Managing Conflict in the Small Group Chapter 12 Effective Group Discussion: Theory and Practice

Intro:  Conflict in the group decision making process is good and necessary!  A lack of conflict means that groups aren’t taking advantage of their diversity.  Groups with little or no conflict are likely to make poor and ineffective decisions.  However, too much conflict is damaging to the group

Definition of Conflict  The expressed struggle that occurs when interdependent parties, such as group members, perceive incompatible goals or scarce resources and interference in achieving their goals.  OR  A state of genuine difference

4 Implications of this Definition  Conflict is an expressed struggle that involves communicating  Parties involved must have an interdependent goal  There are a number of things over which people can conflict such as goals and scarce resources  Parties involved must perceive that they are in conflict

PROS/CONS OF CONFLICT Benefits of Conflict  Can produce better understanding of issues/people  Can increase member motivation  May produce better decisions  Can produce greater cohesiveness among members Negative Effects of Conflict  May cause bad feeling among group members  Can lower group cohesiveness…especially if it involves personal attacks  Conflict can split a group apart

4 TYPES OF CONFLICT  Substantive Conflict: Results from disagreements over ideas, information, reasoning, or evidence.  Affective Conflict: Conflict resulting from personality clashes, likes, dislikes, and competition for power.  Procedural Conflict: Resulting from disagreement about how to do something.  Conflict over Inequity: Conflict about perceived unequal workload or contributions to the group effort. (MOST PREVALENT SOURCE OF CONFLICT)

Approaches to Conflict DISTRIBUTIVE APPROACH  Assumes fixed resources must be distributed among parties to the conflict; thus, whatever someone wins, someone else loses. INTEGRATIVE APPROACH  Assumes solutions can be created to satisfy every party to the conflict.

CONFLICT STYLES AVOIDANCE Denial, topic change, passive, ignores a conflict. ACCOMMODATIOIN Giving up/giving in, disengagement, denial of needs, expression of desire for harmony. COMPETITIONCOLLABORATION Personal criticism, uncooperative, aggressive, tries to dominate, denial of responsibility. Assertive, assumes there is a viable solution, analytic remarks, shows support & responsibility. *****COMPROMISE**** Appeal to fairness, suggests trade-off, offers quick solutions.

How to Disagree Ethically  Use sensitivity in expressing how you feel and stick with the issue at hand.  Disagree with the idea but do NOT attack the person.  Base you disagreement on evidence and reasoning.  Try to integrate each members ideas when finding a solution.