Conflict Management

CONFLICT MANAGEMENT

Definition of Conflict A situation in which someone believes that his or her own needs have been denied. Conflict may be defined as a situation in which there is breakdown in decision making owing to irrational and incompatible stand taken by one or all related to decision making.

“The goal of organizational leadership is not to eliminate conflict, but to use it.” “Conflict is a predictable social phenomenon and should be channeled to useful purposes.”

• The important step in conflict management is the understanding of the nature of and dynamics involved in the conflict. Some of the forms of conflict are • intrapersonal • interpersonal • intragroup • inter group

Symptoms Of Conflict  Tensions.  No desire to communicate.  Work not done properly.  Disastrous meetings.  Anger occurs quickly and easily.

Symptoms Of Conflict  Failing

productivity.  Slipping morale.  Absenteeism.  Accidents.  Escalating costs.  Slamming doors.  Shouting.  Bad times.

Symptoms Of Conflict The employee (or employees) involved display no desire to communicate. Bad tempers are evident. Productivity is falling. Morale is slipping.

SOURCES OF CONFLICT:

UNDERSTANDING CONFLICT ORIGINS OF CONFLICT: • Limited resources. • Unmet basic needs. • Different values.

RESPONSES TO CONFLICT: SOFT: • Withdrwing. • Ignoring. • Denying. • Giving in. HARD: • Threatening. • Pushing. • Hitting. • Yelling.

PRINCIPLED: • Listening. • Understanding. • Respecting. • Resolving.

OUTCOMES OF CONFLICT:

SOFT: • LOSE-LOSE • LOSE-WIN HARD: • LOSE-LOSE • WIN-LOSE PRINCIPLED: • WIN-WIN.

TYPES OF CONFLICT: Interpersonal Conflict – Conflict between individuals due to differences in their goals or values.

Intragroup Conflict • Conflict within a group or team.

Intergroup Conflict • Conflict between two or more teams or groups. • Managers play a key role in resolution of this conflict

Interorganizational Conflict • Conflict that arises across organizations.

INTRAPERSONAL CONFLICT • • • •

Role conflict GOAL CONFLICT Approach- Approach Conflict Approach-Avoidance Conflict

INTERPERSONAL CONFLICT • Conflict between two members of the same group or of the same organization is common inspite of good management efforts to reduce it. If ignored and left to themselves, the two can develop destructive attitudes. .

– sources of interpersonal conflict. • The tendency on the part of most people to compete with others in their work environment and establish superiority over them. • People with differing styles, needs and values having to work together. • Fixed goals. • Exploitary tendencies on the part of some people and • Positional or status differences.

INTERGROUP CONFLICT OR ORGANIZATIONAL CONFLICT • • • • • • • •

Line and staff competition Functional interdependence Labour-management polarization Organization-individual disagreements Disagreement over goals Over lapping or ambiguous personalities Bottlenecks in the flow of work Personality clashes

CONFLICT MANAGEMENT: • Five conflict management modes Withdrawal/Avoidance. temporary Smoothing /Accomodating. fails to resolve Compromising Forcing/Competing. Provides Problem solving/collaboration

CONFLICT APPROACHES: COMPETING/FORCING.

APPROPRIATE: • An emergency looms. • The issue is trivial and others don’t really care what happens. • You’re sure you’re right, and being right matters more than preserving relationships.

INAPPROPRIATE: • Collaboration is not yet been attempted. • Co-operation from others is important. • Used routinely for most issues. • Self-respect of others is diminished

COLLABORATING: APPROPRIATE: • Co-operation is important. • A creative end is important. • Reasonable hopes exists to address all concerns. • The issues and relationship are both significant.

INAPPROPRIATE: • Time is short. • Issues are unimportant. • You’re overloaded. • The goals of the other person certainly are wrong.

COMPROMISING: APPROPRIATE: • Co-operation is important but time or resources are limited. • When finding some solution, even less than the best, is better than a complete stalemate. • When efforts to collaborate will be misunderstood as forcing.

INAPPROPRIATE: • Finding the most creative solutions possible is essential. • You cant live with the consequences.

AVOIDING: INAPPROPRIATE: APPROPRIATE: • You care both • The issue is about the trivial. relationship and • The relationship is the issues in-significant. involved. • Time is short and • Used habitually a decision is not for most issues. necessary. • Negative feelings • You have little may linger. power but still • Others would wish to block the benefit from other person.

ACCOMMODATING: APPROPRIATE: INAPPROPRIATE: • You really don’t • You are likely to care about the harbor issue. resentment. • You’re powerless • Used habitually in but have no wish order to gain to block the other acceptance. person. • You realize you are wrong.

PROBLEM-SOLVING: • • • • • •

Set the stage. Gather perspectives. Identify the interests. Create options. Evaluate options. Generate agreement.

5 ways to manage conflict • • • • •

Avoidance Competition (A) Accommodation (B) Compromise (C) Collaboration (D)

Conflict continuum I win, you lose (competition—A) I lose or give in (accommodate— B) We both get something (compromise—C) We both “win”(collaborate— D) A B C D

competition • Plus – The winner is clear – Winners usually experience gains

• Minus – Establishes the battleground for the next conflict – May cause worthy competitors to withdraw or leave the organization

Accomodation • Plus – Curtails conflict situation – Enhances ego of the other

• Minus – Sometimes establishes a precedence – Does not fully engage participants

Compromise • Plus – Shows good will – Establishes friendship

• Minus – No one gets what they want – May feel like a dead end

Collaboration • Plus – Everyone “wins” – Creates good feelings

• Minus – Hard to achieve since no one knows how – Often confusing since players can “win” something they didn’t know they wanted

PRINCIPLES OF CONFLICT RESOLUTION: • • • •

Separate people from the problem. Focus on interests, not positions. Invent options for mutual gain. Use objective criteria.

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