Strategic conflict refers to managing conflict events by mindfully using thoughts and communication to obtain what you want.
Strategies refer to various approaches for taking action, and tactics institute strategies through specific behaviors (Newton & Burgoon, 1990a). Conflict has been defined in numerous ways (Putnam, 2006).
Definitions of conflict vary in whether specific behaviors define conflict (or not) and whether conflict is a type of a particular situation episode (or not) (Canary, Cupach, & Messman, 1995). We define conflict as any incompatibility that can be expressed between people. This definition coincides with Deutsch’s (1973) classic definition, and it allows us to discuss conflict processes that psychologists, communication researchers, and scholars in related disciplines have investigated.Over 50 years of research has examined how conflict management behaviors both affect a variety of outcomes and are affected by various factors (Oetzel & Ting-Toomey, 2006). We use this research to support the conclusions and related conflict strategies in this book. We do not present a list of strategies based primarily on our personal experiences, stories of other people’s experiences, or hypothetical scenarios. We prefer to rely on data of the highest quality.
In addition, we present examples of actual conflict interaction and selected student stories. Examples of actual interaction bring to life how people use strategies and tactics. Some of these examples are comical and some are sad. They all illustrate research findings. Moreover, stories from students provide examples that generate discussion questions for the reader to ponder.
Ultimately, you must judge whether our conclusions and implied strategies work for you. Although research suggests that our conclusions and strategies apply to many people in different situations, you must determine if they apply to you in your situations. The only way to know is for you to think through the conclusions and strategies in this book. And no doubt, you will arrive at other conclusions and implications for your strategic conflict.
We begin this chapter with a set of reasons why you should learn strategic conflict. Next we argue that mindful attention to conflict events will enable you to engage in strategic conflict. Being clueless helps no one. Third, we present the conceptual model that guides most of our ideas (Canary & Lakey, 2006). Finally, we offer three scope conditions that help us focus on strategic conflict in interpersonal settings. At this point, the reader might wonder why we are excited about the ideas contained in this book.