Week 7 | Conflict Flashcards
What is conflict?
Conflict involves two or more parties
can be overt (parties are aware of conflict) or covert parties are unaware of conflict
One or more parties perceive that the other party 8or more) has a negative on their interest
varies in terms of significance and importance and varies in terms of outcomes
What is the nature of conflict? What are the underlying causes?
- Interpersonal
- Intraorganisational (structural )
Underlying cause: all individuals and groups have interests although they may not be the same
What are the causes of interpersonal conflicts and what are some potential actions to solve this?
cause: Incompatible goals or values
action: 1. encourage perspective, try and understand other ppls pov 2. Search for common ground
cause: communication
actions: develop skills in how to communicate to avoid defectiveness and escalation
focus on issues/behaviours and not people
be aware of own emotions and communication style
cause: negative workplace behaviour
actions: practice respectful treatment towards others and be clear you expect it from others
organisations can send clear message about what behaviour will not be tolerated but this needs to be reinforced
What are the causes of intraorganisational conflicts?
Cause: differentiation
action: work design, search for comon ground, emphasize superordinate (shared) goals
Cause: Interdependence
Action: redesign work to reduce sequential interdependence
create buffers
cause: scarce resources
action: increase resources
calculate cause of conflict
adopt a more cooperative way of allocating resources
cause: ambiguity
action: clarify rules and procedures
clarify roles and responsibilities
What are the different views of conflict?
Unitarist view: conflict is dysfunctional and avoidable (e.g. human relations)
Interactionist view: conflict can be functional or dysfunctional, and functional conflict can lead to
Focused or managed conflict view: there are specific cases where conflicts can be beneficial
What are the types of conflicts in a team?
- Task conflict “what”
Differences arise over the legitimacy of a task itself (low to moderate levels can be productive) - Process conflict “How”
Differences arise over how to achieve a task (low levels can be productive) - Relationship conflicts “who”
Differences rise because personal dislike; this is mostly destructive but can also be understood as people holding different values
What model did Jones propose for conflict and decision making?
rational approach (problem identified, solution suggested, solution chosen )
Devil’s advocate: problem identified, solution suggested, solution challenged, solutions chosen
Dialectical inquiry: problem identified, (two sides of) solutions suggested, solution challenged, solution chosen
Can conflict be eliminated?
roots of conflict- action and perceived threats to interest - are perennial
History shows us that conflict is a consistent feature of human societies
In organizations, there will always be conflict arising from interpersonal and intraorganizational issues, especially when organizations change
Thus, there will always be some task, process and relationship conflict
INdividual and group differences in values and culture will always exist
conflict can be managed to some extent but cannot be eliminated entirely
diversity of thought can be a good thing!
What are the five stages of conflict? 9List the first two here for now)
Stage one: potential opposition
one or more causes present, provides the potential or overt conflict to merge
The presence of one or more conflict is necessary, but not sufficient, condition for conflict to emerge
usually has something to trigger the conflict
Stage two: cognition and personalization
If the conditions in stage one threatens the interests of one or more parties, conflict becomes a reality - but need not go further unless
cognitive/perception: one or more parties become aware of the conflict but need not go further unless
Personalization/felt conflict: one or more parties experiences conflict which can lead to intentions
What is the third stage of conflict?
Stage 3: conflict handling styles:
When a situation is perceived and felt to be conflict, parties to the conflict may form intentions to do something about it
different conflict approaching styles:
a) forcing: i will pursue my own interests regardless of the costs to the other party
b)problem solving- we seek mutually acceptable outcomes
c) Avoiding: ;i can just deal with this’
d) yielding: I will sacrifice some of my interests for the sake of the other party
e) compromising: We both sacrifice some of our interests for the sake of each other
Describe the diagram for conflict handling styles
On the y-axis: assertiveness, starting from low at the bottom and high at the top
On the x-axis: cooperativeness, starts form low then high
Forcing: high assertiveness, low cooperativeness
avoiding: low assertiveness, low cooperativeness
Compromising: moderate assertiveness and moderate cooperativeness
problem solving: high assertiveness, high cooperativeness
yielding: high cooperativeness, low assertiveness
What is stage four of the conflict process? What do behaviours emphasis or what are they informed by ? (resolution stage too )
Stage four: behaviour
Behaviours can either emphasis:
- conflict resolution
- conflict intensification
Behaviours will be informed by:
- intentions/conflict handling style
- the level of conflict
Resolution and intensification tactics: resolution: - • problem solving • Superordinate goals • Expansion of resources • Avoidance • Smoothing • Compromise
Intensification:
• Communication
• Bringing in outsiders
• Appointing a devil’s advocate
What is stage five of the conflict process? (potential dysfunctional outcomes too)
Stage five: outcomes
Potential functional outcomes:
Bringing into the open, problems that have been ignored previously
Challenges ‘groupthink’ (biases)
Encourages new ideas, facilitates innovation and change
May improve decision quality by making people question their assumptions
Potential dysfunctional outcomes:
- negative emotions and stress
- reduces communication required for coordination i.e. leads to inefficiency
- destroys group cohesion
How would we manage conflict through negotiation?
- two or more parties
- conflict of interest between them i.e, what one party wants is not in the interest of the other party
- Belief that it is possible to get a better deal by influencing the outcome rather than simply taking on whats on offer
- The parties prefer to search for agreement, rather than giving in or breaking off the relationship and falling back on BATNA (i.e. The best alternative to a negotiated agreement)
What is BATNA?
BATNA determines at what point you can walk away from the negotiation
for example if you have firm offer from one dealer to trade in your car for $1000, then this is your BATNA when you make other negotiations with other potential purchasers
