Conflict Management Processes

1. Conflict Management Processes Week 5 Chapter 9

2. Objective By the end of the class you will be able to… Define how communication influences conflict management, and change in organizations.

3. Conflict Management Processes • When two or more people come together in the office with different goals and needs almost always there are disagreements. • These disagreements can be an opportunity for growth and learning, or it can turn into a conflict.

4. Conflict Management Processes • The ability to effectively deal with conflict is one of the most important skills you will need to be successful in your career and life.

5. Conflict Management Processes • Conflict can be • Destructive - can destroy work relationships. • Constructive - can create the need of organizational change.

6. Conflict Management Processes • Through communication, members create and work through conflicts in functional or dysfunctional ways.

7. Defining Conflict “Interaction of independent people who perceive opposition of goals, aims, and values, and who see the other party as potentially interfering with the realization of these goals” Putnam & Poole, 1987

8. Three Characteristics (I’s) of Conflict • Incompatible goals • Interdependent behaviors • Role of interaction

9. Three Characteristics (I’s) of Conflict • Incompatible goals • Contradictory ideas about the distribution or organizational resources.

10. Three Characteristics (I’s) of Conflict • Incompatible goals • A manager believes that employees must strictly follow the time clock. • A new employee believes in doing the work on a more flexible schedule.

11. Three Characteristics (I’s) of Conflict • Incompatible goals • Mergers and acquisitions – there is conflict if values of the acquiring company are different from those of the acquired company.

12. Three Characteristics (I’s) of Conflict • Interdependent behaviors • When the behaviors of the organizational members are interdependent. • Participative decision-making vs. authoritative management style.

13. Three Characteristics (I’s) of Conflict • Role of interaction • Involves the expression of incompatibility.

14. Three Levels of Organizational Conflict

15. Three Levels of Organizational Conflict • Interpersonal level • Individual members of the organization perceive goal incompatibility.

16. Three Levels of Organizational Conflict • Intergroup conflict • Groups of people within an organization as parties in the conflict.

17. Three Levels of Organizational Conflict • Interorganizational Conflict • Involves disputes between two or more organizations • Competition in the marketplace • Trying to get the same consulting contract

18. Phases of Organizational Conflict

19. Latent Conflict • Conditions for conflict exists because interdependence and possible incompatibility exists between the parties

20. Perceived Conflict • One or more of the parties perceives incompatibilities and interdependence. • Example: manager and subordinate believe they have different standards about weekend work

21. Felt Conflict • Parties begin to formulate strategies about how to deal with the conflict and consider outcomes that would and would not be acceptable.

22. Manifest Conflict • Interaction might involve cycles of escalation and de-escalation as the different strategies are used.

23. Conflict Aftermath • Conflict has short and long-term effects on the individuals, their relationship, and the organization.

24. How Managing Organizational Conflict?

25. Conflict Managementvs. Conflict Resolution • Conflict management • Ongoing nature of conflict • Complexity of conflict situations • Conflict resolution • Means the conflict was resolved

27. Self-testConflict Management Style

28. Conflict Styles http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hv9FEuk4Mhk

29. Avoidance • Non confrontational • The people pass over the issue or totally ignore the person with whom he is in conflict because the issue is not easy to resolve • He/she might even deny there is an issue

30. Accommodating • People use this style when his or her behavior is agreeable and nonassertive. • The person cooperates even at the expense of personal goals because wants to make other happy. • Is eager to help, non-confrontational, comforting and uncontroversial.

31. Compromise • People who prefer this style try to find a solution that will at least partially satisfy everyone. Everyone is expected to give up something. • This style is useful when the cost of conflict is higher than the cost of losing ground, when equal strength opponents are at a standstill and when there is a deadline.

32. Competition • People take a firm stand, and know what they want. • They usually operate from a position of power, drawn from things like position, rank, expertise, or persuasive ability. • This style can be useful when • there is an emergency and a decision needs to be make fast • the decision is unpopular; or when defending against someone who is trying to exploit the situation selfishly.

