CONFLICT MANAGEMENT

BY
PROF. SAVITHA G RAMACHANDRA
FACULTY: Organizational Behavior &
Human Resource Management

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management
 Nature of Organizational
Conflict
Conflict – any situation in which
incompatible goals, attitudes, emotions,
or behaviors lead to disagreement or
opposition between two or more parties
Functional Conflict – a healthy,
constructive disagreement between two
or more people
Dysfunctional Conflict – an unhealthy,
destructive disagreement between two
or more people
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 Emotional Intelligence (EI)
Emotional intelligence –
• the power to control one’s
emotions
• perceive emotions in others
• adapt to change
• manage adversity

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 Importance of Conflict
Management Skills

“As managers we spend

about 21% of our time
dealing with conflict.”

• Conflict management skills predict

managerial success
• High Emotional Intelligence (EI) needed
to manage conflict
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• EI is valid across cultures
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 Copyright ©2006

Consequences of Conflict
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Positive
Consequences
Leads to new ideas
Stimulates creativity
Motivates change
Promotes organizational
vitality
Helps individuals and groups
establish identities
Serves as a safety valve to
indicate problems
Negative
Consequences
Diverts energy from work
Threatens psychological
well-being
Wastes resources
Creates a negative climate
Breaks down group cohesion
Can increase hostility and
aggressive behaviors
 Diagnosing Conflict
• Examine the issue
• Analyze the context
• Know the parties involved

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 Questions to Use When
Diagnosing Conflict
Yes No

Are the parties approaching the conflict

from a hostile standpoint?
Is the outcome likely to be a negative
one for the organization?
Do the potential losses of the parties
exceed any potential gains?
Is energy being diverted from goal
accomplishment?
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 Causes of Conflict
in Organizations
Structural Factors Personal Factors
• Specialization • Skills and abilities
• Interdependence • Personalities
• Common resources • Perceptions
• Goal differences • Values and ethics
• Authority relationships • Emotions
• Status inconsistencies • Communication barriers
• Jurisdictional ambiguities • Cultural differences

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 Forms of Conflict
in Organizations
Interorganizational Conflict – conflict that
occurs between two or more
organizations
Intergroup Conflict – conflict that occurs
between groups or teams in an
organization
Intragroup Conflict – conflict that occurs
within groups or teams
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 Forms of Conflict
in Organizations
Interpersonal Conflict – conflict that
occurs between two or more individuals

Intrapersonal Conflict – conflict that

occurs within an individual

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 Managing Interpersonal
Conflict
• Understand power networks
• Recognize defense mechanisms
• Develop strategies to deal with
difficult people

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 Forms of
Intrapersonal Conflict
Interrole Conflict – a person’s experience of
conflict among the multiple roles in his/her life
Intrarole Conflict – conflict that occurs within a
single role, such as when a person receives
conflicting messages from role senders about
how to perform a certain role
Person–role Conflict – conflict that occurs when
an individual is expected to perform behaviors
in a certain role that conflict with his/her
personal values
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 Resolving Intrapersonal
Conflict
• Use self-analysis
• Diagnose the situation; ask
• Does the organization values match
my own?
• Ask role senders what is expected
• Use political skills to buffer
negative effects of role conflict
stress
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 Copyright ©2006
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Power Relationships in
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Organizations
Types
TypesofofPower
Power Behavioral
BehavioralTendencies
Tendencies Examples
Examplesof of
Relationships
Relationships and
andProblems
Problems Interventions
Interventions
Equal
Equalvs.
vs.equal
equal Suboptimization
Suboptimization Define
Definedemarcation
demarcationlines
lines
Competition
Competition Integrate
Integrateunits
units
Covert
Covertfighting
fighting Teach
Constant

Teachnegotiating
negotiatingskills
skills

Constantfriction
friction

High
Highvs.
vs.low
low Control
Controlvs.
vs.autonomy
autonomy Bureaucratize
Bureaucratizepower
power
Resistance
Resistanceto
 tochange
change through
throughrules
rules
Motivation
Motivationproblems
 problems Use
Useaadifferent
differentleadership
leadership
style
style
High
Highvs.
vs.middle
middle Role
Roleconflict,
conflict,role
role Improve
Improvecommunication
communication
vs.
vs.low ambiguity,
ambiguity,stress Clarify
low stress 
Clarifytasks
tasks
Concessions Teach
Concessions 
Teachpower
powerstrategies
strategies
Doubletalk
Doubletalk SOURCE: W. F. G. Mastenbroek, Conflict Management and
Use
Useof
ofsanctions
sanctionsandand
Organizational Development, 1987. Copyright John Wiley & Sons
Limited. Reproduced with permission.

rewards
rewards
 Defense Mechanisms

Aggressive Mechanisms
Fixation – an individual keeps up a dysfunctional
behavior that obviously will not solve the
conflict
Displacement – an individual directs his or her
anger toward someone who is not the source of
the conflict
Negativism – a person responds with pessimism
to any attempt at solving a problem
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 Defense Mechanisms
Compromise Mechanisms
Compensation – an individual attempts to make up
for a negative situation by devoting himself/herself
to another pursuit with increased vigor
Identification – an individual patterns his or her
behavior after another’s
Rationalization – a compromise mechanism
characterized by trying to justify one’s behavior by
constructing bogus reasons for it

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 Defense Mechanisms
Withdrawal Mechanisms
Flight/Withdrawal – entails physically
escaping a conflict (flight) or
psychologically escaping (withdrawal)
Conversion – emotional conflicts are
expressed in physical symptoms
Fantasy – provides an escape from a
conflict through daydreaming
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 Win–Lose versus Win–Win
Strategies

Strategy Dept. A Dept. B Organization

Competitive Lose Lose Lose
Lose Win Lose
Win Lose Lose
Cooperative Win– Win– Win

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 Ineffective Techniques for
Dealing with Conflict
Nonaction

Character
Assassination Secrecy

Conflict
Due Process
Nonaction Administrative
Orbiting

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 Effective Techniques for
Dealing with Conflict
Superordinate Goals

Confronting Expanding
and Resources
Negotiating Conflict

Changing Changing
Structure Personnel
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 Negotiation
• Negotiation – a joint process of
finding a mutually acceptable
solution to a complex conflict

• Two or more people involved

• Conflict of interest exists
• Willing to negotiate for a better outcome
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• Parties prefer to work together
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 Approaches to Negotiation

Distributive Bargaining –
the goals of the parties are
in conflict, and each party
seeks to maximize its
resources

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 Approaches to Negotiation

Integrative Negotiation –
focuses on the merits of the
issues and seeks a win–win
solution

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 Conflict Management Styles

Avoiding – deliberate decision to take no

action on a conflict or to stay out of a
conflict
Accommodating – concern that the
other party’s goals be met but relatively
unconcerned with getting own way
Competing – satisfying own interests;
willing to do so at other party’s expense
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 Conflict Management Styles

Compromising – each party gives

up something to reach a solution

Collaborating – arriving at a
solution agreeable to all through
open and thorough discussion

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 Conflict Management Styles
Assertive Competing Collaborating

Assertiveness
(Desire to satisfy one’s
own concerns) Compromising

Unassertive Avoiding Accommodating

Uncooperative Cooperative
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Thomson Learning. SOURCE: K. W. Thomas, “Conflict and Conflict Management,” in M. D. Dunnette, Handbook of Industrial and Organizational Psychology, (Chicago: Rand McNally,
All rights reserved 1976), 900. Used with permission of M. D. Dunnette.