The correct order of the stages of the conflict. Conflict development: main stages, examples. conflict interaction. Incident

Each of us is well aware of such a thing as conflict. They denote aggravated, contradictory situations in which each of the parties takes a position opposite to the interests of the opponent. Of course, conflict does not arise out of nowhere. The stages of conflict, however, are of separate interest in the field of psychology. In general, this topic in itself is very extensive. So it is worth considering it in a little more detail, paying attention to each important nuance.

Causes

Whatever the conflict, the main prerequisite for its occurrence is a clash of opposing interests, goals or opinions. However, there are objective factors that determine the causes of contradictions. But they are so diverse that it is impossible to group them according to any classification.

Natural causes of conflict are the most common. People are social, they live in society. They tend to defend their point of view. After all, this is how they protect what is dear to them - personal values. But only one manages to keep the situation under control, while others do not. As a result, irascibility, aggression begin to appear, and everything develops into an acute, contradictory situation.

Other prerequisites

Socio-psychological causes of conflicts are numerous. Often they lie in the individual incompatibility of opponents. People with incompatible temperaments and characters will conflict. As well as those individuals who have divergent ideas about life ideals, values ​​and goals.

And there are individual reasons. One person, for example, will conflict with another if his behavior seems unacceptable to him. Or if they have a different level of intellectual development, different ideas about the world, its perception. Lack of empathy, by the way, can also be the cause of contradictions.

initial stage

The pre-conflict situation is where it all starts. This is the zero step. But it is from her that the development of the conflict can begin. This is a certain risk of a contradictory situation. Usually it is "nipped in the bud". Opponents understand that if you continue to develop a topic that has caused a strong dispute, then it will end badly. And usually everyone decides to remain in their opinion.

But this is just a single example. Situations similar to the one described may arise in the course of a conversation or discussion. And it also happens that the pre-conflict stage lasts a very long time. It is accompanied by tension in the relations of opponents, which does not find a way out and solution, since it does not go into an open clash. Usually, placing all the dots over the "i" helps. However, sometimes there is even nothing to arrange. Sometimes one person may not even know that he is a potential participant in a conflict with a particular person who simply did not like him. The lack of mutual sympathy is a frequent factor that provokes contradictions.

Incident

If you do not cope with the initial stage, then the conflict will develop into it. The stages of conflict following the "zero" stage are incident and escalation. They are developing rapidly. The incident implies the beginning of a contradiction. Sometimes it can seem like it came out of nowhere. But that doesn't happen. In most cases, this simply turns out to be the “last straw”, which no longer fits in the bowl of the initial stage. And conflict erupts.

The stages of conflict that follow the incident imply the intensity of passions. Opponents argue, put forward arguments, swear, and the tension between them is increasing. This process is called escalation. How long it will last depends on the reason why it all started, and on the participants in the contradiction themselves. Some disputes are resolved in an hour. And some are able to quarrel for years, decades and even generations. Recall at least the famous tragedy by William Shakespeare, which revealed the theme of the conflict between the ancient families of the Montagues and the Capulets, which has been going on for centuries.

climax

It usually ends the conflict. The stages of the conflict listed earlier are often divided into several more stages, but everything ends with the so-called "dead point". The climax does not always mean a truce on both sides. On the contrary, most often it implies the accomplishment of such an event, the destructive power of which is so great that it becomes simply unsafe to continue developing a contradiction.

For example, we can again turn to the tragedy "Romeo and Juliet". Why did the Montecchi and Capuleti families end their feud? Because it was because of her that their children died. They realized the meaninglessness of their conflict, allowing the death of Romeo and Juliet. Only the death of their children brought them to their senses that kindness and love should rule the world, and not anger and enmity. The truce was a repentance and an attempt to ask for forgiveness from the dead for cruelty, pride and misunderstanding.

However, in real life, the parties to the conflict do not always come to the conclusion that the aggravation of relations has stopped. Some only intensify hostile actions, and this destroys not only the opponent, who has already become an adversary, but also themselves.

What does it all lead to?

The consequences of conflicts that could not be resolved in time are very sad. A person, due to his emotional vulnerability, becomes prone to stress. They accumulate, they can even develop into depression. If the opponent manifests himself in a dispute from a new, worse side, then the motivation to resolve the contradictory situation also disappears. A person is disappointed in who was dear to him, which often develops into hatred. The more the situation escalates, the more dynamic the relations between people worsen. There may be a desire to take revenge, to throw out your aggression in a bad deed.

