Management Ch. 13

Managing Intra-personal conflict

1. When seeking a new job, you should find out as much as possible about the values of the organization 2. ROLE ANALYSIS= The individual asks the various role senders when they expect of him. 3. Political skills can help buffer the negative effects of stress that stem from role conflicts.

RAtionalizarion

A compromise mechanism characterized by trying to justify one's behavior by constructing bogus reasons for it.

Compensation

A compromise mechanism in which an individual attempts to make up for a negative situation by devoting himself or herself to another pursuit with increased vigor.

Identification

A compromise mechanism whereby an individual patterns his or her behavior after another's

Emotional Intelligence

A critical indicator of a manager's ability to manage conflict =power to control one's emotions and perceive emotions in others, adapt to change, and mange adversity

Functional Conflict

A healthy, constructive disagreement between two or more people. Can provide new ideas, learning and growth among individuals; improve working relationships; improve morale. ENCOURAGES CREATIVITY- translates into increased productivity. Key to recognizing:is often cognitive in origin; arises from someone challenging old policies or thinking of new ways to approach problems. Stimulate this when groupthink occurs

Distributive bargaining

A negotiation approach in which the goals of the parties are in conflict, and each party seeks to maximize its resources.

Integrative Negotiation

A negotiation approach in which the parties' goals are not seen as mutually exclusive, but the focus is on both sides achieving their objectives.

Inter-role Conflict

A person's experience of conflict among the multiple roles in his or her life. Ex: Work-Home conflict.

Due process nonaction

A procedure set up to address conflicts that is so costly, time consuming, or personally risky that no one will use it.

Role

A set of expectations placed on an individual by others

Accomodating

A style in which you are concerned that he other party;'s goals be met but relatively unconcerned about getting your own way. Cooperative but unassertive.

Authority Relationships

A traditional boss-employee relationship is hierarchical in nature, with a boss who is superior to the employee. For many employees such a relationship is not comfortable. As organizations move toward the team approach and empowerment there should be less potential for conflict from authority relationships

Collaborating

A win-win style that is high on both assertiveness and cooperativeness.

Flight/Withdrawal

A withdrawal mechanism hat entails physically escaping (flight) or psychologically escaping (withdrawal) a conflict

Conversion

A withdrawal mechanism in which emotional conflicts are expressed in physical symptoms

Fantasy

A withdrawal mechanism that provides an escape from a conflict through daydreaming

Negativism

An aggressive mechanism in which a person responds with pessimism to attempt at solving a problem.

Displacement

An aggressive mechanism in which an individual directs his or her anger toward someone who is not the source of the conflict.

Fixation

An aggressive mechanism in which an individual keeps up a dysfunctional behavior that obviously will not solve the conflict.

Character assassination

An attempt to label or discredit an opponent

Superordinate Goals

An organizational goal that is more important to both parties in conflict than their individual or group goals. Require cooperation by both parties

Dysfunctional conflict

An unhealthy, destructive disagreement between two or more people. Takes focus away from work to be done and places it on the conflict itself and the parties involved. Drains energy that could be used more productively. Key to recognizing: origin is often emotional or behavioral. Losses to both parties may exceed any potential gain from the conflict.

Conflict

Any situation in which incompatible goals, attitudes, emotions, or behaviors lead to disagreement or opposition between two or more parties Marketplace with increasing competition and globalization, magnifies differences among people in terms of personality, values, attitudes, perceptions, languages, culture, and backgrounds. Greater diversity=greater likelihood of conflict

Common Resources

Any time multiple parties must share resources, there is potential for conflict. Is enhanced when the shared resources become scarce.

Effective techniques of Conflict Management

Appealing to superordinate goals, expanding resources, changing personnel, changing structure, and confronting and negotiating

Secrecy

Attempting to hide a conflict or an issue that has the potential to create conflict. Only creates suspicion

Conflict Management Styles

Classified by assertiveness and cooperativeness. Avoiding, Accommodating, Competing, Compromising, Collaborating

Defense Mechanisms

Common response to interpersonal conflict

Compromise mehanisms

Compensation, identification, rationalization Used by individuals to make the best of a conflict situation

Strategies to deal with Conflict

Competitive=founded on assumptions of win-lose and entails dishonest communication, mistrust, and a rigid position form both parties Cooperative=founded on different assumptions: the potential for win-win outcomes, honest communication, trust, openness to risk and vulnerability, and the notion that the whole may be greater than the sum of the parts.

Cultural Differences

Conflict stems from a lack of understanding of another culture

Intergroup Conflict

Conflict that occurs between groups or teams in an organization. Conflict can have positive effects. "Us against them mentality" Competition between groups much be managed carefully so that it does not escalate into dysfunctional conflict.

