1. Conflict Management in the Workplace Rahim ch. 6, 7, 8
SET-UP: Pods, groups A, B, and C
MATERIALS: FC markers, tape dispenser for each group, Conflict Management flipchart paper for each group,
HANDOUTS: Conflict Management project strips for each group, Conflict Management answer key for every person, Hofstede handout for each person, case study for each person
I. Introduction: PPS 1-4 (5 min.)
Introduce learning outcomes.
Present categories.
Review definitions.
II. Illustrate Rahim’s (2011) theoretical model of organizational conflict & group activity: PPS 5-6 (20 min.)
Review the model. Ask for the group to give examples.
Pass out the flipchart paper and paper strips. Have groups tape the strips into the correct category.
Debrief as a group.
Hand out the answer key.
III. Interpersonal Conflict: PPS 7-10 (20 min.)
Review the information on the slides.
Play the Prisoner’s Dilemma video.
IV. Intragroup and Intergroup Conflict: PPS (20 min.)
V. Identify Hofstede’s Cultural Dimensions Theory: PPS (20 min.)
Review the Cultural Dimensions handout.
Play the I vs. We video.
VI. Evaluate a case study and apply the correct conflict management strategies: PPS 22 (30 min.)
Review the case study handout together.
Have Ss work in groups on the questions.
Debrief the activity.
VII. Closing: PPS 23 (5 min.)
Fist to Five on learning outcomes.
Jennifer J. Robertson
09/21/2013

2. Learning Outcomes
Articulate Rahim’s (2011) theoretical model of organizational conflict.
Define the concepts, sources of conflict, and management strategies of interpersonal, intragroup, and intergroup conflict.
Describe how culture can contribute to conflict within the organization.
Evaluate a case study and apply the correct conflict management strategies.

3. Categories of Organizational Conflict
Intrapersonal
Interpersonal
Intragroup
Intergroup

4. Definitions
CONFLICT: Conflict is defined as an interactive process manifested in incompatibility, disagreement, or dissonance within or between social entities (Rahim, 2011). ORGANIZATIONAL LEARNING: Involves knowledge acquisition, knowledge distribution, information interpretation, and organizational memorization. It is a process of detection (cognitive) and correction (behavioral) of error (Argyris & Schön, 1996). CONFLICT MANAGEMENT: Involves designing effective strategies to minimize the dysfunctions of conflict and enhancing the constructive functions of conflict in order to improve learning and effectiveness in an organization (Rahim, 2011).
These concepts have already been presented in earlier chapters. What is important to remember is that Rahim promotes conflict management over conflict resolution. WHY?
Because the strategies recommended by these studies – negotiation, mediation, and arbitration – do not involve changes in the processes and structures in the existing organizations.
It today’s globally competititve environment, managers and employees need to learn NEW behaviors.

5. Rahim’s (2011) Theoretical Model of Organizational Conflict
Antecedent Conditions
Process
Demographic Differences
Structural
CONFLICT
Behavioral Changes
Structure Formation
PART 2: Slides 5-6 (20 minutes)
This is an integrated model developed to illustrate the dynamics of the three different types of conflict (interpersonal, intragroup, intergroup). I’D LIKE YOU ALL TO EXPLAIN THIS MODEL.
ANTECEDENT CONDITIONS: Begins with sources of conflict, which can be classified as process and structural.
Structural Conflict –ASK FOR EXAMPLE How the organization is structured such as reporting lines, department organizations, etc.
Process Conflict – ASK FOR EXAMPLE It is conflict over how different tasks should be performed, who is responsible for tasks, and deadlines to complete the tasks.
DEMOGRAPHIC DIFFERENCES: Includes individual differences in personality, gender, power bases, educational level, etc., may also contribute to the conflict. This is where cultural differences also come in.
CONFLICT: Rahim defines conflict as an interactive process manifested in incompatibility, disagreement, or dissonance within or between social entities.
BEHAVIORAL CHANGES: As the conflict increases, it may affect the perceptions and behaviors of the parties toward one another. The immediate goal of each party is to win or control the situation so effective decision-making or problem-solving methods may not be used.
STRUCTURE FORMATION: The parties may restrict free communication and interaction and begin to isolate themselves from one another if no intervention is introduced.
DECISION PROCESS: When win-lose conflict is intensified, the parties may be unable to use problem-solving methods to make decisions to deal with their disagreements. At this point, an intervention is required. A third party mediator may be used or the individuals’ supervisors. This is the point of intervention.
CONFLICT AFTERMATH: There may be hard feelings towards one another even if a win-win solution is found.
Decision Process
Conflict Aftermath

6. Categories of Organizational Conflict
Work in groups to put the correct information under each category on your chart.
Now we are going to see how much you remember from the reading.
Pass out the flipchart paper, paper slips, and tape. Participants will organize the information under the correct headings.
Debrief the activity by passing out the answer key. Ask Ps who got 100%. Tell Ps we will be reviewing the handout later.

