2. Fundamentals of Organizational Communication
Organizational Conflict: Communicating for Effectiveness
Chapter Nine

3. Defining and Describing Conflict Processes
Conflict - process that occurs when individuals, small groups, or organizations perceive or experience frustration in attaining goals and concerns.
Regardless of the reasons, for all conflict participants the process includes perceptions, emotions, behaviors, and outcomes.

4. Defining and Describing Conflict Processes
Conflict context
Any organizational setting where there are two or more competing responses to a single event or circumstance.
The conflict context influences the conflict symptoms, behaviors, and outcomes.

5. Defining and Describing Conflict Processes
Conflict contexts
Intrapersonal
Interpersonal
Small group
Inter-group
Organization-wide
Between organization and environment

6. Defining and Describing Conflict Processes
Conflict causes
include scarce resources, deception, change, incivility, aggression, stress, burnout, emotional labor, relationships of all types, preferences, past experiences, and a host of other factors.

7. Defining and Describing Conflict Processes
Conflict causes
Workplace civility has generally been conceptualized as courteous treatment of coworkers and other contacts. It includes treating others with dignity, regarding others’ feelings, and using social norms of mutual respect.

8. Defining and Describing Conflict Processes
Conflict causes
Incivility is characterized by intents to harm either specific individuals or the organization. Incivility manifests itself in behaviors that demean the dignity of others and violate broad social norms of mutual respect.

9. Defining and Describing Conflict Processes
Conflict causes
Deception
Information distortion
Strategic ambiguity
Complete distortion or lying

10. Defining and Describing Conflict Processes
Conflict causes
Emotional labor
Work of those involved in a high degree of personal contact and who are expected to produce an emotional state, such as pleasure, gratitude, or self-esteem in the people with whom they deal.

11. Defining and Describing Conflict Processes
Conflict causes
Emotional labor
An increasing percentage of the work force will engage in some degree of emotional labor.
These jobs require a separation of “true self” feelings from those that are expected to be expressed when in contact with the public.

12. Defining and Describing Conflict Processes
Conflict causes
Conflict episodes
Descriptions of the complex interactions of both individual and group perceptions, emotions, behaviors, and outcomes during conflict.

13. Defining and Describing Conflict Processes
Conflict causes
Conflict episodes-5 Stages
Latent conflict
Perceived conflict
Felt conflict
Manifest conflict
Conflict aftermath

14. Defining and Describing Conflict Processes
Conflict episodes-5 Stages
Latent conflict
underlying conditions in organizations and individual relationships that have the potential for conflict

15. Defining and Describing Conflict Processes
Conflict episodes-5 Stages
Perceived conflict
Awareness of individuals or groups that differences exist.
It is important to recognize that overt conflict has not occurred, only the perception of significant frustrating differences.

16. Defining and Describing Conflict Processes
Conflict episodes-5 Stages
Felt conflict
Emotional impact the perception of conflict has on potential conflict participants
The emotional impact of the problem is linked to the value we place on the specific relationship.

17. Defining and Describing Conflict Processes
Conflict episodes-5 Stages
Manifest conflict
Actual conflict behaviors – manifest conflict – are influential in determining the productivity of the conflict and the way conflict participants will interact in the future.

18. Defining and Describing Conflict Processes
Conflict episodes-5 Stages
Conflict aftermath (outcomes)
result of the complex interactions of latent conditions, perceived conflict, felt conflict, and manifest conflict.
It is the stage in which we evaluate the conflict as productive or counterproductive.

19. Defining and Describing Conflict Processes
Conflict permits individuals and organizations to develop new ideas and approaches and to become actively involved in necessary change.

20. Defining and Describing Conflict Processes
When applied to organizations, conflict is an essential process for continued operation. Without conflict, organizations stagnate and die.

21. The Individual in Organizational Conflict
The various predispositions, skills, and abilities of individuals in organizations influence how organizational conflict occurs.
Sensitivity to these differences is central to becoming a competent communicator within a complex environment.

22. The Individual in Organizational Conflict
Sensitivity to our own preferences and behaviors helps us develop sensitivity to differences among people.
Figure 9.1 “Personal Profile”
Pp Questionnaire
Pp – Scoring & Interpretation

23. The Individual in Organizational Conflict
Orientations/Predispositions/Styles
Behavioral preferences for handling conflict; frequently described as avoidance, competition, compromise, accommodation, and collaboration.

25. The Individual in Organizational Conflict
Orientations/Predispositions/Styles
Avoidance
Style of individuals who, as a result of their preferences, are unlikely to pursue their own goals and needs or to support relationships and the goals and needs of others during conflict.

