Chapter Seven

Resolving Conflict with

Others

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 Conflict

Conflict: “A process in which one party perceives

that its interests are being opposed or negatively
affected by another party.”

Functional conflict serves the

organization’s interests while

Dysfunctional conflict threatens

the organization’s
interests.

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 Antecedents of Conflict

• Incompatible personalities or value

systems.
• Overlapping or unclear job boundaries.
• Competition for limited resources.
• Interdepartment/intergroup competition.
• Inadequate communication.
• Interdependent tasks.
• Organizational complexity.

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 Antecedents of Conflict
(continued)

• Unreasonable or unclear policies, standards,

or rules.
• Unreasonable deadlines or extreme time
pressure.
• Collective decision making.
• Decision making by consensus.
• Unmet expectations.
• Unresolved or suppressed conflict.

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Sources of Interpersonal
Conflict
• Competition for Limited Resources
• Role Conflict
• Competing Work and Family Demands
• Building Stone Walls
• Personality Clashes
• Aggressive Personalities Including
Bullies

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Sources of Conflict and Use of
Rational vs. Political Model
When Conflict Is When Conflict Is
Sources of
Low, High,
Potential Organization
Rational Model Political Model
Inter-group Variables
describes describes
Conflict organization organization
Consistent across Goals Inconsistent, pluralistic
participants within the organization

Goal Centralized Power and Decentralized, shifting

Incompatibility coalitions and interest
Control
groups
Differentiation
Orderly, logical, Decision Disorderly, result of
Task rational bargaining and interplay
Interdependence Process
among interests
Limited Norm of efficiency Rules and Free play of market forces,
Resources conflict is legitimate and
Norms
expected

Extensive, Ambiguous, information used

Information
systematic, accurate and withheld strategically

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 Marketing – Manufacturing
Areas of Potential Goal Conflict
MARKETING VS. MANUFACTURING
Operative goal is Operative goal is
Goal Conflict customer satisfaction production efficiency
Conflict Area Typical Comment Typical Comment

Breadth of product line: “Our customers “ “The product line is too

demand variety.” broad, all we get are
short, uneconomical runs.”
New product introduction: “New products are our “Unnecessary design changes
lifeblood.” are prohibitively expensive.”

Production scheduling: “We need faster response. “We need realistic customer
Lead times are too long.” commitments that don’t
change like the wind direction

Physical distribution: “Why don’t we ever have “We can’t afford to keep huge
the right merchandise inventories.”
in inventory?”

Quality: “Why can’t we have “Why must we always offer

reasonable quality options that are too
at low cost?” expensive and offer little
customer utility?”
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Desired Outcomes of Conflict

Agreement: Strive for equitable and fair

agreements that last.

Stronger relationships: Build bridges of

goodwill and trust for the future.

Learning: Greater self-awareness and creative

problem solving.

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Tips for Managers Whose Employees
Are Having a Personality Conflict
1. Follow company policies for diversity, anti-
discrimination, and sexual harassment.
2. Investigate and document conflict.
3. If appropriate, take corrective action (e.g.,
feedback or B Mod).
4. If necessary, attempt informal dispute resolution.
5. Refer difficult conflicts to human resource
specialists or hired counselors for formal
resolution attempts and other interventions.

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 How to Build Cross-Cultural
Relationships and minimize
Conflict
Behavior Rank
Be a good listener 1
Be sensitive to the needs of others 2
Be cooperative, rather than overly competitive 2
Tie
Advocate inclusive (participative) leadership 3
Compromise rather than dominate 4
Build rapport through conversations 5
Be compassionate and understanding 6
Avoid conflict by emphasizing harmony 7
Nurture others (develop and mentor) 8

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 Five Conflict-Handling Styles
Concern for Others

High Sharing Accomodative

Collaborative

Low Competitive Avoiding

High Low
Concern for Self

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What is your Conflict-Handling
Style?
•How important are conflict-handling skills in the
modern workplace? Explain.
• Did this instrument do a reasonable good job of
identifying your primary and backup conflict-handling
styles? Explain.
•Do you need to improve your conflict-handling skills?
Explain.
• In your opinion, which conflict-handling style would
tend to be most successful in today’s workplace? Which
is the least successful?
•What is your experience with managers who had
dysfunctional conflict-handling styles? What was the
impact on work motivation and job satisfaction?

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 Conflict Resolution
• Confrontation and Problem-Solving
• Constructive Handling of Criticism
• Image Exchanging (creating empathy)
• Cognitive Restructuring
• Negotiating and Bargaining

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Alternative Dispute Resolution
(ADR) Techniques
Facilitation: Third party gets disputants to deal
directly and constructively with each other.
Conciliation: Neutral third party acts as
communication link between disputants.
Peer review: Impartial co-workers hear both sides and
render decision that may or may not be binding.
Ombudsman: Respected and trusted member of the
organization hears grievances confidentially.
Mediation: Trained third-party guides disputants
toward their own solution.
Arbitration: Neutral third-party hears both sides in a
court-like setting and renders a binding decision.

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 Negotiating

Negotiation: “A give-and-take decision-making

process involving interdependent parties with different
preferences.”

Distributive negotiation: Single issue; fixed-pie; win-lose.

Integrative negotiation: More than one issue; win-win.

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An Integrative Approach:
Added-Value Negotiation

 Clarify interests.
 Identify options.
 Design alternative deal packages.
 Select a deal.
 Perfect the deal.

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