McGraw-Hill/Irwin © 2002 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc., All Rights Reserved.

12-1Level Of Conflict In Organizational Behavior

Macro

Micro

CONFLICT

Organizational

Intergroup

Interpersonal

Intra-

individual

McGraw-Hill/Irwin © 2002 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc., All Rights Reserved.

12-2A Model Of Frustration(Intra Individual)

Need

(deficiency)

Frustration

Drive

(deficiency

with direction)

Barrier

(1) Overt

(2) Covert

Defense mechanisms

(1) Aggression

(2) Withdrawal

(3) Fixation

(4) Compromise

Goal/

incentive

(reduction of

the drives and

fulfillment of

deficiencies)

McGraw-Hill/Irwin © 2002 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc., All Rights Reserved.

12-3Sources Of Interpersonal Conflict

Interpersonal

Conflict

Environmental

stress

Information

deficiency

Role

incompatibility

Personal

differences

McGraw-Hill/Irwin © 2002 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc., All Rights Reserved.

Inter personal

• Personal difference: every one has a unique background

because of his upbringing, cultural and family

traditions and socialization processes. Disagreements

stemming from the differences due to individual

preferences. Example bitter argument over who is

morally right.

• Information deficiency: This source of conflicts results

from communication breakdown in the organization. It

may be that the two people in conflict are using

different information or that one or both have

misinformation. This source of conflict is not

emotionally charged and once corrected , there is little

resentment.

12-4

McGraw-Hill/Irwin © 2002 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc., All Rights Reserved.

Inter personal

• Role incompatibility: This type of interpersonal

conflict draws from both intra individual role

conflict and intergroup conflict.example

production manager and sales manager have

interdependent functions one supports the other.

However the role of production manager is to

cut cost by keeping low inventory levels whereas

the sales manager requires a high finished goods

at hand to meet demands created by him. This

causes a conflict from role incompatibility.

12-5

McGraw-Hill/Irwin © 2002 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc., All Rights Reserved.

Inter personal

• Environmental stress: This is caused by stressful

environment created due to shrinking market,

downsizing, competitive pressures & high

degree of uncertainty.

12-6

McGraw-Hill/Irwin © 2002 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc., All Rights Reserved.

12-7

Intergroup

Conflict

Status

struggles

Task

interdependence

Jurisdictional

ambiguity

Competition

for resources

Antecedent Conditions For Intergroup Conflict

McGraw-Hill/Irwin © 2002 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc., All Rights Reserved.

Intergroup Conflict

• Competition for resources: most organisations today

have limited resources, groups vie for budget funds,

supplies, space, personnel and support services.

• Task interdependence: Brick and cement mixture is

required to make a wall, if any one is missing then it is

not possible.

• Jurisdictional ambiguity: due to overlapping

responsibility. Like a shop catches fire due to short

circuit but the cause later on was found to be high

voltage supply. Then the electricity department may

shed off it’s responsibility, due to lack of proof.

12-8

McGraw-Hill/Irwin © 2002 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc., All Rights Reserved.

Intergroup Conflict

• Status struggles: this conflict occurs when one

group attempts to improve its status and another

group views this as a threat to its place in the

status hierarchy.

12-9

McGraw-Hill/Irwin © 2002 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc., All Rights Reserved.

12-10Ways To Manage Prolonged Conflict and Stress

Individual

Coping

Strategies Behavioral

self-control

RelaxationExercise

Networking

Cognitive

Therapy

Eg Elli’s rational emotive model

McGraw-Hill/Irwin © 2002 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc., All Rights Reserved.

12-11Contemporary Negotiation Techniques

Low-Risk Techniques High-Risk Techniques

Flattery

Addressing the easy point first

Silence

Inflated opening position

“Oh, poor me”

Unexpected temper losses

High-bailing

Boulewarism (“take it or leave

it”)

Waiting until the last moment

McGraw-Hill/Irwin © 2002 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc., All Rights Reserved.

CONFLICT

12-12

McGraw-Hill/Irwin © 2002 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc., All Rights Reserved.

