Teaching Conflict Management Using a Scenario-Based Approach

In this article, the authors present a framework for the teaching of conflict management in college courses. The framework describes an experiential learning approach for helping individuals understand the influence of contextual factors in the selection of conflict handling strategy. It also includes a comparison of participants' choice of style, as based on contextual factors, versus their expected choice of conflict handling approach, as based on their primary orientation, as given by a standardized self-report instrument. Under this format, participants were asked to analyze a set of five conflict episodes with differing situational contingencies and to choose action courses from among alternatives for handling the conflict. Group discussion then focused on a comparison of participants' choices of the situationally appropriate or optimal response and their personal conflict-handling orientations. The authors also discuss the conceptual framework guiding the development of the conflict scenarios.