7. Interpersonal Conflict
PART 3: Slides 7-10 (20 minutes)
VIDEO: Play the video on the Prisoner’s Dilemma. 3 minutes.
This doesn’t exactly apply to situations in the workplace unless you work on the police force, SO HOW DOES THIS REPRESENT INTERPERSONAL CONFLICT?
The idea is that human instinct is to protect your own self interest and turn on the other person in the face of adversity.

8. Five Styles for Handling Interpersonal Conflict
Integrating
Obliging
Dominating
Avoiding
Compromising
These styles were presented in an earlier chapter, but they apply to handling interpersonal conflict.
WHICH IS THE PREFERRED STYLE ACCORDING TO RAHIM?
Previous studies indicate that an integrating, or problem-solving, style by the members of an organization leads to greater satisfaction and effectiveness of the organizational members.
WHAT DOES AN INTEGRATING STYLE MEAN?
This approach involves the synthesis of ideas to come up with a better solution. See pg. 52 for a list of when to use each style.

9. Negotiation
Separate the people from the problem. Take the emotions out of it.
Focus on interests, not positions. Find alternatives.
Invent options for mutual gain. Brainstorm multiple solutions.
Insist on using objective criteria.
HAS ANYONE READ THIS BOOK?
Their point is that everybody is a negotiator, and negotiation skills are essential for managing conflict in organizations.
BANTA: Best Alternative To a Negotiated Agreement:
Develop a list of possible solutions.
Improve upon some of the more promising ones.
Select the one that best fits the situation.
Hard, soft, and principled negotiation (pg. 98):
parties are adversaries, parties are friends, parties are problem-solvers.
HAS ANYONE BEEN IN A CONFLICT SITUATION WHERE NEGOTIATION WAS USED?

10. Managing Interpersonal Conflict
DOES ANYONE REMEMBER THE THREE STEPS TO MANAGING CONFLICT?
LOOK AT YOUR ANSWER KEY HANDOUT. THIS HANDOUT LISTS ALL OF THE DETAILS IN THIS PROCESS FOR EACH TYPE OF CONFLICT.
DIAGNOSE THE PROBLEM: Use methods such as self-reports, observations, interviews, or the Rahim Organizational Conflict Inventory.
measurement and analysis of the styles, factors, and effectiveness
INVESTIGATE THE SOURCES:
personality - use MBTI assessment
power bases – French & Raven’s (1959) bases of power: coercive, reward, expert, legitimate, and referent between the superior and the subordinate
organizational culture – shared assumptions, attitudes, values, beliefs, expectations, and norms (Schein, 1990)
referent role – subordinates say what is expected instead of what they know
gender – women use integrating, avoiding, and compromising and less obliging than men managers
IMPLEMENT AN INTERVENTION:
process – the goal is to help the members enhance their integrating style of handling conflict (transactional analysis was mentioned as an example in the book)
structural – appeal to authority or use of an ombudsmen

11. Intragroup & Intergroup Conflict
PART 4: Slides (20 minutes)
HOW DO YOU DEFINE THE TWO TYPES OF CONFLICT?
INTRAGROUP CONFLICT: The incompatibility, incongruence, or disagreement among the members of a group or its subgroups regarding goals, functions, or activities of the group.
INTERGROUP CONFLICT: The collective incompatibility or disagreement between two or more divisions, departments, or subsystems in connection with tasks, resources, or information.
I’m grouping these together because the information is all outlined on your handout as to the sources and strategies for managing conflict. The process for managing conflict is the same, although the solutions may be different.

12. Types of Conflict Affective Process Substantive
These may have been mentioned in another presentation. These are the different types of conflict. CAN YOU EXPLAIN EACH ONE? GIVE AN EXAMPLE?
AFFECTIVE CONFLICT: Also called emotional or relationship conflict. It limits information processing, increases stress and anxiety, and encourages negative behaviors that may increase hostility. It negatively influences group performance, group loyalty, work-group commitment, job satisfaction, and intent to stay in the organization.
PROCESS CONFLICT: Takes place over who should do what, logistics, delegation, deadlines, etc.
SUBSTANTIVE CONFLICT: Also called task-related conflict. Disagreements about tasks, policies, etc. Conflict over nonroutine tasks that can improve group performance through better understanding of various viewpoints and alternative solutions.