Naturally, everything ends badly. The consequences of conflicts are disappointing. And many find it hard to believe that one can benefit from them. And indeed it is. There is no relationship without interpersonal contradictions. And that's okay. And the skillful resolution of sports can strengthen the connection between people, trust and a sense of justice. That's just for this you need to know how to behave in such situations.

How to get out of the situation?

So, the sequence of stages of the conflict was briefly described above. Now a few words can be said about the most popular ways that people resort to in order to get out of a controversial situation as quickly as possible.

Surprisingly, many decide to simply avoid the opponent and the conflict itself. These people tend to be very emotional and frustrated. Sometimes it’s easier for some to abandon a relationship than to solve an urgent problem.

The submissive method is popular among soft people. They calmly make unilateral concessions for the sake of the opponent, giving up their personal interests and desires. Submission can be justified. But only if it is combined with cunning. The person playing the role of the submissive must know that the problem will indeed be eliminated in this way. Otherwise, he may appear simply as a spineless, weak personality. And this will lead to claims in the future.

Other Methods

There are three more well-known methods by which you can resolve the conflict. The first is competition. And it is practiced not only in cases of contradictions in the business sphere. In interpersonal relationships, competition also takes place.

Let's say the wife wants to take out a mortgage, but the husband doesn't. They live with their mother-in-law. The daughter-in-law tells her about her idea, and she goes over to her side, since the idea of ​​young people buying their own housing is not so bad. And now, in addition to his wife, his mother also “presses” on a man. Although it is logical that initially she, so to speak, represented the interests of her son. In general, the principle of competition is simple. Other people are perceived by the parties to the conflict as tools in the struggle for personal interests.

But more often, compromise and cooperation are still practiced. The first method involves both parties giving up some of their demands in order to satisfy each other. And the second way is to cooperate with opponents to develop a joint solution that would suit both of them. The most efficient, by the way.

Rational approach to the problem

Perhaps the best system for resolving interpersonal contradictions belongs to the American psychologist Thomas Gordon. He studied the main stages of the conflict for a long time and eventually developed several steps for constructively resolving disputes.

First of all, opponents must identify the problem. It is necessary to concretize it, to name it, to give an exact wording. Then you need to talk about mutual feelings, expectations and needs. Participants in the conflict must hear and understand each other. And then - together come up with ways to solve the situation. The more there are, the better. Anyway, at the next stage, each option will have to be considered from a logical point of view and unsuitable ones should be thrown aside. And from the rest, choose one that would suit each side. And turn it into reality.

Surprisingly, many conflicts in relationships are resolved in this way. Expressive arguments will not help. Whether it's mutual respect and a practical approach to the situation.

2. Periods and stages in the development of the conflict

Any conflict has time limits - the beginning and end of the conflict.

The beginning of the conflict is characterized by the emergence of the first acts of counteraction.

A conflict is considered to have begun if three conditions are met:

* one participant deliberately and actively acts to the detriment of another participant (both physically and morally, informationally);

* the second participant is aware that these actions are directed against his interests;

* the second participant in this regard takes active actions in relation to the first participant.

Thus, the folk wisdom that says that two always argue is quite fair, and not only the initiator is responsible for the conflict.

The end of the conflict is the cessation of actions against each other.

In the dynamics of the conflict, the following periods and stages can be distinguished:

latent period(pre-conflict) includes the stages:

The emergence of an objective problem situation - there is a contradiction between the subjects, but it is not yet recognized and there are no conflict actions.

Awareness of an objective problematic situation is the perception of reality as a problematic one and an understanding of the need to take some action.

Attempts by the parties to resolve the objective situation by non-conflictways(persuasion, clarification, requests, information).

Pre-conflict situation - the situation is perceived as a threat to the security, public interests of one of the parties to the interaction, which provokes conflict behavior.

It is important to understand that the threat is not perceived as potential, but as immediate.

open period often referred to as the actual conflict. It includes the following steps:

The incident is the first clash of the parties. With a significant disproportion of forces, the conflict may end in an incident.

