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DATE TIME FORMAT Plenary participatory lecture TRAINER
INSTRUCTIONAL MATERIALS
Session guide: Conflict managementAsk participants: "What is a conflict?" "Why does it arise?" "How is it resolved?" Encourage participants to share their experiences of different types of conflict in their organizations. Some of these may have been resolved, while others would have remained unresolved. What effects had these conflicts on the working of the organization? After a brief discussion on these issues, observe that, as interdependence increases, conflicts are bound to increase. There are several reasons for conflicts to arise. Some of these may be difficult to identify. Conflict is a 'clash of interests, values, actions, views or directions.' Show EXHIBIT1 and point out that disagreement among people is the underlying basis of conflict. People disagree because they see things differently, want different things, have thinking styles which encourage them to disagree, or are predisposed to disagree. Conflict situations arise because of fear, force, fair or funds. Fear is an imaginary concern for future. Force of any kind initiates and concludes conflicts. Fair is the sense of fairness, which determines the moral values of an individual. Tangible as well as intangible costs may provoke conflict, and also help towards its resolution. Interpersonal conflicts arise because of differences in personality, perceptions, status and ideological and philosophical outlooks. Other causes of conflict can be communication gaps; personality differences; substandard performance; disputes over approaches, responsibility and authority; lack of cooperation; or competition for limited resources. Show EXHIBIT2 and discuss the main conditions which influence an organization towards conflict situations. Observe that very often these situations cannot be easily changed. Show EXHIBIT3 and discuss the effects of conflicts on an organization. Conflict situations result in negative and positive effects. They may help diffuse more serious conflicts, stimulate a search for new facts or resolution, increase group cohesion and performance, and demonstrate the power or ability of the conflicting parties. Conflicts could hinder smooth working or the decision making process, or create competing coalitions or reduce productivity. Show EXHIBIT4 and discuss the various stages - from inception to end - through which a conflict evolves. Show EXHIBIT5 and discuss elements of a conflict. Power, organizational demands and worth are three important elements of conflict. Power is the capacity and means to make people work. Organizational demands relate to job performance expectations. Worth is the self-esteem of an individual. Show EXHIBIT6. There are two theories of conflict management. Traditional theory considers people involved in conflict situations as trouble makers. Modern theory considers conflict as a natural and inevitable outcome of human interaction. Conflict situations often lead to the generation of new ideas and change. From here on, the discussion should focus on conflict resolution. Show EXHIBIT7. Fight, negotiation, problem solving and design are four ways of dealing with a conflict situation. Fight is not a healthy and positive approach. Negotiation is compromise, with a third party playing an important role. Problem solving entails identifying causes of conflict and removing them. The design approach uses conflict as a situation and attempts to resolve it through creativity. Responses to conflict situations vary. Show EXHIBIT8 and discuss the three main categories of response style. These are addressers, concealers or attackers. Addressers take risks and try to resolve conflicts. Addressers may be 'first steppers' or 'confronters,' depending upon the desire to resolve the conflict. Concealers conceal their feelings and do not work towards resolution of conflicts. They may be 'feeling swallowers,' 'subject changers' or 'avoiders.' Attackers attack either up-front or behind-the-back. EXHIBIT9 shows five different types of conflict handling behaviour: competing, collaborating, compromising, avoiding and accommodating. Competing has high concern for personal goals and low concern for relationships. Collaborating is the search for a mutually satisfactory solution. It involves high cooperation and low confrontation. Compromising is a mid-way solution, best suited to situations where the conflicting parties are relatively equal in power and have mutually independent goals. Avoiding is delaying or ignoring the conflict in the hope that over time the conflict situation will resolve itself. Accommodating is a search for common ground. It involves high cooperation and low confrontation. Strategies for managing conflict include styles, improving organizational practices, special roles and structure, and confrontation techniques. Show EXHIBIT10 and discuss each of these strategies. Show EXHIBIT11 and discuss different types of conflicts in a research organization. Conflicts may arise because of goal incompatibility, barriers to goal achievement, competition for use of limited resources, inter-personal differences, project priorities, or other causes related to research activities (EXHIBIT12). The underlying cause of most conflicts is lack of communication. Before concluding the session, once again discuss conflicts in research organizations. Observe that when scientists face conflict situations, they tend to assert themselves through collaboration or competition. If assertion fails, they may attempt to compromise. If that too fails, they may either accommodate or avoid. In order to prevent undesirable group behaviour, the research manager needs to promote organizational strategies such as establishing a committee of scientists that encourages cooperation. Managing conflict is a major responsibility of managers. To create a dynamic and healthy environment in the organization, conducive to effective working, the research manager should deal skilfully with conflict situations. This can only be done if she or he understands the scientists fully, i.e., their problems, interests, limitations and the factors motivating them. EXHIBIT 1 People differ, so they: · see things differently EXHIBIT 2
