Conflict Management

Conflicts are part of human consciousness in all aspects of life. One cannot avoid conflict, whether at home, at the office.

The consequences of organizational conflict reach further today than ever before as the interface between work and home blurs and organizations experiment with flatter and more decentralized structures.

In addition, the complexity of conflict increases as organizations become more open and diverse.

Conflict is inevitable and even desirable: “To work in an organization is to be in conflict. To take advantage of joint work requires conflict management”. It is no wonder that conflict management is receiving increasing attention from top managers. During the past 25 years, organizations have changed their orientation towards conflict management. In particular, organizations are more inclined to adopt “a proactive, strategic approach to managing organizational conflicts”.

The prevalence of conflict has various implications for organizations. It has been noted that managers may spend up to 42 percent of their time dealing with conflict-related negotiations.

This task is momentous as conflicts have the potential to deteriorate organizational functioning by inducing resignations, absenteeism, accidents, and overtime as well as debilitating individual health and well-being.

On the other hand, some view conflicts as a source of innovation, creativity, and development in organizations.

Conflict can relate to incompatible preferences, goals, and not just activities. (1) Latent and manifest disagreements refer to “any organizational friction that produces a mismatch in expectations of the proper course of action for an employee or group of employees (2) Workplace disputes are conflicts “that ripen into formal complaints, grievances, and charges”

Conflict centers on three factors within the communication field: incompatibilities, an expressed struggle and interdependence between two or more parties

Conflicts need to be judiciously controlled, because “social interaction itself is a negative force, and this is so because human beings are incapable of engaging in either social interaction or conflict without destructive consequences”.

However, others argue that conflicts are vital for modern organizations; they are “not only essential to the growth, change, and evolution of living systems, but [are], as well, a system’s primary defense against stagnation, detachment, entropy, and eventual extinction”

Conflicts are an important force in bringing out the differences among agents’ opinions, logics and worldviews, which, in turn, leads to more creative and novel outcomes. Conflict management strategies should satisfy certain criteria. First, conflict management strategies should be designed to improve organizational learning. Instead of dealing with conflict “within the existing structure and processes of an organization”, one should challenge the status quo by enabling organizational members to challenge the underlying policies, assumptions, and goals.

Second, strategies should be designed to include “the right stakeholders to solve the right problems”.

Conflicts are often complex issues that involve multiple parties. Including all the relevant parties in problem-solving leads to collective learning and organizational effectiveness. Finally, conflict management should be ethical. That is, the design should enable conflict management that leads to “ethical actions that benefit humankind” on the leadership as well as on other stakeholder levels.

Phase One– Frustration• Phase Two– Conceptualization of cause• Phase Three– Behavior directed at cause• Phase Four– Outcome as a result of the behavior

Four ways of Handling Conflict

• Avoidance– Denying the existence of conflictCriticism: The conflict is not solvedExample situations where avoidance style is appropriate Minor issues Inadequate facts and power Others can more effectively resolve the conflict

Do you like to maintain positive, friendly relations with your teammates? Do you like to think of yourself as a good, nice, person who would never start a fight? You could be just as responsible for the dysfunction on your team as your aggressive, combative colleagues. That’s because it’s a problem when you shy away from open, healthy conflict about the issues. If you think you’re “taking one for the team” by not rocking the boat, you’re deluding yourself.

• Accommodation– Letting the other party totally decide

• Competition– Aggressively pursuing ways to achieve your win• Collaboration– Actively looking after your own interests but not losing sight of the interest of others

ForcingCriticism: The subordinates’ interests are ignored. The conflict is not analyzed Example situations where forcing style is suitable Inadequate time Stopping people from taking advantage of him/her

CompromiseCriticism: people may encourage compromise on stated issues rather than on real issuesExample situations where compromise style is acceptable It is not possible to achieve a win-win agreement When conflicts block important agreements

CollaboratingCriticism: It is not suitable when win-win situation is not possibleExample situations where this style is appropriate The parties disagree over the best means to achieve the common goals

When there is a need for high-quality decisions

AccommodatingCriticism: It encourages individuals to cover-up or gloss over their feelingsExample situations where smoothing style is appropriate Emotional conflicts Talented employees

Going Beyond “Freezing” Behaviors• Begin with communication– Focus on active listening techniques– Ask a lot of open-ended questions

• Separate the problem from the person– Find common ideas and support them– Redefine the conflict

• Use “I” statements– “When you do …., I feel…”

• Negotiate partial solutions or compromise– Solidify adjustments

In constructive conflict

– Growth occurs– Problems are resolved– Groups are unified– Productivity is enhanced– Commitment is increased

In destructive conflict– Negativism results– Resolutions diminish– Groups divide– Productivity decreases– Satisfaction is decreased