In Mixed Company Chapter Ten

1. In Mixed Company Chapter Ten Conflict Management In Groups Speech 140 Chapter 10 Conflict Management in Groups

2. Conflict Defined • Conflict is the expressed struggle between two interconnected parties who perceive incompatible goals and interference from each other in attaining those goals. Speech 140 Chapter 10 Conflict Management in Groups

3. Destructive and Constructive Conflict • Moderate amounts of conflict can be a constructive force in groups if the conflict is managed competently. • The principal difference is how competent the communication is when transacting the conflict. • Destructive conflict is characterized by dominating, escalating, retaliating, competing, defensive, and inflexible communication patterns. • Constructive conflict is characterized by communication that is We oriented, de-escalating, cooperative, supportive, and flexible. • The principle focus is on trying to achieve a solution between struggling parties that is mutually satisfactory to everyone. Speech 140 Chapter 10 Conflict Management in Groups

4. Styles of Conflict • A communication style of conflict management is oriented toward conflict. • Since conflict can be an essential catalyst for growth in a system, increasing conflict may be required to evoke change. Speech 140 Chapter 10 Conflict Management in Groups

5. Collaborating: Problem Solving • The collaborating style is a win-win cooperative approach to conflict. It attempts to satisfy all parties. Someone employing this style has a high concern for both task and social relationships in groups. • A collaborating style has three key components: confrontation, integration, and smoothing. Speech 140 Chapter 10 Conflict Management in Groups

6. Confrontation: Addressing the Problem • The overt recognition that conflict exists in a group and the direct to manage it effectively is confrontation. • Not all issues are worth confronting, members who confront even trivial differences of opinion or can’t let a momentary flash of pique go unattended. • Groups have to decide which issues and concerns are priorities and which are tangential. Speech 140 Chapter 10 Conflict Management in Groups

7. Confrontation: Addressing the Problem • Integration, a collaborative technique that devises creative solutions that are mutually satisfactory for all parties in conflict. • The act of calming the agitated feelings of group members during a conflict episode is called smoothing. • Since collaborating is such an effective communication style for solving conflicts of interests, why isn’t it always used in the solutions. • Collaborating usually requires a significant investment of time and effort along with greater-than-ordinary communication skills. • Collaboration is based on trust. • Parties in a conflict sometimes do not share the same emotional investment in finding an agreeable solution for all involved. Speech 140 Chapter 10 Conflict Management in Groups

8. Accommodating • Accommodating style yields to the concerns and desires of others. • Someone using this style shows a high concern for social relationships but low concern for task accomplishment. • Yielding on issues of incidental concern to your group but of major concern to other parties while holding firm on issues of importance to your group usually achieves mutually advantageous outcomes. Speech 140 Chapter 10 Conflict Management in Groups

9. Compromising • We give up something to get something. Someone using this style shows a moderate concern for both task and social relationships in groups. • When an integrative solution can’t be achieved, when a temporary settlement is the only feasible alternative or when the issues involved are not considered critical to the group, comprising can be useful. Speech 140 Chapter 10 Conflict Management in Groups

10. Avoiding • A communication style of withdrawing from potentially contentious and unpleasant struggles. • Someone using the avoiding conflict style shows little concern for both task and social relationships in groups. Speech 140 Chapter 10 Conflict Management in Groups

11. Competing • Someone using a competing or forcing style shows high concern for take but low concern for relationships in groups. • Someone using a competing or forcing style shows as a means of furthering personal more than group goals (Me-Not-We-Orientation) • Making friends and developing a positive social climate are secondary and expendable. Speech 140 Chapter 10 Conflict Management in Groups

12. Communication Styles of Conflict Management Speech 140 Chapter 10 Conflict Management in Groups

13. Task Conflict: Routine or Non Routine • A routine task is one in which the group performs processes and procedures that have little variability and little likelihood of change. • A non-routine task is one that requires problem solving, has a few set procedures, and has a high level of uncertainty. • Conflicts about routine tasks often have a negative effect on group performance, while conflicts about non-routine task often have a positive effect. Speech 140 Chapter 10 Conflict Management in Groups

14. Relationship Conflict • If a relationship is one of trust and cooperation, regardless of the power disparities, then collaborating has real potential. Speech 140 Chapter 10 Conflict Management in Groups

15. Interconnectedness of Task and Relationship Conflict • Recognizing the interconnectedness of task and relationship dimensions of groups can be critical arises. Speech 140 Chapter 10 Conflict Management in Groups

16. Values Conflict • Values are the most deeply felt views of what is deemed good, worthwhile, and right. • Beliefs are what we think is true and probable. • Values conflicts are especially difficult to manage when members of different cultures clash over divergent worldviews. Speech 140 Chapter 10 Conflict Management in Groups

17. Negotiation • Negotiating strategies are the ways we transact these joint decisions when conflict arise. • Conflict spirals- the escalating cycle of negative communication that produces destructive conflict. • Reformed sinner strategy initially competes or acts though, then cooperatives and relaxes demands. Speech 140 Chapter 10 Conflict Management in Groups

18. Graduated and Reciprocated Initiatives in Tension Reduction (GRIT) • Issue a sincere public statement expressing a desire to de-escalate the conflict. • Specify the concession to be made, clarifying what, when, how, the action will be undertaken. • Follow through and complete the concession, but do not make this contingent on reciprocation by the other parties. • Encourage, but do not demand, reciprocation from the other parties. • Make no high-risk concessions that leave you vulnerable or in an indefensible position. Don’t give away the store. Speech 140 Chapter 10 Conflict Management in Groups

19. The Four Principled Negotiation • Principled negotiations changes the rules from competitive to cooperative. The four basic elements to this approach with corresponding principles for each element. • Separating the people from the problem. • Negotiating interests first, not arguing positions, is critical. • Positions are the concrete things one party wants. Interests are the intangible motivations needs, desires, concerns, fears, aspirations-that lead a party in the conflict to take a position. • Generating a variety of options is another aspect of principled negotiation which rests on establishing objective standards for weighing the merits and demerits of any proposal. Speech 140 Chapter 10 Conflict Management in Groups

20. Anger Management • The difference between constructive and destructive anger depends on tow conditions the intensity and duration. • Intensity of anger can very from mild irration to outright rage. • Duration or how long it lasts determines whether anger is constructive or destructive. Speech 140 Chapter 10 Conflict Management in Groups

21. Managing Your Anger • Reframe self-talk • Listen non-defensively • Deliberately calm yourself • Find distractions Speech 140 Chapter 10 Conflict Management in Groups

22. Managing The Anger of Others • Be asymmetrical- do not strike back in kind • Validate the other person • Probe • Distract (Shifting the other person’s focus) • Assume a problem orientation • Refuse to be abused • Disengage Speech 140 Chapter 10 Conflict Management in Groups