Circle the letters below which you circled on each item of the questionnaire.

Collaborating
Competing Compromising Avoiding Accommodating
(problem
(forcing) (sharing) (withdrawal) (smoothing)
solving)
1 A B
2 B A
3 A B
4 A B
5 A B
6 B A
7 B A
8 A B
9 B A
10 A B
11 A B
12 B A
13 B A
14 B A
15 B A
16 B A
17 A B
18 B A
19 A B
20 A B
21 B A
22 B A
23 A B
24 B A
25 A B
26 B A
27 A B
28 A B
29 A B
30 B A

Total number of items circled in each column:

4
 Your Scores on the Thomas-Kilmann Conflict Mode Instrument

Competing Collaborating Compromising Avoiding Accommodating

100%
12 12 12 12
11 11
11 12 11 10 10
10 11 10 9 9
High 25% 8
90%
9 10 7
80% 8 9 8
9 6

70% 7 8

60% 7
6
8 5
Middle 50% 7 6
50%
40% 5 7
4
6
30% 4 5
5
6
3

20% 3 4
5
4
Low 25% 10% 2
4
3 3
2 2 2 2
1 1 1 1 1
10% 0 0 0 0 0

5
 GRAPHING YOUR PROFILE

Your profile of scores indicates the repertoire of conflict-handling skills which you, as an
individual, use in the kinds of conflict situations you face. Your score profile can be
graphed on the next page entitled, ”Your Scores on the Thomas-Kilmann Conflict Mode
Instrument”.

The five modes are represented by the five columns labelled ”competing,” ”collaborating”
and so on. In the column under each model is the range of possible scores on that mode -
from 0 (for very low use) to 12 (for very high use). Circle your own scores on each of the
five modes.

Each possible score is graphed in relation to the scores of managers who have already
taken the Thomas-Kilmann Conflict Mode Instrument. The horizontal lines represent
percentiles - the percentage of people who have scored at or below a given number. If
you had scored some numbers above the ”80%” line on competing, for example, that
would mean that you had scored higher than 80% of the people who have taken the
Thomas-Kilmann Conflict Mode Instrument - that you were in the top 20% on
competition;

The dotted lines (at the 25th and 75th percentiles) separate the middle 50% of the scores
on each mode from the top 25% and the bottom 25%. In general, if your score falls
somewhere within the middle 50% on a given mode, you are close to the average in your
use of that mode. If your score falls outside that range, then your use of that mode is
somewhat higher or lower than most of the people who have taken the Instrument.
Remember that extreme scores are not necessarily bad, however, since your situation may
require high or low use of given conflict-handling mode.

6
 INTERPRETING YOUR SCORES

Usually, after getting back the results of any test, people first want to know ”what are the
right answers?” In the case of conflict-handling behaviour, there are no universal right
answers. All five modes are useful in some situations: each represents a set of useful
social skills. Our conventional wisdom recognises, for example, that often ”Two heads are
better than one” (Collaborating). But is also says, ”kill your enemies with kindness”
(Accommodating), ”Split the difference” (Compromising), ”Leave well enough alone”
(Avoiding), ”Might makes right” (Competing). The effectiveness of a given conflict-
handling mode depends upon the requirements of the specific conflict situation and the
skill with which the mode is used.

Each of us is capable of using all five conflict-handling modes: none of us can be

The conflict behaviours which an individual uses are therefore a result of both his/her
personal predispositions and the requirements of the situations in which he finds himself.
The Thomas-Kilmann Conflict Mode Instrument is designed to assess this mix of conflict-
handling modes.

To help you judge how appropriate your utilisation of the five modes is for your situation,
we have listed a number of uses for each mode - based upon lists generated by company
presidents. Your score, high or low, indicates its usefulness in your situation. However,
there is the possibility that your social skills lead you to rely upon some conflict behaviours
more or less than necessary. To help you determine this, we have also listed some
diagnostic questions concerning warning signals for the overuse of underuse of each
mode.

7
 Importance

G
O
A
L
S

Low
High
Importance RELATIONSHIPS Importance