The conflict process has five stages: potential opposition, cognition, intentions, behavior, and outcomes. The first stage of conflict is the appearance of conditions—causes or sources—that create opportunities for it to arise. We group the conditions into three general categories: communication, structure, and personal variables.

Just because a disagreement is a perceived conflict does not mean it is personalized. It is at the felt conflict level, when individuals become emotionally involved, that they experience anxiety, tension, frustration, or hostility. Intentions are a distinct stage because we have to infer the other’s intent to know how to respond to behavior. Many conflicts escalate simply because one party attributes the wrong intentions to the other.

When one person seeks to satisfy his or her own interests regardless of the impact on the other parties in the conflict, that person is competing. We are more apt to compete when resources are scarce. If you attempt to find a win–win solution that allows both parties’ goals to be completely achieved, that’s collaborating. A person may recognize that a conflict exists and want to withdraw from or suppress it. Examples of avoiding include trying to ignore a conflict and keeping away from others with whom you disagree.

A party who seeks to appease an opponent may be willing to place the opponent’s interests above their own, sacrificing to maintain the relationship. We refer to this intention as accommodating. In compromising, there is a willingness to accept a solution with incomplete satisfaction of both parties’ concerns. The distinguishing characteristic of compromising therefore is that each party intends to give up something.

The behavior stage is where most conflict becomes visible. Statements, actions, and reactions made by conflicting parties, usually as overt attempts to implement their own intentions. These outcomes may be functional if the conflict improves the group’s performance.