Conflict and Negotiation Flashcards
Define conflict.
The process that begins when one party perceives that another party has negatively affected, or is about to negatively affect, something that the first party cares about
What are the two perspectives on conflict?
Interactionist view: The belief that conflict is…a positive
force in a group…and an absolute necessity for a group to perform effectively. There are two kinds of conflict functional and dysfunctional one helps the group the other does not.
Traditional view: the belief that all conflict is harmful and must be avoided.
What are the positive (3)and negative (6) outcomes of conflict?
Positive Outcome:
1. Better decision making.
* Tests logic of arguments.
* Questions assumptions.
* Generates creative thinking.
2. More responsive to the changing environment.
3. Stronger team cohesion (when conflict with outside opponents).
Negative Outcomes:
1. Lower performance.
2. Higher stress, dissatisfaction, turnover.
3. Less information sharing and coordination.
4. More organizational politics.
5. Wasted resources.
6. Weaker team cohesion (when conflict within team).
What are the three things conflict can be about and explain each.
Task Conflict:
* Work content and goals
* Positive performance relationship at top management
level, with open & emotionally stable group members, and if degree of conflict considered moderate
* Alleviated by intervention of leaders
Relationship Conflict:
* Interpersonal relationships
* Studies indicate that almost always dysfunctional
* Alleviated by discovering commonalities
Process Conflict:
* How the work is done
* Can devolve into relationship conflict
* Alleviated by clarifying roles and unique value
What are the three ways conflict occurs:
Dyadic Conflict: conflict between 2 people
Intragroup conflict:
* Conflict within a group/team
* Focus of academic research
* Can be positive within supportive group climate
Intergroup Conflict: conflict between groups/teams
What are the five stages of the conflict process?
Stage 1: Potential opposition or incompatibility
Stage 2: Cognition or personalization
Stage 3: Intentions
Stage 4: Behaviour
Stage 5: Outcomes
What are the three conditions that create opportunities for conflict to arise (stage 1 conflict process)?
1) Communication breakdown
o Arise from communication barriers (e.g. noise)
o Also from too little or too much communication
2) Structural challenges
o Greater likelihood of conflict with larger groups, more
specialized activities, responsibility ambiguity, younger
members, higher turnover, reward disparity
3) Personal variables
o Greater likelihood of conflicts when values are opposed,
emotions are negative, or personality traits are disagreeable
What happens at stage 2 of the conflict process and what are two outcomes?
o It’s the realization of Opposition or Incompatibility
o Parties make sense of conflict by defining it and its potential solutions
o Emotions play a major role in shaping perceptions
Felt Conflict: individuals emotionally involved; creates anxiety, tenseness, frustration, or hostility
Perceived Conflict: awareness by one party of the
existence of conditions of conflict; doesn’t mean it’s personalized
What happens at stage 3 of the conflict process
o Decisions to act in a given way
o Inferred (often erroneous) intentions may cause greater conflict
o Intentions can change during the course of the conflict
o Five conflict-handling intentions
o Individuals show preferences amongst these intentions
What are the five conflict handling styles and what conditions are each used?
Forcing/competing: high assertiveness, low cooperativeness
Avoiding: low assertiveness, low cooperativeness
Accommodating/ Yielding: low assertiveness, high cooperativeness
Problem-solving/ collaborating: high assertiveness, high cooperativeness
compromise: med. assertiveness, med. cooperativeness
**Slides 12-17
Conflict Handling Styles
What are three avoidance behaviours?
Avoiding Action
Avoiding Blame
Avoiding Change
What happens at stage 4 of the conflict process?
o Conflict becomes visible
o Statements, actions and reactions made by the conflicting parties
o Overt behaviours may deviate from original intentions
o e.g. become more emotional or aggressive
o Dynamic process of interaction (action-reaction interplay)
o All conflict exists on an intensity continuum
o Dysfunction increases as progress upward
o Conflict management – the use of resolution and simulation techniques to achieve the desired level of conflict
Slide 20
Conflict intensity continuum
At stage 5 what are the two outcomes of the conflict process and what is the result? (5) (3)
Functional Outcomes or Conflict is Constructive when
* Improves decision quality
* Stimulates creativity & innovation
* Encourages interest & curiosity
* Problems are aired
* Accepts change & self-evaluation
Dysfunctional Outcomes or Conflict is Destructive when
* Group is less effective
* Reduces cohesiveness and communications
* Leads to the destruction of the group
