness or objectivity, and when there is a dissenting voice with the same feelings conflict can feel inevitable. This episode reminds the listener that the feeling of being right and consequently, someone else being wrong, is a vanity that stifles communication, collaboration, and productivity. The antidote to this problem being humility, the ability to fight earnestly for our point of view, and simultaneously submit humbly to the idea that we may not have all the answers and a more complete understanding of our group effort can be found through collaboration.

As a student this short podcast will be especially valuable. The first lesson is an easy one, to hold your ideas and values with conviction. Ensuring that your voice is heard and expressed in a way that is compelling and convincing and to fight for its validity with appropriate passion and poise is critical to being a solid communicator and work partner.

The second lesson is more difficult, as student it can be tempting to fall into a mindset of objectivity, individualism, and righteousness. Knowing we should have strong beliefs and fight for our ideas it is easy to see how students can uniquely argue for this short-sighted mindset, why collaborate when their own grades are on the line? Why consider another student’s idea when everyone knows they received a poor grade in a shared class last semester? There is some language or cultural barrier so it’s too much work interacting with them. No one else is taking this as seriously as me so why seek their input. Others are taking this too seriously and should be ignored, they are out of touch. Most students will have thoughts like this when working with others and to say that these arguments are necessarily wrong is missing the point, as a student you may be right in your assessments, some obstacles are too big to overcome, and a selfish strategy may be your only option. However, taking humility and your own opportunity for improvement seriously is to first consider the possibility that your snap judgements may be misguided. To improve yourself, your vision for a project, or learn something new the first step is to recognise that you don’t have all the answers going in and taking the opportunity to learn and work with others is vital for our own growth and the quality of our work.

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The article “4 Types of Team Conflict and How To Resolve Each Effectively” from indeed.com is an extremely practical guide to professional scenarios of conflicts. Initially, the text put elaborates a brief explanation of conflicts and team conflicts, followed by the significance of their resolution. Secondly, there is a mention of four major types of conflicts in a work setting paired with a brief elaboration of each. Finally, in the subsequent stage, the resolution of conflicts is explained.   

Conflicts are an inevitable part of social settings, whether they be personal, professional, national, or multi-national. The variations in personalities create differences in the opinions of people, these variations are a result of different backgrounds, education, culture, and values they carry. If an event takes place opposing the viewpoint of an individual, the individual tends to repel it and tries their best to adjust it in the favor of their viewpoint because that is right to them, on the flip side, the opposing viewpoint beholder prefers their preferences and decisions to be implemented. This is a common layout of a conflict where both sides are right on their own. The right way out of such cases is to seek a middle ground comprising both sides' opinions equally. However, conflicts get complicated when the authorities from higher power are involved such as leadership style conflicts highlighted in the type of conflicts part in the article. Such issues in a professional environment are a challenge to handle as they become a threat to the employment status of the mediator. Fortunately, various union campaigns have been established to maintain a peaceful environment in places and prevent conflict mishaps. 

The first lesson to be obtained from the article is the identification of a conflict. In order to separate the wheat from the shaft we need to be able to distinguish between wheat and the grass. The article quantifies four major types of conflicts; task-based, leadership, work-style, and personality-based conflicts. Each type of conflict arises from a distinct foundation such as work orientation, individual perception, and opinions, or simply a toxic environment compelled by the leaders. Having prior literacy about the conflict yields room for resolution. 

The second lesson in the article is the prevention and resolution of a conflict when it arises. Although handling it with one's wisdom seems to be a viable solution to the issue, however, there are times when the mediator starts to appear as a member causing conflict. These are the moments when Human Resource management is required to be consulted for justice to be executed. 

In a nutshell, the article is well-equipped with an ample amount of lessons for a new student. Dealing with conflicts in a social setting is an experience every individual faces in daily life, whether it be a minor or a provocative dispute. Having guidance on the professional conflicting scenarios and their resolution tips in such a concise and redirected manner opens more opportunities for their prevention. 

Learn to identify and resolve the top four types of team conflict in the workplace. These techniques can help you improve company communicat

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Tips for Managing Conflicts

The article is from Clarke University giving tips on how to manage conflict, it is intended mainly to students to have a good and smooth campus life. The tips that are stated in this article were a lot, but they can be easily remembered and were not complicated.  

For students, this will be helpful because conflict is unavoidable so they must learn how to handle it; it can not be resolved unless addressed with appropriate individuals involved. Conflicts inevitably arise in people's daily lives. And when problems do occur, the goal is to effectively address and manage them rather than trying to prevent them. People can prevent their disagreements from developing into serious issues by using the proper conflict resolution methods. The first thing that students must need to learn is to accept conflict. Conflict presents an opportunity for growth, new knowledge, and increased communication as well as an indication that something must change.  

The important part of this is students should know how to communicate, open communication is key in dispute. It is expressing how will student feel about the situation and sticking to the facts will let the other person know that they are genuine with their actions. All parties involve in a conflict must discuss their interests or the reasons behind their views to resolve the conflict to create a solution that satisfies the shared interests, it’s a must to communicate the genuine motivation and collaborate. Students frequently like sleeping, studying, having fun, and unwinding in a cozy setting. They frequently have interests that are more ethereal, like respect, belonging, companionship, and enjoyment. Discussing the contrasts in people's lifestyles, values, and schedules is essential for handling conflict when those people are different. You must create a fair strategy of compromise that serves the interests of all parties. Focusing on the problem at hand and not what the other person did will avoid unnecessary conflict. Students should also know how to listen what the other person has to say, without interrupting it is important to defuse the situation and seek solutions to a conflict. After school, students will eventually work and will meet a lot of people with different beliefs, understanding, race, etc. and resolve conflict in a more professional way it is best to clarify what is the source of conflict to understand how the issue came to grow in the first place, learn how to agree to disagree, each person has a unique point of view and rarely agrees on every detail. Being right is not what is important. It is also good for students to be creative; it takes imagination and perseverance to find a solution to the issue that pleases everyone. Be careful not to give in just to keep peace or put an end to a disagreement. Too early agreements typically do not hold up. Create absurd possibilities to get your mind to start working "outside the box" of established viewpoints. Lastly, is to focus on the future, individuals tend to remember everything that ever bothered them about a person. Some people in conflict need to vent about the past but they often dwell on it. Recognizing that you must make a strategy to handle the current conflict and those that may emerge in the future, regardless of the past, is frequently the best way to take responsibility for the issue. 

Clarke University