1. Crisis And Conflict Management

2. Organizational Conflict and change & Literary Conflict Lecture 25 2

3. Organizational Conflict Conflict exists in situations where goals, interests or values of people are incompatible and they block other’s efforts to achieve their goals. Some level of conflict is inevitable given the wide range of goals in a firm. – Some conflict is good for organizational performance. – Too much causes managers to spend much time responding to conflict. 3

4. Conflict and Organizational Performance Level of ConflictLow High Low High Level of Organizational Performance B A C 4

5. Managing Individual Conflict – Increase awareness of the source of conflict Can conflict source can be found and corrected? – Increase diversity awareness and skills Older workers may resent younger workers, or experience cultural differences. – Practice Job Rotation & Temporary assignments Provides a good view of what others face. – Use permanent transfers & dismissal if needed Avoids problem interaction. – Change organization’s structure Conflict can signal the need to adjust the structure. 5

6. Conflict Solutions – Alter the source of conflict: If due to overlapping authority, managers fix the problem to change the source. – Negotiation: use when parties have equal power. Parties try and find a common ground by considering various alternatives. Distributive negotiation: parties see there is a fixed resource base. – For them to gain, the other must lose. Integrative negotiation: parties can increase total resources by coming up with a new solution. – Information sharing, trust are common here. 6

7. Negotiation Strategies Focus on interests, not demands: demands are what you want, interests are why you want them. – Demands are confrontational and slow negotiations. Create new options for joint gain: focusing on interests allows for new ideas to come forth. – Perhaps there is a new solution that can solve the issue. Focus on what is fair: emphasizing fairness allows both parties to give a bit and agree. 7

8. Organizational Politics Organizational politics are the activities managers engage in to increase their power and use it to achieve their goals. – Political strategies: specific tactics used to increase power and use it effectively. – Politics can be negative, but also is a positive force allowing needed change. Everyone throughout the firm engages in politics Political activity allows a manager to gain support for an idea. 8

9. Strategies for Increasing Power – Control Uncertainty: managers who can reduce uncertainty for the firm increase power. – Be Irreplaceable: develop valuable special knowledge or skills. – Be in a Central Position: managers have crucial control over the firm’s activities. They increase their power and can influence others. – Generate Resources: managers who can hire skilled people or find financing. – Build Alliances: develop mutually beneficial relations with others inside and outside the organization. 9

10. Strategies for Exercising Power ObjectiveInformationObjectiveInformation OutsideExpertsOutsideExperts Control the Agenda Agenda Everyone is a Winner Everyone is a Winner HelpManagers Use Their PowerEffectivelyHelpManagers PowerEffectively 10

11. Strategies for Exercising Power – Rely on Objective Information: impartial information causes others to feel the manager’s course of action is correct. – Bring in an Outside Expert: lends credibility to manager’s proposal (when the expert agrees). – Control the Agenda: influence those issues included (and those dropped) from the decision process. – Make Everyone a Winner: everyone whose support is needed benefits personally from providing that support. 11

12. Relationship Between Conflict, Politics and Change Signal managers change is needed Signal managers change is needed OrganizationalchangeOrganizationalchange Change alters goals of different groups causing conflict & politics Change alters goals of different groups causing conflict & politics Organizational Organizational 12

13. Managing Organizational Change Assess need for change: recognize a problem exists and find its source. – Look inside and outside the firm for sources. Decide on the change to make: determine the ideal future state. – Decide exactly what the future company will look like. – What obstacles need to be changed to get there. Implement the change: a top-down change is quickest, bottom-up is more gradual. – Bottom-up is more effective at eliminating obstacles. Evaluate Change: was it successful? Benchmark (compare) your change to others. 13

14. Steps in the Organizational Change Process Assess need for change Find source of problem Assess need for change Find source of problem Decide on the change change Identify obstacles Decide on the change change Identify obstacles Implement Change Top-down or Bottom-up Implement Change Top-down or Bottom-up Evaluate Change Is it successful? Benchmark to others Evaluate Change Is it successful? Benchmark to others 14

15. Literary Conflict 15

16. Conflict In a story, conflict is the struggle between opposing forces. 16

17. Protagonist The main character 17

18. Antagonist The character in conflict with the main character 18

19. External External Conflict takes place outside of the body 19

20. External There are three types of external conflict 20

21. Man vs. Man The struggle is between two or more characters in the story. 21

22. External Man vs. Nature This type of conflict pits a story's main character or characters against a natural force such as a flood, predatory animal, or disease epidemic. 22

23. External Man Against Society In many stories, the protagonist battles against element of government or culture. 23

24. Internal Internal Conflict takes place inside of the body/mind. 24

25. Internal There is one type of internal conflict. 25

26. Man vs. Self The struggle or opposition is within one character--making a tough decision, for example. A character struggling to overcome fear, addiction, emotional damage or other crippling personal issue. 26

27. Internal Man vs. Self Some literary conflicts take the form of a character struggling to overcome fear, addiction, emotional damage or other crippling personal issue. 27

28. Practice Decide what type of conflict is being illustrated in the following pictures 28

29. 1. Man vs. ? 29

30. 2. Man vs. ? 30

31. 3. Man vs. ? 31

32. 4. Man vs. 32

33. 5. Man vs. ? 33

34. 6. Man vs. ? 34

35. 7. Man vs. ? 35

36. Practice Now that you have mastered pictures, let’s try some text! 36

37. 8. Man vs. ? “If she had only proceeded more slowly. If she had only taken the Southerly route, avoiding the icebergs. If only the watch had had a pair of binoculars.” (news story about the Titanic) 37

38. 9. Man vs. ? Charles decided to break all the rules the day he decided to steal that car. He was immediately arrested and sent to jail to await his trial. He should have known better than to mess with the “rules.” 38

39. 10. Man vs. ? “I don’t care who you talk to!” screamed Sarah to West. “I just wish I had never met you!” 39

40. 11. Man vs. ? After the light in the cave was completely gone Tom began to stumble through the cave blindly cutting his hands on what appeared to be sharp rocks. 40

41. 12. Man vs. ? Tom found a dry spot to sit down in the dark and began to feel guilty over an argument he had had earlier in the day with his mother in which he had said, “I hope I never see you again!” 41

42. 13. Man vs. ? Tom’s mother was upset that he wanted to skip going to college in order to go exploring in all of the world’s greatest caves before he turned thirty. Tom didn’t understand what the big deal was and wanted to run his own life. 42

43. Summary Organizational Conflict and change Conflict and organizational performances Managing individual conflict Conflict solution Organizational politics Steps in organizational change process Literary Conflict 43

44. Thank you 44