CONFLICT AND NONVERBAL COMMUNICATION

Conflict and Nonverbal Communication

Conflict and Nonverbal Communication

Introduction

Conflict management has evolved as one of most important aspects of organizational studies, and when it comes to conflict management in a school setting, where it is quite difficult to understand the emotions of students, who have a nature of conflict than the importance of teachers' role and how he or she uses the non-verbal techniques to address the conflict should be considered a valid reason behind writing of this paper.

Outline of Literature Review

Research indicates two overlapping but distinct aspects of the teacher-student relationship: conflict and closeness. Although both aspects have been related to children's social and academic development, there are indications that conflict in relationships is more closely associated with child outcomes than is closeness (Alper, 2005). In early elementary school, teachers' reports of the quality of their relationships with students is relatively high (i.e., marked by low levels of conflict and high levels of closeness) (Amason, 2006). Initial research has shown a trend toward relationships becoming less intense (in both conflict and closeness) as children move from preschool through the early elementary school grades. Furthermore, according to (Ayoko, 2007) relationships that children develop with different teachers across their early school experiences are moderately stable, but demonstrate enough variability to indicate that each new teacher represents a new relational opportunity for students.

There is a clear association between the quality of the relationship and students' concurrent and future behavior, and academic achievement. Specifically, high closeness/low conflict teacher-student relationships in preschool and early elementary school are linked with positive peer relationships, higher levels of social competence, and better performance on tests of academic skills (Battistich, 2007).

Following this line of reasoning, De Dreu, (2003) has focused on the congruence among team members' cognitions. Specifically, they have argued that greater correspondence among team members' interpretations of action intentions (especially about positive team orientation) fosters more effective and efficient conflict management interactions. Such congruent cognitions enhance mutual understanding among team members, encourage convergent and non-verbal communication, and foster successful coordination (Desivilya, 2005). Consequently, divergent views about work procedures and other work-related issues (task conflict) will most likely be considered as legitimate disagreements, which need to be addressed in a cooperative manner, seeking mutually acceptable solutions. Conversely, if team members' perceptions reveal incongruent views of action-related intentions, such as when some of them erroneously construe task conflict as relationship conflict (e.g., interpret constructive criticism directed at ...