Transcript Conflict
Conflict • Put yourself in the protagonist’s place (be ‘you’ in the case) – how would you handle Bossman/the situation with Bossman? • Which style(s) do(es) the strategy you just designed fit in with? • Is there a match between the strategy you just designed (and its underlying style)? • In which direction would you like to develop your conflict handling style? • What other suggestions do you have for resolving the conflict between Bossman and the protagonist? What is conflict? • Process whereby one party perceives that another party has taken or will take actions that are incompatible with one’s own interests • Form of interaction among parties that differ in interests, perceptions, and preferences (Kolb et al., 1995: 282) • Situation in which goal-directed behaviour of an individual or a group interferes with the goal directed behaviour of other individuals or groups (George & Jones, 1996) Levels of conflict in an organisation • Intrapersonal • Approach- approach • Avoidance-avoidance • Approach-avoidance – Dissonance and ambivalence – Dilemmas and choices • (values, attitudes, feelings, etc.) • Interpersonal – – – – – – – – Individual differences and perceptual errors Communication gaps (including destructive criticism) Competence/performance, visibility, competition Power, authority and status Goal incompatibility Interdependence and reciprocity Competition for scarce resources Grudges and distrust • Group – Intragroup – Intergroup • Differences between people are inevitable and need not be labelled either good or bad • Strategies to deal with differences should be situation specific TRANSITIONS IN CONFLICT THOUGHT – dysfunction to function, Hatch A High Low Low Level of conflict High Types of interpersonal conflict • Task conflict – Content and goals of work • Relationship conflict – Interpersonal relationships • Process conflict – How work gets done Pondy’s model of organisational conflict • Phase of anticipation • Phase of conscious, but unexpressed, latent conflict difference felt conflict • Phase of discussion • Phase of open dispute • Phase of open conflict manifest conflict conflict aftermath Assertive Competing/Forcing/ Dominating Collaborating/ Problem-solving Compromising Unassertive Emphasis on one’s own concerns Conflict handling styles Avoiding Accommodating Unco-operative Co-operative Emphasis on others’ concerns/co-operation • Avoiding – the desire to withdraw from/suppress a conflict • Competing – a desire to satisfy one’s interests, regardless of the impact on the other party to the conflict • Accommodating – the willingness of one party in a conflict to place the opponent’s interests above his/her own • Compromising – a situation in which each party to a conflict is willing to give up something • Collaborating – a situation in which the parties to a conflict each desire to satisfy fully the concerns of all parties Manager’s task • Organisational environment – its culture, structure and people orientation – as well as its leadership are critical factors providing the background. These could work towards pre-empting conflict or ensuring that conflict is healthy for the organisation – Influencing interpersonal and intrapersonal issues Conflict resolution techniques • Understand the problem – What is the difference about? – What has caused the difference? – What stage have the differences reached? • Separating people from problems • Using objective criteria • Exploring options • Third party interventions Where does power come from? • Power is the potential ability of one person/department to influence other persons/departments to behave in ways that they would have otherwise not done – Successful influence • Sources of personal power – – – – – Legitimate/formal Reward Coercive Expert Referent