Chapter 10- Conflict
Contact Hypothesis (How to Handle Intergroup Conflict)
suggests that the more members of different groups interact, the less intergroup conflict they will experience
Dysfunctional Conflict
threatens an organization's interest
Flexspace
when policies enable employees to do their work from different locations besides the office; telecommuting
Obliging (Styles of Conflict Handling)
you tend to show low concern for yourself and great concern for others
Conflict Processes
Member's interactions aimed at working through task and interpersonal disagreements.
Desired outcomes of Conflict Management
1. Agreement 2. Stronger Relationship 3. Learning
Why does conflict occur?
1. Change in tactics 2. Number of issues grow 3. Issues move from specific to general 4. Number of parties grows 5. Goals change
Two forms of Intergroup Conflict
1. Conflict States 2. Conflict Processes
How to Handle Intergroup Conflict
1. Contact Hypothesis 2. Conflict Reduction 3.Creating psychologically safe climates
Why Handling Styles of Conflict Matter
1. Culture 2. Results 3. Reduced turnover 4. Contingency Approach
How to Balance conflicts and Become Flexible
1. Flexspace 2. Flextime
Forms of Incivility
1. Harassment 2. Agression 3. Unfair treatment 4. Abusive Supervision 5. (Cyber)Bullying
Styles of Conflict Handling
1. Integrating 2. Obliging 3. Dominating 4. Avoiding 5. Compromising
Bullying
1. Most often evident to others (can be non-violent) 2. Affects even those who are NOT being bullies 3. Has group-level implications
Conventional Forms of Conflict
1. Personality Conflict 2. Intergroup Conflict
Effectively Managing Conflict
1. Programming Functional Conflict 2. Implement Alternative Forms of Dispute Resolution(ADR)
Forms of Conflict Intensified by Technology
1. Work-Family Conflict 2. Incivility(Bullying)
How to respond to conflict
1. be familiar with and follow company policies for diversity, anti-discrimination and sexual harassment. 2. communicate directly with the other person 3. do not bring other coworkers into the conflict 4. if dysfunctional conflict persists, seek help from direct supervisors or HR specialists
How to Address Bullying and Harassment
1. develop a workplace bullying policy 2. encourage open and respectful communication 3. develop clear procedures to handle bullying 4. develop a system to report bullying 5. provided conflict training for employees
How to manage conflict?
1. stop ignoring conflict 2. act decisively to improve the outcome 3. make the path to resolution open and honest 4. use descriptive language instead of evaluative 5. make the process a team-building opportunity 6. keep the upside in mind
Conflict Reduction (How to Handle Intergroup Conflict)
1. work to eliminate specific negative interactions 2. conduct team building to reduce intragroup conflict and prepare for cross-functional 3. encourage and facilitate friendships via social events 4. foster positive attitudes 5. Avoid or neutralize negative gossip 6. practice the above- be a role model
Contingency Approach (Why Handling Styles of Conflict Matter)
Not one style is best for every situation
Why People Avoid Conflict
Fear of: 1. harm 2. rejections 3. anger 4. damage or loss of relationships 5. being seen as selfish 6. saying the wrong thing 7. failing 8. hurting someone else
Causes of Incivility
Organizational Causes 1. organizational justice 2. destructive leadership 3. HR policies and procedures Individual Causes 1. Lack of character and ethics 2. Past experiences 3. Sensitivity to injustice and harassment 4. Different goals 5. Incompatible personalities 6. Biases and stereotypes
Creating a Psychologically Safe Climates(How to Handle Intergroup Conflict)
a shared belief held by team members that the team is a safe place for interpersonal risk taking an captures a sense of confidence that the team will not embarrass, reject, or punish someone for speaking up.
Incivility
any form of socially harmful behavior, such as aggression, interpersonal deviance, social undermining. interactional injustice, harassment, abusive supervision and bullying
Programming Conflict
conflict that raises different opinions regardless of the personal feeling of the manager Ex: 1. devils advocacy 2. dialectic method
Dialectic Method
calls for managers to foster a structures debate of opposing viewpoints prior to making a decision
Functional Conflict
commonly referred to in management circles as constructive or cooperative conflict and is characterized by consultative interactions, a focus on issues, mutual respect and useful give and take
Intergroup Conflict
conflict among work groups, teams and departments which can threaten organizational effectiveness
Results (Why Handling Styles of Conflict Matter)
cooperative styles such as integrating and obliging can improve new product development performance between buyers and suppliers; in contrast uncooperative styles such as dominating and avoiding increase numerous types of conflict and hampered new product development performance
Culture (Why Handling Styles of Conflict Matter)
departments and entire organizations can develop the same sort of styles; leaders own styles have the greatest influence in determining which styles get embedded
Climate
employees shared perceptions of policies practices and procedures
Flextime
flexible scheduling, either when work is expected to be completed or during which particular hours of the day
Compromising (Styles of Conflict Handling)
give-and- take approach with a moderate concern for both self and others
Dominating (Styles of Conflict Handling)
have a high concern for self and low cern for others
Integrating (Styles of Conflict Handling)
interested parties confront the issue and cooperatively identify the problem, generate and weigh alternatives and select a solution
Personality Conflict
interpersonal opposition based on personal dislike or disagreement
Devils Advovacy
involves assigning someone the role of critic; helps to uncover and air out all the possible objections
Conflict
occurs when one party perceives that its interests are being opposed or negatively affected by another party
Avoiding (Styles of Conflict Handling)
passive withdrawal from the problem and active suppression of the issue are common
Reduced turnover (Why Handling Styles of Conflict Matter)
reducing conflict is an important and effective means for reducing turnover; collaborative handling styles are effective in reducing turnover
Conflict states
shared perception among members of the team about the intensity of disagreement over either tasks or relationships