26. The Individual in Organizational Conflict
Orientations/Predispositions/Styles
Competition
Preference for emphasizing personal goals and needs without considering the opinions or needs of others in the conflict.

27. The Individual in Organizational Conflict
Orientations/Predispositions/Styles
Compromise
Preferences during conflict for balancing people concerns with task issues and exhibiting give-and-take or negotiation behaviors.

28. The Individual in Organizational Conflict
Orientations/Predispositions/Styles
Accommodation
Preference for conflict associated with the sacrifice of personal goals in order to maintain relationships.

29. The Individual in Organizational Conflict
Orientations/Predispositions/Styles
Collaboration
Preference for ideally balancing people and task concerns during conflict.

30. The Individual in Organizational Conflict
Strategic Objectives
These are determined by matching general preferences for particular conflict styles with assessments of the risks involved in a particular situation.

31. The Individual in Organizational Conflict
Strategic Objectives
A strategic choice is a “planned method of conducting operations” so as to structure the conflict in one of four strategic directions:
Escalation
Reduction
Maintenance
Avoidance

32. The Individual in Organizational Conflict
Communication Tactics in Conflict
Conflict tactics can be described as communication behaviors that attempt to move the conflict toward escalation, reduction, maintenance at the present level, or avoidance.

33. The Individual in Organizational Conflict
Communication Tactics in Conflict
Cautions:
We are likely to view our efforts more positively than those with whom we are in conflict.
Most of the research has been with majority groups in the US and Great Britain.

34. The Individual in Organizational Conflict
Communication Tactics in Conflict
Cautions:
We know much less about preferences and orientations in cultures that are more group oriented than individualistic.

35. The Individual in Organizational Conflict
Emotion During Conflict
Conflict is emotionally defined, that is, events that cause conflict are by definition events that elicit emotion.
Anger
Emotional Labor

36. The Individual in Organizational Conflict
Emotion During Conflict
Bounded emotionality encourages the expression of a wider range of emotions than is usually condoned in traditional organizations while stressing the importance of maintaining interpersonally sensitive, variable boundaries between what is felt and what is expressed.

37. Groups in Organizational Conflict
Most of us have been in groups in which tensions and conflict made us uncomfortable or blocked problem solving. It is hoped that most of us also belonged to groups in which conflict contributed to new and better ways of doing things, actually strengthening the group’s ability to work together.

38. Groups in Organizational Conflict
Group Members in Conflict
It is easy to understand why self-centered roles and inappropriate balances of task and maintenance roles are a possible source of group conflict.
Although most organizations talk about the importance of teamwork, rewards usually recognize individual versus group efforts.

39. Groups in Organizational Conflict
Group Members in Conflict
Kuhn & Poole (2000)
Avoidance Styles – minimizes addressing the conflict
Distributive Style- a confrontational approach
Integrative Approach – cooperative and collaborative behaviors

40. Groups in Organizational Conflict
Group Members in Conflict
Kuhn & Poole (2000)
They concluded that groups that developed integrative conflict management styles made more effective decisions than groups that used confrontation and avoidance. Groups that did not develop a stable conflict style were also less effective.

41. Groups in Organizational Conflict
Procedural Conflict
Most organizational groups conflict over procedures or ways of doing things.
Organization of group
Decision making process
Responsibility for doing or not doing tasks

42. Groups in Organizational Conflict
Interpersonal Issues
One of the most common types of group conflict emerges when all members do not fairly or equally perform their responsibilities or make contributions to the group.
The necessity to “carry” a member of the team raises tension and disrupts group cohesiveness.

43. Groups in Organizational Conflict
Substantive Issues
The very reason for forming groups in organizations can contribute to group conflict.
Organizations should encourage conflicts of ideas that contribute to excellence.

44. Groups in Organizational Conflict
Groupthink
Tendency of groups to suspend critical thinking and too quickly adopt proposed solutions.
Surface harmony, or the absence of productive conflict, can block group effectiveness when critical thinking is absent, resulting in ill-conceived courses of action.

45. Groups in Organizational Conflict
Group Conflict Management Processes
Negotiation
Bargaining
Mediation
Arbitration

46. Groups in Organizational Conflict
Group Conflict Management Processes
Negotiation
Broad conflict management process involving discussions between and among individuals who are interdependent and need to come together for a decision or course of action; frequently associated with the need to compromise effectively.

47. Groups in Organizational Conflict
Group Conflict Management Processes
Bargaining
structured form of negotiations usually involving the presentation of fairly specific proposals for the purpose of achieving a working agreement on particular issues.

