Thomas-Kilmann Conflict Mode Instrument (TKI®)

Thomas-Kilmann Conflict Mode Instrument (TKI® )

Reduce conflict and help your people work together more effectively.

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Conflict can negatively affect productivity, decision making and retention. By resolving conflicts more effectively, you can strengthen your organisation and improve results. Make conflict management a core competency and create a satisfying and productive work environment throughout your enterprise.

The Thomas-Kilmann Conflict Mode Instrument (TKI® ) tool is the world’s best-selling tool for helping people understand how different conflict-handling styles affect interpersonal and group dynamics—and for empowering them to choose the appropriate style for any situation.

The TKI® assesses an individual’s behaviour in conflict situations and describes it along two dimensions: assertiveness and cooperativeness. The instrument provides detailed information about how that individual can use the five different modes, or styles – competing, collaborating, compromising, avoiding and accommodating – effectively. The TKI® model demonstrates that these different behaviours are neither good nor bad but simply different ways of dealing with conflict. This research-backed instrument offers a practical way to initiate safe and calm, yet purposeful dialogue, to resolve or manage conflict.

How can you use the Thomas-Kilman Conflict Mode Instrument?

Your organisation can use the TKI® as the foundation for conflict literacy – for developing a common language that helps people think and communicate clearly about conflict and how to manage it through the opportunities provided for accepting differing viewpoints, enhancing communication and improving productivity, team cohesion and retention.

Take a moment to view the following video on the five conflict-handling styles.

Explore the TKI® Model

Explore the TKI Model

Avoiding Avoiding Unassertive and uncooperative behavior where an individual pursues neither their own or the other party’s concerns and does not address the conflict. Accommodating Accommodating Unassertive and cooperative behavior where an individual neglects their own concerns to satisfy those of another. The opposite of competing. Competing Competing Assertive and uncooperative behavior where an individual looks to satisfy their own concerns to win a position, potentially at others’ expense. Collaborating Collaborating Assertive and cooperative behavior where an individual will look to work with another to find a solution that satisfies the concerns of both. Compromising Compromising Mid-way in assertiveness and cooperativeness. When compromising, an individual looks to find an expedient, mutually acceptable solution. U ncooper a tive Cooper a tive Cooperativeness Assertiveness Unassertive Assertive

Applications

The TKI® assessment is ideal for a wide range of applications, including:

  • Conflict management—to identify different conflict-handling styles and to learn how to choose the appropriate style for any situation
  • Team building—improves team functioning by helping members reconcile differences and work together more effectively
  • Leadership development—enhances leaders’ conflict management skills
  • Performance improvement—helps eliminate barriers to effective performance
  • Stress reduction—gives employees the capacity and tools to identify and manage workplace stress
  • Retention—helps employees be successful, improve morale, and stay engaged in order to build a stronger organization and retain the best talent

Key Benefits

  • Offers five practical, situation-specific styles for dealing with conflict effectively
  • Demonstrates how and when to use each conflict-handling style
  • Improves organisational productivity by helping people gain insight into their own and others’ behaviour – which, in turn, helps them make better choices about outcomes
  • Helps trainers, managers and other professionals open one-on-one or group discussions around conflict
  • Reflects today’s gender, racial, ethnic, age and job-level diversity in the workplace, based on an updated normative sample
  • The TKI® is unrestricted and requires no special training to administer or interpret

TKI® Brand Portfolio

A comprehensive suite of support materials is available to help you quickly and easily begin using the TKI® tool. This product line gives you the knowledge and confidence to be an effective coach for your clients and to help them start managing conflict immediately and productively.

TKI® Key Highlights

  • Provides two options for assessment—TKI® Profile and Interpretive Report (online) or self-scorable booklet (paper-and-pencil format)
  • Offers a variety of support materials, including booklets, digital activities, and content-packed training programs to effectively deliver workshops

Other Available Translations

Please note that translations are available for selected TKI® products and assessments in the following languages:

Chinese – Simplified and Chinese – Traditional

Getting Started

The TKI® instrument is an unrestricted instrument and requires no special training to administer it and access the reports.

Popular TKI® Materials

#4813 #4816 #4818
Thomas-Kilmann Conflict Mode (Self-Scorable Booklet) Introduction to Conflict Management Introduction to Conflict and Teams
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