ABSTRACT
One way to talk about strategies for engaging in conflict focuses on conflict styles (e.g., competing, avoiding, collaborating). We present a history of conflict styles models and define style as a party’s behavioral orientation toward conflicts. We then discuss five major styles and variants of those styles that represent different ways of enacting the style during a conflict. We discuss problems with identifying styles from conflict behavior and how styles may shift during a conflict. We present a model to guide strategic selection of conflict styles. The chapter concludes with a discussion of gender and cultural factors that influence how conflict styles are perceived and the selection of conflict styles.
