Resolving Conflicts on the Job August 07, 2008 (Amacom, $12.95)
Being able to deal with conflict at work can benefit your career dramatically. People who diffuse tension and work out differences greatly improve their chance of success, since they sustain the kinds of relationships necessary for advancement and alleviate bad feelings that often prevent cooperation. Resolving Conflicts on the Job, by consultants Bill Withers and Jerry Wisinski, spells out skills for addressing work-related disputes. It analyzes every point you need to consider, from giving and receiving criticism to taking note of different personality types.
Perhaps the most important chapter of the book is the one that looks at different ways for engaging conflict. The authors lay out five: Competition, Accommodation, Avoidance, Compromise and Collaboration. While promoting collaboration, they note that different occasions call for different strategies, and that in order to be ready to handle conflict, it's imperative that you understand each of these approaches. To be sure, a particular approach lend itself to a certain kind people, and that being said, it’s important for you to recognize which one you’ll usually rely on.