Chapter 12 Managing Conflict

Alternative Dispute Resolution may have to involve one of the following:

1. Facilitation- manager/leader urges party to deal directly with each other to resolve the conflict. 2. Conciliation- 3rd party comes in to help with communication act as a go between. ex: human resources department. 3. Peer Review- Panel of coworkers hears both sides and makes a decision. ex: union 4. Ombudsman- An individual hears both sides and makes a decision ex: anonymous tip line 5. Mediation- Does not render a decision, helps parties explore differences. 6. Arbitration- Court-like setting, where parties agree to accept decision made by arbitrator. This is cheaper than going to court. Test Question: Keep in mind that has you move down the list the process is becoming more formal and binding.

5 styles of Resolution/ Intention- These styles deal with assertiveness( motivation to satisfy one's own interests) and cooperativeness(motivation to satisfy other party's interests:

1. Forcing 2. Problem-solving 3. Compromising 4. Yield 5. Avoiding

Type and sources of conflict:

1. Task- clarify goals, interpret facts, gather information. 2. Relationship- remove the discordant relationship (separate people who do not get along) 3. Process- clarify responsibilities. Example: Don't focus on improving relationships if it is a task problem.

Conflict is ultimately framed as negative because:

1. the opposing interests do exist and the parties recognize these opposing interests. 2. The belief by one or both parties is that the other will thwart the other party's important interests. 3. The conflict is a process rooted in the relationship of the parties and the past contexts in which these relationships have taken place. 4. That eventually action will be taken by one or both parties that will thwart or has already thwarted the other's goals, unless there is some intervention.

True

Conflict presents a leadership opportunity.

True

Conflicts are quite negative and based on meta- analysis conflict is a "con" which is to say that it is bad.

Relationship conflicts- (RC)

Dysfunctional type of conflict that is not goal directed but rather it involves personalities and has nothing to do with the task. The conflict is about personal taste, political preferences, values and interpersonal style.

True

Early views suggested any conflict was bad conflict.

True

How conflict is resolved is often more important that the type of conflict.

Yielding style

If you do not care about the issue or the decision you would yield. It can be appropriate at times but keep in mind that if you yield one time people will continue to expect this behavior long-term and this can cause a problem. Need to cement that this is a one time only not a continuation of a style. If it is a bad decision do not yield.

As a leader keep in mind these questions?

Is this my conflict to resolve? Do I have the authority to solve this? Is there some larger organizational good I can obtain if if empower those lower in the organization to solve this conflict?

Iceberg of conflict:

Keep in mind that the tip of the iceberg shows the issues but underneath the water is the largest part of the iceberg that still needs to be dealt with. Conflict goes much deeper so you have to get to the root of the problem.

True

No leader is omniscient, no leader can foresee every contingency that may breed a conflict.

The past matters:

People return behaviors that are given to use. Previous exchanges set the tone for current conflicts.

No

So we should avoid conflict at all costs? Scholars now acknowledge conflict as a symptom of human nature and is therefore unavoidable.

Not everyone views conflict in the same way:

Some people see conflict as lively enjoyable debate. examples- creative people and open minded people. Need 2 or 3 of these type people on every team. Other people see any kind of conflict or opposition in very negative terms and become angry. examples: aggressive, narcissistic, Machiavellian and psychopathic type individuals. Need only one of these on a team if possible will pull the team down.

True

Sometimes in dealing with conflict you gut reaction may be wrong.

85

Statistics show that _________% of people try to avoid conflict.

Conflict and its management is a process and not just a type( task, realtionship, process) it is a circle that goes round and round with the following steps:

Step 1. Diagnose the conflict by understanding its type an identifying its sources. Step 2. Decide on the most appropriate conflict handling intention. Step 3. Enact the leadership behavior to resolve the conflict. Step 4. Measure the organizational effectiveness of the conflict resolution actions.

True

Task and relationship conflict are highly realted to one another.

Well managed conflict can:

allow for people to probe and test each other's way of thinking to better understand core issues that need to be addressed. May prevent teams from making less that optimal decisions by unleashing the power of creative and collaborative ideas.

Opposition-

among social entities directed against one another = competition.

Relationship and process conflict:

are negatively related to group performance.

