Ch 7 - Managing Conflict

Question 1

Environmental stress

Answer 1

Conflict-fostering tension induced by such organizational factors as budget tightening or uncertainty caused by rapid, repeated change.

Question 2

Role incompatibility

Answer 2

The conflict-producing difference between workers whose tasks are interdependent but whose priorities differ because their responsibilities within the organization differ. The mediation of a common superior is usually the best solution.

Question 3

An informational deficiency

Answer 3

A breakdown in organizational communication. Conflicts based on the resulting misunderstanding tend to be common but easy to resolve.

Question 4

Personal differences

Answer 4

Variations among individuals’ values and needs that have been shaped by different socialization processes. Interpersonal conflicts stemming from such incompatibilities are the most difficult for a manager to resolve.

Question 5

4 Conflict management approaches

Answer 5

Collaborating, Accommodating, Deficit, & Abundance: The right side of the performance continuum, characterized by concepts such as striving for excellence and being ethically virtuous, which are especially relevant to the skill of leading positive change.

Question 6

Collaborating

Answer 6

The only win–win strategy. It is the cooperative, assertive, problem-solving mode of responding to a conflict. It focuses on finding solutions to the basic problems and issues that are acceptable to both parties rather than on finding fault and assigning blame.

Question 7

Accommodating

Answer 7

A response to a conflict that tries to preserve a friendly interpersonal relationship by satisfying the other party’s concerns while ignoring one’s own. It generally ends with both parties losing

Question 8

Deficit

Answer 8

The left side of the performance continuum, characterized by concepts such as solving problems and making a profit, which has garnered more attention that the abundance approach but is less relevant to the skill of leading positive change.

Question 9

Abundance

Answer 9

The right side of the performance continuum, characterized by concepts such as striving for excellence and being ethically virtuous, which are especially relevant to the skill of leading positive change.

Question 10

Initiator-problem identification

Answer 10

Succinctly describe your problem in terms of behaviors, consequences, and feelings

Question 11

Responder-problem identification

Answer 11

Signaling your willingness to consider making changes by agreeing with facts, perceptions, feelings, or principle

Question 12

Issue-focused conflicts

Answer 12

Like rational negotiations. They are interpersonal conflicts that are substantive, or content-oriented.

Question 13

People-focused conflicts

Answer 13

Interpersonal conflict that is personal (such as a clash between different personalities or interpersonal styles). It refers to the “in your face” kind of confrontation in which emotions run high and people feel moral indignation.

Question 14

Personal differences

Answer 14

Variations among individuals’ values and needs that have been shaped by different socialization processes. Interpersonal conflicts stemming from such incompatibilities are the most difficult for managers to resolve.

Question 15

Interpersonal competence

Answer 15

The ability to manage conflict, to build and manage high-performance teams, to conduct efficient meetings, to coach and counsel employees, to provide negative feedback in constructive ways, to influence others’ opinions, and to motivate and energize employees.

Question 16

Distributive bargaining perspective:

Answer 16

A negotiation tactic that requires both parties to sacrifice something to resolve the conflict—to divide up a “fixed pie.”

Question 17

Integrative perspective

Answer 17

A negotiation tactic in which the focus is on collaborative ways of “expanding the pie” by avoiding fixed, incompatible positions.

Question 18

Abundance approach

Answer 18

The right side of the performance continuum, characterized by concepts such as striving for excellence and being ethically virtuous, which are especially relevant to the skill of leading positive change.

Question 19

Deficit approach

Answer 19

The left side of the performance continuum, characterized by concepts such as solving problems and making a profit, which has garnered more attention that the abundance approach but is less relevant to the skill of leading positive change.

Question 20

Responder

Answer 20

The person who is supposedly the source of the initiator’s problem.

Question 21

Initiator

Answer 21

The individual who first registers a complaint with another person, who is the responder.

Question 22

Mediator

Answer 22

The third party who intervenes in a dispute between an initiator and a responder.

Question 23

Relationship-building roles

Answer 23

Emphasize the interpersonal aspects of the team.

Question 24

Forcing response

Answer 24

An assertive, uncooperative response to conflict that uses the exercise of authority to satisfy one’s own needs at the expense of another’s. It can be done by using formal authority, physical threats, or manipulation ploys, or by ignoring the claims of the other party.

Question 25

Reflecting response

Answer 25

Serves two purposes: 1) to confirm that a message was heard, and 2) to communicate understanding and acceptance of the other person.

Question 26

Threat-rigidity response

Answer 26

The tendency of almost all individuals, groups, and organizations to become rigid, meaning conservative and self-protective, when faced with a threat

Question 27

Probing response

Answer 27

Asks a question about what the communicator just said or about a topic selected by the listener.