Some people think that a conflict exists only in serious issues with anger. In human relations, a conflict exists whenever two or more parties are in disagreement.

Do you agree with everything people do and say in your human relations? If not, you are in conflict, most likely every day. Your ability to manage conflict is critical to your success. We all rely on unwritten, implicit expectations by each other, called the psychological contract. Often we are not aware of our expectations until they have not been met.

In any relationship, to avoid conflict, share information and assertively discuss expectations early, before the conflict escalates. Unfortunately, avoiding conflict is easier said than done. There are different types of conflict, such as task, process, and relationships, negative and positive. Let's combine them into conflicts of ideas and personal.

Conflict of ideas are positive because they can lead to improvements, such as solving problems, changing how you do tasks and the process of making products, and innovating new products. Conversely, personal conflict tends to be negative because it can hurt relationships and performance. The focus of this course is developing good relationships so that you don’t have personal conflicts. However, when you do, and we all do, you can learn how to resolve them.