Exam IV Study Guide Professor Rodgers Conflict Negotiation K F Chapter 11 Reading p 286 294 p 296 starting with Managing Conflict 302 Definitions key terms Conflict Devil s advocacy Dialectic method a process in which one party perceives that its interests are being opposed or negatively Involves assigning someone to the role of the critic Calls for managers to foster a structured debate of opposing view points prior Alternative dispute resolution intent is that it uses faster more user friendly methods of dispute resolution instead of traditional adversarial approaches such as unilateral decision making or litigation affected by another party to making a decision Dysfunctional conflict Functional conflict commonly referred to in management circles as constructive or cooperative conflict and is characterized by consultative interactions a focus on the issues mutual respect and useful give and take different preferences Personality conflict Programmed conflict the managers give and take decision making process involving interdependent parties with Interpersonal opposition based on personal dislike and or disagreement Conflict that raises different opinions regardless of the personal feelings of threaten an organization s interest Negotiation Key concepts Functional vs Dysfunctional Conflict Functional Conflict commonly referred to in management circles as constructive or cooperative conflict and is characterized by consultative interactions a focus on the issues mutual respect and useful give and take o People feel comfortable disagreeing and presenting opposing views o Positive outcomes frequently result Dysfunctional conflict threaten an organization s interest o Ex If shutting down shop and need to get rid of people whose customers are gone dysfunctional in that letting go of some of the most loyal and best people because there customers left Why people avoid conflict Fear various combinations of harm rejection loss of relationship anger being seen as selfish saying the wrong thing failing hurting someone else getting what you want and intimacy o Getting what you want feeling undeserving and or fear the consequences of success so they tend to sabotage themselves o Sufficient to become consciously aware of our fears and practice overcoming them Desired outcomes of conflict Dean Tjosvolds cooperative conflict model 3 Desired Outcomes Agreement o Equitable and fair agreements Stronger relationships future use Learning o Good relationships enable conflicting parties to build bridges of goodwill and trust for o Functional conflict can promote greater self awareness and creative problem solving o Successful conflict handling is learned primarily by doing Major Forms of Conflict Personality conflicts violate mutual respect Interpersonal opposition based on personal dislike and or disagreement Workplace incivility is a form of counterproductive work behavior harm target person in ways that Incivility like racial or ethnic slur o o Clear that incivility needs to be avoided or broken early o Early action can prevent single irritating behavior from precipitating into a personality conflict o Organizational culture that places a high value on respect for coworkers o Diversity training and penalties Personality conflict is almost always bad for performance Negative straight line less steep Intergroup conflict Conflict among work groups teams and departments is common threat to org s competitiveness Cohesiveness can be a good and bad things right amount smooth running team too much breed groupthink Increased group cohesiveness challenges o Members of in groups view themselves as a collection of unique individuals while they o o o stereotype members of other groups as being all alike In group members see themselves positively and as morally correct while they view members of other groups as negatively and as immoral In groups view outsiders as a threat In group members exaggerate the differences between their group and other groups This typically involves a distorted perception of reality Managers cannot eliminate it but should not ignore it Contact hypothesis more members of different groups interaction less intergroup conflict they will experience o Prejudice reduced contact If either negative interactions occur because third party gossiping or negative linkages occur managers should consider o Work to eliminate specific negative interactions o Conduct team building to reduce intragroup conflict and prepare for cross functional teamwork o Encourage and facilitate friendships via social events o Foster positive attitudes o Avoid or neutralize negative gossip o Practice the above be a role model Task conflict see slides Differences relating to the content and goals of the work Moderate task conflict is beneficial for performance Parabolic shape of task conflict x compared to performance y n shaped Build Trust before can go a long way Abilene s Paradox to be a good group member you don t speak up Managing Conflict Programming functional conflict devil s advocacy dialectic method Conflict that raises different opinions regardless of the personal feelings of the managers Challenge is to get contributors to either defend or criticize ideas based on relevant facts rather than on the basis of personal preference or political interests Devil s Advocacy Roman Catholic Church Involves assigning someone to the role of the critic o o Recommended for preventing groupthink o Good training for developing analytical and communication skills Dialectic Method Greek decision o Calls for managers to foster a structured debate of opposing view points prior to making a o Major drawback winning the debate may overshadow the issue at hand requires more skills training than devil s advocate Both methods relative effectiveness tie better than consensus decision making o Devil s advocate produced more potential solutions and made better recommendations Alternative styles for handling dysfunctional conflict Integrating obliging dominating avoiding and compromising are five conflict handling styles Everyone has a preference but different styles may be more effective depending on the situation o Integrating Problem Solving o Obliging Smoothing High concern for both self and others Interest parties confront the issue and cooperatively identify the problem identify and weigh alternatives and select a solution Most appropriate for complex issues plagued by misunderstanding or when you want to learn about the other party
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