48. Groups in Organizational Conflict
Group Conflict Management Processes
Mediation
use of a designated individual for guiding the negotiations or bargaining efforts of groups in conflict.

49. Groups in Organizational Conflict
Group Conflict Management Processes
Arbitration
conflict management process involving an outside negotiator who resolves differences based on formally established procedures.

50. Groups in Organizational Conflict
Power and Organizational Conflict
Perceptions of power and its uses continually influence all aspects of organizational conflict. The organizational chart defines the formal power structure.
Power plays can be described as tactics which make explicit how power should be viewed in particular circumstance in order to preserve the position of the person or persons making the “play.”

51. Groups in Organizational Conflict
Power and Organizational Conflict
Although power use during conflict can be productive, power often is associated with behaviors that marginalize others and attempt to maintain the status and position of the person or persons exercising power.

52. Special Types of Organizational Conflict
Sexual Harassment
situations in which one person persists in behaving in a way that offends the sexual morals of another or creates employment conditions based on sexual relationships.

53. Special Types of Organizational Conflict
Discrimination
Exclusion of individuals or groups based on personal characteristics not associated with competence or performance.

54. Special Types of Organizational Conflict
Ethical Abuses
External (Fisher 1993)
Products
Advertising
Finance and accounting
Pricing
International operations
Ecology

55. Special Types of Organizational Conflict
Ethical Abuses
Internal (Fisher 1993)
Working conditions
Due process and fair treatment of employees
Personnel policies and procedures
Design of work
Free speech

56. Special Types of Organizational Conflict
Ethical Abuses
Internal (Fisher 1993)
Whistleblowing - reporting unethical behaviors with the agreement of those engaged in the unethical behaviors.

57. Special Types of Organizational Conflict
Communication competency in its broadest sense will contribute to our ability to handle these special types of organizational conflict.

58. Productively Engaging in Conflict
In general it can be said that a major value of conflict is its stimulus for creativity. Conflict with others forces us to evaluate and assess issues and problems. When productively managed, this evaluation can stimulate new and creative solutions that may not have emerged without competing perspectives.

59. Productively Engaging in Conflict
Supportive Climates
organizational environments in which individuals feel secure and encouraged to seek good solutions. Characterized by problem description, problem orientation, spontaneity, empathy, equality and provisionalism.

60. Productively Engaging in Conflict
Supportive Climates
The outcomes from conflict often are influenced not only by the skills and abilities of the individual conflict participants but also by the overall organizational climate, which contributes to either supportiveness or defensiveness.

61. Productively Engaging in Conflict
Supportive Climates
Jack Gibb (1982) – “increases in defensive behavior were correlated positively with losses in efficiency in communication. Specifically, distortions became greater when defensive states existed in the groups.”

62. Productively Engaging in Conflict
Supportive Climates (Gibb 1982)
Evaluation vs. Problem Description
Control vs. Problem Orientation
Strategy vs. Spontaneity
Neutrality vs. Empathy
Superiority vs. Equality
Certainty vs. Provisionalism

63. Productively Engaging in Conflict
Supportive Climates
Ethical Communication Behaviors
When the individual stays with the issue at hand without hidden agendas; constructs reasonable, logical arguments rather than arguments designed to discount and devalue others; and keeps an open mind to new ideas while avoiding a win-at-all-costs attitude.

64. Productively Engaging in Conflict
Supportive Climates
Principled Negotiation
A strategy for groups of individuals in conflict to express their needs and search for alternatives that meet diverse needs.
The strategy supports ethical behavior by separating people from the problem and focusing on interests, not positions.

65. Productively Engaging in Conflict
Supportive Climates
Principled Negotiation
Principled negotiation is based on the assumption that we should express disagreements and react to them with a spirit of inquiry and supportiveness rather than defensiveness.

66. Guidelines for Productive Conflict
Monitor your personal behavior and the behavior of others for signs of destructive conflict.
Identify common goals and interests between people or in groups.
Develop norms to work on problems
Focus on mutual gain.

67. Guidelines for Productive Conflict
A process for Productive Conflict
Productive conflicts are frequently characterized as good problem-solving processes.

68. A Process for Productive Conflict
Self-analysis of the Issues
Setting a Meeting to Work on the Problem
Defining the Problem
Developing Solutions
Narrowing the Choices for Action
Committing to Solutions
Monitoring the Process

69. Fundamentals of Organizational Communication
Organizational Conflict: Communicating for Effectiveness
Chapter Nine