Thomas Kilmann Conflict Mode Instrument - Description

Description

The Thomas-Kilmann Conflict Mode instrument consists of thirty pairs of statements. For each pair, the respondent must choose either the A or B item (for example, one item depicts collaborating while the other item describes avoiding). Each pair of statements was specifically designed, through a multi-stage research process, to be equal in social desirability.

The TKI uses two axes (influenced by the Mouton and Blake axes) called "assertiveness" and "cooperativeness." The TKI identifies five different styles of conflict: Competing (assertive, uncooperative), Avoiding (unassertive, uncooperative), Accommodating (unassertive, cooperative), Collaborating (assertive, cooperative), and Compromising (intermediate assertiveness and cooperativeness). There are some seemingly obvious, but difficult to support, similarities between anger resolution-management style ideas with other tools and theories, such as DISC assessment, Social styles, and even the theory of Five Temperaments, which is based in the theories of ancient Greece.

A similar inventory is the Kraybill Conflict Style Inventory, which is also based on the Mouton-Blake Managerial Grid and identifies five styles of response to conflict.

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