Escalation (from lat. scala - stairs) - a sharp intensification of the struggle of opponents. Her signs:

1) narrowing of the cognitive sphere in behavior and activity, transition to more primitive ways of reflection.

2) the displacement of an adequate perception of the enemy by another image, the accentuation of negative qualities (both real and illusory). Warning signals indicating that the "image of the enemy" dominates:

* distrust (everything that comes from the enemy is either bad or, if it is reasonable, pursues dishonest goals);

* laying the blame on the enemy (the enemy is responsible for all the problems that have arisen and is to blame for everything);

* negative expectation (everything the enemy does, he does for the sole purpose of harming you);

* identification with evil (the enemy embodies the opposite of what you are and what you are striving for, he wants to destroy what you value and therefore must be destroyed himself);

* representation of "zero sum" (everything that is beneficial to the enemy harms you and vice versa);

* deindividualization (anyone who belongs to this group is automatically an enemy);

* denial of sympathy (you have nothing to do with your enemy, no information will be able to induce you to show humane feelings towards him, to be guided by ethical criteria in relation to the enemy is dangerous and imprudent).

3) the growth of emotional stress. Arises as a reaction to the growth of the threat of possible damage; decrease in controllability of the opposite side; inability to realize their interests in the desired volume in a short time; opponent's resistance.

4) the transition from arguments to claims and personal attacks. The conflict usually begins with the statement of sufficiently reasonable arguments. But the arguments are accompanied by a bright emotional coloring. The opponent, as a rule, reacts not to the argument, but to the coloring. His answer is no longer perceived as a counterargument, but as an insult, a threat to the self-esteem of the individual. The conflict shifts from the rational plane to the level of emotions.

5) the growth of the hierarchical rank of violated and protected interests and their polarization. A more intense action affects the more important interests of the other side, in connection with which the escalation of the conflict can be seen as a process of deepening contradictions. During escalation, the interests of the conflicting parties seem to be divided into two opposite poles.

6) the use of violence. As a rule, aggression is associated with some kind of internal compensation, compensation for damage. It is important to bear in mind that at this stage, not only the real threat matters, but sometimes to a large extent more - the potential threat.

7) 7) 7) loss of the original subject of disagreement

8) 8) 8) expansion of the boundaries of the conflict (generalization) - the transition to deeper contradictions, an increase in potential points of conflict.

9) there may be an increase in the number of participants.

If you want to better imagine the external side of the conflict, I recommend that you use the theory of "symmetrical schemogenesis" by G. Bateson.

If you are interested in the internal causes of the conflict, refer to the theory of evolutionary epistemology by G. Volmer and K. Lorenz. This theory draws interesting parallels between human behavior in conflict and human behavior at the moment of threat in general, such properties of the human psyche as, for example, craving for the unknown. As the conflict escalates, according to this theory, a person goes through all stages of ontogeny, but only in reverse order.

The first two stages reflect the development of the pre-conflict situation. The importance of one's own desires and arguments increases. There is a fear that the ground for a joint solution of the problem will be lost. The mental tension grows.

Third stage- the beginning of the escalation. Forceful action (not necessarily physical impact, but any effort) replaces useless discussions. The expectations of the participants are paradoxical: both sides hope, through pressure and firmness, to cause a change in the positions of the opponent, but no one is ready to voluntarily give in. This level of mental response, when rational behavior is replaced by emotional, corresponds to the age of 8-10 years.

Fourth stage- the age of 6-8 years, when the image of the "other" is still preserved, but the person no longer takes into account the thoughts, feelings, position of this "other". The emotional sphere is dominated by a black and white approach. Everything that is "not me" and "not we" is bad and is rejected.

At the fifth stage there is an absolutization of the negative assessment of the opponent and the positive assessment of oneself. At stake are "sacred values", all the highest forms of belief and the highest moral obligations. The opponent becomes an absolute enemy and only an enemy, depreciates to the state of a thing and loses human features. But in parallel with this, in relation to other people, a person continues to behave like an adult, which prevents an inexperienced observer from understanding the essence of what is happening.

At the time of the escalation of the conflict, a person is often led by aggression - i.e. the desire to bring harm or pain to another.

There are two types of aggression - aggression-an end in itself (hostile aggression) and aggression-a tool to achieve something (instrumental aggression.

