1. ME3101 / ME3102
Mechanical Systems Design
Chapter 4
Conflict Resolution Techniques

2. What is conflict?
Characteristics of conflict
•Conflict occurs when people disagree on
something
•Conflict is inevitable when people work in
groups
•Conflict can result in advances, or set the
team back
Learn how to manage conflicts!!

3. Team conflicts
Managing team conflicts
can be hard due to the
following:
1. The sheer number of people
2. Lack of ground rules
3. Personal bias
4. Poor communication
5. Digressions

4. Conflict Resolution Styles
There are 5 primary styles of
conflict resolution:
1. The Turtle: Avoidance
2. The Teddy Bear: Accomdating
3. The Shark: Competition
4. The Fox: Compromise
5. The Owl: Collaboration

5. Characteristics:
•Manages conflicts by avoiding it. The turtle
•In times of stress, a turtle withdraws
from it, or retreats.
•Believes that it is impossible to resolve
a conflict
Advantages:
•It is better to let trivial matters slide
than magnify it Disdvantages:
•When resolution achieves little •Inability to achieve self –
satisfaction
•When others can resolve the conflict •Conflicts remains unresolved
better than you can •Sense of helplessness

6. The Teddy Bear
Characteristics:
•Values the interpersonal relationship
more than the issue at hand
•Wants to be well liked by others
Disdvantages:
•May not be the style to achieve
Advantages: the best results
•Minimal loss of social credits
•Very difficult to achieve
•Lesser loss of time when faced with personal goals
time constraints
•Might result in unsatisfactory
•More well received by other people working relationships

7. The Shark
Advantages:
Characteristics:
•Best used in situations where
•Strong wish to achieve personal goals
unpopular but critical
decisions have to be made
•Values goals more than personal
relationships
•Cuts down on time losses,
thus ideal in situations when
•Tends to be highly aggressive
faced with time constraints
Disdvantages:
•Builds resentment
•Others members might feel
undervalued
•Loss of social credits

8. Characteristics:
•Meets the other party halfway to end
in a win some, lose some situation The Fox
Advantages:
•Goals and social relationships are
•Both parties attain strategic
equally important
goals while forgoing the less
important ones
•Time consuming style
•Willingness to give up on less Disdvantages:
important points
•Often is a time-consuming
process to achieve a decision
whereby both parties can meet
half-way
•Loss of lesser concerns might
build some resentment.

9. Characteristics: The Owl
•Believes that collaboration is the best
way to achieve goals, together
•Solutions are agreeable to all
•All perspectives and grounds are
covered
Advantages: Disadvantages:
•Little or no build up of •Extremely time consuming
resentment style
•Very comprehensive •Almost impossible when faced
solutions can be arrived at with a time constraint
•True learning can be
achieved through sharing

10. Avoid committing these!

11. Contempt
Symptoms:
•Verbal attacks on a person aimed to
devalue self worth
•Sarcasm
•Facial expressions such as eye rolling
Solutions:
•Do not make snap judgments about a person’s character; Address the
behavior instead.
•Think positive! Most often, if you think a person is bad, you will
perceive his actions negatively.

12. Symptoms:
Unhealthy Criticism
•Unconstructive statements such as “You
ever think about others!”
•Statements designed to make another
person feel bad without offering
resolution
Solutions:
…not all criticisms are bad. Only unhealthy
•Deliver statements with tact ones are
•Used I statements rather than You statements. (Eg. I feel ignored when
you do that)
•Never deliver criticisms in public
•Be constructive! After-all, you’re trying to help your team mates become
better

13. Defensiveness
Symptoms:
•A tendency believing that he/she is a
victim , and making excuses for own
behavior
•A reluctance to accept blame and
responds to criticisms negatively
Solutions:
•Take it easy! Try to understand from the other party’s perspective, and
respond accordingly.
•Understand that the other person is trying to help, and make an effort
to reach and understanding with each other.
•Recognize that the project is as equally important to your team as it is
to you, and that he/she has a right to partake in the decision making

14. Symptoms: Stonewalling
•A behavior whereby the person
retreats/becomes absent from the
conversation
•Actions such as breaking eye contact, not
responding verbally or even physically leaving
Solutions:
•Most people stonewall when they are
emotionally overwhelmed. Take a break to let
the negativity tide over.
•Re-approach the issue again differently with
more tact. As you do not expect different results
using the same method.

15. In conclusion
•Establish:
•Ground rules of engagement
with each other and to the
project
•Realistic expectations of each
other
•Practice:
•Respect for team members
•Good conversational techniques
•Good body language