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• Case Study of Conflict Management: To Resolve Disputes and Manage Conflicts, Assume a Neutral 3rd Party Role

Here is a case study of conflict management emphasizing the importance of hearing all sides in a dispute

By PON Staff — on May 13th, 2024 / Conflict Resolution

In their book Difficult Conversations: How to Discuss What Matters Most (Penguin Putnam, 2000), authors Douglas Stone , Bruce Patton , and Sheila Heen tell us how to engage in the conversations in our professional or personal lives that make us uncomfortable by examining a case study of conflict management. Tough, honest conversations are critical for managers, whether they need to change the group culture, manage conflict within a team, give a negative performance evaluation, disagree with others in a group, or offer an apology.

To set the stage for a productive discussion, open a difficult conversation with the “Third Story,” advise the authors of Difficult Conversations . The Third Story is one an impartial observer, such as a mediator, would tell; it’s a version of events both sides can agree on. “The key is learning to describe the gap—or difference—between your story and the other person’s story. Whatever else you may think and feel, you can at least agree that you and the other person see things differently,” Stone, Patton, and Heen write.

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Suppose two regional sales reps share responsibility for sending weekly updates to their manager. Brad always submits them on time, but Frank often turns them in late. Saying, “Frank, you’ve turned in the sales reports late again” would only put Frank on the defensive. Instead, Brad opens the conversation this way: “Frank, you and I place a different value on deadlines. I want to explain why meeting them is important to me, and then I’d like to hear your take on them.”

Brad learns that Frank, when faced with the choice of possibly making a sale or compiling the report, thinks he should focus on the sale. With this insight, Brad proposes another way to share responsibilities: Brad will complete the report when it’s Frank’s turn to do so, as long as Frank gives Brad two hours’ notice and a share in any commission Frank earns as a result of being able to continue pursuing a lead.

What are your favorite conflict management methods?

Related Conflict Resolution Article: Conflict Management Skills When Dealing with an Angry Public – Here is some negotiation advice drawn from a case study of conflict management dealing with an angry public.

Adapted from “How to Say What Matters Most,” by Susan Hackley (former managing director, Program on Negotiation), first published in the  Negotiation  newsletter.

Originally published in 2010.

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Appendix A: Case Studies

List of case studies, case study 1: handling roommate conflicts, case study 2: salary negotiation at college corp, case study 3: oecollaboration, case study 4: the ohio connection, case study 5: uber pays the price, case study 6: diverse teams hold court.

Chapter Reference: Section 2.2 Approaches to Conflict

Whether you have a roommate by choice, by necessity, or through the random selection process of your school’s housing office, it’s important to be able to get along with the person who shares your living space. While having a roommate offers many benefits such as making a new friend, having someone to experience a new situation like college life with, and having someone to split the cost on your own with, there are also challenges. Some common roommate conflicts involve neatness, noise, having guests, sharing possessions, value conflicts, money conflicts, and personality conflicts (Ball State University, 2001). Read the following scenarios and answer the following questions for each one:

• Which conflict management style, from the five discussed, would you use in this situation?
• What are the potential strengths of using this style?
• What are the potential weaknesses of using this style?

Scenario 1: Neatness. Your college dorm has bunk beds, and your roommate takes a lot of time making their bed (the bottom bunk) each morning. They have told you that they don’t want anyone sitting on or sleeping in the bed when they are not in the room. While your roommate is away for the weekend, your friend comes to visit and sits on the bottom bunk bed. You tell your friend what your roommate said, and you try to fix the bed back before your roommate returns to the dorm. When they return, your roommate notices that the bed has been disturbed and confronts you about it.

Scenario 2: Noise and having guests. Your roommate has a job waiting tables and gets home around midnight on Thursday nights. They often brings a couple friends from work home with them. They watch television, listen to music, or play video games and talk and laugh. You have an 8 a.m. class on Friday mornings and are usually asleep when they returns. Last Friday, you talked to your roommate and asked them to keep it down in the future. Tonight, their noise has woken you up and you can’t get back to sleep.

Scenario 3: Sharing possessions. When you go out to eat, you often bring back leftovers to have for lunch the next day during your short break between classes. You didn’t have time to eat breakfast, and you’re really excited about having your leftover pizza for lunch until you get home and see your roommate sitting on the couch eating the last slice.

Scenario 4: Money conflicts. Your roommate got mono and missed two weeks of work last month. Since they have a steady job and you have some savings, you cover their portion of the rent and agree that they will pay your portion next month. The next month comes around and your roommate informs you that they only have enough to pay their half of the rent.

Scenario 5: Value and personality conflicts. You like to go out to clubs and parties and have friends over, but your roommate is much more of an introvert. You’ve tried to get them to come out with you or join the party at your place, but they’d rather study. One day your roommate tells you that they want to break the lease so they can move out early to live with one of their friends. You both signed the lease, so you have to agree or they can’t do it. If you break the lease, you automatically lose your portion of the security deposit

Works Adapted

“ Conflict and Interpersonal Communication ” in Communication in the Real World  by University of Minnesota is licensed under a  Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License , except where otherwise noted.

Ball State University. (2001). Roommate conflicts. accessed June 16, 2001, from  http://cms.bsu.edu/CampusLife/CounselingCenter/VirtualSelfHelpLibrary/RoommateIssues.asx.

Chapter Reference:  Section 2.4 Negotiation

Janine just graduated college, she’s ready to head out on her own and get that first job, and she’s through her first interviews. She receives an offer of a $28,000 salary, including benefits from COLLEGE CORP, from an entry-level marketing position that seems like a perfect fit. She is thrown off by the salary they are offering and knows that it is lower than what she was hoping for. Instead of panicking, she takes the advice of her mentor and does a little research to know what the market range for the salary is for her area. She feels better after doing this, knowing that she was correct and the offer is low compared to the market rate. After understanding more about the offer and the rates, she goes back to the HR representative and asks for her preferred rate of $32,500, knowing the minimum that she would accept is $30,000. Instead of going in for her lowest amount, she started higher to be open to negotiations with the company. She also sent a note regarding her expertise that warranted why she asked for that salary. To her happy surprise, the company counter offered at $31,000—and she accepted.

• What key points of Janice’s negotiation led to her success?
• What could have Janice done better to get a better outcome for her salary?

“ Conflict and Negotiations ” in Organizational Behaviour by OpenStax is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License .

“Good & Bad Salary Negotiations,”  Salary.com , April 19, 2018, https://www.salary.com/articles/good-bad-examples-of-salary-negotiations .

Herner, M. (n.d). 5 things HR wishes you knew about salary negotiation. Payscale.com, accessed October 21, 2018, https://www.payscale.com/salary-negotiation-guide/salary-negotiation-tips-from-hr .

Chapter Reference:  Section 3.2 Creating, Maintaining, and Changing Culture

At OECollaboration, a technology company that develops virtual collaboration software for new companies, Mike Jones is a new manager. One of the biggest challenges he has faced is that the team that he is managing is well established and because he is an outsider, the team members haven’t yet developed trust in him.

Two weeks into his new employment, Mike held a meeting and discussed all of the changes to the remote work agreements as well as implementing new meeting requirements for each employee to have a biweekly meeting scheduled with him to discuss their projects. The team was outraged, they were not excited, and the following days he wasn’t greeted in a friendly way; in addition, his team seemed less engaged when asked to participate in team functions.

Tracy James is also a new manager at OECollaboration who started at the same time as Mike, in a similar situation where she is a new manager of an existing team. Tracy was able to hold a meeting the first day on the job to listen to her team and get to know them. During this meeting she also told the team about herself and her past experiences. Additionally, she held one-on-one meetings to listen to each of her team members to discuss what they were working on and their career goals. After observation and discussion with upper management, she aligned her own team goals closely with the skills and experiences of her new team. She met with the whole team to make changes to a few policies, explaining why they were being changed, and set the strategy for the team moving forward.

Because she got her team involved and learned about them before implementing her new strategy, this was well received. Her team still had questions and concerns, but they felt like they could trust her and that they were included in the changes that were being made.

• What challenges can a new manager encounter when starting to manage an existing team?
• What strategies can a new manager implement to ensure that their new team is engaged with them and open to change and growth?

Adapted Works

“ Organizational Power and Politics ” in Organizational Behaviour by OpenStax is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License .

Giang, V. (2013, July 31). The 7 types of power that shape the workplace. Business Insider. https://www.businessinsider.com/the-7-types-of-power-that-shape-the-workplace-2013-7

Morin, A. (2018, June 25). How to prevent a workplace bully from taking your power. Inc. https://www.inc.com/amy-morin/how-to-prevent-a-workplace-bully-from-taking-your-power.html

Weinstein,  B. (n.d.). 10 tips for dealing with a bully boss,” CIO , accessed October 13, 2018, https://www.cio.com.au/article/198499/10_tips_dealing_bully_boss/.

Chapter Reference:  Section 4.1 Power

Janey worked as an executive assistant to a product manager at her company: Ohio Connection. Overall, she loved her job; she was happy to work with a company that provided great benefits, and she and found enjoyment in her day-to-day work. She had the same product manager boss for years, but last year, her manager left Ohio Connection and retired. Recently her new manager has been treating her unfairly and showcasing bullying behavior.

Yesterday, Janey came into work, and her boss decided to use their power as her manager and her “superior” to demand that she stay late to cover for him, correct reports that he had made mistakes on, and would not pay her overtime. She was going to be late to pick up her son from soccer practice if she stayed late; she told him this, and he was not happy.

Over subsequent days, her boss consistently would make comments about her performance, even though she had always had good remarks on reviews, and created a very negative work environment. The next time she was asked to stay late, she complied for fear of losing her job or having other negative impacts on her job. Janey’s situation was not ideal, but she didn’t feel she had a choice.

• What type of power did Janey’s boss employ to get her to do the things that he wanted her to do?
• What negative consequences are apparent in this situation and other situations where power is not balanced in the workplace?
• What steps should Janey take do to counteract the power struggle that is occurring with her new manager?

Chapter Reference:   Section 5.1 Interpersonal Relationships at Work

Uber revolutionized the taxi industry and the way people commute. With the simple mission “to bring transportation—for everyone, everywhere,” today Uber has reached a valuation of around $70 billion and claimed a market share high of almost 90% in 2015. However, in June 2017 Uber experienced a series of bad press regarding an alleged culture of sexual harassment, which is what most experts believe caused their market share to fall to 75%.

In February of 2017 a former software engineer, Susan Fowler, wrote a lengthy post on her website regarding her experience of being harassed by a manager who was not disciplined by human resources for his behavior. In her post, Fowler wrote that Uber’s HR department and members of upper management told her that because it was the man’s first offense, they would only give him a warning. During her meeting with HR about the incident, Fowler was also advised that she should transfer to another department within the organization. According to Fowler, she was ultimately left no choice but to transfer to another department, despite having specific expertise in the department in which she had originally been working.

As her time at the company went on, she began meeting other women who worked for the company who relayed their own stories of harassment. To her surprise, many of the women reported being harassed by the same person who had harassed her. As she noted in her blog, “It became obvious that both HR and management had been lying about this being his ‘first offense.’” Fowler also reported a number of other instances that she identified as sexist and inappropriate within the organization and claims that she was disciplined severely for continuing to speak out. Fowler eventually left Uber after about two years of working for the company, noting that during her time at Uber the percentage of women working there had dropped to 6% of the workforce, down from 25% when she first started.

Following the fallout from Fowler’s lengthy description of the workplace on her website, Uber’s chief executive Travis Kalanick publicly condemned the behavior described by Fowler, calling it “abhorrent and against everything Uber stands for and believes in.” But later in March, Uber board member Arianna Huffington claimed that she believed “sexual harassment was not a systemic problem at the company.” Amid pressure from bad media attention and the company’s falling market share, Uber made some changes after an independent investigation resulted in 215 complaints. As a result, 20 employees were fired for reasons ranging from sexual harassment to bullying to retaliation to discrimination, and Kalanick announced that he would hire a chief operating officer to help manage the company. In an effort to provide the leadership team with more diversity, two senior female executives were hired to fill the positions of chief brand officer and senior vice president for leadership and strategy.

Critical Thinking Questions

• Based on Cox’s business case for diversity, what are some positive outcomes that may result in changes to Uber’s leadership team?
• If the case had occurred in Canada, what forms of legislation would have protected Fowler?
• What strategies should have been put in place to help prevent sexual harassment incidents like this from happening in the first place?

“ Diversity in Organizations ” in Organizational Behaviour by OpenStax is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License .