AGGRESSION



HOSTILE INSTRUMENTAL

The dispute about the nature of aggression has been going on since time immemorial and has not ceased to this day. What is aggression. J.J. Rousseau believed that this was a consequence of the distortion of human nature. Z. Freud spoke about the naturalness of this state and partially explained it by the existence of the death instinct (Thanatos), which manifests itself in a direct and sublimated form. Rather, aggression is a function of a complex interplay between innate tendencies and learned responses.

Next stage- balanced opposition - the parties continue to counteract, but the intensity of the struggle is reduced.

End of the conflict- the transition to finding a solution to the problem.

The main forms of the end of the conflict are resolution, settlement, attenuation, elimination or escalation into another conflict.

Post-conflict period includes stages - partial and complete normalization of relations between opponents.

Partial normalization occurs when negative emotions have not completely disappeared and is accompanied by feelings, understanding of what happened, correction of the opponent's assessments, and a sense of guilt for one's actions during the conflict.

Full normalization of relations occurs when the parties realize the importance of further constructive interaction.

All these periods and stages can have different duration. Some stages may be omitted or take so little time that it is almost impossible to distinguish between them.

R. Walton singles out the stages of differentiation and integration of the parties in the conflict. The latter comes from the moment of realizing the futility of further escalation.

So, the conflict is a phenomenon with a complex structure and dynamics, and therefore the tactics of its resolution should differ depending on the stage, period and their duration.

Consider the stages of development of the conflict.

Causes of interpersonal conflicts.

1. Subject - business disagreements. For example: students had disagreements about how to conduct the Last Call - in the style of the nobility of the 19th century or a fantastic story. This conflict does not lead to a break in interpersonal relationships and emotional hostility.

2. Divergence of personal interests. When there are no common goals, there is a situation of competition, each pursues personal goals, where the gain of one is the loss of the other (often these are artists, athletes, artists, poets).

Sometimes long subject-business disagreements lead to personal conflicts.

3. Communication barriers(see lecture No. 3) + semantic barrier, when an adult and a child, a man and a woman do not understand the meaning of the requirements, therefore they are not fulfilled. It is important to be able to put yourself in the place of another and understand why he acts the way he does.

Stage 1: Conflict situation - it is a positional difference in the perception of objectivity. For example: a student does not go to class and thinks that there is nothing to worry about. The teacher knows for sure that the student has the right to skip classes, but he has no right not to know the material. Until the positions are discovered, each hopes that the other will understand his position.

Stage 2: Incident- this is a misunderstanding, an unpleasant incident in the current situation. For example: a student missed class and then came back with an unprepared assignment. Here the parties clearly reveal their positions . It may be the other way around: first an incident, and then a conflict situation.

Stage 3: Conflict - clash of parties, clarification of relations.

What is the solution to this conflict, what should be done in this situation?

We can talk about the solution of the conflict only if both sides have won, or at least no one has lost.

1.conflict detection. The perceptual side of communication works. One notices a change in attitude towards himself on the part of another person. As a rule, the first signs are not captured by consciousness and rather they can be felt by barely noticeable signs (dryly greeted, closed, does not call, etc.)

2. Analysis of the situation. Identify an empty conflict or a meaningful one. (If empty, then see above for ways to solve it or redeem it). If informative, then plan further actions:

Determine the interests of both parties

The prospect of personal development as a result of conflict resolution (what I lose, what I gain)

The degree of development of the conflict from simple discontent(ooh-ooh) disagreement ( when no one listens to anyone, everyone speaks his own) opposition and confrontation(open call, wall to wall) to breakup or coercion take the side of the other.

3. Direct conflict resolution:

- Removing psychological stress(a request for forgiveness: “Forgive me…”, a joke, an expression of sympathy, granting the right to disagree: “Maybe I’m wrong” or “You can disagree with me…”, intonation of tenderness: “When you are angry, I I especially love you ... "," It always happens to me: the one I love the most, that gets the most from me "

Requesting a service (E. Osadov "He was a thunderstorm in our area ..."

Use of positive interaction skills in communication (I-concept, skills of confident behavior, the position of an “adult” in interaction, active listening skills, etc.)

Compromise is a mutual mutual or temporary concession of one person for the sake of settling relations with another. This is the most common and effective form of conflict resolution. It is always an expression of respect for the other.