Relationship, task and process conflicts:

are negatively related to trust, team potency, team satisfaction, team commitment, team identification and OCBs( organizational citizenship behaviors)

Arguments or management problems-

are not the same as a conflict. But often times they are used interchangeably. This is not a real conflict.

Problems-

are resolved after conflict and sometimes those problems are resolved for the better.

A set of circumstances-

between or among parties who are interdependent, who blame each other, are angry and their respective behaviors are causign a problem.

Process conflicts-(PC)

conflicts about delegation or role assignments that carry personal connotations in terms of implied capavilities or respect within the group.

Task conflict-

conflicts about the distribution of resources and judgments and interpretation of facts. Is the best type of functional conflict.

Organization Structure:

divided loyalties if people are on more than one team or have multiple job duties.

As a leader once the conflict is resolved-

don't just walk away. Find out if the problem is resolved. Find out if a trap has been set for future conflict. If it did not work try to understand why and improve and work on that organizational culture.

Conflict occurs when people oppose the following:

goals, resources, purpose, processs or even position.

Leadership is important in setting up Pre-Conflict culture-

providing psychological safety and cooperation and in resolving conflict.

Conflict-

recent evidence points to a uniformly negative impact on organizations and their effectiveness, no matter the type of conflict.

Research-

suggest that conflict can be useful. The difference between useful conflict and determental conflict lies in how the conflcit is handled.

Compromising style

this style is ineffective. Results in sub-optimal solutions that only temporarily fix the problem. Example if two children want the same toy a compromise is to cut the toy in half but now you have a broken toy and neither child wants it.

Academy of Management

has researched more on conflict management than any other issue.

A Breakdown-

in the standard mechanisms of decision-making so that an individual or group experiences difficulty in selecting an action alternative.

Conceptualizations of conflict include such terms as:

interdependpent, blame, angry and problem.

Conflicit:

is going to happen that is inevitable.

Task conflict (TC)

is not directly related to group performance however it can be helpful for decision making groups. It has a null or 0 relationship with pperformance

Lively debate or constructive conflict:

is what you want to see instead of just conflict.

Groupthink

is when members of a group sit around nodding their heads or saying nothing going along with the group instead of having an opinion of their own.

Communication-

lack of clarity in the message, the parties who have to implement the goal do not what what the leader expects of them. Leader may need to step in and clarify.

Yerkes-Dodson Law

originally proposed for arousal and work performance has been used to study conflict. Low intensity-Too little conflict is not good, example group think. Moderate intensity of conflict was good. High intensity conflict was too much.

Why do some leaders not like to use resources such as Human resources department to help in conflict management?

Because they are afraid it will make them look bad and like they can't handle the job.

Problem-solving style-

Best solution long-term is to always problem solve. It is really what compromising is you have high assertiveness and high cooperativeness. The fact that problem solving is very time consuming is a negative.

Some examples of built-in or programming conflict are the following:

Brain storming Nominal Group Technique Devils advocacy Mind Mapping Delphi technique Root cause Analysis 5 Whys Fishbone Diagrams

True

The very definition of conflict is conflicted.

4

There are _______ profiles. 1. Task conflict -dominant/best of the profiles and the type of conflict that is good for a group. Task conflict is high and relationship and process conflict is low. 2. Low conflict- can be groupthink (Bad) or a lively debate (good). Task conflict, realtionship conflict and process conflict are all low. 3. Midrange conflict- is not good - all three conflicts are equal. 4. Dysfunctinal conflict- is the very worst- this is when task conflict is low and realtionship and process conflict are high

True

There is a tremendous body of research that urge conflicts in organizations be resolved at the lowest possible level. This does not mean Laissez Faire -leadership

Forcing style:

This style is used when time is of the essence. The leader steps in an focuses the decision to save time or it is like the Bill of Rights it is the law. High assertiveness and low cooperativeness.

Two

When just _______ people share the same physical or virtual space they will find themselves in a state of opposition or conflict.

True

While staving off every conflict will likely prove impossible carefully consider these antecedent ( which means to come before) conditions: Views of conflict, past matters, communication and organization structure.

Avoiding style-

You would avoid the problem or conflict. In avoiding you have low assertiveness and low cooperativeness. If a problem or conflict is escalating do not avoid. The leader should get involved and help.