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