Inter-organizational Conflict

Conflict that occurs between two or more organizations. Competition can heighten it. Corporate takeovers, mergers, and acquisitions can produce it.

Person-Role Conflict

Conflict that occurs when an individual in a particular role is expected to perform behaviors that clash with his or her personal values.

Intra-role Conflict

Conflict that occurs within a single role, such as when a person receives conflicting messages from role senders about how to perform a certain role.

Intra-group Conflict

Conflict that occurs within groups or teams. Some is functional, as it can help prevent group think

Administrative orbiting

Delaying action on a conflict by buying time, usually by telling the individuals involved that the problem is being worked on or that the boss is still thinking about the issue.

Values and Ethics

Different ages can have different company loyalties. Most people have their own sets of values and ethics although the extent to which they apply these ethics in the workplace varies.

Skills and Abilities

Diversity in skills and abilities holds potential for conflict, especially when jobs are interdependent. Workers of different skills working alongside each other can promote conflict

Nonaction

Doing nothing in hopes that a conflict will disappear; Generally not a good technique because most conflicts do not go away, and the individuals involved in the conflict act with frustration.

Emotions

Emotions of the parties involved in conflict play a pivotal role in how they perceive any type of negotiation and therefore how they respond to one another.

Power Networks

Equal vs. Equal= Horizontal balance of power among the parties (Ex= Conflict between Individuals from two different project teams) Results in SUBOPTIMIZATION where the focus is on a win-lose approach to problems. High vs. Low= Powerful party vs. Less powerful party High vs. Middle vs. Low= Classic conflicts felt by middle managers. Role conflict= conflicting expectations from bosses and employees, Role ambiguity= expectations of the boss are unclear

Withdrawal Mechanisms

Exhibited when frustrated individuals try to flee from a conflict using either physical or psychological means. Ex. Flight, conversion, and fantasy

Agressive mechanisms

Fixation, displacement, and negativism Aimed at attacking the source of the conflict

Changing Personnel

Hiring an individual who is a long running source of conflict

Interdependence

Interdependence requires groups or individuals to depend on one another to accomplish goals. When there is a problem, it becomes very easy to blame the other party, and conflict escalates.

Compromising

Intermediate in both assertiveness and cooperativeness, because both parties must give up something to reach a solution to the conflict. Not optimal solutions.

Managing Interpersonal Conflict

Interpersonal conflict= Conflict that occurs between two or more individuals.

Types of Intra-personal conflict

Intrapersonal conflict=conflict that occurs within an individual. Inter-role, intra-role, and person-role

Diagnosing a Conflict

Look at issue, context of the conflict, parties involved. Then resolve or stimulate it. Developing trust within the workgroup can keep from misattribution.

Avoiding

Low on both assertiveness and cooperativeness. Deliberate decision to take no action.

Confronting and Negotiating

Negotiation=joint process of finding a mutually acceptable solution to a complex conflict. 2 major approaches: distributive bargaining and integrative negotiation.

Personalities

One personality trait that many people find difficult to deal with is abrasiveness.

Changing structure

One way= CREATING INTEGRATOR ROLE= a liaison between groups with very different interests. USING CROSS-FUNCTIONAL TEAMS= teams made up from members from different departments, improves coordination and reduces delays by allowing many activities to be performed at the same time rather than sequentially.

Communication Barriers

Physical separation and language can create distortions in messages and those can lead to conflict. Another example=judgement

Expanding Resources

Providing more resources when scarce resources is causing conflict

Personal Factors

Skills and Abilities, Personalities, Perceptions, Values and Ethics, Emotions, Communication Barriers, Cultural Differences

Status Inconsistencies

Some organizations have a strong status difference between management and non-management workers. Managers may enjoy privileges that are not available to non-management employees and that may result in resentment and conflict.

Structural factors

Specialization, Interdependence, Common resources, Goal differences, authority relationships, status inconsistencies, jurisdictional ambiguities.

Causes of Conflict

Structural factors= stem from the nature of the organization and the way in which work is organized Personal factors= arise from differences among individuals

Role senders

The individuals who place expectations on the person

Role incumbent

The person occupying the focal role

Jurisdictional Ambiguities

The presence of unclear lines of responsibility within an organization. Classic situation involves the hardware/software dilemma.

Perceptions

The reward system can create conflicts if managers provide what they think their employees want rather than what they actually want.

Competing

Very assertive and uncooperative. Emergency or in situations where you know you are right, it may be best to use.

Goal Differences

When groups have different goals, these goals may be incompatible. Often occur because individuals do not have knowledge of another department's objectives

Specialization

When jobs are specialized employees become experts at certain tasks. Occurs because people have little awareness of the tasks that others perform. Classic conflict that occurs is between salespeople and engineers. Salespeople are often accused of making delivery promises to customers that engineers cannot keep because salesforce lacks technical knowledge.