Della Cava, M. (2017, June 13). Uber has lost market share to Lyft during crisis. USA Today. https://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/news/2017/06/13/uber-market-share-customer-image-hit-string-scandals/102795024/

Fowler, T. (2017, February 19). Reflecting on one very, very strange year at Uber. https://www.susanjfowler.com/blog/2017/2/19/reflecting-on-one-very-strange-year-at-uber.

Lien,  T. (2017, June 6). Uber fires 20 workers after harassment investigation. Los Angeles Times.  http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-tn-uber-sexual-harassment-20170606-story.html

Uber (2017, February). Company info. https://www.uber.com/newsroom/company-info/

Chapter Reference:  Section 5.3 Collaboration, Decision-Making and Problem Solving in Groups

Diverse teams have been proven to be better at problem-solving and decision-making for a number of reasons. First, they bring many different perspectives to the table. Second, they rely more on facts and use those facts to substantiate their positions. What is even more interesting is that, according to the Scientific American article “How Diversity Makes Us Smarter,” simply “being around people who are different from us makes more creative, diligent, and harder-working.”

One case in point is the example of jury decision-making, where fact-finding and logical decision-making are of utmost importance. A 2006 study of jury decision-making, led by social psychologist Samuel Sommers of Tufts University, showed that racially diverse groups exchanged a wider range of information during deliberation of a case than all-White groups did. The researcher also conducted mock jury trials with a group of real jurors to show the impact of diversity on jury decision-making.

Interestingly enough, it was the mere presence of diversity on the jury that made jurors consider the facts more, and they had fewer errors recalling the relevant information. The groups even became more willing to discuss the role of race case, when they hadn’t before with an all-White jury. This wasn’t the case because the diverse jury members brought new information to the group—it happened because, according to the author, the mere presence of diversity made people more open-minded and diligent. Given what we discussed on the benefits of diversity, it makes sense. People are more likely to be prepared, to be diligent, and to think logically about something if they know that they will be pushed or tested on it. And who else would push you or test you on something, if not someone who is different from you in perspective, experience, or thinking. “Diversity jolts us into cognitive action in ways that homogeneity simply does not.”

So, the next time you are called for jury duty, or to serve on a board committee, or to make an important decision as part of a team, remember that one way to generate a great discussion and come up with a strong solution is to pull together a diverse team.

• If you don’t have a diverse group of people on your team, how can you ensure that you will have robust discussions and decision-making? What techniques can you use to generate conversations from different perspectives?
• Evaluate your own team at work. Is it a diverse team? How would you rate the quality of decisions generated from that group?

Sources: Adapted from Katherine W. Phillips, “How Diversity Makes Us Smarter,” Scientific American, October 2014, p. 7–8.

“ Critical Thinking Case ” in  Organizational Behaviour by OpenStax is licenced under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License .

Conflict Management Copyright © 2022 by Laura Westmaas, BA, MSc is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License , except where otherwise noted.

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Case Study #7: Empowered Process---Skilled Leadership: Diffusion, Party Capacity & Speaking Truth to Power

• Erbe, Nancy

This is the seventh case study in the series Holding These Truths: Empowerment and Recognition in Action. This series presents case studies for a future conflict resolution textbook. It has been successfully piloted with several international classes. Those, who benefit most, stress the importance of carefully studying the introduction. (See Introduction to Conflict Case Studies, Nancy D. Erbe). Because the case study format is intentionally unique, written in an interactive and non-linear workbook style, unlike many introductions, the information provided there is required for understanding the case studies. Readers are encouraged to send comments and critiques directly to the author. Because of the deliberate one-of-a-kind format of the text, detailed page-by-page comments and questions are welcome. A list of the entire series is included below.

Introduction to Conflict Case Studies

Case Study #1: Neutral Fact-Finding and Empowerment Within Conflicted Systems

Case Study #2: Intrapersonal Approaches to Conflict: Cognitive and Perceptual Biases

Case Study #3: Negative Intergroup Influence

Case Study #4: Empathy: Effective Response with Escalating Aggression

Case Study #5: Assessing Covert Bad Faith and Power Abuse

Case Study #6: Cultural Competence: Ethical and Empowered Response With Discrimination

Case Study #7: Empowered Process---Skilled Leadership: Diffusion, Party Capacity and Speaking Truth to Power

Case Series #8: Empowered Process: Multicultural Collaboration

Case Study #2: Intrapersonal Approaches to Conflict: Cognitive & Perceptual Biases

This is the second case study in the series Holding These Truths: Empowerment and Recognition in Action. This series presents case studies for a future conflict resolution textbook. It has been successfully piloted with several international classes. Those, who benefit most, stress the importance of carefully studying the introduction. (See Introduction to Conflict Case Studies, Nancy D. Erbe). Because the case study format is intentionally unique, written in an interactive and non-linear workbook style, unlike many introductions, the information provided there is required for understanding the case studies. Readers are encouraged to send comments and critiques directly to the author. Because of the deliberate one-of-a-kind format of the text, detailed page-by-page comments and questions are welcome. A list of the entire series is included below.

This is the first case study in the series Holding These Truths: Empowerment and Recognition in Action. This series presents case studies for a future conflict resolution textbook. It has been successfully piloted with several international classes. Those, who benefit most, stress the importance of carefully studying the introduction. (See Introduction to Conflict Case Studies, Nancy D. Erbe). Because the case study format is intentionally unique, written in an interactive and non-linear workbook style, unlike many introductions, the information provided there is required for understanding the case studies. Readers are encouraged to send comments and critiques directly to the author. Because of the deliberate one-of-a-kind format of the text, detailed page-by-page comments and questions are welcome. A list of the entire series is included below.

This series, Holding These Truths: Empowerment and Recognition in Action, presents case studies for a future conflict resolution textbook. It has been successfully piloted with several international classes. Those, who benefit most, stress the importance of carefully studying this introduction. Because the case study format is intentionally unique, written in an interactive and non-linear workbook style, unlike many introductions, the information provided here is required for understanding the case studies. Readers are encouraged to send comments and critiques directly to the author. Because of the deliberate one-of-a-kind format of the text, detailed page-by-page comments and questions are welcome. A list of the entire series is included below.

This is the sixth case study in the series Holding These Truths: Empowerment and Recognition in Action. This series presents case studies for a future conflict resolution textbook. It has been successfully piloted with several international classes. Those, who benefit most, stress the importance of carefully studying the introduction. (See Introduction to Conflict Case Studies, Nancy D. Erbe). Because the case study format is intentionally unique, written in an interactive and non-linear workbook style, unlike many introductions, the information provided there is required for understanding the case studies. Readers are encouraged to send comments and critiques directly to the author. Because of the deliberate one-of-a-kind format of the text, detailed page-by-page comments and questions are welcome. A list of the entire series is included below.

This is the third case study in the series Holding These Truths: Empowerment and Recognition in Action. This series presents case studies for a future conflict resolution textbook. It has been successfully piloted with several international classes. Those, who benefit most, stress the importance of carefully studying the introduction. (See Introduction to Conflict Case Studies, Nancy D. Erbe). Because the case study format is intentionally unique, written in an interactive and non-linear workbook style, unlike many introductions, the information provided there is required for understanding the case studies. Readers are encouraged to send comments and critiques directly to the author. Because of the deliberate one-of-a-kind format of the text, detailed page-by-page comments and questions are welcome. A list of the entire series is included below.

This is the fourth case study in the series Holding These Truths: Empowerment and Recognition in Action. This series presents case studies for a future conflict resolution textbook. It has been successfully piloted with several international classes. Those, who benefit most, stress the importance of carefully studying the introduction. (See Introduction to Conflict Case Studies, Nancy D. Erbe). Because the case study format is intentionally unique, written in an interactive and non-linear workbook style, unlike many introductions, the information provided there is required for understanding the case studies. Readers are encouraged to send comments and critiques directly to the author. Because of the deliberate one-of-a-kind format of the text, detailed page-by-page comments and questions are welcome. A list of the entire series is included below.

Case Study #5: Assessing Covert Bad Faith & Power Abuse

This is the fifth case study in the series Holding These Truths: Empowerment and Recognition in Action. This series presents case studies for a future conflict resolution textbook. It has been successfully piloted with several international classes. Those, who benefit most, stress the importance of carefully studying the introduction. (See Introduction to Conflict Case Studies, Nancy D. Erbe). Because the case study format is intentionally unique, written in an interactive and non-linear workbook style, unlike many introductions, the information provided there is required for understanding the case studies. Readers are encouraged to send comments and critiques directly to the author. Because of the deliberate one-of-a-kind format of the text, detailed page-by-page comments and questions are welcome. A list of the entire series is included below.

Case Study #8: Empowered Process: Multicultural Collaboration

This is the eighth case study in the series Holding These Truths: Empowerment and Recognition in Action. This series presents case studies for a future conflict resolution textbook. It has been successfully piloted with several international classes. Those, who benefit most, stress the importance of carefully studying the introduction. (See Introduction to Conflict Case Studies, Nancy D. Erbe). Because the case study format is intentionally unique, written in an interactive and non-linear workbook style, unlike many introductions, the information provided there is required for understanding the case studies. Readers are encouraged to send comments and critiques directly to the author. Because of the deliberate one-of-a-kind format of the text, detailed page-by-page comments and questions are welcome. A list of the entire series is included below.

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Beyond Intractability

The Hyper-Polarization Challenge to the Conflict Resolution Field: A Joint BI/CRQ Discussion BI and the Conflict Resolution Quarterly invite you to participate in an online exploration of what those with conflict and peacebuilding expertise can do to help defend liberal democracies and encourage them live up to their ideals.

Follow BI and the Hyper-Polarization Discussion on BI's New Substack Newsletter .

Hyper-Polarization, COVID, Racism, and the Constructive Conflict Initiative Read about (and contribute to) the  Constructive Conflict Initiative  and its associated Blog —our effort to assemble what we collectively know about how to move beyond our hyperpolarized politics and start solving society's problems. 

Case Studies

  Africa : Ghana |  Kenya  |  Nigeria  |  Rwanda  |  Ethiopia, Eritrea, Somalia  |  South Africa  |  Sudan/South Sudan/Darfur  |  Uganda  |  Zimbabwe   Asia:   East Asia  |  South Asia : Afghanistan  |  Central Asia   Europe | Latin America | Middle East | North America | Other

Building Sustainable Peace, a Nationwide Consensus Effort: Practical Reconciliation and Peacebuilding in Ghana  - This case study applies Lederach's notion of "The Meeting Place" and Ricigliano's SAT model of peacebuilding to examine the reconciliation and peacebuilding work in Ghana, concluding that, while much is left to be done, Ghana has made great progress in reconciliation after numerous coups destabilized the country.

The Democratic Republic of the Congo: A Case Study of War and Failed Peace  - An analysis of the myriad DRC peace agreements, focusing on their successes and why they all, ultimately, have failed to establish the long-sought peace.  While the complexity of the DRC makes peacemaking particularly difficult, if past successes are built upon, DRC could still achieve its long-sought peace.

