A Qualitative Approach to Solving a Community Problem: Conflict Resolution Management Techniques

Abstract

This qualitative study examined the group formation process of professional collaborators brought together to solve a simulated community health problem. Through the analysis of transcripts from twenty-one of these groups, using an adapted four-stage model of conflict, instances of each stage were identified, as well as what leads to conflict and how conflict is or is not resolved. Four categories of productive behaviors were identified: cohesion and productivity, actions that relate to personal affect and behaviors that generate constructive responses, solution focused actions, and group facilitation activities that promote a continuation of the task and group process. The findings of this study can be the basis for an empirically supported approach to assisting professional collaboratives through the stages of their development.