1. Managing Interpersonal Conflicts

2. Interpersonal Conflicts
An indispensable aspect of organizational life
Too little – a cause of organizational failure
Too much – a cause of organizational failure

3. Concept Perceived incompatible differences
Opinion, interest, values, and goals
Resulting in behaviors involving interference or opposition
Perception or feeling of one party that the other party is hindering to achieve a goal

4. Conditions for Conflict
Antecedent condition (e.g. scarcity of resources)
Affective state (e.g. stress, tension)
Cognitive state (e.g. awareness of conflict situation)
Conflictual behaviour (e.g. passive resistance or overt aggression)

5. Positive Effects Increases interactions Facilitates change
Increases interpersonal ability
Improves problem solving ability
Stimulate creativity, productivity
Releases emotion
Generates new learning

6. Negative Effects Increases mistrust, competition and ill feeling
Increases stress and tension
Deepen differences and creates barriers to cooperation
Divert people from dealing with really important issues
Promote insularism

7. Conflict and Performance
Low
High
Level of Conflict
High
Level of
Organization
Performance
Low B C
Situation A
Level of conflict Low or none Optimal High
Type of conflict Dysfunctional Functional Dysfunctional
Organization's Apathetic Viable Disruptive
Internal Stagnant Self critical Chaotic
Characteristics Unresponsive to Innovative Uncooperative
change
Lack of new ideas

8. Conflict Management Need for maintaining an optimal level of conflict
While keeping conflicts focused on productive purposes

9. Rules of Engagement Work with more, rather than less, information
Focus on the facts
Develop multiple alternatives to enrich the level of debate
Share commonly agreed-upon goals

10. Rules of Engagement Inject humor into the decision process
Maintain a balanced power structure
Resolve issues without forcing consensus

11. Diagnosing Conflicts Focus
People focused
Issue focused

12. Diagnosing Conflicts Sources
Personal differences (perceptions and expectations)
Informational deficiencies (misinformation and misrepresentation)
Incompatible roles (goals and responsibilities)
Environmental stress (resource scarcity and uncertainty)

13. Diagnosing Conflicts Focus of Conflicts Source of Conflicts
Personal differences
Informational deficiencies
Source of Conflicts
Incompatible roles
Environmental stress

14. Approaches to Conflict
Conflict prevention
Conflict resolution
Conflict stimulation

15. Conflict Prevention Remove the key sources of conflicts
Recognise and accept personal differences
Be honest with self and others
Avoid assuming yourself always right and others wrong

16. Conflict Prevention
Develop positive orientations (in behaviour, attitude and thought)
Develop and use interpersonal competencies

17. Resolving Conflict Identify conflict
Recognize the behavior that tends to emerge in a conflict
Develop the skills to behave more rationally
Use appropriate conflict response
Use appropriate conflict resolution style and strategy

18. Identify Conflict Identify conflict parties and get to know about them
Assess the effects of the conflict
Identify the focus of the conflict
Identify the sources of the conflict
Speculate the conflict response patterns of the involved parties
Decide the most appropriate response pattern

19. Conflict Behavior
Usually negative emotions and behaviors (anger, frustration, aggression or withdrawal)
Acceptance of conflict as normal, natural and inevitable
Confronting conflict positively

20. Conflict Behavior
Assertiveness and responsiveness/ cooperative behaviors
Self analysis, interpersonal, negotiation skills

21. Conflict Resolution Skills
Be judicious in selecting the conflicts you want to handle
Evaluate the conflict players: their interest, personality and resources
Look the conflict situation through the eyes of the conflicting parties
Assess the sources of the conflict
Know your options

22. Conflict Response Importance of the relationship
(I win You lose) (I win You win)
Assertive
Forcing
Collaborating
Integrative
Distributive
Importance of the Issue
Concern for one’s goal
Compromising
(Both win some and lose some)
Assertiveness
(I lose You lose) (I lose You win)
Avoiding Accommodating
Uncooperative Cooperative
Unassertive
Cooperativeness
Concern for other’s goal

23. Conflict Response Forcing (assertive, uncooperative)
Accommodating (unassertive, cooperative)
Avoiding (unassertive, uncooperative)
Compromising (between assertive and cooperative)
Collaborating (assertive, cooperative)

24. Selection Factors Personal preferences The advantage of flexibility
Ethnic culture
Gender
Personality (altruistic-nurturing, assertive-directing, analytical- autonomizing)
The advantage of flexibility

25. Selection Factors Situational considerations Ethnic culture Gender
Personality (altruistic-nurturing, assertive-directing, analytical- autonomizing)

26. Response and Situation
Forcing
Accommo-dating
Compro-mising
Collabo-rative
Avoiding
Issue importance
High
Low
Medium
Relationship importance
Relative power
Equal-High
Low-high
Time constraint
Medium high
Medium-high

27. Resolving Strategies Lose - lose strategy Avoidance Compromise
Smoothing
Separation
Buffering
Reference to rule

28. Resolving Strategies Win - lose strategy Dominance
Authoritative command
Majority rule

29. Resolving Strategies Win -win strategy Super-ordinate goals
Resource expansion
Objective criteria
Mutual gains
Mediation
Integration/ collaboration
Problem solving

30. Collaborative Problem Solving
Establish super-ordinate goals
Separate people from the problem
Focus on interests not on position
Invent options for mutual gains
Use objective criteria for evaluating alternatives
Define success in terms of real gains, not imaginary issues

31. Stimulating Conflict
Change the organization’s culture- reward for challenges, divergent opinions
Regulate flow of information: such as floating ambiguous or threatening messages
Bring in outsiders or transfer to mix different backgrounds, attitudes, values and style

32. Stimulating Conflict
Restructure the organization such as centralizing decisions, realigning work groups, increasing formalization and increasing interdependency
Appoint a “Devil’s Advocate”
Create greater independence
Use too much or too little leadership