• ​ A Case Study of Post-Civil War Peace Building Efforts in Liberia  - This case study reviews the history of Liberia, the 1989-1997 civil war, and the multi-layered attempts to build peace and reconcile after that event.  Koziol observes that some aspects of the peacebuilding process were quite successful, while other aspects are still far from complete. Yet, her analysis gives readers much to learn both about peacebuilding in Liberia, and implications for such efforts more broadly.
• Examining Gender Inequality in the Post-Conflict Peacebuilding Efforts of Sierra Leone  - This case study illustrates how the steps taken in post-war Sierra Leone to improve issues of gender inequality as part of a larger global peacebuilding agenda, failed to address ingrained patriarchal practices in the social, political, and cultural traditions outlined in the nation’s Constitution. Despite the enactment of several reformative bills and policies on both national and international levels, true change could not be achieved as these new policies conflicted with the outdated provisions of Sierra Leone’s Constitution. In order to overcome these problems, the outdated Constitution must be revised, and the peacebuilding groups formed by women must be given the opportunity to partner on a grassroots level with both the Government of Sierra Leone and NGOs who listen to them first, leaving personal and donors’ agendas aside.
• Capacity Building and Governance in Africa: Using Tools and Concepts from Strategic Peacebuilding to Address Long-Standing Challenges After several decades of unsuccessful development efforts in Africa, the international development community has reached consensus that good governance is a “critical prerequisite for sustaining development.” Good governance is in turn seen as contingent upon “environments of developed human and institutional capacities,” which has led to a proliferation of capacity building programs.
• Challenges of Regional Peacebuilding: A Case of the Great Lakes Region For the past twenty years, the Great Lakes region [of Africa] has been engulfed in a series of interrelated conflicts. In response, peacebuilding activities have taken a regional approach. Regional peace conferences, with the support of UN Special Representatives, diplomatic missions (by the UN, European Union [EU], major international development organizations, and donor agencies), and UN peacekeeping missions have been widely carried out in the region. This approach, although successful in some instances, is problematic. This essay argues for a comprehensive peacebuilding approach that synthesizes both peacebuilding policies and grass roots initiatives.
• Child Trafficking in Benin, West Africa This article focuses on the problem of child trafficking as it is practiced in Benin and western Africa more broadly. Although it is a problem in many parts of the world, it has reached epidemic proportions in Benin and the surrounding African countries.
• The Role of Civil Society in International Law: The Relationship Between Civil Society Organizations and the International Criminal Court in the Central African Republic This article looks at civil society's role in the activities of the International Criminal Court in the Central African Republic. Unlike the hostility of civil society in other African countries, the response in the CAR was more positive. This article examines why this might be so, and what can be done to enhance the work of civil society and the ICC throughout Africa and the wider world towards both justice and peace.
• Global Justice! The 2010 ICC Review Conference and the Future of International Justice in Africa This article describes the work of the International Criminal Court (ICC) to date and looks at the issues that will need to be considered at the May 2010 ICC review conference in Kampala Uganda if the ICC is going to become a successful provider of real justice for all, not just for some. This is co-listed as a case study and a personal reflection, as it has considerable factual material on the ICC, as well as the author's personal reflections on what needs to be done to make it better.
• Kenya: The case of Internally Displaced People following the 2007 Post Election Violence  - This essay outlines the issue of IDPs as a result of the 2007 general elections in which armed conflict claimed the lives of 1,500 people. The author focuses squarely on government action or inaction, and gives recommendations for ways in which the government  can work to reduce tension among the various communities.
• The Power of Theatre in Transforming Conflicts at Kakuma Refugee Camp The author discusses the transformative potential of stage drama and artistic dance, as exemplified by a project organized by the Amani Peoples Theatre (APT) at the Kakuma Refugee Camp in Northern Kenya.
• Rebuilding Relationships Through Good Neighborliness Seminars in the Rift Valley, Kenya  - This article, written by one of the peacebuilders in this effort, examines the National Council of Churches of Kenya (NCCK) effort to build peace and reconcilation following the 1992 violence in the Rift Valley and Western Kenya through a series of interventions.
• ​ Ethnic Conflict Management in Africa: A Comparative Case Study of Nigeria and South Africa This case study examines theoretical explanations about the causes of ethnic conflict and then does a comparison of such conflict and its resolution (or not) in South Africa and Nigeria. The author examines the factors that appear to have made conflict resolution efforts in South Africa more successful than those in Nigeria.
• Post-Genocide Rwanda: A Unique Case of Political and Psycho-Social Peacebuilding An examination of the aftermath of the Rwandan genocide looking at the post-genocide peacebuilding  and the resulting political and psychosocial changes.
• Comparison of Dialogue Practices -- An examination of dialogue practices in Rwanda and Uganda, in the wake of their mass violence, introducing the novel strategy of Photovoice.
• The Rwandan Genocide This is the first of a series of articles that Kimberly Fornace wrote when she was taking a Peace and Conflict Studies class based on Beyond Intractability. Living in Rwanda at the time, and being extremely perceptive, her papers were of such high quality we asked her if we could publish them here. This is the first overview of the conflict parties and issues. More papers on other aspects of the conflict and long-term prospects are forthcoming as soon as we can get them uploaded.
• Rwanda's Hidden Divisions: From the Ethnicity of Habyarimana to the Politics of Kagame  - Written in 2011, this article argues that seventeen years after the genocide, with a charismatic leader and impressive economic gains, the assumption that the country is without conflict is gravely misleading. Championed by Western nations, the false image of Rwanda as a beacon of freedom may ultimately do more harm than good, as many aspects of the current situation are "strikingly similar to that of "pre-genocide times." 

Horn of Africa: Ethiopia, Eritrea, Somalia

• A Peacebuilding Case Study: Responding to Somali Piracy This article examines the underlying causes of the piracy epidemic in and around Somalia and proposes a set of nonviolent, peacebuilding-oriented responses to try to stem the tide instead of the largely unsuccessful military responses that have been tried so far.
• Bottom-Up Approach: A Viable Strategy in Solving the Somali Conflict This paper discusses the difficulties that have hampered the peace process in Somalia, and argues that a "bottom-up" peacebuilding effort -- built around the initiative of grassroots actors -- might be a more effective solution.
• Drought, Famine, and Conflict: A Case from the Horn of Africa This case study examines the interplay betweeen drought, famine, and conflict; the author argues that each exacerbates the others, making all three especially difficult to solve. Kenya, Somalia, Ethiopia, and Sudan are examined as examples.
• The Ethiopia-Eritrea Peace Process: Teetering on the Brink  This essay explains the background of the conflict between Ethiopia and Eritrea and examines the peace process that has been going on for the last six years.

South Africa

• History Education and Reform in Post-Apartheid South Africa  - Although the TRC began a healing process in South Africa, Desmond Tutu and many others believe that a further examination of that nation's history is key to reconciliation. This paper examines the need for and challenges of history education as a means of rememberance of the past since the end of apartheid in South Africa and makes recommendations for improvement.
• Reconciliation through Restorative Justice: Analyzing South Africa's Truth and Reconciliation Process  - This is a case study of the South African TRC.  It examines how the TRC came to be, how it worked, and assesses its strengths, weaknesses, and the lessons that can be drawn from it.  
• Sport: A Tool for Bridging Racial Divides in Present Day South Africa The Case Study of 2010 FIFA World Cup  - Under apartheid, sport in South Africa was segregated by race, which not only contributed to the blacks' oppression, but also resulted in the emergence of a powerful opposition and resistance tool, as South Africa was routinely expluded from major international sport competitions.  However, sport has emerged as a powerful tool for peacebuilding in post-apartheid South Africa.
• The Nature of Internal Boundary Disputes: A Case Study of Matatiele Provincial Boundary Demarcation Dispute, Province of the Eastern Cape, South Africa   This paper investigates the nature of internal boundary disputes using one such dispute in South Africa as an examine. The paper also looks into community conflicts that cause and are results of boundary disputes, particularly involving issues of access to resources and government services, identity, and culture. 

Sudan/South Sudan/Darfur

• Negotiating Peace for Darfur: An Overview of Failed Processes This essay evaluates the various attempts at peacemaking in Darfur, examining why they have failed and what will need to change if peace is to be achieved.
• Darfur: The Crisis Continues Darfur has sunk from the news, but not from its misery. While less violent than it had been, peace has not yet been achieved in Darfur. This Dec. 2012 article by Yousif, Brosche, and Rothbart explains why.
• Sudan and South Sudan: Post-Separation Challenges Authors Yousif and Rothbart analyze the current (Dec. 2012) relationship between the two countries. They survey the conflict over borders, the politics of oil, and the economic trade war that emerged following South Sudanese independence. Clearly, much work lies ahead before either country is stable and peaceful.
• The First National South Sudan Education Curriculum  - Even while it is still at war, South Sudan is trying to foster reconciliation though education as evidenced by its first national education curriculum.  Read here about how this is planned to work...and how it has worked so far.
• The Darfur Peace Process: Understanding the Obstacles to Success This article examines the history of efforts to find a peaceful resolution to the violent conflict in the Darfur region of the Sudan. The author points out ways in which attempts at peacemaking have been lacking, and makes suggestions for future endeavors.
• The Darfur Region of the Sudan The horror in Darfur was front-page news for months, yet the international community was unable (or unwilling) to stop the violence. Learn why the conflict in Darfur is so intractable.
• Peace Agreement is the Same Game for War and its Escalation in Sudan  - This article analyzes the Government of Sudan’s strategy of entering peace agreements with armed rebel groups in order to maintain political power, while at the same time orchestrating the continuance of conflict. 
• Peace Politics in Sudan  - This paper uses John Paul Lederach's notion of multiple lenses to examine the Darfur conflict from a variety of perspectives. 
• Religious Actors in Sudan  - This article examines post-referendum negotiations and peacebuilding efforts with respect to the role of religious actors. While the dominant liberal peace paradigm is skeptical about the relevance of religion in political affairs, this author argues that religious actors often traverse the division between the grassroots and elite political actors. Religious actors also live with ordinary people and have often provided them with services in the absence of government structures. For that reason, the author argues, they should have a major role in post-conflict peacebuilding efforts. 
• The Case of Disarmament in South Sudan  - This essay addresses the challenges of post–war disarmament looking specifically at programs initiated by the government of the Republic of South Sudan to disarm civilians, which, due to a variety of factors described in the essay, have not been successful.
• Community Peacebuilding and Performing Arts in Northern Uganda: Reflections from the Field In Uganda, the site of protracted violence for more than two decades, a variety of contemporary and indigenous forms of creative expression were created by local artists and shared widely among war-affected communities. Drawing from more than six years of experience in this field, and the musical and theatrical works of a variety of local artists, this essay provides three reflections on performing arts’ contribution to community-based peacebuilding in northern Uganda.
• An Interactive Media: Reflections on Mega FM and Its Peacebuilding Role in Uganda In stark contrast to the radio stations that escalated the Rwandan Genocide, Mega FM in Uganda is a strong voice for peace. This article describes their programming and how it has led to de-escalation and conflict transformation in one of the brutal rebellions in Africa.
• ​​ Gender, Violence, and Peacebuilding in Northern Uganda  - Without falling into the “women as victims” paradigm, this article details the complex issue of gender-based violence within IDP camps in northern Uganda. It goes on to suggest ways in which peacebuilding efforts could better promote a sustainable peace, both in Uganda, and worldwide.
• ​ Shadowy Renditions: Reflections on the Conflict in Northern Uganda Northern Uganda is often perceived to be a region under relentless siege by a brutal rebel militia. This perception is not inaccurate; however, the media's oversimplification of the conflict and dehumanization of the militia has increased -- not decreased -- the intractability of the situation.
• The Acholi Traditional Approach to Justice and the War in Northern Uganda This essay discusses the impact of the Northern Ugandan war on civilians and examines whether the traditional Acholi approach to forgiveness and reconciliation is beneficial in that extreme situation and how it relates to Western approaches to justice.
• The Power of Storytelling: Personal Reflections On  Ododo Wa , a Storytelling Project of War-affected Women in Northern Uganda
• The Role of the Acholi Religious Leaders Peace Initiative in Uganda's Peacebuilding Among the many NGOs working to resolve the conflict in northern Uganda, one group of diverse religious leaders is unique, and has effected significant change. This paper discusses the accomplishments of that group -- the Acholi Religious Leader Peace Initiative -- and also discusses the challenges that the group faces moving forward.
• ‘Forgiveness is our culture’: Amnesty and reconciliation in northern Uganda . This paper examines the assertion by religious and cultural leaders in northern Uganda that continued extension of amnesty to the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) rebels is part of their ‘culture’. Examining ‘everyday life’ in one of the Internally Displaced People’s (IDP) camps where amnesty is granted to former captives and soldiers of the LRA, the author considers the traditional coping mechanisms available to victims and the implications of forgiveness in a setting of fear.
• When Human Rights and Conflict Resolution Clash: Can Both Prevail Together?  This essay examines the difficulties inherent in pursuing justice and peace (or human rights and conflict resolution) goals simultaneously.  Both are necessary for lasting peace, yet they often are at odds with each other in terms of goals and actions.  These challenges are examined in the context of Bosnia and Uganda. 
• Substantiating the Claim: Establishing the Effectiveness of a Post-Conflict Directory  - This is the final article in Hook's four-part series on Directory-Oriented Peacebuilding in which she applies the idea to the aftermath of the Ugandan Civil War. The first three articles are not location specific, so they are in the "essay section" of BI.  However, they are also linked at the beginning of this case study.
• The Power and Risks of Conversation in Zimbabwe This case study describes one of the authors' peacebuilding work in Zimbabwe, where he found that facilitating conversations was a good way to stimulate conflict transformation. The essay also includes a broader examination of the power of conversation as a peacebuilding tool.
• Addressing Past Injustices in a Wounded Zimbabwe:  Gukurahundi  - Gukurahundi was the massacre of about 20,000 people in Zimbabwe, perpetrated by government forces against "dissidents" that took place in the 1980s.  The author of this case study contends that reconciliation has not yet occurred.  To attain such, he argues, peacebuilding based on truth-telling and acknowledgement must occur.
• Exploring the Role of Collective Memory for Reconciliation:  A Comparative Case of Guatemala and Cambodia  This paper explores how collective memory (the memories of a group generated through shared experience and values) can be used post-trauma for healing and reconciliation.
• Justice for Cambodia? Lessons from the Khmer Rouge Tribunals for the Future Direction of International Criminal Justice This article examines the Extraordinary Chambers of the Court of Cambodia (ECCC) -- the tribunal recently created to try Khmer Rouge leaders for the Cambodian "killing fields." It not only examines the potential effectiveness in the Cambodian
• Conflict Over Tibet: Core Causes and Possible Solutions This article describes the conflict between China and Tibet and recommends nonviolent ways in which this conflict might be transformed.
• context, but also the larger role of hybrid local/international tribunals in the context of the ICC and other war crimes tribunals.
• Unraveling the Mindanao Conflict through the Lens of John Paul Lederach’s Psalm 85 Framework  - Lederach's Psalm 85 framework looks at the intersection of truth, justice, peace, and mercy as four components of reconciliation.  This article examines the history and current (as of 2013) of the Mindanao conflict, and then considered how these four elements play a role in the ancestral domain argument made by separatists and the economic hardships in Mindanao.
• Spreading the Culture of Peace through Family Traditions and Family Values: The Case of Mongolia This case study is a fascinating exploration of basic Mongolian cultural values and their potential impact on Mongolia's ability to avoid ethnic tensions and war.
• Globalization  - With a focus on Sourth Korea and the WTO. 

