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 High Organizational effectiveness Low Low High Level of conflict

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 latent Phase of conscious, but unexpressed, conflict difference felt conflict Phase of discussion Phase of open dispute Phase of open conflict manifest conflict conflict aftermath

Conflict handling styles Assertive Competing/Forcing/ Dominating Collaborating/ Problem-solving Emphasis on one’s own concerns Compromising Unassertive 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