Conflict Management MBA + Online Options

An excellent way to boost your worth to your company or organization is to earn an MBA in conflict management. Experienced business professionals with an MBA in conflict resolution will find themselves in great demand in many fields:

• Business
• Education
• Law
• Government
• Healthcare

While the field of conflict management and conflict resolution is quite new and continue to evolve. But if you develop strong skills in this area in addition to the business management skills in a rigorous MBA, you will be very much in demand.

Professionals with a degree and experience in conflict management can work in many fields as mediators, facilitators, counselors and arbitrators. A good MBA program in conflict management can provide you with very desirable skills that these organizations need:

• Become more self aware and aware of potential conflicts in an organization; become more sensitive to diverse groups and ways of thinking
• Consider different resolutions and perspectives from those with different worldviews
• Learn to apply different models of conflict analysis, and learn new tools and processes in conflict management
• Develop a more reflective practice of learning
• Try to reach more constructive outcomes by using modern collaborative processes
• Use conflict management theories to inform better understanding of business and organizational conflicts

Earning an MBA in conflict management or conflict resolution will make you more marketable in a competitive global  business environment.

What Is a Conflict Management MBA?

A conflict management MBA is a two year master of business administration that will provide you with advanced skills and tools to resolve conflicts effectively in any organization. More companies are putting resources into these types of employees because it leads to a better work environment, which leads to better productivity at work.

An MBA program in conflict resolution usually covers the following principles to teach students about how to become experts in managing and resolving conflicts:

• Conflict is defined as an escalated competition between two or more people. Each one wants to gain some type of advantage, such as in resources, power, values, or interests, over other parties. At least one of them thinks that the conflict is over goals that are not mutually compatible. Conflict in a business or work environment is natural, so conflict by itself is not a problem. But destructive conflict is a problem, and that is what a strong MBA program in this area helps professionals to address.
• True resolution of a conflict in a work environment will only occur via negotiation or another type of joint problem solving that involves the conflicting parties. The only way to move past the conflict is to have all of the involved parties to work through the issue. Negotiation is needed to exchange facts, ideas and promises between all parties to get to a good outcome for everyone.
• Complete conflict resolution is different from conflict management. Conflict management involves processes that regulate behavior in a conflict; full resolution will satisfy everyone’s underlying needs and interests.

In this type of MBA program, you will learn about the most important roles involved in conflict resolution and conflict management:

• Negotiator: The representative of one of the parties in a conflict who works with the other party to create a satisfactory outcome in the situation.
• Mediator: Third party who helps the disputing parties in negotiations via a range of various activities that may facilitate an agreement. The mediator does not have any direct stake in the management or resolution of the conflict.

Specific Requirements

To get into a strong MBA program in conflict management, you should have a bachelor’s degree in business. If you do not have a bachelor’s in business, you should have work experience in the finance sector.

It also is a good idea to have completed a class in statistics and accounting.

Other requirements common for admission include:

• 5 GPA or higher
• Updated resume with business and finance experience clearly detailed
• GRE or GMAT scores may be mandatory
• Professional and educational references
• Statement of purpose about why you want to earn an advanced degree in conflict management

Types of Courses to Expect

Your conflict management MBA program will require you to take a set of core MBA classes. At Creighton University, you are required to take these core courses to build your business management skills:

• MBA 741 Economic Analysis for Managers
• MBA 771 Leadership and Organizational Behavior
• MBA 776 Business, Ethics and Society

You also may be required to take the classes below if you do not have a bachelor’s degree in business:

• MBA 701 Financial Reporting for MBA’s
• MBA 711 Managerial Finance
• MBA 761 Marketing Management
• ITM 731 Information Systems Management

The conflict management and resolution concentration at Creighton is becoming one of their most popular specialties. There has been an increase in the number of organizations who want to put an emphasis on resolving conflict; this can lead to better employee satisfaction and employee retention.

Career Path and Salary

The most common career path for professionals with this MBA is to become a mediator, arbitrator or conciliator for all types of organizations. In this type of role, you will use your MBA skills to do most of the following:

• Facilitate effective communication between the parties so that a mutual agreement or understanding can be reached
• Clarify any issues, concerns, or needs for all of the involved parties
• Do initial meetings with the parties to outline the process and potential paths of resolution and management
• Conduct interviews with the parties to obtain as much information as possible about the possible resolution

More details about these types of positions:

• Mediator: A neutral party who can hold a position in a company to help people in different areas of the company to resolve problems. The mediator may not actually make the decision; he or she helps to get the discussion going so that the parties can make an agreement to resolve differences.
• Conciliator: Their job is to help to guide the opposite sides to an effective settlement. They will usually meet with the conflicting parties separately. The opposite sides need to decide ahead of time if they are going to be bound by what the conciliator recommends.
• Arbitrator: This is often an attorney or an experienced business professional with years of experience in the field. They hear and decide disputes between various parties.

Earning an MBA in this area can be a wise investment in your future because the field will experience 8% increase in demand by 2029, which is much faster than average. While it is a relatively small field, there will still be substantial growth occurring in many industries.

Conflict management and resolution is often very popular with many companies because it is much less costly than any legal proceedings. Also, many employment contracts today have clauses in them that mandate that any disputes have to be handled in mediation or possibly arbitration.

The pay for professionals who work in conflict management and conflict resolution can vary a great deal. The median pay in this field is $66,130, with the top 10% earning more than $131,210 per year.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics states that government organizations tend to pay the highest salary at $70,450. Legal services also pay well at $69,700.

May 2020 Bureau of Labor Statistics salary and job growth figures for Arbitrators, Mediators, and Conciliators represents national data, not school-specific information. Conditions in your area may vary. Data Accessed May 2021.