Afghanistan:

• ​ Conflict Analysis: Afghanistan Since 2001  - The paper is based on the International Alert conflict assessment framework.The paper begins with analysis and a discussion of historical dynamics, actors, structures and international interventions, which are followed by discussion of the root causes. It will provide an overview of the current trends (circa 2015), impediments, and recommendations to address the conflict.
• Peacebuilding in Afghanistan  - This is another analysis of the conflict in Afghanistan and what peacebuilders must do to being to unravel this very complex and intractable conflict.
• Leadership and Strategic Peacebuilding in Afghanistan  - This paper will describe the need for Afghan leadership to redefine power as something to be shared (rather than a zero-sum game), and as useful for building peace.  The paper further defines a strategic leader as someone who has a vision and a systems-thinking approach to peacebuilding. The next paper is a follow-on to this one.
• Leading Peace with Information and Strategy in Afghanistan  - This paper reviews the situation in Afghanistan in 2015 and then calls on Afghan leaders to utilize information and strategy to learn about the needs of people. By developing evidence-based yet creative responses to the current crises, they can improve the current situation as well as the longer-term. 
• Women as Active Partners: Building Peace in Afghanistan This case study shows how Afghan women are playing a part in the construction of a just and fair society, despite the continued tenuousness of their official social and political status.
• Internal Displacement: Simplifying a Complex Social Phenomenon  - Focusing on Kashmir , this paper seeks to provide a systematic and a holistic understanding of the myriad issues that surround internally displaced persons and to explain the IDP phenomenon as an event that is not only triggered by conflicts in most situations, but as one that can potentially become a cause for conflicts in subsequent phases of displacement.
• Kashmir: The Clash of Identities The conflict in Kashmir is multi-faceted and deep-rooted. This paper explores the conflict in detail, and then suggests a series of incremental goals that might be pursued in order to resolve the conflict.
• Development, Democratization, Good Governance and Security: A Case Study of Burma / Myanmar Burma/ Myanmar has been changing very rapidly. This 2012 case study briefly examines Burma's history and the governance changes that have taken place over the last two years. Bergen then goes on to consider what challenges lie ahead and how these might best be met.
• The Potential for and Challenges of a Local Peace Committee (LPC): A Study of the District Level Peace Forum in Kavre, Nepal This article, written by the secretary (the administrative officer) of the Local Peace Committee in the Kavre District of Nepal, talks of the challenges and successes of those local peacebuilding structures. It also recommends additional steps that could be taken to make such local peacebuilding bodies more effective.
• Root Causes of Conflict in Baluchistan,  Pakistan  - The conflict in Baluchistan is protracted and extremely complex. This article examines the historical, political, and social factors that have caused this conflict to spiral out of control. 

Central Asia

Conflict Transformation and Strategic Peacebuilding in Central Asia This case study examines the importance of economic and social security in peacebuilding. By examining the post-Soviet societies of Central Asia (the "stans"), the author explores the hypothesis that peaceful transitions to democracy are more likely to be stable if the state economy is strong and the opportunities for personal security and well-being are high.

• Russia as a Divided Society: a Look at the North Caucuses  - Written by a Russian scholar, this essay examins the post-war situation in Chechnya and the Russian Federation. 

Peacebuilding in Tajikistan This essay discusses ways of building trust -- and through that -- peace in Tajikistan.

• A Civil Alternative: An Evaluation of the IOM KPC Program This article describes and evaluates the Kosovo Protection Corps (KPC), which was a defense organization designed to facilitate the demilitarization, demobilization, and reintegration of the Kosovo Liberation Army.
• Conflict in Ukraine from the European Point of View   - This paper presents the impact of the crisis in Ukraine on the European Union’s foreign and domestic policies, especially the underlying consequences for Central and Eastern Europe, from a strategic policy point of view. It then identifies missing points in the EU’s approach and give recommendations.
• A Case Study of the Minsk II Accords  - This paper uses the theories of realism and the spoiler problem to conclude that the lack of consideration given to Russian and American interests in the Minsk II Accords were largely responsible for their failure. 
• Culture Clash: Moroccan and Turkish Muslim Populations in the Netherlands  - This is a basic conflict assessment of the cultural conflict between Moroccan and Turkish immigrants in the Netherlands with local populations.
• The Franco-German Relationship: From Animosity to Affinity  -- An examination of how France and Germany transformed their relationship from long-term enemies to strong allies--a story of successful reconciliation unlike most others.
• Kurds in Turkey: Building Reconciliation and Local Administrations This paper recounts the history of the conflict between the Turkish government and the Kurdish community living in Turkey, and proposes specific strategies that could be taken by both groups in order to resolve it.
• La France aux Français (France to the French, National Front discourse from the 1980s)  - This case illustrates the ongoing identity conflict, struggle and tension that exist in contemporary France, a deeply divided society. The divisive split along the lines of French national identity and that of the ethnically and religiously different Muslim community, in particular those of North African origin, is examined as of early 2011.
• Reconciliation in Bosnia Almost everyone living in Bosnia has deep emotional scars from the war. Despite their suffering, perpetrators and victims have to learn to work together to rebuild their country.
• Reconciliation in Bosnia and Herzegovina  - This second case study, written in 2017, is not as optimistic as the first--it argues that ethnic groups remain estranged and largely unwilling to work together to pursue stable peace.
• Reconciliation in the Ukraine-Russia Conflict  - This case study examines the Holodomor (the Russian genocide of Ukrainians in the 1930s and examines the impact of that event and responses to it through the years since, including the present Russia-Ukraine conflict.
• The Question of Cultural Genocide and Racism: Personal Reflections on the Case of Northern Cyprus In addition to the tensions between Greeks and Turks on Cyprus, Ulas also explains that there is significant tension between Turks and Turkish Cypriots. In this piece, Ulas suggests that Turks are slowly destroying the Turkish Cypriot culture in an act that he suggests could be considered "cultural genocide".
• Northern Ireland: A Deeply Divided Society Conflict Assessment and Recommendations for Conflict Regulation and Transformation  - This paper assesses the conflict in Northern Ireland, examines the peace negotiations and the resulting power-sharing system and makes recommendations for the continuance of a stable peace with an ultimate goal of reconciliation.
• Roma Marginality in the European Union: An Examination of Divisions in European Society  - The Roma, with an estimated population of between ten and twelve million, are Europe’s largest and most marginalized ethnic population. They have faced hundreds of years of racism, persecution, and discrimination in all facets of life. This paper examines the reasons for the division between Roma and non-Roma in Europe and explores potential ways to transform the conflict.
• Peacebuilding Around World War II: An Approach To Emotional Healing And Social Change This article describes a reconciliation workshop that took place in Germany, involving German Holocaust survivors and their descendants, perpetrators' descendants, and others who are still affected by the history of World War II. The workshop helped the participants to reach a better understanding of their shared humanity, and to become reconciled with each other and with themselves. It is co-listed as a personal reflection and a case study.

Latin America

• Creating a Sacred Space: Cuban Reconciliation and the Catholic Church This essay examines the role of the Roman Catholic Church in fostering reconciliation between Cuban refugees now living in the U.S. and Cuban citizens still living in Cuba. Though hostilities between these two groups used to be strong, the church is making considerable progress in bringing families and larger communities together.
• Cultural Anesthesia in Colombia This short case study of the violence in Colombia asks why the population hasn't risen up against the continued violence.
• Deeply Divided Brazil  - This case study examines the wealth and income inequality in Brazil, and the conflicts that have resulted from that.  It then continues to look at approaches for transforming these conflicts and the underlying inequality.
• Guatemala: Guerrillas, Genocide, and Peace  - This case study examines the civil war in Guatemala and the aftermath, recommending further steps that might be taken to acheive a sustainable peace.
• Peacebuilding from the Grassroots: Equity Conciliation and Conflict Transformation in Colombia Conflict resolution efforts that attempt to work in cooperation with -- rather than in opposition to or in ignorance of -- the local culture in which a conflict is occurring are much more likely to succeed. Colombian culture already contains several powerful conflict resolution mechanisms, which may hold great potential for effecting lasting change. This case study focuses particularly on a mechanism called equity conciliation.
• The Chilean Truth and Reconciliation Commission The Chilean truth commission held after Pinochet lost power was not as successful as many had hoped, yet it did have significant impacts at both the individual and national level. This case study examines what the truth commission did, and what the short- and longer-term impacts were for individuals and for Chile as a whole.
• No Peace Dividend for Guatemala and the Irony of this Failure  - This essay examines the history of peace negotiations in Guatemala and then examines the failure to carry out their promise.

Middle East

• Reconciliation in the Aftermath of the Yezidi Genocide -  Reconciliation in the case of Yezidis is a process of transformation that involves dealing with the preconditions of protracted social conflicts through the intersection of truth, justice, peace and mercy at the communal, intercommunal and state level.
• East Versus West: Reconciliation in Post-War Jerusalem  - This case study, written by a Palestinian now living in the U.S., argues that the two-state solution is "dead," and the only way to reconcile this long-lasting conflict is to realize that citizens of both cultures will need to learn to live together in harmony in a unified state.
• Moving Beyond: Interreligious Dialogue in Lebanon This article describes interreligious dialogue in Lebanon which, the author finds, provides a key to peacebuilding by creating space for people to be heard and accepted by "the other." The author describes her own dialogue experiences, explaining both its effects on her, and the wider effect of dialogue on the society as a whole.
• The Bedouins in Israel's Negev Desert: Ubiquitous yet Invisible to the Dominant Society The Bedouins of the Negev region of Israel exist on the margins of Israeli society, culture, and law. The authors discuss the challenges facing this disenfranchised population. This article is co-listed as a personal reflection and a case study.
• How a Document Determines Which Palestinian You Are In a very personal essay, the author explains the day-to-day hardships faced by all Palestinians and explains why she believes a one-state solution is the only possible answer for the Palestinians' problem.
• My Neighbor Is A Terrorist: Peacebuilding, Drones, and America's Presence in Yemen In this cross between a case study and a personal reflection, Allyson Mitchell reflects on the impact of US drone attacks in Yemen. Looking at the assassination of Anwar al-Awlaki in particular, and other attacks that have involved civilian casualties, Mitchell concludes that peacebuilding in Yemen cannot succeed if US drone strikes continue.
• The Role of Iraqi Refugees and Expatriates in Peacebuilding through Governance This article describes the plight of Iraqi refugees who have not been able to return home to Iraq, yet have not been able to make successful lives for themselves in their host countries. The author considers what needs to happen to allow the refugees successful return to Iraq.

North America

• Reconciliation through Dialogue: Dialogue Circles and Reconciling Racism on the Eastern Shore of Maryland -  A description of how Community Mediation Maryland and its associated community mediation centers have successfully used dialogue circles to address racism, particularly against blacks.
• The US Government Has a Long Way to go with Reconciliation: Japanese Internment Camps  - Kupersmith applied John Paul Lederach's concept of the reconciliation "meeting place" of truth, justice, peace, and mercy to assess to what degree the United States has and has not reconciled with Japanese Americans after World War II.
• The Three R’s: Religion, Relationships, and Reconciliation: A Case Study of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in America  - This case study examines the transition of Mormons in America from a violently persecuted minority to one that is broadly accepted--even admired.  The transition of this conflict into the post-conflict stage demonstrates that interpersonal relationship,s along with governance practices that support equality, are among the most significant factors in moving a conflict towards reconciliation.
• Everyday Third Siders Minimizing Conflict This essay is a personal account of how everyday people can fulfill the role of Third Siders to help minimize conflict and make the world a more peaceful place.  While it could be set anywhere, this particular essay is set in the United States.
• Labor Conflicts: The Case of Two Supermarket Strikes In 2003, California endured the longest supermarket strike in U.S. history. This article discusses labor conflict in the U.S. and how to avoid stalemates like the one in California.
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Article contents

Managing conflict for effective leadership and organizations.

