1. Conflict Management
Khum Raj Punjali, Pratibha Dhungana

2. Definition of conflict
Negative ???
Harmful ???

3. Session Coverage Understanding conflict Conflicting Situations
Conflict Management: What? Why and, How?
Conclusion

4. Forethought
A good manager does not want to eliminate conflict. He tries to keep it from wasting the energies of his people. If you are the boss and your people fight openly when they think that you are wrong- that’s healthy.
- Robert Townsend

5. True or False Conflict left alone will take care of itself.
Confronting an issue or a person is always unpleasant.
Conflict within an organization is a sign of poor leadership.
It takes two people communicating effectively to change the direction of a conflict.
Contd…

6. True or False Conflict can be constructive.
How we respond to others and situations is based on the attitude we take.
Anger is always negative and destructive.
Communication is 50% verbal and 50% nonverbal.

7. True or False
Conflict is resolved once the goal switches from solving concrete problems to proving you are right and another person is wrong.
Communication and emotion are two key elements of any conflict.
Conflict is best dealt with in the early stages when the fewest number of people are involved.
In times of conflict it is important to speak loudly and with authority in order to make a point.

8. Four Basic Psychological Needs:
To be valued and treated as an individual
To be in control
To have strong self- esteem
To be consistent
We all have these basic needs
I want to be valued for who I am and what I have to offer
I like to be in control of my circumstances (true for some of us more than others!)
I like to feel good about myself and my abilities.
I want to be treated fairly and consistently.

9. Views on Conflict TRADITIONAL
seen as dysfunctional outcome resulting from poor communication, lack of openness & trust between people, failure of managers to be responsive to needs & aspirations of employees.

10. Views on Conflict Contd….
HUMANISTIC
Seen as natural & inevitable outcome in any group.

11. Views on Conflict Contd….
INTERACTIONISTIC
a positive force that is necessary for a group effectiveness, self critical & creative.

12. Conflict may be defined as friction between individuals due to differences of opinions, ideas, beliefs, values, needs or objectives.

13. CONFLICT PROCESS FIVE STAGES
I. POTENTIAL OPPOSITION OR INCOMPATIBILITY
II. COGNITION & PERSONALIZATION
III. INTENTION
IV. BEHAVIOR
V. OUTCOMES

14. STAGE I: POTENTIAL OPPOSITION/INCOMPATIBILITY
Conditions
Ambiguous Communication.
Structure in terms of size, degree of specialization, role clarity & centralization of authority, degree of dependence between groups.
Personal variables.
{This stage indicates presence of conditions that create opportunities for conflict to arise.}

15. Stage II: PERCEPTION & AWARENESS
PERCEIVED CONFLICT
awareness by one or more parties of the existence of conditions that create opportunities for conflict to arise. Not personalized.
FELT CONFLICT
getting emotionally involved in a conflict creating anxiety, frustration or hostility.
{This is the stage where conflict issues get defined & parties decide what the conflict is all about. It also brings forth the emotional linkages to the issue.}

16. Stage III: INTENTIONS
Conflict Handling Intentions
COMPETING: Desire to satisfy one’s interest regardless of impact of other party to the conflict.
COLLABORATING: Desire to satisfy fully concerns of all parties.
AVOIDING: Desire to withdraw or suppress a conflict.
ACCOMODATING: willingness to place opponent’s interests above own.
COMPROMISING: Willingness to give up something.

17. Collaborating Competing Compromising Avoiding Accommodating
Cooperativeness
Assertiveness
Accommodating
Avoiding
Competing
Collaborating
Compromising

18. Stage IV: BEHAVIOUR Minor Disagreement or misunderstanding
Overt questioning or challenging of others
Assertive verbal attacks
Threats & ultimatums
Aggressive physical attacks
Overt efforts to destroy the other party

19. Stage V: OUTCOMES FUNCTIONAL OUTCOMES
IMPROVES QUALITY OF DECISIONS, STIMULATES CREATIVITY & INNOVATION, ENCOURAGES INTEREST & CURIOSITY, OPEN COMMUNICATION, TRANSPARENCY, FOSTERS ENVIRONMENT OF SELF EVALUATION & CHANGE.

