As a manager you will often be in the position where you need to resolve conflicts about key decisions within the business (financial, strategic, and personal). The ideas you bring to the conflict will inform the way you manage each situation. Some managers have viewed arguments as a 'battle of ideas' (utilising the war metaphor). In contrast Brockriede (2009) proposes that an argument consists of a 5 stage process applied to reach a solution to the problem at hand.

a.Describe Brockriede's process. Use a specific conflict that you have observed, (or one you could reasonably anticipate) to illustrate how the process works in practice.

b.Evaluate its potential value to a manager or supervisor in a business. What are the comparative advantages of this approach compared to the traditional 'battle of ideas' view? You may use the example conflict from part (a) to help in the comparison.