week 6

conflict types

Functional and dysfunctional

Common causes of conflict

Personality differences Irritating workplace behaviors Unmet needs at work Perceived inequities of resources and policies Unclear roles and responsibilities Competing responsibilities Change Poor management Poor communication Differences in work methods

Conflict management styles matter

1.Culture—departments and even organizations can develop same style. A leader's own style has greatest influence 2.Results—different styles yield different outcomes 3.Reduced turnover— Reducing conflict important effective means reducing turnover 4.You vs. Others—self and other awareness can help resolve conflict, can also help leverage strengths of team

Five Common Conflict-Handling Styles

Integrating—confront the issue and cooperatively identify it, generate and weigh alternative and select a solution Obliging—tends to show low concern for self and great concern for others. Tends to minimize differences and highlight similarities to please the other party. Dominating—high concern for self and low concern for others. Other party's needs mostly ignored. Often called forcing. Avoiding—passive withdrawal from the problem and active suppression of the issue are common Compromising—given and take approach with moderate concern for both.Appropriate when parties have opposite goals or possess equal power.

Communication Process

The Sender - initiates message Encoding - translating thought to message The Message - what is communicated The Channel - the medium the message travels through Decoding - the receiver's action in making sense of the message The Receiver - person who gets the message Noise - things that interfere with the message

Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR)

a process by which two parties resolve conflicts through the use of a specially trained, neutral third party

incivility

any form of socially harmful behavior such as aggression, interpersonal deviance, social undermining, interactional injustice, harassment, abusive supervision and bullying Violates norms of respect Perpetual and thus exists in the eyes of the abused Perception is what negatively affect numerous outcomes across levels of the organizing framework—lower employee engagement and job satisfaction, reduced effort and commitment and increased stress and turnover

Non-verbal communication

body movements, touch, facial expressions, and eye contact

functional conflict

commonly referred to as constructive or cooperative conflict, characterized by consultative interactions, a focus on the issues, mutual respect and useful give-and-take In these situations, people often feel comfortable disagreeing and presenting opposing views. Can foster several desirable outcomes: Open-mindedness—when conflict is functional, people speak-up, others listen Increased understand and strengthened relationships. Feeling understood cultivates respect and empathy. Innovation—pushes people to consider different views than they would otherwise—often results in new and better processes and outcomes Accelerated growth—results in change—improves performance across levels OB

Dysfunctional conflict

disagreements that threaten or diminish an organizations interests. Costs: Absenteeism—conflict major driver of people not showing up. Turnover—lack of fairness, bullying or other forms of disrespect and incivility cause people to quit Unionization—lack of fairness can be costly and motivate employees to organize to combat poor treatment and practices Litigation—if not dealt with effectively, many employees will seek legal remedies

empathy

the ability to understand and share the feelings of another

Conflict Defined

the energy created by the perceived gap between what we want and what we're experiencing. •Like communication, also a perceptual process •Both positive and negative outcomes •Appropriate types and levels energize people to move in constructive directions

Communication

the exchange of information between a sender and a receiver the inferred meaning between the individuals involved (perceptual process)

Expectancy Theory

the theory that people will be motivated to the extent to which they believe that their efforts will lead to good performance, that good performance will be rewarded, and that they will be offered attractive rewards

Media Richness Theory

theory that identifies the richness of a communication medium based on the amount of feedback it allows, the number of cues receivers can interpret, the variety of language it allows, and the potential for emotional expression

bullying

unwelcomed behavior that occurs over a period of time and is meant to harm someone who is or feels powerless to respond

Non-defensive communication

•Avoiding defensive language from either party, which can foster inaccurate and inefficient information

Improving Communication

•Clarify communication expectations and norms. If your manager fails to discuss these, bring the topic up. It's better to understand expectations than to guess wrong. After all, you are the one who will lose if people form negative perceptions about your communication skills and patterns. •Use a variety of communication tools. Regardless of your preferred mode of communication (such as face-to-face or texting), employees from all generations should use a variety of media according to the circumstances. This avoids alienating any particular generation. •Be aware of implicit cognition. Don't assume, based on somebody's gender or age, that he or she only likes one mode of communication. If you find males interrupting, gently call them out. If someone is quiet in a meeting, ask for his or her opinion. •Make sure people get credit for their ideas and not their gender. Sometimes a woman "will say something, and it's not acknowledged until a guy says it later," Paul Gotti, Cardinal Health's vice president of nuclear pharmacy services, says. He makes sure to credit the woman and ask her to elaborate Some suggestions for improving communication include: Clarify communication expectations and norms. Use a variety of communication tools, regardless of your preferred mode of communication (e.g., face-to-face or texting). Don't assume, based on somebody's gender or age, that he or she only likes one mode of communication. Make sure people get credit for their ideas and not their gender. •

Forms of ADR

•Facilitation - manager •Conciliation - neutral 3rd party •Peer Review - panel of trustworthy coworkers •Ombudsman - employee and widely respected and trusted •Mediation - neutral and trained 3rd party guiding parties

Common warning signs conflict escalation:

•Tactics change—move from light tactics such as persuasive arguments etc to heavier tactics—threats, power plays, violence •Number of issues grows—more issues that bother each party raised and included in the conflict •Issue move from specific to general—small and specific concerns become more vague or general and can evolve into a general dislike of or intolerance for the other party •Number of parties grows—more people and groups are drawn into the conflict •Goals change—parties change their focus from doing well or resolving conflict to winning and even hurting the other party

active listening

•The process of actively decoding and interpreting verbal messages Requires cognitive attention and information processing unlike hearing

Harassment

•discrimination based on a protected class (race, gender, religion, pregnancy, age, disability) that becomes illegal when it threatens employment or is considered intimidating