• Dean Tjosvold , Dean Tjosvold Department of Management, Lingnan University
• Alfred S. H. Wong Alfred S. H. Wong Department of Management, Lingnan University
•  and  Nancy Yi Feng Chen Nancy Yi Feng Chen Department of Management, Lingnan University
• https://doi.org/10.1093/acrefore/9780190224851.013.240
• Published online: 28 August 2019

Leaders and employees deal with conflict as they collaborate in the everyday life of organizations and as they confront crises. Depending how they manage conflict, they can frustrate employees and provoke customer complaints but also stimulate their relationships and decision-making. The possibilities of constructive conflict are significant and documented, but the challenges to making conflict constructive are significant too. The practice of defining conflict as a win-lose battle has obscured ways of managing conflict constructively. Fortunately, researchers have developed concepts and findings that can help managers and employees manage conflict. A first step is developing a useful, unconfounded definition of conflict. Deutsch proposed that conflict occurs when there are incompatible activities. Team members are in conflict as they argue for different options for a decision.

Deutsch also theorized that how people believe their goals are related very much affects their interaction, specifically their conflict management. They can conclude that their goals are cooperative (positively related), competitive (negatively related), or independent. People with cooperative goals believe that as one of them moves toward attaining goals, that helps others achieve their goals. In competition, people conclude that their goals are negatively related and only one can succeed in the interaction. In independence, one person ‘s success neither benefits nor harms the others’ success. Researchers have found that the nature of the cooperative or competitive relationship between protagonists has a profound impact on their mutual motivation to discuss conflicts constructively. Cooperative and competitive methods of handling conflict have consistent, powerful effects on constructive conflict. Team members with cooperative goals engage in open-minded discussions where they develop and express their opposing positions, including the ideas, reasons, and knowledge they use to support their positions. They also work to understand each other’s perspectives. They are then in a position to combine the best of each other’s ideas and create effective resolutions of conflict that they are both committed to implement. Teams that rely on cooperative, mutual benefit interaction ways of managing conflict and avoid competitive, win-lose ways been found to use conflict to promote high quality decisions, to stimulate learning, and to strengthen their work relationships. What has an impact on constructive conflict is not so much the occurrence, amount, or type of conflict but how leaders and employees approach and handle their conflicts, specifically, the extent to which their discussions are cooperative and open-minded.

• incompatible activities
• mutual benefit conflict
• win–lose conflict
• constructive conflict
• open-minded discussions

Conflict is pervasive and greatly affects leadership and teamwork, the very drivers of organizations (Blake & Mouton, 1964 ; Jehn, 1995 ; Johnson, 2015 ). Conflict is part of the everyday life of organizations in making decisions, handling customer complaints, and managing performance; conflict is also part of dealing with dramatic events such as acquisitions, strikes, and bankruptcies. Conflicts have both constructive and destructive sides. Conflicts can sabotage alliances and relationships, but effectively managed conflict vitalizes partnerships and invigorates interpersonal bonds. Conflict challenges leaders and teammates and engages them in the full range of experiences that organizations offer.

Research on how to manage conflict is critical to understanding relationships and organizations as well as how to make them effective. Leaders and employees must learn to live with conflict; they have to deal with and resolve the many conflicts that threaten to divide them and frustrate joint progress.

We often blame conflict for our frustrations and give it power over us. We think that if we only had less conflict, our lives would be happy and productive. The goal is to be conflict-free, or at least to keep our conflicts minor and forgettable. However, how we approach and handle conflict greatly affects whether it is constructive or destructive. It’s not so much having conflict or how much conflict we have that matters, but what is critical is how we manage our conflict that affects whether it is constructive or destructive.

Constructive conflict occurs when protagonists conclude that the benefits of their conflict management outweigh the costs; they believe that their investments made in handling conflict will pay off (Deutsch, 1973 ). The costs and wasteful investments of destructive conflict are typically well recognized. Angry feelings leave relationships fragmented and joint work stalled; both people and productivity suffer (Averill, 1983 ).

However, conflicts can have very constructive effects, so useful that we may hesitate to call them conflicts. Through discussing opposing ideas in conflict, protagonists can deepen their understanding of their own ideas as they defend their views (Tjosvold, Wong, & Chen, 2014a ). They can also listen to and understand the views of their protagonists; they put themselves in each other’s shoes. They open the possibility of combining the best ideas to create new solutions. In addition to enriching their learning, they can appreciate each other’s feelings, motives, and commitments, making their joint life more personal and richer.

The possibilities of constructive conflict are significant and documented, but the challenges to making conflict constructive are significant too. Managing conflict constructively may sound straightforward, and it can be. But making conflict constructive often tests us intellectually, emotionally, and interpersonally. Managing conflict constructively gives a lot, but it takes a lot.

This article has six sections. Conflict has been defined in confounded ways so that popular stereotypes have interfered with practice and research. The first section defines conflict as incompatible activities that may or may not have opposing goals. Arguing that what has an impact on constructive conflict is not the occurrence or amount of conflict but how we approach and handle conflict, the second section proposes that open-minded discussion and cooperative goals are key conditions to making conflict constructive. The third section reviews research on task and relationship conflict that suggests that these types of conflict can be managed. The fourth section reviews how constructive conflict can strengthen leadership and thereby very much contribute to the relationship between employees and managers. Then research on how conflict can be managed across cultural boundaries is discussed. The sixth and final part suggests how training can strengthen constructive conflict, leadership, and organizations.

Understanding Conflict

Researchers typically have not considered defining conflict critical for understanding it; indeed, they have tended to define conflict by including several notions (Barki & Hartwick, 2004 ; Rahim, 1992 ). However, popular definitions have tended to define conflict in terms of opposing goals and interests. This definition of conflict has greatly frustrated research progress in identifying the many ways conflict can constructively contribute to individual learning and organizational performance. Defining conflict as incompatible actions, we propose, is a much more solid foundation for research than defining conflict as opposing interests.

Conflict as Opposing Interests

Traditionally, conflict is defined in terms of opposing interests involving scarce resources and goal divergence and frustration (e.g., Pondy, 1967 ). Defining conflict as opposing interests is consistent with the prevalent assumption that conflict involves not only differences but is win–lose and reinforces the popular thinking that conflict is typically dealt with harshly and competitively. For many people, conflict is a win–lose battle over goals that they want to win, not lose.

However, defining conflict as opposing interests frustrates effective operations and measures. Conflict is confused with win–lose ways to manage it. For example, the Interpersonal Conflict at Work Scale measures conflict with such items as “people do nasty things to me at work” (Spector & Bruk-Lee, 2008 ). This item measures a competitive, win–lose way to manage conflict, not conflict itself.

The popular assumption that conflict is competitive and a fight over opposing interests underscores the difficulties of measuring conflict with items including the term “conflict” in them. For example, research scales that measure types of conflict, such as task and relationship conflict, typically include the term “conflict.” Including the word conflict is likely to contribute to the common finding that both relationship and task conflicts contribute to team ineffectiveness (De Dreu & Weingart, 2003 ; DeChurch, Mesmer-Magnus, & Doty, 2013 ; Tjosvold, Law, & Sun, 2006 ). Conceptual and operational definitions of conflict should help us appreciate both the constructive as well as the destructive sides of conflict and should avoid confounding conflict with popular confusions and stereotypes.

Conflict as Opposing Activities

Deutsch ( 1973 ) proposes that conflict occurs when there are incompatible activities (Tjosvold et al., 2014a ). Team members are in conflict when they argue for different options for a team decision as they perform actions that interfere with each other’s actions. They express their various reasons for the joint action their team should take. Different parties arguing for their different positions are incompatible actions that block each person from getting their option accepted; they are in conflict.

They may express their views to reflect that they have cooperative goals as well as conflicting activities. They argue for their favored option as they put forth their reasons for this option. They may defend their preferred position vigorously and conduct additional research to support their option. They want team members to consider their proposed option seriously. Their goal with protagonists is a cooperative one, however: they want to make the best decision for the team as a whole.

Alternatively, team members may have opposing goals when they argue for different options; they are in competition as well as in conflict. They argue that their option must be accepted and other options should be rejected. They express their arguments for their favored option in win–lose ways. Only one option can be accepted and it should be theirs.

Expressing one’s view can be done both cooperatively and competitively. Studies indicate that these different ways of expressing one’s options often have dramatic effects on the dynamics and outcomes of conflict (Tjosvold et al., 2014a ).

Approaches to Conflict

This article argues that research on how team members manage and deal with their conflicts very much contributes to understanding and developing constructive conflict. It is not so much the frequency, amount, and type of conflict as it is how team members discuss and work out their conflicts. Cooperative and competitive methods of handling conflict have been found to have consistent, powerful effects on constructive conflict.

Researchers recognize the value of a contingency perspective that holds that managers and employees should have alternative ways to deal with a conflict so that they can select the one most useful and appropriate in their situation (Rahim, 1992 ; Thomas, 1976 ). Pretending that there is no conflict and avoiding discussing conflict are useful in some situations, but generally conflict avoidance is not useful, indeed is often destructive (De Dreu & Van Vianen, 2001 ; Friedman, Chi, & Liu, 2006 ; Liu, Fu, & Liu, 2009 ; Lovelace, Shapiro, & Weingart, 2001 ; Ohbuchi & Atsumi, 2010 ). Without direct discussion and action, conflicts seldom disappear by themselves; they can fester and intensify, becoming more complex and destructive (Bacon & Blyton, 2007 ; Eisenhardt, Kahwajy, & Bourgeois, 1997 ; Nemeth & Owens, 1996 ).

This section argues that studies conducted using different theoretical frameworks together indicate that open-minded discussion between protagonists results in constructive outcomes in many situations (Johnson, 2015 ; Tjosvold et al., 2014a ). In open-minded discussions, protagonists develop and express their opposing positions, including the ideas, reasons, and knowledge they use to support their positions. They also work to understand each other’s perspectives. They are then in a position to combine the best of each other’s ideas and create effective resolutions of conflict that they are both committed to implement.

This section further proposes that cooperative relationships, but not competitive ones, are an effective foundation for open-minded discussion and constructive conflict. These relationships orient protagonists to identify and express their own ideas and proposals. They trust that others will try to understand their ideas and positions accurately (Hempel, Zhang, & Tjosvold, 2009 ). They feel they can rely upon each other to use these views to promote each other’s benefit. Their concerns that others will use their ideas and positions against them are minimized. They recognize that they can all gain from the conflict as each protagonist’s goals are promoted.

Open-Minded Discussion

Open-mindedness is the willingness to actively search for evidence against one’s favored beliefs and ideas and to weigh such evidence impartially and fully (Baker & Sinkula, 1999 ; Cegarra-Navarro & Sánchez-Polo, 2011 ; Mitchell, Nicholas, & Boyle, 2009 ; Sinkula, Baker, & Noordewier, 1997 ). Open-minded discussion occurs when people together seek to understand each other’s ideas and positions, consider each other’s reasoning for these positions impartially, and work to integrate their ideas into mutually acceptable solutions.

In open-minded discussion, protagonists express their own views directly to each other, listen and try to understand each other’s positions and arguments, and work to combine their ideas into new agreements acceptable to all. They are open with their own views, open to those of others, and open to new solutions to resolve the conflict. Evidence indicates that these aspects of openness are reinforcing and together constitute open-minded discussion (Johnson, 2015 ; Tjosvold, 1990a ; Tjosvold, Dann, & Wong, 1992 ; Tjosvold & Halco, 1992 ).

Survey items to measure open-mindedness give a specific understanding of open-mindedness (Chen, Liu, & Tjosvold, 2005 ; Wong, Tjosvold, & Yu, 2005 ). These items include: (a) express our own views directly to each other, (b) listen carefully to each other’s opinions, (c) try to understand each other’s concerns, and (d) work to use each other’s ideas. These items are typically strongly correlated with each other and the scale has high reliability.

Open-mindedness in conflict is inherently interpersonal as people act and react to each other. It takes two to have a conflict and it takes two to manage conflict. One protagonist can make bold, persistent, and skilled actions that encourage an otherwise closed-minded protagonist to discuss conflict open-mindedly. Generally, though, open-mindedness by all protagonists is needed to make conflict constructive. Evidence also suggests that protagonists develop similar levels of open-mindedness; one protagonist’s open-mindedness encourages others to be open (Tjosvold, 1990a ; Tjosvold et al., 1992 ; Tjosvold & Halco, 1992 ). Conflicts are more likely to be constructively managed when protagonists discuss their views directly and integrate them into solutions.

