Becoming a Conflict Competent Leader: How You and Your Organization Can Manage Conflict Effectively
by Craig E. Runde and Tim E. Flanagan
Dealing effectively with conflict is difficult for any leader. Some try to avoid conflict and wish it would just go away, while others tend to get angry and lash out at others in ways they later regret. Poorly managed conflict creates enormous costs in the form of wasted management time, high turnover, and lawsuits. How can leaders assess how they currently handle conflict and develop the skills they need to deal with conflict more effectively? Becoming a Conflict Competent Leader combines research, conceptual models, practitioner experience, and stories that highlight the core conflict competencies. The book underscores the importance for leaders to develop the critical skills they need to help them, their colleagues, and their organizations deal more effectively with conflict and move their organizations forward. The book describes assessments that can give leaders insight into how they currently approach conflict and offers suggestions for becoming a conflict competent leader. Leadership experts Craig E. Runde and Tim A. Flanagan show leaders how to implement constructive approaches to conflict while avoiding ones that lead to destructive outcomes. Becoming a Conflict Competent Leader also shows how to ensure that organizational structures support constructive approaches to conflict management and resolution.
