Conflict

4e

Nelson/Quick

©2015 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.

Chapter 13 Conflict and Negotiation


Conflicts

Disagreement between two or more parties due to incompatible goals, attitudes, emotions, or behaviors

Magnified by increasing competition, globalization, and diversity

2


Importance of Conflict Management Skills

Major predictor of managerial success Reflection of emotional intelligence (EI)

EI - Power to control one’s emotions and perceive emotions in others, adapt to change, and manage adversity

3


Table 13.1 - Consequences of Conflict

4


Nature of Organizational Conflict

Functional conflict

• Healthy, constructive disagreement

• Results in new ideas, learning, and growth among individuals

• Improves working relationships• Individuals experience

improved morale• Leads to innovation and

positive change for the organization

Dysfunctional conflict

• Unhealthy, destructive disagreement

• Focuses on the conflict and the parties

• Drains energy • Individuals act before thinking• Leads to aggressive acts or

retaliation• Losses may exceed any

potential gain from the conflict

5


Figure 13.1 - Causes of Conflict in Organizations

6


Forms of Group Conflict in Organizations

• Occurs between two or more organizations

Interorganizational conflict

• Occurs between groups or teams

Intergroup conflict

• Occurs within groups or teams

Intragroup conflict

7


Forms of Conflict in Organizations

Intrapersonal conflict

• Occurs within an individual

Interpersonal conflict

• Occurs between two or more individuals

8


Figure 13.2 - An Organization Member’s Role Set

SOURCE: J. C. Quick, J. D. Quick, D. L. Nelson, and J. J. Hurrell Jr., Preventive Stress Management in Organizations (Washington, DC: American Psychological Association, 1997). Copyright © 1997 by the American Psychological Association. Reprinted with permission.

9


Types of Intrapersonal Conflict

• Occurs when a person experiences conflict among the multiple roles in his or her life

• Work-home conflict

Interrole conflict

• Occurs within a single role• Arises when a person receives conflicting messages from role

senders about how to perform a certain role

Intrarole conflict

• Occurs when the expected behaviors of an individual clash with his or her personal values

Person-role conflict

10


Resolving Intrapersonal Conflicts

Find out about the values of the organization when seeking a new job

Perform role analysis to clarify the expectations of the parties in a relationship Reduces the potential for conflict within a role or

between roles

Develop political skills Buffer the negative effects of stress that stem from

role conflicts

11


Managing Interpersonal Conflict

Understand power networks in organizations Recognize defense mechanisms exhibited by

individuals Develop strategies to deal with difficult people

12


Aggressive Defense Mechanisms

Fixation: Keeping up a dysfunctional behavior that obviously will not solve the conflict

Displacement: Directing one’s anger toward someone who is not the source of the conflict

Negativism: Responding with pessimism to any attempt at solving a problem

13


Compromise Defense Mechanisms

Compensation: Attempting to make up for a negative situation by devoting oneself to another pursuit with increased vigor

Identification: Patterning one’s behavior after another’s

Rationalization: Trying to justify one’s behavior by constructing bogus reasons for it

14


Withdrawal Defense Mechanisms

Flight: Physically escaping a conflict Withdrawal: Psychologically escaping a conflict Conversion: Emotional conflicts are expressed in

physical symptoms Fantasy: Provides an escape from a conflict through

daydreaming

15


Table 13.2 - Win-Lose versus Win-Win Strategies

16


Ineffective Techniques for Dealing with Conflict

• Doing nothing in hopes that a conflict will disappearNonaction

• Attempting to hide a conflict or an issue that has the potential to create conflictSecrecy

• Delaying action on a conflict by buying timeAdministrative orbiting

• Procedure that is so costly, time consuming, or risky that no one will use it

Due process nonaction

• Attempt to label or discredit an opponentCharacter assassination

17


Effective Techniques for Dealing with Conflict

Superordinate goal• Organizational goal that is more important to both parties in a conflict than their

individual goals

Expanding resources• Providing more resources when conflict is due to scarcity of resources

Changing personnel• Transferring or firing the individual causing conflict

Changing structure• Creating an integrator and using cross-functional teams

Confronting and negotiating• Negotiating - Helps find a mutually acceptable solution to a complex conflict

18


Figure 13.4 - Conflict Management Styles

SOURCE: K. W. Thomas, “Conflict and Conflict Management,” in M. D. Dunnette, Handbook of Industrial and Organizational Psychology (Chicago: Rand McNally, 1976), 900. Used with permission of M. D. Dunnette.

19


Table 13.3 - Uses of Five Styles of Conflict Management

SOURCE: K. W. Thomas, “Toward Multidimensional Values in Teaching: The Example of Conflict Behaviors,” Academy of Management Review 2 (1977): 309–325. Reproduced by permission of the publisher via Copyright Clearance Center, Inc.

20


Table 13.3 - Uses of Five Styles of Conflict Management

SOURCE: K. W. Thomas, “Toward Multidimensional Values in Teaching: The Example of Conflict Behaviors,” Academy of Management Review 2 (1977): 309–325. Reproduced by permission of the publisher via Copyright Clearance Center, Inc.

21

Self Improvement

Conflict