20. OUTCOMES Contd…. DYSFUNCTIONAL OUTCOMES
DISSOLVE COMMON TIES, DISCONTENT , DESTRUCTION OF GROUP.

21. CONFLICT MANAGEMENT
USE OF RESOLUTION , PREVENTION AND STIMULATION TECHNIQUES TO ACHIEVE THE DESIRED LEVEL OF CONFLICT

22. Why Conflict Management?
“An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind”
- Mahatma Gandhi 22

23. CONFLICT RESOLUTION TECHNIQUES
PROBLEM SOLVING
EXPANSION OF RESOURCES
AVOIDANCE(lose- lose situation)
SMOOTHING
COMPROMISE
AUTHORITATIVE COMMAND
ALTERING THE HUMAN VARIABLE
ALTERING THE STRUCTURAL VARIABLES
Face to face open discussions
Create win-win situations
Withdraw or suppress
Playing down differences
Giving up something of value
Using formal authority
Training for attitudinal change
Changing formal structure& interaction patterns
PCMD, 2019

24. WHEN TO USE DIFFERENT CONFLICT RESOLUTION APPROACHES
APPROACH WHEN
COMPETING IMPORTANT ISSUES, SURE OF BEING RIGHT.
ACCOMMODATING DISPUTES THAT ARE OF FAR GREATER IMPORTANCE TO THE OTHER GROUP THAN THEY ARE TO YOUR GROUP.
PROBLEM SOLVING WHEN BOTH GROUPS ARE WILLING TO INVEST TIME & EFFORT TO REACH A RESOLUTION THAT MAXIMIES OUTCOME
AVOIDING TEMPORARY EXPEDIENT TO BUY MORE TIME
COMPROMISING MIDDLE GROUND –BACK UP APPROACH WHEN ALL APPROACHES FAIL TO RESOLVE ISSUE

25. Research Findings
A Study on Workplace Conflict at Nepalese Government Organizations
Authors: Poudel, Pradhan & Bhandari ( 2017)
Nepal Administrative Staff College

26. Personal Variable
Higher number of class III officers rated factors like “ Feel prejudices and biases in important decisions” & “ innovative and creative ideas in office interactions not being encouraged” having higher effect in resulting conflict in workplace.

27. External Variable
Class III officers also rated high in external factors of “political influence in many important organizational decision making process”, “tussle between management and unions in major decisions” in the organization”.

28. Structural Variable
Class III officers also rated high in one factor “unfair distribution of opportunity in terms of facilities, incentives, trainings” and “lack of enough resources to complete job responsibility” and “not having sufficient power to make decisions on my own” with less rating on “unclear jurisdiction (authority)” and overlapping authority.

29. Leadership Variable
Class III officers also rated high in all factors “lack of guidance and motivation by supervisors in work”, “no proper mechanism to put forward grievances”, “Lack of fair and transparent performance appraisal system” and “no constructive feedback from supervisor” results conflict in workplace with less rating in “not given challenging task to help grow”“

30. Communication Variable
Class III officers rated communication factors like “no clear instructions from my superiors”, “lack of clarity in organizational by-laws, policies”, “No clear channel of communication for all kind of information” and “Informal channel of communication being more dominant than formal channel” having higher effect in resulting conflict in workplace with less impact of “not aware about my performance expectations set by the organization” resulting conflict in workplace

31. Conflict Management in Nepalese Organiazation
By Fatta Bahadur KC, 1993
Primary data
Sample organization: 15 public organizations
Target group: Top executives

32. Level of conflict
Top executives of public enterprises perceive that conflict mostly occurs at interdepartmental level, followed by interpersonal , intergroup, intragroup and intradepartmental
Main causes of conflict:
Competition between individuals, followed by departmental competitions, group, scarce resources, ambiguous rules and regulations,structure

33. In Nepalese context not a single top executive perceives that the conflict has positive value to the organization and supports to achieve better organizational performance.

34. Among the top executives of sampled organization 56
Among the top executives of sampled organization 56.67% responded that they never try to manage conflict and have not adopted any devices of managing it and the mostly used method of resolving conflict is staff meeting.

35. Conflict Prevention Techniques
Super ordinate goals
Reducing interdependence
Exchange of personnel
Liaison group or integrators
Appeal to higher authority.

36. CONFLICT STIMULATION TECHNIQUES
COMMUNICATION
BRINGING IN OUTSIDERS
RESTRUCTURING ORGANIZATION
APPOINTING DEVIL’S ADVOCATE
Using ambiguous or threatening messages
With values conflicting with group
Realigning work groups, altering rules , interdependence
Designating a critic to argue against majority positions
PCMD, 2019

37. Nepalese experiences ??

38. To sum up Conflict is inevitable phenomenon
Human and non human factors are responsible for conflict
Functional conflict positively contribute to performance
Conflict handling intentions and conflict resolution/stimulation techniques need to be used appropriately

39. THANK YOU
PCMD, 2019