EXHIBIT 3 Positive effects: · Diffuses more serious conflicts Negative effects: · Hinders smooth working Source: Filley, 1975. EXHIBIT 4
EXHIBIT 5
EXHIBIT 6 Traditional theory · conflicts are caused by trouble-makers Contemporary theory · conflicts are inevitable between human
beings Source: Kirchoff and Adams, 1982. EXHIBIT 7
Source: De Bono, 1985. EXHIBIT 8 Addressers · First steppers Concealers · Feeling swallowers Attackers · Up-front Source: Turner and Weed, 1983. EXHIBIT 9
Source: Thomas and Kilman, 1974. EXHIBIT 10 · Styles Source: Tosi, Rizzo and Carroll, 1986. EXHIBIT
11 Conflicts arise between: · research and organizational goals EXHIBIT 12 Conflicts arise over: · Goals Source: Ivancevich, Szilagyi and Wallace, 1977. Reading note: Conflict management
Conflict is a clash of interests, values, actions, views or directions (De Bono, 1985). Conflict refers to the existence of that clash. Conflict is initiated the instant clash occurs. Generally, there are diverse interests and contrary views behind a conflict, which are revealed when people look at a problem from their viewpoint alone. Conflict is an outcome of organizational intricacies, interactions and disagreements. It can be settled by identifying and neutralizing the etiological factors. Once conflict is concluded it can provoke a positive change in the organization. When we recognize the potential for conflict, we implicitly indicate that there is already a conflict of direction, even though it may not have yet manifested itself as a clash. Confliction is the process of setting up, promoting, encouraging or designing conflict. It is a wilful process and refers to the real effort put into generating and instituting conflict. Deconfliction is the annihilation of conflict. It does not refer to negotiation or bargaining, or even to resolution of conflict: it is the effort required to eliminate the conflict. Why conflicts ariseIn most organizations, conflicts increase as employees assert their demands for an increased share in organizational rewards, such as position, acknowledgment, appreciation, monetary benefits and independence. Even management faces conflicts with many forces from outside the organization, such as government, unions and other coercive groups which may impose restrictions on managerial activities. Conflicts emanate from more than one source, and so their true origin may be hard to identify. Important initiators of conflict situations include: (i) People disagree. People disagree for a number of reasons (De Bono, 1985).(a) They see things differently because of differences in understanding and viewpoint. Most of these differences are usually not important. Personality differences or clashes in emotional needs may cause conflicts. Conflicts arise when two groups or individuals interacting in the same situation see the situation differently because of different sets of settings, information pertaining to the universe, awareness, background, disposition, reason or outlook. In a particular mood, individuals think and perceive in a certain manner. For example, the half-full glass of one individual can be half-empty to another. Obviously both individuals convey the same thing, but they do so differently owing to contrasting perceptions and dispositions. Conditions creating conflict situationsAccording to Kirchoff and Adams (1982), there are four distinct conflict conditions, i.e., high stress environments, ambiguous roles and responsibilities, multiple boss situations, and prevalence of advanced technology. Filley (1975) identified nine main conditions which could initiate conflict situations in an organization. These are: (i) Ambiguous jurisdiction, which occurs when two individuals have responsibilities which are interdependent but whose work boundaries and role definitions are not clearly specified. Conflict as a processConflict is a dynamic process. In any organization a modest amount of conflict can be useful in increasing organizational effectiveness. Tosi, Rizzo and Carroll (1986) consider the stages involved in the conflict process, from inception to end, as sequential in nature, namely: (i) the conflict situation, Effects of conflictsConflict situations should be either resolved or used beneficially. Conflicts can have positive or negative effects for the organization, depending upon the environment created by the manager as she or he manages and regulates the conflict situation. Positive effects of conflicts Some of the positive effects of conflict situations are (Filley, 1975): · Diffusion of more serious conflicts. Games can be used to moderate the attitudes of people by providing a competitive situation which can liberate tension in the conflicting parties, as well as having some entertainment value. In organizations where members participate in decision making, disputes are usually minor and not acute as the closeness of members moderates belligerent and assertive behaviour into minor disagreements, which minimizes the likelihood of major fights. Negative effects of conflicts Destructive effects of conflicts include: · impediments to smooth working, The overall result of such negative effects is to reduce employees' commitment to organizational goals and organizational efficiency (Kirchoff and Adams, 1982). Elements of a conflictOrganizational conflicts usually involve three elements, which have to be appropriately