13. Sources of Conflict INTRAGROUP: INTERGROUP: Leadership style
Task structure
Group composition
Conflict asymmetry (different perceptions)
Cohesiveness and groupthink
External threats
INTERGROUP:
Different competing systems
Task interdependence
Dependence on scarce resources
Jurisdictional ambiguity
Relationship between line and staff
The sources of conflict usually stem from a win-lose scenario.
In intergroup conflict, sometimes an autocratic leader will emerge to grab hold of the power.
An increase in intergroup conflict can decrease intragroup conflict as members bond and view the outsiders as the enemy. This may result in an autocratic leader.

14. Managing Group Conflict
Diagnose the problem
Implement an intervention:
Process: team-building activities
Structural: change the group composition
With intergroup conflict, you will need to analyze across multiple divisions to find out where all the sources of conflict may lie.
The sources of intergroup conflict are mainly structural.
CAN ANYONE SHARE AN EXAMPLE OF WHEN THEY HAD GROUP CONFLICT AND HOW IT WAS RESOLVED? USE THE HANDOUT TO SEE IF YOU USE ANY STRATEGIES LISTED ON THE HANDOUT.
Mention my experience of working for a leader who intentionally created conflict among the members in order to retain control over everyone.

15. Agree or Disagree?
Cooperation or lack of conflict generally induces positive relations among group members, but they may not attain the highest level of performance.
Rahim, 2011, p. 119
ASK PARTICIPANTS WHAT THEY THINK ABOUT THIS STATEMENT.

16. Cross-Cultural Conflicts in the Workplace
PART 5: Slides (20 minutes)
I’m introducing this topic as another possible reason for conflict in the workshop, which Rahim completely neglected.

17. Cross-Cultural Conflicts in the Workplace
Cross-cultural conflict can be defined as conflict generated, and perhaps exacerbated or perpetuated, by cultural differences among the groups involved in the conflict. A person’s culture informs his or her worldview, moral code, judgments, and ideas or perceptions about others. Of course, these aspects of a culture can be incorrect or misinformed, leading to conflict with other cultures or groups of people. The power of culture is strong, however, and it can be difficult to overcome cross-cultural conflict, as evidenced by the numerous conflicts between different cultural groups that continue to rage around the world today. --A. Kinney, What Is Cross-Cultural Conflict?
HAVE A PARTICIPANT READ THE QUOTE.

18. Cross-Cultural Conflicts in the Workplace
Geert Hofstede’s Cultural Dimensions Theory:
Power Distance (PDI)
Individualism vs. Collectivism (IDV)
Masculinity vs. Femininity (MAS)
Uncertainty Avoidance (UAI)
Long Term vs. Short-Term Orientation (LTO)
Indulgence vs. Restraint (IVR)
Culture’s influence is not uniform across its members or consistent in each individual across situations (Liu, et al., 2012).
ASK IF ANYONE IS FAMILIAR WITH THIS THEORY AND TO EXPLAIN THE DIMENSIONS IF THEY ARE.
Hofsteed’s cultural dimensions theory is one way of categorizing and comparing cultural differences.
GIVE OUT HANDOUT AND HAVE PS READ THE UNDERLINED STATEMENT IN EACH GROUP.
Pull up website and show how to look up and compare countries:
The last dimension is a new dimension which you might not find on some of the country profiles.

19. Cross-Cultural Conflicts in the Workplace
If you have to remember one of these, remember the individualism-collectivism dimension. Cultures that fall into one category or another sometimes exhibit similar characteristics with the other dimensions.
HOW MIGHT THIS DIMENSION PLAY INTO CONFLICT AT THE WORKPLACE?
VIDEO: Click on the image to play the video of individualism vs. collectivism (3 mins.) -
HAS ANYONE EXPERIENCED CONFLICT IN THE WORKPLACE THAT MIGHT HAVE BEEN BASED ON CULTURE?
Example when Macho Camacho won the boxing championship in PR.

20. Face Negotiation Theory
Conflicts occur when two or more individuals of different ethnicities and cultures meet and work together. The concept of “face” is defined as “a projected image of one’s self in a relational situation” (Ting-Toomey, 1988).

21. Self Face vs. Other Face and Mutual Face
Individualist Cultures – concerned with “self face.” People are independent, dominating, and interested in protecting their own interests.
English-speaking countries
Collectivistic Cultures – concerned with “other face and mutual face.” They impose great focus on teamwork and mutual benefit.
Asian and Latin American countries

22. Case Study
Work in pairs or small groups to read the case study and answer the questions.
PART 6: Slide 22 (30 minutes)
Read the case study aloud as a group (Ps take turns). Give groups time to answer the questions and then debrief.
Point out the comparison chart of the dimensions.

23. Closing: Fist to Five
I have a better understanding of the meanings of interpersonal, intragroup, intergroup conflict, the sources of conflict, and the management strategies to conflict.
PART 7: Slide 23 (5 minutes)
Fist being you don’t understand anything and five being the most with 1 through 4 also as anything in between.
Final questions?