Unexpected reaction (For example, a man's teacher and a woman's teacher to a child's complaint, the mother's actions after being called to the school to the director)

Delayed reaction (wait, give time. And then use other methods)

Arbitration - when conflicting parties turn to a third party to resolve the problem. Moreover, to the one who is respected by both sides and not often

An ultimatum, coercion in extreme cases, when it is impossible to change the behavior of another in another way (A.S. Makarenko). However, adults very often use this method: “If you don’t do it, you won’t get it.”

If the conflict is not resolved after using all possible methods, separation is possible as the only way to resolve the protracted conflict. This method is often used by children and teenagers, running away or leaving home.

The ability to resolve conflicts is formed both in the process of life and in specially organized forms of training, which we partially try to implement in practical classes.

On house: choose your own examples of conflicts, identify the cause of their occurrence, find ways to resolve them.

Conflict is a model of behavior with a special distribution of roles, sequence of events, motivation and forms of advocacy.

In the stage of development of social conflict, there are three main phases (Fig. 7.3).

Rice. 7.3.

• 1. The transition of the conflict from a latent state to an open confrontation of the parties. The struggle is still being waged with limited resources and is only local in nature. Only the first test of strength is taking place, there are still real opportunities to stop the open struggle and resolve any conflict by other methods.
• 2. Further escalation of confrontation. To achieve their goals and block the actions of the enemy, more and more new resources of the warring parties are introduced, almost all the opportunities to find a compromise have already been lost. The conflict is becoming more and more unmanageable and unpredictable.
• 3. The conflict reaches its climax and takes the form of a total war with the use of all possible forces and means. The conflicting parties seem to forget the true causes and goals of this conflict. The main goal of the confrontation is to cause maximum damage to the enemy.

Most domestic conflictologists traditionally distinguish the following stages of conflict development:

• 1) pre-conflict situation;
• 2) incident;
• 3) escalation;
• 4) de-escalation;
• 5) climax;
• 6) completion;
• 7) post-conflict situation.

Pre-conflict situation characterized by the presence of the so-called latent conflict, which consists in the fact that one or more subjects - potential opponents - accumulate some dissatisfaction, which leads to an increase in the corresponding tension. The external manifestation of the latent conflict is insignificant, and, as a rule, concerns misunderstanding, as well as the desire to stop the interaction of all conflicting parties.

Incident- active, outwardly observable actions aimed at mastering the subject of this conflict. In an incident, the stress tolerance limit (energy barrier) is revealed - the level of internal stress, overcoming which leads to its escalation.

Escalation- an increase in the energy of social conflict. Depending on the conditions, it can be carried out in different ways: undulating, sluggish, steep.

At the same time, the parties to the conflict exchange an increasing number of demands, which are becoming more stringent and emotional.

De-escalation- reducing the tension of the opposing sides of the conflict, its attenuation and the transition to a peace process.

At the same time, de-escalation leads to the completion of conflict actions and corresponding counteractions. But after the end of the conflict, it can still start anew if the needs of the warring parties are not satisfied.

climax- the highest point of escalation of the corresponding conflict. At the same time, the culmination of the conflict is expressed by one or several conflict episodes of such intensity and tension that it becomes clear to the opposing sides of the conflict that it should no longer be continued.

Therefore, it is from this moment that the participants in the conflict take measures to resolve it, however, the conflict can still be resolved even before its climax.

If the conflict drags on, it may die out on its own or require the mobilization of significant resources on the part of the participants to resolve it.

Completion- determination of the price of the conflict and the price of exit from it. The cost of a conflict is usually the sum of the effort and energy expended on the conflict itself.

Post-conflict situation- the stage of the consequences of the conflict, which can have a positive or negative value (Fig. 7.4).

Rice. 7.4.

It is at this stage that the time comes for summing up, assessing the results of values ​​and resources achieved or lost in the conflict.

But in any case, the completed conflict almost always affects both the participants and the social environment in which it proceeded.

Ways and means of regulating any social conflicts in society, as a rule, depend on the characteristics of their occurrence and course.

Expert opinion

Sociologist P. Sorokin at one time rightly pointed out the connection between the conflict and the satisfaction of the corresponding needs of people.