Researchers have used various terms to characterize the nature of discussion that results in constructive outcomes. These terms have their own historical roots, emphasize difference aspects of interaction, and provide various ways to measure and operationalize the interaction. These concepts and their operations help us understand the nature of open-minded discussion.

Open-Mindedness Research

Research conclusions are more fully understood and deserve more confidence when various researchers using different operations and samples develop consistent findings. Conflict researchers have used a variety of terms and operations to investigate open-mindedness. We propose that, although these terms are not identical, their differences should not obscure the considerable agreement among conflict researchers that open-minded discussion contributes to resolving conflicts in many situations. The operations of these terms further suggest the similarity of the concepts to open-minded discussion.

Integrative negotiation research provides indirect support that open-minded discussion is a foundation for developing constructive conflict. This research has examined the conditions that develop the creative process by which bargainers discover superior new options for both parties than those currently under consideration (Follett, 1940 ). Walton and McKersie ( 1965 ) propose that this integration is more likely when protagonists consider several issues simultaneously, consider the issues as problems to be solved, freely exchange accurate and credible information about their interests, avoid win–lose behaviors, and argue their own position unless and until they are convinced otherwise.

Experimental integrative negotiation researchers have argued similarly that problem solving interaction characterized by full information exchange results in mutually beneficial solutions (Pruitt & Carnevale, 1993 ; Pruitt, Carnevale, Ben-Yoav, Nochajski, & Van Slyck, 1983 ; Pruitt & Lewis, 1975 ). The operations to measure this problem solving interaction include asking for valid information, requesting information about the other’s interests, giving truthful information, showing interest in the other bargainer’s welfare, and proposing mutual concessions. Integrated negotiators challenge each other’s original ideas, dig into these positions to identify each other’s underlying interests, endure the uncertainty of not finding a quick solution, and are only satisfied with solutions that promote the interests of all.

De Dreu and colleagues have drawn upon integrative negotiation research to develop the motivated information processing approach (De Dreu, 2007 ; De Dreu, Koole, & Steinel, 2000 ; De Dreu, Nijstad, & van Knippenberg, 2008 ). This research also proposes and measures constructive interaction in conflict in terms of problem solving and information exchange. The extent to which protagonists engage in thorough, systematic processing of information was found to induce them to question perceptions that one protagonist can achieve their interests only to the extent that others cannot achieve their own; challenging this trade-off in turn results in more accurate assessments and more integrative agreements (De Dreu et al., 2000 ).

Conflict management styles researchers propose five alternative approaches to dealing with conflict (Rahim, 1983 , 1995 ; Thomas, 1976 ; Van de Vliert & Kabanoff, 1990 ). Although arguing that all five can be useful in some circumstances, these researchers have concluded that the collaborative conflict management style, at times supplemented with other styles, is constructive under a wide range of conditions (Van de Vliert, Euwema, & Huismans, 1995 ; Van de Vliert, Nauta, Giebels, & Janssen, 1999 ). Research on collaborative conflict management styles and experiments on negotiation support that being open with one’s own views as well as being open to other ideas and integrating them contribute to constructive conflict (Pruitt & Carnevale, 1993 ).

Diverse researchers have found that open-minded discussion contributes to resolving conflicts within and between organizations (Johnson, Johnson, & Tjosvold, 2006 ; Tjosvold, 1985 ). Conflict involves incompatible actions, specifically the intellectual aspects of proposing and reconciling opposing ideas that temporarily disrupt reaching a resolution. Fortunately, research by various scholars supports that open-minded discussion very much contributes to effective conflict management.

Cooperative Relationships for Open-Minded Discussion

When do protagonists discuss their conflicts open-mindedly? Researchers have theorized that the nature of the relationship between protagonists has a profound impact on their mutual motivation to discuss conflicts open-mindedly. Open-minded discussions occur when both participants are motivated to work together to manage their conflicts constructively.

Theory of Cooperation and Competition

Deutsch ( 1948 , 1973 ) theorized that how people believe their goals are related very much affects their interaction and thereby their outcomes. They can conclude that their goals are cooperative (positively related), competitive (negatively related), or independent. People with cooperative goals believe that as one of them moves toward attaining goals, that helps others achieve their goals. In competition, people conclude that their goals are negatively related and only one can succeed in the interaction. In independence, one person’s success neither benefits nor harms the others’ success.

Deutsch ( 1973 ) further proposed that cooperative goals are a useful way to understand when protagonists are able to manage their conflicts constructively. Both survey and experimental studies confirm that with cooperative goals, managers and employees discuss their differences directly and open-mindedly (Alper, Tjosvold, & Law, 1998 ; Poon, Pike, & Tjosvold, 2001 ; Schei & Rognes, 2003 ; Tjosvold, 1988 ). Teams are considered cooperative to the extent that members rate that their goals go together (Alper et al., 1998 ); they are considered competitive to the extent that members rate that they favored their own goals over the goals of others (Alper et al., 1998 ); teams are considered independent to the extent that members rate that one member’s success is unrelated to the success of their teammates (Alper et al., 1998 ). Competitive and independent goals have been found to lead to conflict avoidance or to conflict escalation or both (Alper, Tjosvold, & Law, 2000 ; Tjosvold et al., 2001 ). Protagonists with cooperative goals promote each other’s benefit because doing so is to their own advantage.

Protagonists typically have mixed interdependencies as well as more “pure” cases. Galinsky and Schweitzer ( 2015 ) note that social relationships contain both competitive and cooperative aspects. This co-opetition has been thought to leave protagonists more flexibility in how they manage conflict (Landkammer & Sassenberg, 2016 ).

Antecedents to Open-Mindedness

A key dynamic of having positively related goals of cooperation is that by helping others reach their goals, one also reaches one’s own goals. In cooperation, people promote their own goals and others’ goals simultaneously. Researchers have used other theoretical frameworks to capture this idea of positively related goals where self-interests are mutual in that promoting one’s self-interest promotes the self-interest of the others. Researchers have used the dual concerns and pro-social motivation to capture positively related self-interests.

In dual concerns, theorists have proposed that conflict participants can be committed to promoting others’ interests as well as their own (Thomas, 1976 , 1992 ). Rahim and Bonoma ( 1979 ) and Rahim ( 1983 , 1992 ) built upon Blake and Mouton’s ( 1964 ) managerial grid. Concern for self describes the extent to which people attempt to satisfy their own interests. The second dimension describes the extent to which people want to satisfy the concerns of others (Rahim & Bonoma, 1979 ). High concern for self and high concern for others resemble cooperative goals. Dual concerns occur when protagonists are motivated by their own interests and outcomes: they are willing to assert themselves to get what they want and they are also motivated to promote their partners’ interests and outcomes.

Dean Pruitt and other integrative negotiation researchers have also developed the dual concerns model (Pruitt & Carnevale, 1993 ; Pruitt et al., 1983 ; Pruitt & Rubin, 1986 ). Here protagonists committed to the interests of the other as well as themselves discuss conflict open-mindedly where they are only satisfied with solutions that promote the interests of both.

Motivational and social value orientation theory (Kelley & Schenitzki, 1972 ; McClintock, 1977 ; Messick & McClintock, 1968 ; Van Lange & Kuhlman, 1994 ) also found that preference for both self and other promotes constructive conflict (De Dreu & Van Lange, 1995 ; De Dreu, Weingart, & Kwon, 2000 ). Social motives refer to preferences for outcomes to the self and other: pro-social, pro-self, and competitive negotiators differ in attaching a positive, zero, or negative weight to the other’s outcomes, respectively (De Dreu & Boles, 1998 ; De Dreu & McCusker, 1997 ; Van Lange, 1999 ).

Pro-social protagonists choose options that maximize joint outcomes; protagonists are pro-self if they select options where their own outcomes are higher than the other, and they are classified as competitive if they choose options that maximize the differences between the two, that is, their own outcomes are much better than the other’s outcomes. Pro-social motivation has been found to develop the open-minded exchange of information that results in constructive conflict (De Dreu, Weingart, et al., 2000 ; Nauta, De Dreu, & Van der Vaart, 2002 ).

Researchers have developed the dual concerns model, pro-social and pro-self social motivation, and cooperative goals as theoretical perspectives to understand relationships that promote constructive conflict (De Dreu, Weingart, et al., 2000 ; Deutsch, 1973 ; Pruitt & Rubin, 1986 ; Rahim & Bonoma, 1979 ). This section argues that these different terms obscure fundamental agreement that the commitment to promoting each other’s goals facilitates open-minded discussion.

Managers and employees of course do not always discuss their differences open-mindedly and, according to the contingency perspective, under certain conditions it would be inappropriate and dysfunctional to do so. Commitments to competitive and independent goals are apt to lead to closed-minded discussions with an emphasis on promoting one’s own interests without concern for the ideas and aspirations of the other. Indeed, with competitive goals they are apt to actively frustrate each other’s goals as they understand this is a way of promoting their own.

This article refers to cooperative relationships as underlying open-minded discussion. Previous research has directly tested whether cooperative relationships promote open-mindedness, providing both experimental and survey data (Deutsch, 1973 ). Research has demonstrated both the causal relationship that cooperative goals promote open-mindedness and survey evidence that supports that cooperative relationships support open-minded discussion in a wide variety of organizational situations (Tjosvold et al., 2014a ). In addition, many social psychologists and other social scientists have developed our understanding of cooperation and competition (Deutsch, 1973 ; Deutsch, Coleman, & Marcus, 2011 ).

Conflict Type Research

For more than two decades, organizational researchers have distinguished types of conflict and argued that the type of conflict determines how constructive the conflict is (Jehn, 1997 ; Jehn, Greer, Levine, & Szulanski, 2008 ). Whether the conflict is about getting tasks done or about the quality of relationships between protagonists, conflict type is thought to determine whether conflict is constructive or destructive. Theorizing on the role of conflict types has stimulated considerable research by many investigators.

Research findings on conflict types supports the traditional view that high levels of conflict disrupt teamwork, and refines this idea by indicating that this proposition is especially true when these conflicts are relationship-based. Relationship conflicts, as measured by such items as how much friction, tension, and personality conflict are in the team, have been found to make conflict destructive (Jehn, 1994 ; Jehn et al., 2008 ). Reviews of literature, including several meta-analyses, have consistently found that relationship conflicts correlate with low levels of team productivity (Choi & Sy, 2010 ; De Dreu & Weingart, 2003 ; DeChurch et al., 2013 ).

These results have straightforward practical implications for leaders and team members in reducing relationship conflict. Given the heavy reliance on correlational findings, it can be more cautiously concluded that relationship conflicts are signs of destructive conflict and are unlikely to contribute to constructive conflict. Researchers have, however, sought to identify boundary conditions that minimize the negative impact, and unlock the positive impact, of relationship conflict (Thiel, Harvey, Courtright, & Bradley, 2017 ).

Whereas relationship conflicts disrupt, it has been proposed that conflicts over tasks contribute to group performance (Jehn, 1997 ; Jehn et al., 2008 ). However, findings do not consistently support this theorizing that task conflict strengthens group performance (Choi & Sy, 2010 ; De Dreu & Weingart, 2003 ; DeChurch et al., 2013 ). The inconsistent effects of task conflict indicate that expressing diverse views can be useful but not consistently. It appears that expressing opposing views must be done skillfully to contribute to constructive conflict, but task conflict theory does not directly suggest the conditions under which expressing opposing views contributes to constructive conflict.

Managing Task and Relationship Conflict

Researchers have worked to document the conditions that determine whether task and relationship conflict are constructive or destructive. For example, some evidence suggests that task conflict is apt to be more productive when it is in moderate amounts, is not closely related to relationship conflict, and when the outcomes are financial performance and decision quality rather than overall performance (De Dreu, 2006 ; de Wit, Greer, & Jehn, 2012 ; Farh, Lee, & Farh, 2010 ; Mooney, Holahan, & Amason, 2007 ; Shaw et al., 2011 ).

Several studies show that relationship conflict can hinder teams from capitalizing on the potential positive value of task conflict (de Jong, Song, & Song, 2013 ; de Wit, Jehn, & Scheepers, 2013 ; Shaw et al., 2011 ). Research has found that relationship conflicts encourage a competitive approach to managing conflict by leading people to make forceful demands, overstate their position to get their way, and in other ways treat conflict as a win–lose contest (Tjosvold et al., 2006 ). In contrast, to the extent that protagonists had few relationship conflicts, they resolved their conflicts in ways that supported mutual benefit; specifically, they encouraged a “we are in it together” attitude, sought a solution useful for all members, combined their best ideas, and treated conflict as a mutual problem to solve (de Jong et al., 2013 ; de Wit et al., 2013 ; Shaw et al., 2011 ).