Syllabus

• Meaning and Process of conflict,

• Causes, sources, consequences of conflict

• Conflict resolution strategies

12-13

McGraw-Hill/Irwin © 2002 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc., All Rights Reserved.

Definition

• Chung and Megginson define conflict as the

struggle between incompatible or opposing

needs, wishes, ideas, interest or people. Conflicts

arises when individual or groups encounter goals

that both parties cannot obtain satisfactorily.

12-14

McGraw-Hill/Irwin © 2002 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc., All Rights Reserved.

A necessary evil

Conflict is…

• a normal, inescapable part of life

• a periodic occurrence in any relationship

• an opportunity to understand opposing preferences and values

• ENERGY

12-15

McGraw-Hill/Irwin © 2002 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc., All Rights Reserved.

Cognitive Vs affective conflict

• Cognitive conflict refers to differences in

perspectives or judgments about issues. It leads

to legitimate differences of opinion and develop

better ideas and solution to problems.

• Affective conflict is emotional and directed at

other people , which leads to anger, bitterness,

goal displacement and poor decisions.

12-16

McGraw-Hill/Irwin © 2002 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc., All Rights Reserved.

Functional and

Dysfunctional Conflict• Functional conflict: works toward the goals of

an organization or group

• Dysfunctional conflict: blocks an organi-zation or group from reaching its goals

– Dysfunctionally high conflict: what you typically think about conflict

– Dysfunctionally low conflict: an atypical view

– Levels vary among groups

12-17

McGraw-Hill/Irwin © 2002 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc., All Rights Reserved.

Functional and

Dysfunctional Conflict (Cont.)• Functional conflict

– “Constructive Conflict”--Mary Parker Follett (1925)

– Increases information and ideas

– Encourages innovative thinking

– Unshackles different points of view

– Reduces stagnation

12-18

McGraw-Hill/Irwin © 2002 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc., All Rights Reserved.

Functional and

Dysfunctional Conflict (Cont.)• Dysfunctionally high conflict

– Tension, anxiety, stress

– Drives out low conflict tolerant people

– Reduced trust

– Poor decisions because of withheld or distorted information

– Excessive management focus on the conflict

12-19

McGraw-Hill/Irwin © 2002 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc., All Rights Reserved.

Functional and

Dysfunctional Conflict (Cont.)• Dysfunctionally low conflict

– Few new ideas

– Poor decisions from lack of innovation and

information

– Stagnation

– Business as usual

12-20

McGraw-Hill/Irwin © 2002 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc., All Rights Reserved.

Process of Conflict12-21

McGraw-Hill/Irwin © 2002 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc., All Rights Reserved.

• (1) Stage I: Potential Opposition

• In the first stage of conflict process, those

conditions are created due to which conflict

arises. The different sources of conflicts can be

divided into three categories:

• (a) Communication

• (b) Structure

• (C) Personal variable

12-22

McGraw-Hill/Irwin © 2002 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc., All Rights Reserved.

• (a) Communication: In a research , it was

found that differing words like connotations,

jargons, noise, insufficient information as well

as all other barriers acts as a source of conflict

• Communication as a source of conflict means

those opposing forces which arise from

misunderstanding, semantic problems etc.

• Conflict increases when there is too little

communication or too much communication

12-23

McGraw-Hill/Irwin © 2002 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc., All Rights Reserved.

• (b) Structure: Structure of the organisation is another source of conflict. It includes variables such as size, degree of specialization, clarity of authority and responsibility, leadership style, reward system and the degree of dependence among the group. More the size of the group, more the specialization in the organisation. This leads to increase in conflict. A close style of leadership (tight and continuous observation) leads to increase in conflict

• (c) Personal Variables: It acts as a major source of conflict. It includes personality, attitude, value, perception and knowledge.

12-24

McGraw-Hill/Irwin © 2002 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc., All Rights Reserved.

