THE DISTINCTION BETWEEN A DISPUTE AND A CONFLICT IS NOT STRAIGHTFORWARD.
While Conflict can exist without Disputes, a Dispute cannot exist without Conflict.
Disputes, whether hidden or obvious, are signs of conflict. Conflicts can remain dormant until they erupt as disputes – you might say that disputes bring conflicts to the surface.
Settling a dispute is not the same as resolving a conflict.
Settling disputes deals with immediate problem/s at hand. Most often Dispute Settlement is absolutely necessary, but it is something of a ‘Band-Aid’ which does not resolve the underlying cause of the trouble and further steps must be taken. We need to look for the Conflict that gives rise to the Dispute.
Conflict Management sees conflict as an important resource that never leaves value on the table.
Conflict Management means limiting the negative results of conflict, while taking advantage of the potential for positive change that conflict offers. Once main causes have been dealt with, the search for opportunities begins.
This is not to ‘resolve further’: it is a separate exercise, possibly touched on during the resolution phase.
When a management with reputation for brilliance gets hooked up with a business with a reputation for bad economics, it’s the reputation of the business that remains intact
~ Warren Buffett