Research suggests that how task and relationship conflicts are discussed, not just the amount of them, affects their constructiveness (DeChurch et al., 2013 ; Maltarich, Kukenberger, Reilly, & Mathieu, 2018 ; Rispens, Greer, Jehn, & Thatcher, 2011 ; Tekleab, Quigley, & Tesluk, 2009 ; Todorova, Bear, & Weingart, 2014 ). Recent studies have found that task conflict can be constructive when discussed open-mindedly and skillfully (Bradley, Klotz, Postlethwaite, & Brown, 2013 ; Chun & Choi, 2014 ; Humphrey, Aime, Cushenbery, Hill, & Fairchild, 2017 ; Jiang, Zhang, & Tjosvold, 2012 ; Tekleab et al., 2009 ). Teams with members with high levels of openness as a personality characteristic were found to have constructive task conflict (Bradley et al., 2013 ; de Jong et al., 2013 ). Overall, evidence indicates that open-minded discussion contributes to making both relationship and task conflict constructive (Gibson & Callister, 2010 ; Lau & Cobb, 2010 ; Tjosvold, 2002 ; Tjosvold & Su, 2007 ; Weingart, Behfar, Bendersky, Todorova, & Jehn, 2015 ).

Conflict Management for Leadership

Leadership has long been considered a key contributor to effective organizations. Much of the power of organizations is that they motivate and coordinate the work of many people; for that to happen, managers must lead employees. Without leadership, employees may fail to face up to difficulties, allow problems to simmer, and just go through the motions. Research indicates that to have effective leadership, managers and employees must make conflict constructive (Chen et al., 2005 ; Chen & Tjosvold, 2007 , 2013 ; Chen, Tjosvold, Huang, & Xu, 2011 ; Hui, Wong, & Tjosvold, 2007 ).

Conflict management research is updating our understanding of what it takes to be an effective leader and how to develop it. Studies indicate that by developing constructive conflict, managers can improve the quality of their leader relationships with employees. Managers can then orient and train employees so that they discuss their various ideas and improve the quality of their decision-making and their overall teamwork. Researchers have demonstrated that leaders can be effective by adopting various leadership styles; recent studies show that constructive conflict is very much needed to make these leadership styles effective.

Conflict for Quality Leadership Relationships

Leadership has long been thought to be “situational” in that the actions effective leaders take depend upon the situation; they monitor the situations and decide upon effective actions in the situation (Stogdill, 1974 ). In addition, though, researchers have found that successful leaders are consistent across many situations in that they develop quality relationships. Considerable research has found that successful leaders have quality relationships (Graen & Uhl-Bien, 1995 ). It’s not so much that managers have the “right” personal skills and characteristics but that they have high quality relationships with employees that help them influence employees and increase their productivity. With these relationships, leaders are able to engage employees, strengthen their teamwork, and in other ways convince them to contribute effectively to the organization.

Less recognized is that leaders and employees cannot allow frustrations to brew; they need to manage their conflicts to develop quality relationships (Chen & Tjosvold, 2007 ; Chen, Tjosvold, & Su, 2005 ; Tjosvold, Poon, & Yu, 2005 ). An important reason why quality relationships are useful is because they promote constructive conflict that in turn results in employee involvement and performance (Chen & Tjosvold, 2013 ; Tjosvold, Hui, & Law, 1998 ). Otherwise, relationship conflicts are apt to undermine team productivity as they allow frustrations to fester (Chen et al., 2005 ; Chen & Tjosvold, 2007 ; Tjosvold et al., 2005 ). Leaders need to manage their conflicts to reduce relationship conflicts and develop and maintain quality relationships.

Conflict for Making Decisions

Leaders have traditionally been thought to make tough decisions and then use their power to implement them. But this is a misleading notion. Studies by diverse researchers have documented the contribution of conflict to making decisions (Amason, 1996 ; Anderson, 1983 ; Cosier, 1978 ; George, 1974 ; Gruenfeld, 1995 ; Mason & Mitroff, 1981 ; Mitchell et al., 2009 ; Peterson & Nemeth, 1996 ; Salas, Rosen, & DiazGranados, 2010 ; Schweiger, Sandberg, & Ragan, 1986 ; Somech, Desivilya, & Lidgoster, 2009 ; Tetlock, Armor, & Peterson, 1994 ; Tjosvold, Wedley, & Field, 1986 ; Wong, Ormiston, & Tetlock, 2011 ). Through conflict, conventional thinking is challenged, threats and opportunities identified, and new solutions forged. Discussing opposing views has been found to give teams the confidence to take calculated risks where they also are prepared to recover from their mistakes; with this preparation, they innovate (Tjosvold & Yu, 2007 ). Even in a crisis, leaders are typically more effective when they seek out diverse views (Tjosvold, 1984 , 1990b ). Rather than making tough decisions alone, effective leaders are oriented toward promoting the conditions and relationships for open-minded discussion of opposing views among colleagues and employees. They develop constructive conflict that helps employees make and implement decisions as a team.

Conflict to Implement Leadership Styles

Researchers have argued that managers can be effective by adopting leadership styles such as transformational, servant, and productivity and people values (Eisenbeiss, van Knippenberg, & Boerner, 2008 ; Xu & Thomas, 2011 ). Less appreciated is that these styles are effective by promoting constructive conflict. Recent studies have demonstrated that to be successful in applying these styles, leaders develop constructive conflict.

Transformational leaders are expected to stimulate superior performance by appealing to employees’ higher aspirations (Bass, 2006 ). For example, they were found highly motivated not by unilaterally directing employees but by helping them manage their conflicts cooperatively and constructively (Zhang, Cao, & Tjosvold, 2011 ). This constructive conflict in turn resulted in high team performance in a sample of independent business groups. In a related study, government officials who exercised transformational leadership promoted cooperative conflict management that in turn resulted in strong government–business partnerships (Wong, Wei, & Tjosvold, 2014 ).

Leaders who value people and productivity have long been thought to be effective leaders, but the dynamics by which these values have beneficial effects have only recently been documented. In a study of international joint ventures (Wong, Wei, Yang, & Tjosvold, 2017 ), results support the idea that productivity and participation values strengthen the partners’ beliefs that their goals are cooperatively related, which in turn reduces free riding and promotes performance; in contrast, competitive goals appear to promote free riding and obstruct joint performance. The results have practical implications by showing that developing cooperative goals can strengthen the benefits of productivity and participation values.

Working in diverse organizations in India, team leaders indicated their people and productivity values and team members rated their open-minded discussion and their effectiveness and performance (Bhatnagar & Tjosvold, 2012 ). Structural equation analysis suggested that productivity values promoted open-minded discussion and thereby team effectiveness and productivity. Productivity-oriented team leaders challenge their teams to make high quality decisions and induce them to discuss issues open-mindedly, which in turn helps teams be effective (Bhatnagar & Tjosvold, 2012 ).

Servant leaders, as they emphasize service to others, team consensus, and the personal development of individuals, have been thought to lay the groundwork for cooperative conflict management in customer service teams (Wong, Liu, & Tjosvold, 2015 ). This constructive conflict helps team members resolve issues and in other ways effectively coordinate with each other; this coordination in turn helps these teams serve their customers. Findings indicate that to the extent that they have servant leaders, teams are able to discuss their disagreements, frustrations, and difficulties directly and work out solutions for the benefit of the team and its customers. These results provide support that improving the capacity to discuss opposing views open-mindedly can be a useful means for servant leaders to enhance teamwork and customer service in China and perhaps in other countries as well.

Ethical leaders want to act justly themselves but they also want employees to be committed to ethical principles and to act morally (Eisenbeiss, 2012 ; Mayer, Aquino, Greenbaum, & Kuenzi, 2012 ). A recent study indicates that effective ethical leaders and their employees engage in open-minded, cooperative conflict management where they express their ideas, work to understand each other, integrate their ideas, and apply their resolutions. Through this constructive conflict management, they work out arrangements that help them act effectively and morally in their situation as they also develop trusting, high quality relationships with each other. Ethical leaders and their employees were found to avoid competitive conflict involving trying to impose one’s own ideas and resolutions on others. Results also confirm that effective leaders develop high quality relationships that help them influence employees as well as to be open and influenced by them (Graen & Uhl-Bien, 1995 ).

Researchers have identified a number of styles that have been shown to help leaders be effective. Although they are developed from diverse leadership theories, studies have found that constructive conflict, in particular cooperative open-minded discussion, is an important mediator of successful implementation of these leadership styles, whether they be transformational leadership, valuing people and productivity, servant, or ethical leadership. Managers can use different leadership styles to encourage constructive conflict that empowers them to lead effectively.

Cultural Differences

Theories of conflict management that can be applied in diverse cultures are increasingly relevant. In the global marketplace, many managers and employees must handle conflicts that cross cultural boundaries. Team members increasingly have diverse cultural backgrounds, even when all operations are in one country. Many managers have to work with suppliers and customers who are from other cultures and live in other countries. Research has shown that open-mindedness and cooperative relationships develop constructive conflict in organizations even when protagonists are from both Western and Eastern cultures (Chen, Tjosvold, & Pan, 2010 ; Tjosvold, Wu, & Chen, 2010 ; Tjosvold, Wong, & Chen, 2014a ).

Research on conflict management has developed our understanding of the impact of cultural values, in particular collectivism and individualism. Western cultures have traditionally been thought to support open discussion of conflict consistent with their emphasis on individuals with their rights and proclivity to express their views. Eastern cultures have been considered collectivist where there is deference to their groups and leaders. Some studies support this traditional thinking. People from the West have indicated more preference for open handling of conflict, whereas those from the East prefer reticence (Kirkbride, Tang, & Westwood, 1991 ).

However, research suggests that this reasoning needs updating. Recent studies indicate that collectivist values induce open-minded discussion whereas individualistic values promote conflict avoidance. Collectivist values have been found in experiments to strengthen cooperative relationships that in turn promote open-minded discussion between individuals from collectivist and individualistic cultures (Chen et al., 2010 ; Tjosvold, Wu, et al., 2010 ; Tjosvold, Wong, & Chen, 2014a ). Collectivist culture team members were found to believe their goals are cooperative and that they are expected to work effectively with each other, and they sought to and actually understood opposing arguments and combined ideas for integrated decisions.

Studies confirm that cooperative and competitive approaches to managing conflict, although developed from theory in the West, apply to organizations in collectivist China as well (Chen et al., 2011 ). Indeed, findings challenge stereotypes that Chinese culture and leadership are highly conflict-negative. Chinese people are not rigidly committed to conflict avoidance but have been found to manage conflict cooperatively and openly. Chinese collectivism, social face, and other values can be applied in ways that aid direct, open, cooperative conflict management (Tjosvold, Wong, & Chen, 2014b ).

Cooperative conflict management can also guide the strengthening of cross-cultural interaction. Bond ( 2003 ) and Smith ( 2003 ) argue that cross-cultural researchers, in addition to the tradition of documenting cultural value differences, should study the relationship and interaction between culturally diverse people to identify how they work together effectively. Recent studies show that diverse people can work together when they manage their conflicts cooperatively (Chen et al., 2010 ; Chen & Tjosvold, 2007 , 2008 ; Chen, Tjosvold, & Wu, 2008 ).

While the “genotype” (the underlying conceptual structure of the theory of cooperation and competition) appears to be similar, the “phenotypes” (how the theory is manifested in particular situations) often are not (Lewin, 1938 ). In particular, the actions that develop cooperative goals and communicate an attempt to discuss conflicts open-mindedly may be quite different in China than in North America, as may the general levels of cooperative goals and conflict. However, diverse people can use research to develop a common understanding and platform for how they can manage conflict cooperatively and productively (Tjosvold & Leung, 2003 ).

Training Teams

Employees, managers, and executives are more effective when they manage important conflicts open-mindedly and cooperatively. Research suggests that, when they study cooperative, open-minded conflict, plan how to approach their own conflicts, and reflect on their experiences, managers and employees are more effective at managing conflict and more productive (Lu, Tjosvold, & Shi, 2010 ; Tjosvold et al., 2014a ).

A software company in Beijing used a cooperative team workshop and two months of follow-up of team feedback and reflection to develop open-minded conflict management (Lu et al., 2010 ). More than 150 employees from all the teams in the company participated in the workshop and the follow-up activities.

They had already organized cooperative teams to work on projects and satisfy customers. At the workshop, these groups studied the theory and reviewed the research in order to appreciate the value for them and their organization of strengthening cooperative, open-minded approaches to managing their conflicts. They decided that they wanted to improve their conflict management. They met regularly to assess their current level of cooperative conflict and developed plans for managing their conflicts more constructively. They practiced in their teams, met regularly to assess their current level of cooperative conflict, and developed plans for managing their conflicts more constructively. They reflected on their experience managing conflict within and between teams with consultants, and developed concrete ways to improve their conflict management.

