Importance of Conflict Management Skills

“As managers we spend about 21% of our time dealing with conflict.”

• Conflict management skills predict managerial success

• High Emotional Intelligence (EI) needed to manage conflict

Perspective of Conflict

• Interactionist view– Conflict is valuable to organizations

• “When two people in business always agree, one of them is unnecessary”

• “You put a lot of smart people in a room and listen to them duke it out, and the best idea will pop out”

– View of Michael Eisner, CEO of Disney

• Minimization view– Conflict reduces harmony and should be avoided

– Norm of agreement

Prentice Hall, 2001 Chapter 13 3

Functional OutcomesFunctional Outcomes

• Improve quality of decisions

• Boost innovation and creativity

• Vent problems and tensions

• Promote self-evaluation

Prentice Hall, 2001 Chapter 13 4

Dysfunctional OutcomesDysfunctional Outcomes

• Impede communication

• Reduce cohesiveness

• Replace goals with infighting

Causes of Conflict

• Perceived fairness of resource allocation decisions– Budgets, raises, promotions

• Structural variables– Goal incompatibility

• Sales department versus credit department

– Dependence issues• One group (accounting) dependent upon another

(MIS)

Causes of Conflict

• Communication problems– Ambiguity– Mixed messages

• Verbalize one thing, yet your body language says another

– Jargon (finance, accounting, info systems terminology)

• Personal factors– Personality clashes

• Type A versus Type B

– Value systems• National culture dimensions• Different emphasis on quality or quantity

Types of Conflict• Task conflict

- conflicts over content and goals of work- low-to-moderate levels usually lead to functional conflicts (i.e., those that support goals of the group and improve performance) ~ stimulation of discussion of ideas

• Process conflict- conflicts over how work gets done- low levels lead to functional conflicts but intense levels creates task role uncertainty, longer time to complete tasks

• Relationship conflict- conflicts resulting from interpersonal relationships- dysfunctional conflict (i.e., hinders group performance) ~ personality clashes, decrease mutual understanding and hinders organizational tasks

Emotions and Conflict

• Negative emotions (Tension, frustration, hostility)– Limits ability to generate solutions

– Oversimplification of issues

– Distrust

• Positive emotions– Generate more solutions

– More creative solutions

– See the bigger picture

Survey

Interest in helping the other party to achieve its goals

Interest in achieving OW

N goals

Compromising

Stage III: Dimensions of Conflict-handling Styles

CollaborationCompetition

AccommodationAvoidance

LowLow

High

High

Conflict-Handling Styles

• Competing (assertive & uncooperative)– “I am right, you are wrong” approach

• Use in emergency situations– The plane is leaving in 5 minutes

• Short-term relationships, one-time interaction

• Avoidance (unassertive & uncooperative)– Suppress conflict by avoiding it or the other party

• Use when the matter is trivial

Allow other party or yourself time to cool down

Conflict-Handling Styles

• Accommodating (Unassertive & cooperative)

– Put the interests of the other party above your own

• Use when the issues are more important to others than to you

– Cautions:• You may eventually “blow-up” by continuing to put

others interests above your own

Conflict-Handling Styles

• Compromising (the middle ground)– Each party intends to or is asked to “give-up”

something: “Let’s split the difference”• Middle ground results in incomplete satisfaction of both

parties concerns

• Collaborating (assertive & cooperative)– “Win-win” strategy

• Each party seeks to fully satisfy their concerns and the concerns of the other party

• Searching for a mutually beneficial outcome• Commitment to long-term relationships

Ineffective Techniques forDealing with Conflict

Nonaction

Character Assassination

Due Process Nonaction

Secrecy

ConflictConflict

Organizational Conflict Resolution Techniques

• Superordinate goals– Overarching, shared goal that cannot be attained without

cooperation of each of the conflicting parties

• Altering structural variables– Changing the organizational chart

• Reporting relationships

• Create joint-task forces• Gain appreciation of each others (groups) constraints and needs

• Altering individuals– Human relations training– Transfers

• Minimizing perceived conflict through fairness– Procedural– Interactional