An Introduction to Conflict Management Styles
Four primary styles have been identified by conflict resolution researchers. These categories apply equally to landlords and tenants (as well as managers and workers, couples, neighbors, etc.). You might recognize yourself in each of these styles and may in fact use different styles in different circumstances or relationships. Here is a description of the major strengths and limitations of each:
Conflict Management Styles
- The Avoider -- Stays away from anything resembling a conflict
- Strength: peaceable
- Limitation: may allow conflict to be much harder to resolve when it does surface
- The Accommodator -- Gets involved, but bends over backwards to meet the other party’s needs to avoid uncomfortable conflict
- Strength: peaceable and adaptive
- Limitation: may be unlikely to resolve conflict when it surfaces.
- The Problem Solver -- focuses on both parties’ needs and on ways to meet these needs realistically
- Strength: often effective and helps maintain relationships
- Limitation: may not fully deal with own feelings and needs, may keep “going around the block” of solving similar problems repeatedly
- The Confronter -- responds reactively, by opposing the other party’s initiatives in a way that can lead to polarizing and escalating the conflict
- Strength: powerful, dynamic and can get things done when quick decisions are vital
- Limitation: may escalate conflict, and cause difficulty dealing with the full complexity of issues
These variations can be played out in a range of ways. A low-income immigrant family may buy property as a long-term strategy for financial security, but may avoid conflict due to their own cultural background, making tenant management quite difficult. A professional who is also a landlord may get satisfaction out of renting to lower-income tenants and strive to keep rents affordable but not maintain the unit adequately, leading to conflicts over code violations if dealing with nonpayment issues. In other instances, landlords and tenants may use effective problem solving skills. It is helpful to know your style but also pay attention to the style of your tenant in order to best resolve disputes.
Regardless of your style or approach, it is almost guaranteed that you will have to deal with conflict and the need to communicate as a landlord. Sometimes you will run into conflicts that are not of your own making, due to changes in law, policy or market conditions, your own personal circumstances or your tenant’s circumstances.