Findings confirmed that open-minded discussion and cooperative relationships are a valuable basis upon which teams can strengthen their conflict management, collaboration among teams, and contributions to their organization. The training was found to heighten cooperative goals, develop open-minded discussion of conflicts, foster creativity within and between cultures, and produce higher group confidence and productivity.

Human resource personnel can apply conflict management findings by initiating professional development teams for managers and employees (Tjosvold & Tjosvold, 2015 ). They realize that becoming more effective requires the encouragement, feedback, and support of others. In these teams, managers and employees study cooperative, open-minded conflict management, reflect on their current experiences, and develop concrete ways to strengthen and practice conflict management skills. They remember not to expect perfection but to focus on reflecting on their experiences to improve.

Managers and employees confront a great variety of conflicts. With persistent pressures for them to rely on each other’s resources and to work together as a team, they are likely to encounter increasingly difficult conflicts that spread across organizational and national boundaries. Yet they are expected to resolve them quickly. Theory and research such as that referred to in this article helps to focus our efforts to manage even our complex conflicts constructively. We have learned from research that we can profitably strengthen our cooperative relationships and discuss our conflicts open-mindedly. Our conflicts will not disappear, but we can engage our partners so that we manage our conflicts and work together to get things done.

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4 Common Types of Team Conflict — and How to Resolve Them

• Randall S. Peterson,
• Priti Pradhan Shah,
• Amanda J. Ferguson,
• Stephen L. Jones

Advice backed by three decades of research into thousands of team conflicts around the world.

Managers spend 20% of their time on average managing team conflict. Over the past three decades, the authors have studied thousands of team conflicts around the world and have identified four common patterns of team conflict. The first occurs when conflict revolves around a single member of a team (20-25% of team conflicts). The second is when two members of a team disagree (the most common team conflict at 35%). The third is when two subgroups in a team are at odds (20-25%). The fourth is when all members of a team are disagreeing in a whole-team conflict (less than 15%). The authors suggest strategies to tailor a conflict resolution approach for each type, so that managers can address conflict as close to its origin as possible.

If you have ever managed a team or worked on one, you know that conflict within a team is as inevitable as it is distracting. Many managers avoid dealing with conflict in their team where possible, hoping reasonable people can work it out. Despite this, research shows that managers spend upwards of 20% of their time on average managing conflict.

• Randall S. Peterson is the academic director of the Leadership Institute and a professor of organizational behavior at London Business School. He teaches leadership on the School’s Senior Executive and Accelerated Development Program.
• PS Priti Pradhan Shah is a professor in the Department of Work and Organization at the Carlson School of Management at the University of Minnesota. She teaches negotiation in the School’s Executive Education and MBA Programs.
• AF Amanda J. Ferguson  is an associate professor of Management at Northern Illinois University. She teaches Organizational Behavior and Leading Teams in the School’s MBA programs.
• SJ Stephen L. Jones is an associate professor of Management at the University of Washington Bothell. He teaches Organizational and Strategic Management at the MBA level.

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A Case Study on Conflict: Restoring Safety in Student Relationships

Tier 1: building self-capacity, tier 2: managing conflict, tier 3: participating in conflict, restorative practices in action.

• From your point of view, what happened?
• What do you remember thinking at the time?
• How have you and others been affected?
• What feelings or needs are still with you?
• What would you like to happen next? (Clifford, 2015, p. 52)

Clifford, M. A. (2015). Teaching restorative practices with classroom circles. Center for Restorative Process.

Fronius, T., Persson, H., Guckenburg, S., Hurley, N., & Petrosino, A. (2016). Restorative justice in US schools: A research review. San Francisco, CA: WestEd Justice and Prevention Training Center.

Wachtel, T. (2016). Defining restorative. International Institute for Restorative Practices.

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Mastering Conflict Management with Strategies and Solutions in the Workplace

Category: Task Management .

Introduction

Conflict is the disagreement or difference of opinions between individuals that can potentially harm any organization. In the workplace setting, it often involves personal agendas, insights, or goals versus those of the group or team. Conflict management seeks to resolve these disagreements positively, with outcomes that satisfy everyone involved or benefit the group.

However, the perception of conflict is often negative.

The reality is that conflict can be positive if managed properly, promoting team-building skills, critical thinking, new ideas, and alternative solutions. Leaders must master conflict management to ensure team success.

In this blog, we’ll look into the essentials of conflict management, explore different styles and strategies, and provide practical tips and FAQs.

The Importance of Conflict Management

Conflict management is crucial in ensuring that team members work harmoniously towards common goals. Managed effectively, conflict can encourage learning and growth in an organization.

Benefits of Conflict Management

• Enhanced Team Cohesion: Teams can build stronger bonds and trust by resolving conflicts collaboratively.
• Increased Innovation: Differing viewpoints often lead to new ideas and creative solutions.
• Improved Communication: Conflict resolution fosters open dialogue and effective listening.
• Reduced Workplace Stress: Properly managed conflict minimizes tension, improving overall morale.

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Conflict Management Styles

In this style, individuals involved in the conflict simply avoid the situation or ignore its existence. This approach may be useful temporarily to de-escalate a tense situation. However, it’s a losing situation in the long run as unresolved conflict festers and creates more tension.

Accommodative

In this style, one party wins, and one party loses. The losing party easily gives in when the problem is not so important to them or when they want to keep the peace. The resolution benefits one side but can leave others feeling resentful and dissatisfied.

Competitive

In the competitive style, one party wins at the expense of the other. Although the conflict is resolved, this style can foster resentment and hinder teamwork.

In compromise, each party sacrifices a portion of their solution, leading to a resolution that partially satisfies both sides. However, the best outcome might not always prevail, potentially leaving some parties feeling shortchanged.

Collaborative

The collaborative style aims to bring all parties together to find a resolution that benefits everyone involved. It incorporates active listening, respectful communication, and open-mindedness to reach the best possible solution.

“To get something new done you have to be stubborn and focused, to the point that others might find unreasonable.” Jeff Bezos

7 Steps in Conflict Management

1. set communication rules.

Establish ground rules for respectful communication before discussions begin. For cross-cultural conflicts, it’s important to consider cultural nuances in communication styles and norms.

2. Set Aside Preconceived Opinions

Ask all parties to approach the conflict with an open mind. In virtual team settings, be mindful of potential misunderstandings due to lack of non-verbal cues.

3. Active Listening

Encourage active listening without interruptions. Having emotional intelligence skills like empathy and self-awareness can greatly aid in truly understanding different perspectives during conflicts.

4. Define the Problem

Write down and restate the problem to ensure mutual understanding. Use collaboration tools or online platforms to document the issue for virtual teams.

5. Propose Solutions

Have each party suggest potential solutions. Online whiteboards or ideation tools can facilitate this process for remote teams.

6. Customer Lifetime Value (CLTV)

Evaluate the positive and negative aspects of each solution. Involve legal or HR departments if the conflict has potential legal or policy implications.

7. Agree on a Resolution

Choose a solution that benefits everyone involved or is beneficial to the group. Establish metrics like employee satisfaction, productivity or turnover rates to measure the effectiveness of the resolution.

Proactive conflict prevention strategies, such as clear communication, setting expectations, and building trust, can also help avoid conflicts from arising or escalating.

Conflict Management in Organizations

• Party-Directed Mediation (PDM): Suitable for disputes between co-workers, it involves pre-mediation coaching and role-playing before a joint session.
• Negotiated Performance Appraisal (NPA): Improves communication between supervisors and subordinates, preserving hierarchical power while encouraging dialogue.
• International Conflict Management: When managing conflicts across cultures, it’s essential to understand cultural differences in communication, traditions, and thought processes. A Confrontational style may not work well in cultures where harmony is prioritized.
• Inter-Organizational Conflict Management: In inter-organizational relationships, conflicts involve both individuals and organizations. Formal and informal governance mechanisms influence the type of conflicts and how they’re managed.

Conflict Resolution Case Study

Google vs. antitrust regulators.

In response to antitrust charges, Google followed its principle “ Don’t litigate, negotiate .” By engaging in direct negotiations with regulators, Google adapted its practices and provided settlements to affected parties, avoiding litigation and improving relations​.

Apple vs. Samsung

Apple and Samsung ended their long-running patent dispute with a settlement, concluding a seven-year legal battle over whether Samsung copied the iPhone. While settlement terms remain undisclosed, Apple emphasized the case was always about protecting innovation beyond monetary compensation. The settlement between Apple and Samsung shows how compromise and collaboration can help resolve long-standing disputes while protecting core business interests.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

Q1: what are the five styles of conflict management.

A1: The five styles of conflict management are Avoidance, Accommodative, Competitive, Compromise, and Collaborative.

Q2: How can conflict management benefit an organization?

A2: Conflict management can enhance team cohesion, improve communication, foster innovation, and reduce workplace stress.

Q3: What is Party-Directed Mediation (PDM)?

A3: PDM is a mediation approach suitable for disputes between colleagues. It involves coaching and role-playing before a joint mediation session.

Q4: How can leaders effectively manage international conflicts?

A4: Leaders should understand cultural differences in communication, traditions, and thought processes to navigate international conflicts.

Q5: What are the key steps to resolving workplace conflicts?

A5: The key steps include setting communication rules, actively listening, defining the problem, proposing solutions, discussing pros and cons, and agreeing on a resolution.

Conflict management is the process of limiting the negative aspects of conflict while increasing the positive aspects to enhance learning and group outcomes. Properly managed conflict can improve organizational performance and foster innovation, communication, and team cohesion. Leaders must be well-versed in conflict management styles and strategies to create a harmonious and productive workplace.

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Political Sciences’ Justin Buchler examines presidential candidates stance on retirement

Where the presidential candidates stand on retirement

U.S. News & World Report :  Justin Buchler , associate professor of political science at the College of Arts and Sciences, noted that while President Biden and former President Trump both say they support Social Security and Medicare, their approach to each has been different. “Congress can’t specify every detail of every law,” Buchler said. “Anything not specified is up to the executive branch.”

Comprehensive uncertainty evaluation of dam break consequences considering multi-source information fusion

• Original Article
• Published: 13 May 2024
• Volume 83 , article number  323 , ( 2024 )

Cite this article

• Ruirui Sun 1 ,
• Kaixuan Fei 1 ,
• Yimingjiang Reheman 1 ,
• Jinjun Zhou 1 &
• Ding Jiao 1  

A comprehensive assessment of the consequences of dam-break is a critical strategic necessity for guaranteeing socio-economic development and lives for individuals. The consequences of dam-break are affected comprehensively by a multitude of uncertainties, resulting in multi-source and inconsistent relationships between indicators. It is extremely tough to integrate information from different sources adequately under multiple uncertainties, which often limit the assessment reliability. In this work, a comprehensive uncertainty evaluation methodology for the consequences of dam-break was developed through multi-source information fusion. Firstly, cloud model was employed to deal with randomness and fuzziness in the quantification of the grading of indicators and constructed the basic probability assignment function of the evidence corresponding to each data source. Then, in order to address the issue that conflicting evidence cannot be effectively fused utilizing traditional evidence theory. The basic probability assignment function was fused by the improved evidence theory. Furthermore, due to the differences in the importance of each data source in the assessment process. The corresponding weights were determined employing trapezoidal fuzzy analytic hierarchy process and entropy weight method. Finally, the effectiveness of the method was verified by taking five reservoirs in the Haihe River Basin. It shows that multiple uncertainties from different sources of information are combined and handled and the severity grades of consequences of dam-break can be quantitatively analyzed with our assessment method. Meanwhile, multi-source information with conflicts and uncertainties can be approached to produce more reliable risk assessment results in the situation of highly conflicting evidence.

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Data availability

The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author, upon reasonable request.

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This work was supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China [grant number 52309148], National Natural Science Foundation of China [grant number 52192671] and Open Research Fund Program of State Key Laboratory of Hydraulic Engineering Simulation and Safety [grant number HESS-1908].

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All authors contributed to the study conception and design. Material preparation, data collection and analysis were performed by Ruirui Sun, Kaixuan Fei. The visualization, formal analysis and validation were performed by Yimingjiang Reheman, Jinjun Zhou and Ding Jiao. The first draft of the manuscript was written by Kaixuan Fei and all authors commented on previous versions of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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Sun, R., Fei, K., Reheman, Y. et al. Comprehensive uncertainty evaluation of dam break consequences considering multi-source information fusion. Environ Earth Sci 83 , 323 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12665-024-11610-5

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