matched through necessary organizational arrangements in order to resolve the conflict (Turner and Weed, 1983). · Power is the capacities and means that people have at their disposal to get work done. Power includes budgetary discretion, personal influence, information, time, space, staff size and dependence on others. If used efficiently, power creates an atmosphere of cooperation, but can generate conflicts when misused, withheld or amassed. When these expectations are not fulfilled, people feel disheartened, angry, let down or cheated. Consequently, conflict situations can arise. · Worth refers to a person's self-esteem. People want to prove their worth in the organization. Superiors control employees' pay, performance rating, performance and appraisal, etc. How much of these are received by a person reflects their worth. An individual may also feel loss of worth if some basic needs are not fulfilled. Generally, conflicts arise from mismatches between power, organizational demands and feelings of personal worth. Theory of conflict managementConflict is defined as disagreement between individuals. It can vary from a mild disagreement to a win-or-lose, emotion-packed, confrontation (Kirchoff and Adams, 1982). There are two theories of conflict management. · The traditional theory is based on the assumption that conflicts are bad, are caused by trouble makers, and should be subdued. Response stylesPeople may appreciate the same situation in different ways, and so respond differently. It is therefore necessary to understand the response styles of the people involved so as to manage conflicts properly. According to Turner and Weed (1983), responses can be classified as follows: · Addressers are the people who are willing to take initiatives and risk to resolve conflicts by getting their opponents to agree with them on some issues. Addressers can either be first-steppers or confronters:- First-steppers are those who believe that some trust has to be established to settle conflicts. They offer to make a gesture of affability, agreeableness or sympathy with the other person's views in exchange for a similar response. · Attackers cannot keep their feelings to themselves. They are angry for one or another reason, even though it may not be anyone's fault. They express their feelings by attacking whatever they can even, though that may not be the cause of their distress. Attackers may be up-front or behind-the-back: - Up-front attackers are the angry people who attack openly, they make work more pleasant for the person who is the target, since their attack usually generates sympathy, support and agreement for the target. Dealing with conflictConflicts are inescapable in an organization. However, conflicts can be used as motivators for healthy change. In today's environment, several factors create competition; they may be differing departmental objectives, individual objectives, competition for use of resources or differing viewpoints. These have to be integrated and exploited efficiently to achieve organizational objectives. A manager should be able to see emerging conflicts and take appropriate pre-emptive action. The manager should understand the causes creating conflict, the outcome of conflict, and various methods by which conflict can be managed in the organization. With this understanding, the manager should evolve an approach for resolving conflicts before their disruptive repercussions have an impact on productivity and creativity. Therefore, a manager should possess special skills to react to conflict situations, and should create an open climate for communication between conflicting parties. Ways to resolve conflictWhen two groups or individuals face a conflict situation, they can react in four ways (De Bono, 1985). They can: · Fight, which is not a beneficial, sound or gratifying approach to dealing with a conflict situation, as it involves 'tactics, strategies, offensive and defensive positions, losing and winning grounds, and exposure of weak points.' Fighting as a way of resolving a conflict can only be useful in courtroom situations, where winning and losing becomes a by-product of the judicial process. Conflict-resolution behaviourDepending on their intentions in a given situation, the behaviour of conflicting parties can range from full cooperation to complete confrontation. Two intentions determining the type of conflict-handling behaviour are assertion and cooperation: assertion refers to an attempt to confront the other party; and cooperation refers to an attempt to find an agreeable solution. Depending upon the degree of each intention involved, there can be five types of conflict handling behaviour (Thomas and Kilman, 1976). They are: · Competition is a win-or-lose style of handling conflicts. It is asserting one's one viewpoint at the potential expense of another. Competing or forcing has high concern for personal goals and low concern for relationships. It is appropriate in dealing with conflicts which have no disagreements. It is also useful when unpopular but necessary decisions are to be made. Strategies for managing conflictsTosi, Rizzo, and Carroll (1986) suggested four ways of managing conflicts, namely through: · Styles. Conflict handling behaviour styles (such as competition, collaboration, compromise, avoidance or accommodation) may be suitably encouraged, depending upon the situation. A person with problem-solving skills and respected by the conflicting parties can be designated to de-fuse conflicts. · Confrontation techniques. Confrontation techniques aim at finding a mutually acceptable and enduring solution through collaboration and compromise. It is done in the hope that conflicting parties are ready to face each other amicably, and entails intercession, bargaining, negotiation, mediation, attribution and application