2. Developing Management Skills
Chapter 7: Managing Conflict
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3. Learning Objectives Diagnose the focus and source of conflicts
Utilize appropriate conflict management strategies
Resolve interpersonal confrontations through collaboration
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4. Interpersonal Conflict Management
The failure to confront conflict effectively is a leading cause of business failure.
Constructive conflict can spark creativity, energy, and personal improvement
Many people intellectually accept the value of conflict but feel uncomfortable when they themselves get involved in it.
conflict is both inevitable and beneficial in effective organizations

5. The Relationship Between Conflict and Outcomes
holding constant the nature of the conflict and how well it is resolved, a moderate level of conflict appears to be healthy for most organizations
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6. Rules of Engagement for effective conflict management
Work with more information
Focus on the facts
Develop multiple alternatives
Share agreed-upon goals
Inject humor into the decision process
Maintain a balanced power structure
Resolve issues without forcing consensus
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7. Types of Conflict
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8. Conflict Focus People-focused: Issue-focused:
“In-your-face” confrontations in which emotions are fueled by moral indignation
are negative conflicts that involve accusations of harm, injustice, or feelings of resentment between conflicting parties.
Issue-focused:
negotiations in which participants agree how to allocate scarce resources
can be positive or negative, and involve different parties representing the interests of their own groups,functions, or organizations.
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9. Four Sources of Interpersonal Conflict
Personal Differences: Conflicts stem from personal values and needs
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10. Four Sources of Interpersonal Conflict
Informational Deficiencies: Conflicts evolve from misinformation and misunderstanding
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11. Four Sources of Interpersonal Conflict
Role Incompatibility: Conflicts evolve from the perception that assigned goals and responsibilities compete with those of others.
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12. Four Sources of Interpersonal Conflict
Environmentally Induced Stress: Conflict results from the stressful events of the organizational environment.
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13. Selecting the Appropriate Conflict Management Approach
The five conflict management styles vary on two key dimensions shown in Figure 7.3:
Cooperativeness is the degree to which parties seek to satisfy the other’s concerns
Assertiveness is the degree to which parties seek to satisfy their own concerns.
Effective managers choose the appropriate style from the following list to fit the situation and relationship they are in.
© 2007 by Prentice Hall

14. Conflict Resolution Insert figure 7.3
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15. Forcing Satisfy personal needs at the expense of the other person
Formal authority, bullying, manipulation, etc.
Outcome: You feel vindicated; other person feels defeated
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16. Avoiding
Neglect interests of both parties by sidestepping or postponing
Reflects inability to handle emotion of conflict
Outcome: Nothing (or things get worse)
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17. Accommodating Satisfy other party’s concerns but neglect your own
Preserve a relationship at the expense of genuine appraisal of issues
Outcome: Other person takes advantage of you; decreased power and credibility
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18. Compromising Seek partial satisfaction for both parties
Expedient, not effective, solutions
Outcome: Gamesmanship and suboptimal resolutions
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19. Collaborating Seek to address concerns of both parties
No assignment of blame
Outcome: When collaborating is possible, problem likely to be resolved
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20. Which approach is best?
While we are predisposed to one approach, no single approach is the best; Effective managers use a variety of approaches
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21. Selecting the Right Strategy
Two general negotiation strategies are closely linked to the five conflict management strategies:
Distributive bargaining :
Negotiation focus on “Dividing up a fixed pie”
assumes there will be winners and losers, so parties see one another as competitors or adversaries.
Integrative : “Expanding the pie”
is comparable to the collaborative form of conflict management; it strives for a solution that is best for both parties.
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22. Situational Considerations
The correct approach to conflict depends on two factors
Personal preferences revolve around ethnic culture, gender, and personality type.
Situational variables include the importance of the issue, the importance of the relationship, the relative power of the parties, and time constraints.
When the issue is very important, forcing or collaboration may be appropriate.
When the relationship is important, accommodation and collaboration may be preferable.

23. Conflict Resolution Outcomes by Type and Method
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24. A ‘Default Strategy’
Of all the approaches, collaboration generally yields the best outcomes; However, it is also the most difficult to implement
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25. Resolving Interpersonal Confrontations Using the Collaborative Approach
The following six steps are recommended for implementing the collaborative approach:
Establish superordinate goals. Both parties identify the goals they share, thus establishing a basis for mutual benefits.
Separate the people from the problem. Identify the “real issue” or problem.
Focus on interests, not positions. Identify the interests, or underlying reasons behind demands or positions.
Invent options for mutual gain. Develop creative and mutually agreeable solutions.
Use objective criteria for evaluating alternatives. Build fairness into the process by developing criteria for judging alternatives.
Define success in terms of real gains, not imaginary losses. Seek mutual gains in a resolution.

26. Four Phases of Collaborative Problem Solving
Problem Identification which sets the tone for the entire process
Solution Generation
Action Plan Formulation and Agreement
Implementation and Follow-Up
The following steps are prescribed for working through these four phases in each of three roles: initiator, responder, and mediator.
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27. Initiator – Problem Identification
Maintain personal ownership of the problem by stating the problem as your own and showing accountability for your feelings.
Succinctly describe your problem in terms of behaviors, consequences, and feelings.
Avoid drawing evaluative conclusions and attributing motives to the respondent.
Persist until understood, using variation in how you express the problem, but not denying the problem.
Encourage two-way discussion.
Manage the agenda by approaching multiple or complex problems incrementally

28. Initiator – Solution Generation
Focus on commonalities as the basis for requesting a change and in generating a solution.
Responder – Problem identification.
Establish a climate for joint problem solving by showing genuine interest and concern.
Seek additional information about the problem by asking questions.
Agree with some aspect of the complaint.
Initiator – Solution Generation
Ask for suggestions of acceptable alternatives
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29. Mediator – Problem identification Mediator – Solution generation
Acknowledge that a conflict exists and propose a problem-solving approach for resolving it.
In seeking out the perspectives of both parties, maintain a neutral posture regarding the disputants - if not the issues.
Serve as a facilitator, not as a judge.
Manage the discussion to ensure fairness by keeping the discussion issue oriented, not personality oriented.
Mediator – Solution generation
Explore options by focusing on interests, not positions.
Make sure all parties fully understand and support the solution, and establish a mechanism for follow up.

30. Summary Model of Conflict Management
Insert figure 7.6
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31. Behavioral Guidelines
Collect information on the sources of conflict
Examine relevant situational considerations
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32. Behavioral Guidelines
Take into consideration your personal preferences for using the conflict management approaches
Utilize the collaborative approach unless conditions dictate the use of an alterative approach
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33. Copyright Information
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