Why the study of conflict is important

Conflicts arise naturally in every arena of daily life.
Conflict management is a key skill for all successful long-term relationships.
There are good reasons for employing conflict management skills.
There are advantages to conflict.

Reasons for employing conflict management skills

In organizational relationships. Conflict management in organizational settings is important for many reasons.

As an employee, you can learn how to get along with

• fellow employees

• your manager 

• the public

As a supervisor, you can begin to

• see conflicts coming

• learn productive responses

• get more cooperation from employees

• help employees resolve their disputes with one another

• keep interpersonal conflicts from spreading to other parts of the organization

In personal relationships. Conflict management in personal relationships is important for the following reasons: 

• How you engage in conflict will directly affect your romantic relationship.

• The long-term satisfaction of your marriage may hinge on how well you manage conflict.

• Your skill at conflict management directly affects your family of origin and your children.

You might study conflict so you can be of help to others experiencing interpersonal conflict. To be of most help you will need specific intervention skills, but understanding conflict dynamics is an absolute prerequisite for being an effective helper to others--children, friends, family, and work associates.

Finally, learning effective approaches for dealing with interpersonal conflict contributes to overall mental health. The National Institute of Mental Health funded a decade of studies of depression as one of the major public health problems. Depression affects one's personal relationships and results in millions of dollars lost in the workplace due to missed days, medical and counseling costs. Effective conflict management is one aspect of interpersonal therapy, one of the chosen techniques for dealing with depression.

Conflict is unavoidable. Why study conflict? Because if we don't, we are more likely to repeat the damaging patterns we see on the job and in our homes. Examining the dynamics of conflict will allow us to unpack those dynamics, see what brings on destructive moves, and build more productive options for ourselves both at work and at home. Since the first edition of Interpersonal Conflict was published in 1978, much more interest in the process of conflict as a natural, inevitable part of communication has been apparent in research and the popular press. Most writers now know that conflict is not different from "regular" communication but is a part of the ongoing flow of the communication between human beings. We might define ourselves as being "in conflict," of varying intensities, many times a day or week. Even people who vastly prefer peace, harmony, and calm interaction find themselves involved in situations that are tense, escalating, and uncomfortable. Truly, we do not have the option of staying out of conflict unless we stay out of relationships, families, work, and community. Conflict happens – so we would be wise to prepare for it.  Recognizing that there are advantages to conflict is the first step to preparing for it.