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First time buyers of Style Matters: KCSI |
| (Offer good through June, 2008) Price through February for first-time buyers is $1.75. This price available only in quantities of 20-100 to purchase rights to make your own multiple photocopies Payment Info Satisfaction Guaranteed We are confident you will like Style Matters: The Kraybill Conflict Style Inventory that we'll cheerfully return your money if you are disappointed and you return booklets in good shape (less shipping costs where involved). Are you a trainer who has previously worked with other conflict style inventories? Most trainers prefer our conflict style inventory over others. Because the underlying logic is similar, the transition from other five style inventories to ours is a piece of cake. If you use our inventory in a training workshop and do not agree that it beats any conflict style inventory you have used as a teaching tool, keep the booklets you've already used and we will refund 50% of their purchase price (less shipping). We will also refund 100% of any booklets you return in good shape and 100% of any rights to reproduce you purchased if you made your own copies.
Easy transition for trainers from other five-style conflict style inventories Like the Thomas-Kilmann Conflict Mode Instrument, Style Matters works with five basic styles of responding to conflict mapping them as the interplay of task vs. relationship (or assertiveness vs. cooperativeness). Examples of such instruments include Kenneth W. Thomas and Ralph H. Kilmann in their Thomas-Kilmann Conflict Mode Instrument (Tuxedo NY: Xicom, 1974) Also, Jay Hall in his Conflict Management Survey (Teleometrics International, Inc., The Woodlands, TX, 1973), as well as Robert Blake and Jane Mouton, The Managerial Grid (Gulf Publishing, Houston, TX, 1964) Of these, the most widely used is the Thomas-Kilmann Instrument, which names the styles competing (equivalent to Directing in our inventory), collaborating (equivalent to Problem-Solving), compromising, accommodating (equivalent to Harmonizing) and avoiding. Any trainer who has worked with any of the above instruments will find the transition to Style Matters simple for the underlying logic is the same. You will be able to use the same illustrations and learning sequences you used previously. But you can significantly enhance them with the added features of Style Matters: the differentiation between calm and storm, the extended tips section that gives specific, practical suggestions for working with each style, the two-page discussion guide at the end, and if you choose, discussion of how differing cultural backgrounds affect people's responses.We have consistently found that people who used other inventories and try Style Matters prefer ours. And for that reason we guarantee that you will not be disappointed. The Kraybill Conflict Style Inventory was developed by Ron Kraybill, then director of Mennonite Conciliation Service, based in Akron, Pennsylvania in the 1980s. Many users of the commercial inventory he was using at that time complained about the "forced choice" format of that inventory. And many groups needed access to a conflict style inventory at low cost. In repeated training workshops, Kraybill tested and refined a user-friendly inventory that was published in the Mennonite Conciliation Service Training Manual. Like the widely-used Thomas Kilmann inventory, it identifies five styles of responding to conflict. Like the Gilmore Fraleigh personality style inventory, it gives users two sets of scores, one for "calm" conditions and one for "storm". In the years since, the KCSI has quietly established itself as a favorite among trainers around the world, its reputation spread by word of mouth. A large number of conflict resolution organizations and websites have reproduced it, though it is rarely identified as the KCSI.The early version of the Kraybill inventory can be taken online at no cost. Recognizing the widespread use of the KCSI that had developed completely unattended, in 2004 Kraybill revised it. Now teaching in the Conflict Transformation Program at Eastern Mennonite University in Harrisonburg, Virginia, he incorporated ideas and comments accumulated from users over a period of many years. In 2005 the upgraded version was published by Riverhouse ePress, titled "Style Matters: The Kraybill Conflict Style Inventory". The updated version is culturally sensitive, differentiating between users from collectivist versus individualist cultures. It contains more in-depth instructions than previous versions. It has a lengthy section of tips for bringing out the best in each style. It also has a two-page discussion guide at the end with many questions useful for group reflection. Over 100,000 users have taken the KCSI. Riverhouse ePress retains the commitment of Ron Kraybill, the author, and Mennonite Central Committee, the original publisher, to make this instrument available to all who wish to use it, regardless of cost. We have priced it at a third the cost of instruments that are much more widely known, even though they have few of the features of the KCSI. We welcome hearing from any group truly unable to afford the KCSI even at the current price. We will not let cost stand as an obstacle to groups committed to building a more peaceful world.
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