• (2) Stage II: Cognition & Personalization

• If the conditions stated in stage I, negatively affects the party about what he cares then the probability for opposition or incompatibility is found. In this stage, there can be two types of conflict:

• (a) Perceived conflict

• (b) Felt conflict

• (a) Perceived conflict: It means the conflict is not personalized. In other words, “A” may be aware that “A” & “B” are in serious disagreement but “A” may not be tensed or anxious.

12-25

McGraw-Hill/Irwin © 2002 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc., All Rights Reserved.

• (b) Felt conflict means those conflicts which

arise when individuals become emotionally

involved i.e. becomes tensed, frustrated, anxious

etc.

• Some type of pattern prevails between two

groups as well as two departments in

organisation

12-26

McGraw-Hill/Irwin © 2002 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc., All Rights Reserved.

• (3) Stage III: Conflict handling situation Or

• Intentions

• Intentions mean decisions to act in a given way. Intention means difference between the perception and emotions of people and their behaviour. Intention is taken as a different stage because it helps us to know how to respond in result of others behaviour. There are a lot of conflicts which increase due to wrong intentions. There can be five different conflict handling intensions

• (a) Competing

• (b) Collaborating

• .

12-27

McGraw-Hill/Irwin © 2002 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc., All Rights Reserved.

• (c) Avoiding

• (d) Compromising

• (e) Accommodation

• (a) Competing: A desire to satisfy one’s interest

irrespective of impact on other party during

conflict. In simple words, achieving our goal at

sacrifice of other goal

12-28

McGraw-Hill/Irwin © 2002 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc., All Rights Reserved.

• (b) Collaborating: It is a situation or intension in which both the parties desires to satisfy the need of all the parties by clarifying differences. They discuss with each other in search of cooperation.

• (c) Avoiding: Avoiding is the intention to withdraw from a conflict i.e. trying to ignore the conflict

• (d) Compromising: Compromising is a situation or intention where both the parties are willing to give up something. In such kind of situation, there is no clear winner or looser.

• (e) Accommodating: It means willingness of one party to place the opponents interest above his own interest. This is also known as self sacrificing intention in order to maintain the relationship with the other parties

12-29

McGraw-Hill/Irwin © 2002 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc., All Rights Reserved.

• (4) Stage IV: Manifest Conflict Or Overt Behaviour

• This is the stage where conflict is out in the open i.e. it is visible. This stage is known as Behavioral stage and it includes the statements, actions and reaction made by the parties involved in the conflict. Bring the intention into action.

• Overt conflict covers full range of behaviour from direct and indirect form of interference violence and uncontrolled struggle at individual as well as group level. At organizational level, strikes and lockouts may be the result.

12-30

McGraw-Hill/Irwin © 2002 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc., All Rights Reserved.

• (5) Stage V: Outcomes

• The conflict finally results in an outcome which

may be functional (good) or dysfunctional (bad).

If the conflict is handled properly, there will be

increase in group performance. Such conflict is

said to be functional conflict. If the conflict is

mismanaged and due to it the group performance

decreases then it is said to be dysfunctional

conflict.

12-31

McGraw-Hill/Irwin © 2002 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc., All Rights Reserved.

12-32

McGraw-Hill/Irwin © 2002 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc., All Rights Reserved.

Causes of Conflict

• Conflict due to frustation

12-33

McGraw-Hill/Irwin © 2002 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc., All Rights Reserved.

Causes of conflict

• About the Eight Causes

• According to psychologists Art Bell and Brett Hart, there are eight common causes of conflict in the workplace. Bell and Hart identified these common causes in separate articles on workplace conflict in 2000 and 2002.

• The eight causes are:

• Conflicting resources.

• Conflicting styles.

• Conflicting perceptions.

• Conflicting goals.

• Conflicting pressures.

• Conflicting roles.

• Different personal values.

• Unpredictable policies.

12-34

McGraw-Hill/Irwin © 2002 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc., All Rights Reserved.

• Types of change, identification of the problem

and

• Implementation of change, resistance to change,

overcoming resistance to change.

12-35