In his opinion, the source of conflicts in society lies mainly in the suppression of the basic needs of people, without which they cannot exist. First of all, the ego needs food, clothing, shelter, self-preservation and self-expression. At the same time, not only these needs themselves are important, but also the means of satisfying them, access to the relevant types of activities, which, in turn, is determined by the social organization of a given society.

In this regard, the determination of ways to regulate the relevant conflicts should be based on knowledge of the priority needs, interests and goals of people in certain periods of the development of society.

The best way to regulate social conflict is its prevention, the ability to act preventively. At the same time, one must know and be able to observe such phenomena that could be called indicators of the conflict itself.

In the labor sphere, such indicators include employee dissatisfaction, a decrease in key indicators, violation of labor discipline, requiring the employer to implement preventive mechanisms for tracking such social indicators. For example, in Japan for this purpose they use quality circles, attention services, working mood, a helpline and even a rubber dummy of an administrator.

Three possible outcomes of resolving any social conflict are described in the scientific literature:

• - elimination of the conflict;
• - conflict resolution;
• - resolution of social conflict.

elimination social conflict leads to one of the following results.

• 1. The destruction of one of the warring parties as a result of the victory of the other. For example, the victory of the proletariat as a result of the October Revolution.
• 2. Destruction of both opposing sides. An example of this is the "Pyrrhic victory", having achieved which, the ancient Greek king Pyrrhus lost his army.
• 3. The escalation of one conflict into another - both between the same participants and in a different composition, when the warring parties unite against a third party.

Settlement social conflict means its completion under the following conditions.

• 1. Reconciliation of the opposing sides in a state of conflict impasse, when the price of victory is more expensive than the price of settlement. In this case, the settlement occurs, as a rule, on the basis of the consent of the warring parties to make mutual concessions while maintaining opposing interests and a conflict situation. An example of such an end to a social conflict is the Khasavyurt agreements between Russia and Chechnya, signed by A. Lebed and A. Maskhadov.
• 2. Reconciliation of the warring parties based on the recognition of the victory of one of the parties and fixing this in the relevant agreement. An example of such a completion is the victory of the USSR and its allies over Japan in World War II. But even in this case, the conflict situation persists and may manifest itself sooner or later.

Permission social conflicts is expressed in the elimination of the causes that gave rise to it, as well as in the elimination of the opposition of the interests of the opposing subjects.

To resolve and resolve social conflicts, as a rule, one has to make significant efforts, since their self-resolution is almost impossible. You can ignore the conflict, ignore it, deal only with its ideological (verbal) resolution, then it will unfold spontaneously, escalate, unite with other conflicts and, ultimately, end with the destruction of the social system (or subject) in which it occurs. .

Expert opinion

The resolution of any social conflict is, first of all, overcoming the main contradiction in the interests of the parties, as well as eliminating it at the level of the causes of the conflict. The resolution of the conflict in this case can be achieved either by the conflicting parties themselves without the help of any third parties, or by connecting to the decision of any third party - an intermediary; through the participation in the conflict of a new force capable of ending it by coercion; through the appeal of the subjects of the conflict to the arbitrator and its completion through the arbitrator; through negotiations as one of the most effective and common ways to resolve a conflict.

Among the specific methods of resolving social conflict in the scientific literature are the following:

• – preventive a method of avoiding conflict (avoiding meetings with a potential adversary, eliminating factors that could contribute to escalating tension and starting a conflict, etc.);
• – method negotiations which allows reducing the severity of the conflict through an open and constructive exchange of views, avoiding the uncontrolled use of violence, correctly assessing the situation and the potential for its development;
• – method use of intermediaries- authoritative and competent persons and public organizations, whose timely intervention makes it possible to reconcile the warring, or at least find a compromise;
• – arbitration- an appeal to a third party respected by both parties for help in resolving disputes;
• – method postponing a final decision (sometimes postponing a decision leads to a spontaneous relaxation of tension between the parties, but such cases are rare and the method cannot be called effective).

These methods are techniques for regulating and localizing the conflict. Not a single society has yet managed to achieve a conflict-free existence, and the task is to learn how to diagnose the causes of conflicts, control and regulate its course.

• Sociology: a textbook for university students / ed. V. K. Baturina. S. 278.

