UP Effective Conflict Management Styles in Criminal Justice Discussion

Difficulties in trust, conflict management, and negotiation processes can derail leadership and team building in criminal justice organizations. Team leaders are expected to manage their teams by mitigating conflict and negotiating solutions. 

Which conflict management styles are effective in criminal justice organizations? Give an example to substantiate your rationale.

How does the negotiation process influence organizational behavior and management in criminal justice organizations? Give an example to substantiate your rationale.

Respond to 2 student responses whether you agree or disagree, explain why:

1) When I was a leader, I would use collaboration to be an effective leader. When you have two individual with opposing visions, I would always try to find a middle ground for both of them to think about and try to incorporate both parties’ ideas if it was possible. I had a officer that told me we should do our recreation stating with all of one side of the house, then do the next, while the other officer said to do the other side of the house first (For reference, one side of the house offenders were placed for discipline, the other side was administrative, examples would be protective custody or investigation). So I sat them both down and got them to divide and conquer.

I feel that negotiation is a way to enable someone to think they are making their own choices. For example a salesman or a crisis intervention coordinator. Their goal is to ïerce4he individual to think everything going on is in their hands and guide the conversation to a win.

2)The five conflict management styles are accommodating, avoiding, collaboration, competition, and compromise.   Collaboration is a joint effort with all parties attempting to come up with a solution that meets everyoneàneeds. This style is important because it attempts to satisfy both sides and helping to create a more successful workplace. If the two side disagree on an issue, they can come together and find creative solutions to the shared problem. I have seen this in action where I use to work when staff would have issues with their conflicting schedules, they would collaborate a solution to either swap shifts to accommodate each other. Generally, it was beneficial to both parties involved.

The negotiation process can influence organizational behavior if both the parties involved do not think their side is either heard or validated in some way. The parties should make sure there is time for discussion to take place to ensure both parties are heard. The parties need to be sure not to place blame on one another and only focus on facts. When the negotiation process is done correctly and in a manner that can satisfy both parties the collaboration should be successful.