of the integrative decision method, which is a collaborative style based on the premise that there is a solution which can be accepted by both parties. It involves a process of defining the problem, searching for alternatives and their evaluation, and deciding by consensus. Conflicts in research organizationsConflict in a research organization, and for that matter in any other organization, may be between individuals, intra-group or inter-group, with conflict due to: · research and organizational goals, Such conflicts may arise for many reasons (Ivancevich, Szilagyi and Wallace, 1977): · Within a research group, differences arise over project priorities, the sequence of activities and tasks. Summing upConflicts are inevitable in any organization. A modest level of conflict can be useful in generating better ideas and methods, inspiring concern and ingenuity, and stimulating the emergence of long-suppressed problems. Conflict management strategies should aim at keeping conflict at a level at which different ideas and viewpoints are fully voiced but unproductive conflicts are deterred. Stimulation of conflict situations is appropriate if the research manager identifies conditions of 'group-think.' Group-think is a situation where conflict rarely occurs because of high group cohesion, which results in poor decision and inadequate performance. Group-think prevails when there are lot of 'yes men' in a group, with the result that there is no serious appraisal of the situation and new ideas are not suggested. Group members attach greater importance to popularity, tranquillity and peace in the group rather than to technical ability and proficiency. Members are disinclined to verbalize their unbiased views in order to avoid hurting the feelings of other members of the group. Decisions are accepted as they are, adversely affecting organizational productivity. A manager can choose several remedies to avoid group-think (Irving, 1971). A conflict situation can be induced by supporting individualistic thinking or favouring individual competition. Individualistic thinking can be initiated in the group by including some group members who can freely express their views, which can encourage and prod others to do the same. Competition between individuals can be enhanced by acknowledging and rewarding the better performers. Conflict situations can also be introduced by making some organizational changes, such as transferring some group members, redefining roles, and helping the emergence of new leadership. A manager can also create a conflict situation by delivering shocks, such as by reducing some existing perks of the members of the organization. After stimulating the conflict situation, a manager should: · identify the likely source of the conflict situation, Basic problems in inter-group behaviour are conflict of goals and communication failures, A basic tactic in resolving conflicts, therefore, is to find goals upon which scientists or groups can agree, and to ensure proper communication and interaction. Some conflicts arise because of simple misconceptions, which can be overcome by improved communication. A manager should manage conflicts effectively rather than suppress or avoid them. To manage them, a manager needs to ask 'What?' and 'Why?' - and not 'Who?' - to get at the root of a problem. In the process of resolving conflicts, many problems can be identified and solved by removing obstacles and creating a new environment of individual growth. If conflicts are not managed properly, they can be damaging, as they waste a lot of energy and time, and invoke tension, which reduces the productivity and creativity of those involved. ReferencesDe Bono, E. 1985. Conflicts: A Better Way to Resolve Them. London: Harrap. Filley, A.C. 1975. Interpersonal Conflict Resolution. Glenview IL: Scott, Foresman. House, R.J., & Rizzo, J.R. 1972. Conflict and ambiguity as critical variables in a model of organizational behaviour. Organizational Behavior and Human Performance, 7: 467-505. Irving, J.L. 1971. Group think. Psychology Today, November. Ivancevich, J.M., Szilagyi, A.D., Jr., & Wallace, M.J., Jr. 1977. Organizational Behavior and Performance. California, CA: Goodyear Publishing. Kirchoff, N., & Adams, J.R. 1982. Conflict Management for Project Managers. Drexel Hill: Project Management Institute. Thomas, K.W., & Kilman, R.H. 1974. Conflict Mode Instrument. Tuxedo, New York NY: Xicom. Tosi, H.L., Rizzo, J.R., & Carroll, S.J. 1986. Organizational Behaviour. New York, NY: Pitman. Turner, S., & Weed, F. 1983. Conflict in Organizations. Englewood Cliffs: Prentice-Hall.
Why is interpersonal conflict important?Interpersonal conflicts offer great opportunities for learning and innovation. To use the potential of conflicts we need to understand them: analysing their roots and dynamics as well as our own responses to conflict situations helps us to understand and resolve interpersonal conflicts in a constructive way.
What is interpersonal conflict quizlet?Interpersonal Conflict. An expressed struggle between interdependent parties who perceive incompatible goals, scarce resources, and interference from one another.
Can interpersonal conflict be positive?Anytime more than one person is involved, there are going to be different values, opinions, and thoughts. These differences are what make people individuals. Interpersonal conflict can be healthy; sometimes, it can even result in a mutually beneficial solution and a closer, healthier relationship.
Which of the following is the key question when assessing the relational goals of a conflict quizlet?The key question when assessing process goals is "What communication process would work best?" Many times people disagree about how to formally or informally conduct a conflict.
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