Dynamics of the conflict

An important characteristic of the conflict is its dynamics. The dynamics of conflict as a complex social phenomenon is reflected in two concepts: stages of conflict and phases of conflict.

Stages of conflict reflect the essential moments characterizing the development of the conflict from its inception to resolution. Therefore, knowledge of the main content of each of the stages of the conflict is important for its forecasting, evaluation and selection of technologies for managing this conflict.

1. The emergence and development of a conflict situation. A conflict situation is created by one or more subjects of social interaction and is a prerequisite for conflict.

2. Awareness of the conflict situation by at least one of the participants in social interaction and his emotional experience of this fact. The consequences and external manifestations of such awareness and the emotional experiences associated with it can be: mood changes, critical and unfriendly statements about your potential enemy, limiting contacts with him, etc.

3. The beginning of open conflict interaction. This stage is expressed in the fact that one of the participants in social interaction, who has realized the conflict situation, proceeds to active actions (in the form of a demarche, statement, warning, etc.) aimed at causing damage to the “enemy”. At the same time, the other participant is aware that these actions are directed against him, and, in turn, takes active retaliatory actions against the initiator of the conflict.

4. The development of open conflict. At this stage, the parties to the conflict openly declare their positions and put forward demands. At the same time, they may not be aware of their own interests and may not understand the essence and subject of the conflict.

5. Conflict resolution. Depending on the content, conflict resolution can be achieved by two methods (means): pedagogical(conversation, persuasion, request, clarification, etc.) and administrative(transfer to another job, dismissal, decisions of commissions, order of the head, court decision, etc.).

The phases of the conflict are directly related to its stages and reflect the dynamics of the conflict, primarily from the point of view of the real possibilities for its resolution.

The main phases of the conflict are:

1) initial phase;

2) lifting phase;

3) the peak of the conflict;

4) decline phase.

It is important to remember that the phases of the conflict can be repeated cyclically. For example, after the decline phase in the 1st cycle, the rise phase of the 2nd cycle may begin with the passage of peak and decline phases, then the 3rd cycle may begin, etc. At the same time, the possibilities for resolving the conflict in each subsequent cycle narrow. The described process can be depicted graphically (Fig. 2.3):

The relationship between the phases and stages of the conflict, as well as the manager's ability to resolve it, are shown in Table. 2.3.

Rice. 2.3. Phases of conflict

Table 2.3. The ratio of phases and stages of the conflict

Also distinguished are the following three main stages of conflict development:

1) latent stage ( pre-conflict situation)

2) the stage of open conflict,

3) the stage of resolution (completion) of the conflict.

1. Hidden (latent) stage, all the main elements that form the structure of the conflict, its causes and main participants, i.e. there is the main base of prerequisites for conflict actions, in particular, a certain object of possible confrontation, the presence of two parties capable of simultaneously laying claim to this object, the awareness of one or both parties of the situation as a conflict.

At this “incubation” stage of the development of the conflict, attempts can be made to resolve the issue amicably, for example, to cancel the order for disciplinary action, improve working conditions, etc. But in the absence of a positive reaction to these attempts, the conflict turns into open stage.

2. A sign of the transition of the latent (latent) stage of the conflict to the open is the transition of the parties to conflict behavior. As noted above, conflict behavior is the outwardly expressed actions of the parties. Their specificity as a special form of interaction lies in the fact that they are aimed at blocking the achievement of the enemy's goals and the implementation of their own goals. Other signs of conflict actions are:

• expanding the number of participants;
• an increase in the number of problems that form a complex of causes of the conflict, the transition from business problems to personal ones;
• shifting the emotional coloring of conflicts towards the dark spectrum, negative feelings, such as hostility, hatred, etc.;
• an increase in the degree of mental tension to the level of a stressful situation.

The whole set of actions of the participants in the conflict at its open stage is characterized by the terms escalation, which is understood as the intensification of the struggle, the growth of destructive actions of the parties against each other, creating new prerequisites for a negative outcome of the conflict.

The consequences of the escalation, which entirely depend on the position of the parties, especially the one that has large resources and strength, can be two types.

In case of incompatibility of the parties, the desire to destroy the other side, the consequences of the open stage of the conflict can be catastrophic, lead to the collapse of good relations or even to the destruction of one of the parties.