33. Collaborate • People try to reach a solution that could benefit all people involved. • These people can be highly assertive but unlike the competitor, they cooperate effectively and acknowledge that everyone is important. • This style is useful when • you need to bring together a variety of viewpoints to get the best solution • there have been previous conflicts in the group • the situation is too important for a simple trade-off.

34. Critique of Conflict Styles Construct • The grid does not reflect complex nature of conflict • Other factors than concern for self and concern for others may play a role • Limits communication to verbal communication only • Role of organizational setting is ignored. Organization should be in the center and not in the background

35. Bargaining and Negotiation • It’s another strategy to deal with organizational conflict. • Type of negotiation in which participants seek a mutual agreement through an explicit or implicit exchange of views.

36. Bargaining and Negotiation • Bargaining is a formal activity • Participants dispute and negotiate about limited resources or policy disagreements • There is a clear understanding of rules of negotiation • Involves individuals who serve as representatives • Often used to settle intergroup or interorganizationalconflict

37. Bargaining and Negotiation • Reaching a mutual agreement may take very different roads depending on the characteristics of the situation. • Distributive bargaining – competitive • Integrative bargaining – cooperative

38. Distributive Bargaining • Participants try to divide or distribute something • The dispute is centered on the limited resources that must be divided in the negotiation:wages, benefits, hours

39. Distributive Bargaining • Disputants can work together to make the pie bigger, so there is enough for both of them to have as much as they want • They can also focus on cutting the pie up, trying to get as much as they can for themselves.

40. Distributive Bargaining • Common tactics they use include trying to gain an advantage by insisting on negotiating on one's own home ground • having more negotiators than the other side • using tricks and deception to try to get the other side to concede more than you concede • making threats or issuing ultimatums; generally trying to force the other side to give in by overpowering them or outsmarting them, not by discussing the problem as an equal (as is done in integrative bargaining).

41. Distributive Bargaining • The goal is not to assure both sides win, but rather that one side (your side) wins as much as it can, which generally means that the other side will lose, or at least get less than it had wanted. • Distributive bargaining tactics rarely assume the pie will divided in half.

42. Integrative Bargaining • Also knows as the win win bargaining because is more cooperative. • Participants collaborate to find a win-win solution to their dispute. • This strategy focuses on developing mutually beneficial agreements based on the interests and not the positions of the disputants.

43. Integrative Bargaining • Interests include the needs, desires, concerns, and fears important to each side. • Integrative refers to the potential for the parties' interests to be combined in ways that create joint value or enlarge the pie.

44. The Orange Example

45. Integrative Bargaining • Integrative bargaining is more popular than Distributive because it usually produces more satisfactory results for the parties involved. • Distributive focuses on opposing viewpoints (positions) and tends to result in compromise or no agreement at all. Compromises simply split the difference between the two positions, giving each side half of what they want. • Integrative solutions is more creative, and can potentially give everyone all of what they want.

46. Third-Party Conflict Resolution • Sometimes individuals involve in a conflict are unable to resolve the disagreement on their own through informal discussion or formal negotiation, and request the help of a third party. • Friend or coworker • Supervisor • Parties from outside the organization

47. Third-Party Conflict Resolution • Parties from outside organization • Mediator – no decision power • Arbitrator – makes decisions • Information sharing and persuasion are important

48. Third-Party Conflict Resolution • Mediation – the role of communication is more pronounced

49. Third-Party Conflict Resolution • Tactics mediators use to facilitate communication: • Directive tactics • Nondirective tactics • Procedural tactics • Reflective tactics

50. Third-Party Conflict Resolution • Directive tactics – initiate recommendations • Nondirective tactics – secure information and clarify misunderstandings • Procedural tactics – establish agenda and protocol for conflict resolutions • Reflective tactics – regulates the tone of interaction by developing rapport with participants, using humor and speaking the language of each side