Chapter 11 - Conflict Negotiation in the Workpalce Flashcards
What is the definition of conflict?
The process in which one party perceives that its interests are being opposed or negatively affected by another party
What are the negative consequences of workplace conflict?
- Lower performance
- Higher Stress, Turnover
- Less information sharing and coordination
- Increased organizational politics
- Wasted resources
- Weakened team cohesion
What are the positive consequences of workplace conflict?
- Better decisions making
- More responsive to change
- Stronger team cohesion when conflict is external
What are the two dominant types of conflict?
Task Conflict and Relationship Conflict
What are task conflicts? (constructive conflict)
Conflict in which people focus their discussions on the issue whilst showing respect for the people involved in that disagreement
*Associated with most of the positive benefits that come from workplace conflict
What are relationship conflicts?
Conflict in which people focus their discussion on the qualities of the people in the dispute rather than the qualities of the ideas presented
*Usually just leads to fighting and people getting pissed off
What three conditions potentially minimize the level of relationship conflict that occurs?
- Emotional Intelligence
- Team Development and Cohesion
- Norms supporting psychological safety
What is Psychological safety?
A shared belief that it is safe to engage in interpersonal risk taking: specifically that presenting unusual ideas, constructively disagreeing with the majority and experimenting with new work behaviours will not result in co-workers posing a threat to one’s self concept
What are some sources of conflict?
- Incompatible gains
- Differentiation
- Interdependence
- Scarce resources
- Ambiguous rules
- Poor communication
What are some manifestations of conflict?
- Conflict handling style
- Decisions
- Overt Behaviours
Why does a lack of communication in a conflict usually lead to worse results?
Since communication is key to letting each other know how we feel, by cutting off communication when both parties are upset at each other their brain can only reinforce the topic with negative stereotypes that came out of the last negative conversations/’
This is also true in romantic relationships to my knowledge
When does goal incompatibility occur?
When the goals of one person or department seem to interfere with another person’s or department’s goals
When does differentiation occur?
When the views on how to achieve certain goals differs between people or departments, they might have compatible goals however, they have different views when it comes to task completion which might arise from childhood socialization, gender, ethnicity, occupation, personal values and personal ability, etc.
How does interdependence cause workplace conflict?
All workplace conflict is caused by some level of interdependence because if there wasn’t a need for two people to interact there would be no conflict
Going back to the interdependence models
Pooled interdependence relationship - Lowest conflict
Sequential relationship - Mid conflict
Reciprocal relationship - High conflict
How do scarce resources cause workplace conflict?
People fighting over the same required resource
How do ambiguous rules cause workplace conflict?
This occurs because uncertainty increases the risk that one party will interfere with the other party’s goals
Additionally when there are clean rules people know what to expect and are usually much more bounded in what they try to achieve and what actions they might take to achieve those goals
How do communication problems cause workplace conflict?
Me no understand you, low EQ, we argue, we go apart, angry, stereotype, repeat
Lack of communication usually escalates any negative situation even further into the stratosphere
What are the five Interpersonal Conflict Handling Styles? And What is their split in terms of (Assertiveness and cooperativeness)
Problem Solving (High, High) - belief that there is some mutually beneficial solution
Forcing (High, Low) - belief that there is a limited pool of benefit so whenever one party benefits the other must implicitly lose
Avoiding (Low, Low) - Just avoid the issue and the people associated, bury it through the memory wiping our brains go through
Yielding (Low, High) - Giving in completely to the other side’s wishes, or at least cooperating with little or no attention to one’s own interests
Compromising (Mid, Mid) - Actively seeking a middle ground between the interests of the two parties
When is the Problem Solving style preferred?
- Interests are not perfectly opposing
- Parties have trust, openness, and time to share information
- The issues are complex
When is the Forcing style preferred?
- Dispute requires a quick solution
- Your position objectively has a much stronger logical or moral foundation
- The other party would take advantage of more cooperative strategies
When is the Avoiding style preferred?
- Conflict has become too emotionally charged
- Parties want to maintain a harmonious relationship
- Cost of trying to resolve the conflict outweighs the benefits
When is the Yielding style preferred?
- Issue is much less important to you than the other party
- The value and logic of your position isn’t clear
- Parties want to maintain a harmonious relationship
- The other party has substantially more power
What are the six structural approaches to minimize dysfunctional conflict?
- Emphasize superordinate goals (goals that the conflicting parties value and whose attainment requires the joint efforts of both parties)
- Reduce differentiation
- Improve Communication
- Reduce interdependence
- Increase resources
- Clarify rules and procedures
When is the Compromising style preferred?
- Single issue conflict with opposing interests
- Parties lack time or trust for problem-solving
- Parties want to maintain a harmonious relationship
- Parties have equal power
