It is impossible to completely avoid conflict as we go about our day-to-day activities. In fact, a bit of conflict is good for growth and development. It is therefore important to assess conflict resolution within groups of people, and this is done using conflict style inventories. Conflict style inventories have been in use for over 5 decades now and they are increasingly gaining popularity the world over. They are used in various situations such as when human resources in an organization want to know the effects of various modes of handling conflict on an individual or on the organization as a whole. They are therefore very important tools for studying groups of people and how they interact with each other.
The TKI
One of the most widely used conflict style inventories is the Thomas Kilmann Conflict Mode Instrument (TKI). The TKI was developed by Ralph H. Kilmann and Kenneth W. Thomas and has been in use since 1974. It is used to assess a person’s characteristic response to conflict and this is determined by his/her level of cooperativeness, which is helping other people get what they want, and assertiveness, which is how hard an individual tries to get what he/she desires. The TKI has 30 items, each with two statements requiring either A or B as the answer from the individual taking the test. The test can be taken very quickly and the results interpreted within an hour. The results can give one of five different outcomes, each describing a conflict style. These are avoiding, collaborating, competing, accommodating and compromising.
The TKI is available in different languages including Spanish, French, English, Chinese and Portuguese among others. Thanks to the TKI, it is possible for people to have discussions on sensitive issues within an organization and reach amicable solutions that accommodate the needs and interests of every party concerned. Although a lot of organizational aspects have changed over the past 40 years, there is an updated version of the TKI which reflects all these changes. The updated version includes issues such as diversity in terms of gender, age, race, ethnicity among other factors in organizations.
Bottom Line
The importance of the TKI in organizations cannot be gainsaid. It can help avoid serious fallouts among the leaders of an organization and also help team leaders understand their teams better and know what works for the group and what does not. Different conflict situations call for different conflict resolution modes and it is important for anyone in a leadership position to understand this. The test is available online and anyone who is interested can purchase it and take it. It will greatly improve your conflict resolution skills.
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