CONFLICT MANAGEMENT Chapter 16 Lecture 2 Within organizations, it is the manager who most often manages conflicts and who is most responsible for dealing with them. According to a 1996 report from Accountemps, bosses in U.S. companies are spending twice as much time settling employee disputes as they did a decade ago.   What does this mean to you? A need to understand and deal with conflict. Within nations we have immigration policies that invite some and exclude others; we have conflict within organizations as people who are visibly different worry and wonder if those physical differences represent a new source of competition. Within organizations, it is the manager who most often manages those conflicts and who is most responsible for dealing with them. According to a 1996 report from Accountemps, bosses in U.S. companies are spending twice as much time settling employee disputes as they did a decade ago. What does this mean to you? A need to deal with conflict, and this may come from understanding your own conflict management style and preferences. To that end, I ask you to complete the questionnaire titled “Conflict-Handling Style Questionnaire.” (conflictque.doc) The scoring sheet is printed on the back side of the form or on a separate page.

5 ways to manage conflict Avoidance Competition (A) Accommodation (B) Compromise (C) Collaboration (D) First, write A,B, C, D in a column on the board; tell students you want to know where their scores fell and would like them to raise their hands to show where their highest score occurred as you read out each letter. Total the number of hands raised on each and provide a number so all can see where styles are clustered. There are five ways of managing conflict, and each has its place. First, (and not measured on this questionnaire) is to manage conflict by avoiding it. And there are many instances when a manager might chose to avoid conflict. For example, if the conflict is a flare-up between volatile persons who will soon forget the conflict, there is no point for the manager to get involved. Similarly, if the conflict is unimportant it may also be prudent to avoid it. The point is, sometimes avoidance is a good policy. (Sometimes in my family life, I will avoid a conflict if it appears that my spouse is tired or grouchy, for example.) Often conflict cannot be avoided at which point we engage. Most people tend to have a preferred style of conflict management, and those are the preferences you showed by scoring highest on A, or B or C or D. So we see that in this class, we have many people who are (fill in the blank).

Conflict Continuum I win, you lose (competition—A) I lose or give in (accommodate—B) We both get something (compromise—C) We both “win”(collaborate—D) A B C D First, let’s think about conflict as it unfolds for you. Think about one example (personal or professional) of when you used a particular style and tell us how that position worked for you. Here are pluses and minuses for each style:

Competition Plus Minus The winner is clear Winners usually experience gains Minus Establishes the battleground for the next conflict May cause worthy competitors to withdraw or leave the organization Ask students to volunteer examples here.

Accommodation Plus Minus Curtails conflict situation Enhances ego of the other Minus Sometimes establishes a precedence Does not fully engage participants Ask students to volunteer examples here.

Compromise Plus Minus Shows good will Establishes friendship No one gets what they want May feel like a dead end Ask students to volunteer examples here.

Collaboration Plus Minus Everyone “wins” Creates good feelings Hard to achieve since no one knows how Often confusing since players can “win” something they didn’t know they wanted Ask students to volunteer examples here.

What This Means Managing conflict means you need to develop several styles and decide which is valuable at any given point of conflict As your examples show, the way you handle conflict now varies according to whether you are dealing with someone with whom you have a long or short term relationships, what you are trying to accomplish, and whether you feel the core of the conflict is worthy of your time and attention. I would argue that while most of us know and can use multiple styles, most also tend to use only one. Consistent with the “Both/and” approach to globalization that we are studying in this course, it probably makes sense for you to learn and practice a variety of different conflict management styles. I hope this review might help you to do that.

Tips for Managing Workplace Conflict Build good relationships before conflict occurs Do not let small problems escalate; deal with them as they arise Respect differences Listen to others’ perspectives on the conflict situation Acknowledge feelings before focussing on facts Focus on solving problems, not changing people If you can’t resolve the problem, turn to someone who can help Remember to adapt your style to the situation and persons involved Adapted from Dispute Resolution Center of Snohomish and Island Counties (2004). 1801 Lomard Ave, Everett, WA 98206; 425-339-1335.