Conflict

What is Conflict?

• Conflict is a disagreement over issues of that are important or have an emotional irritant.

• Substantive conflicts involve disagreements over goals, resources, reqrds, policies, procedures, and job assignments.

• Emotional conflicts result from feelings of anger, distrust, dislike, fear, and resentment as well as personality clashes.

Functional and Dysfunctional Conflict

• Functional conflict is constructive. It helps performance by encouraging cooperation, creativity, and effort.

• Dysfunctional conflict is destructive and hurts task performance

An Example of Positive Conflict

Causes of Conflict

• Almost anything can start a conflict. Different things are important to different people. Here are some common general causes.

• Role ambiguities – Unclear job expectations and task uncertainties.

• Resource scarcities – Sharing resources OR competing for allocations creates a conflict-rich environment.

• Task interdependencies – If individuals or groups have to rely on what others do, conflicts can happen.

Causes of Conflict

• Competing objectives – If objectives are badly set, or reward systems are badly designed, there could be conflict by working to one another’s disadvantage.

• Structural differentiation – Maybe an organization is not structured in a way that everyone feels good working in.

• Unresolved prior conflicts – If it is not dealt with properly, conflict can linger in people for a long time.

How to Deal with Conflict

• This is a very important management skill.

• We have to decide whether to resolve the conflict or suppress the conflict.

• Think of the possible types of conflict…here are some ways we can address them.

• Appealing to subordinate goals

• Making more resources available

• Changing the people

• Altering the physical environment

• Changing reward systems

• Changing policies and procedures

• Training in interpersonal skills

Conflict Management Styles

• How we respond to conflict as managers will be different based on our own experiences. In general, we can either believe in:

• Cooperativeness – the desire to satisfy another party’s needs and concerns.

or

• Assertiveness – the desire to satisfy one’s OWN needs and concerns.

Conflict Management Styles

• Avoidance – Also called withdrawal. Managers try to pretend there is no conflict. They try to stay neutral all the time. They are uncooperative and unassertive.

• Accommodation – Also called smoothing. Letting the wishes of others rule. We smooth over or overlook differences to keep harmony. They are cooperative, but unassertive.

• Competition – Also called authoritative command. We are uncooperative but assertive. We work against the wishes of the other party. Uses authority.

Conflict Management Styles

• Compromise – Sort of cooperative and assertive. Looking for solutions that are acceptable to both parties.

• Collaboration – This one is “problem solving.” The manager is cooperative and assertive. Looking for solutions that everyone gains. Everyone’s concerns are taken care of.

• These have to be chosen properly. Not every situation allows for the same fix.

Accommodating or Smoothing---------------------------------------------

----Playing down the conflict and

seeking harmony among parties

Collaboration or Problem Solving

-------------------------------------------------

Searching for a solution that meets each other’s needs.

Avoidance or Withdrawal---------------------------------------------

----Denying the existence of

conflict and hiding one’s true feelings.

Competition or Authoritative Command

------------------------------------------------

Forcing a solution to impose one’s will on the other party.

Compromise-------------------------------------------------

Bargaining for gains and losses to each party

Degree of Assertiveness HighLow

Low

High

Degree of Cooperativeness

Conflict Management Styles

• Avoiding or Accommodating leads to lose-lose conflict.

• Nobody wins.

• Reasons for the conflict are unchanged.

• Appears solved, but conflict will likely return.

Conflict Management Styles

• Competing and compromising create win-lose conflict. Each party in the conflict aims to gain.

• Conflicts are likely to occur again.

• Competition means one party wins. Authoritative command happens because the supervisor chooses the winning party’s desires.

• Compromise happens when both parties gain something of value, but they also lose something of value.

Conflict Management Styles

• Collaborating tries to work together with everyone involved to solve the causes of the problem.

• It creates a win-win conflict.

• Everyone works together to deal with the problem, and everyone gets what they want.

• Not every situation can be turned into a win-win situation..