1. Week 7: Coordination & Conflict (10/24) Professor Payal Sharma
MANAGEMENT 101
Week 7: Coordination & Conflict (10/24)
Professor Payal Sharma

2. Class Agenda Housekeeping: Assorted Lecture:
(Dis)advantages of group decision-making
Approaches to group decision-making
Types of conflict
Resolving conflict
Article: Taking the Stress Out
Takeaways
Next Time
Midterm Exam Review Session

3. Group DM Advantages
Resources: Group members combine different skills and knowledge to make higher-quality decisions
Example: Member interactions lead to new ideas that no single member would have developed (called “process gain”)
Motivational effects: Being part of a group encourages members to try to make good decisions and perform better
Example: Members are more committed to a decision in which they have participated, so are more likely to support its implementation

4. Group DM Disadvantages
Inefficient: Groups suffer from “process loss” due to “wasted” discussion which prevents groups a sole focus on the tasks
Example: Discussions about coordination and social issues
Communication problems: Decisions can get bogged down in emotional conflicts that waste time and damage morale
Example: Power team members who talk too much can dominate discussion or group gets sidetracked
Information under-utilization: Group discussions are not always good at eliciting information
Example: Groups do not pool all knowledge available; instead focusing on commonly held information

5. Approaches to Decision Making
Leader-Oriented
Consultative:
Leader consults with group members
Group Technique
Democratic:
Group votes and
majority rules
Full Participation
Consensus:
Group reaches consensus

6. Leader consults with group members
Leader-Oriented
Consultative:
Leader consults with group members
Pro: Very efficient, takes little time and may provide leader with crucial information to help make a decision
Con: Uses only some of team’s resources, may not fully develop member commitment or resolve conflict, and may encourage competition among team members to influence the leader

7. Group Technique
Democratic:
Group votes and
majority rules
Pro: Quick way of including members’ opinions and can produce high-quality decisions
Con: Voting can prematurely close discussion and lead to lack of commitment or resentment from losing minority (creating “winners” versus “losers)

8. Group reaches consensus
Pro: Best way to fully utilize the team’s resources and decisions made with this approach have a greater likelihood of implementation by the team
Full Participation
Consensus:
Group reaches consensus
Con: Time-consuming and takes greater skills and energy to reach consensus

9. Task (or Cognitive) Conflict
Refers to disagreement about tasks/ideas regarding distribution of resources; procedures and policies; and judgments and interpretations of facts
Examples include:
Different ideas or opinions when completing assignments
Consideration of pros and cons of each other’s opinions
Debating merits of different ideas when analyzing information or making decisions
Discussion of evidence for alternative solutions when formulating team recommendations

10. Helpful versus Harmful Conflict
Benefits include:
Ensures the most influential person does not determine the course of action
Enables people to learn from each other and consider each other’s views
Increases likelihood that people will accept the final decision
Teams MORE focused, creative, integrative and open.
Not ALWAYS helpful, however…

11. Relationship (or Affective) Conflict
Refers to interpersonal incompatibilities, such as feelings of frustration, annoyance, and irritation
Examples include:
Emotional disagreement
Personal friction
Tensions amongst team members

12. Helpful versus Harmful Conflict
Consequences include:
Blocks communication and draws the focus from the team to the individuals.
Limits communication to a few people and decreases the quality of work.
Decreases the likelihood that people will accept final decisions and work together well in the long-term.
Teams LESS focused, creative, integrative and open.
Not ALWAYS harmful, however…

13. Research Findings (Sharma)
Empowering leadership and relationship conflict oppositely effect team members’ motivation and empowering leadership positively impacts motivation when relationship conflict is low (Chen, Sharma, Edinger, Shapiro & Farh, 2010)
Tested using survey data from field (with EMBA students as leaders in U.S. and China) and in scenario-based experimental study using U.S. undergraduate students

14. Study 1 Results (Scenario)

15. Article: Taking the Stress Out
The article discusses three strategies that can be used to make conversations less stressful, or difficult (honor thy partner, disarm by restating intentions, and fight tactics, not people). For which types of conflict are each of the strategies appropriate? Why or why not?
How could each of these tactics have been used by Dick, Jane, Harry, Rajesh, Mark, and Svetlana? In other words, how could these tactics have improved the conflict dynamics in Learning Team #28 to help resolve their problems? Be specific.

16. Takeaways
Coordination by teams – specifically, decision making – can be approached through different tactics, each with their own costs and benefits
Conflict is not always good or bad for teams – it depends on type
Conflict that starts out idea-based can, at high levels, start to become personal
To address or resolve conflict, different tactics can be used which reflect responsibilities on the part of both parties involved

17. Next Time Week 8 (10/31): Midterm Exam Time: 6pm-8pm
Locations: See Canvas (Student Resources  Exams)

18. Course Grade Individual Course Engagement Individual Assignment
Midterm Exam
Final Exam
15%
30%
25%
20 points
30 points
60 points
50 points
Team
Project
70 points
TOTAL:
100%
230 points

19. Hierarchy of Learning Level 4: Level 4: SYNTHESIS Synthesis
Ability to move easily between levels and integrate thinking across course sessions and topics
Level 2: UNDERSTANDING
Grasping the meaning of the information presented
(involves thinking about material beyond class itself)
Level 3:
Application
Level 2:
Understanding
Level 3: APPLICATION
Objective is to apply knowledge to real-world team situations in a variety of settings
Level 1: KNOWLEDGE
A solid foundation is necessary for any building (i.e., completing course readings and attending class)
Level 1:
Knowledge