Two-Phase Locking (2PL) is a concurrency control mechanism used in database management systems to ensure that transactions are executed in a safe and consistent manner. It operates in two distinct phases: the growing phase, where a transaction can acquire locks but cannot release them, and the shrinking phase, where it can release locks but cannot acquire new ones. This structure helps prevent issues like deadlocks and ensures that transactions maintain the ACID properties. The primary goal of 2PL is to avoid conflicts between transactions that may read or write the same data. By enforcing a strict order of lock acquisition and release, it guarantees that once a transaction releases a lock, it cannot interfere with other transactions, thus maintaining data integrity. However, while 2PL is effective, it can lead to reduced concurrency and potential performance bottlenecks in high-transaction environments.