NOTES

ON
DYNAMICS OF
GROUP BEHAVIOUR
BY

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 CONTENTS
FOUNDATIONS OF GROUP BEHAVIOR
UNDERSTANDING WORK TEAMS
POWER AND POLITICS
CONFLICT PART NOTES

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 CHAPTER 9- FOUNDATIONS OF GROUP BEHAVIOR
Group - Two or more individuals, interacting and interdependent, who have come together to
achieve particular objectives.
TYPES OF GROUPS
1. Formal Group - A designated work group defined by an organizations structure.
2. Informal Group - A group that is neither formally structured nor organizationally determined;
such a group appears in response to the need for social contact.
Social Identity Theory - Perspective that considers when and why individuals consider
themselves members of group.
Ingroup Favoritism - Perspective in which we see members of our in-group as better than other
people, and people not in our group as all the same.
Several characteristics make a social identity important to a person:
1. Similarity - People who have the same value or characteristics as other members of the
organization have higher level of group identification.
2. Distinctiveness - People are more likely to notice identities that show how they are
different from other groups.
3. Status- People uses identities to define themselves and increase self-esteem, it makes sense
that they are most interested in liking themselves to high status groups.
4. Uncertainty Reduction Membership in a group also helps some people understand who
they are and how they fit into the world.
STAGES OF GROUP DEVELOPMENT The Five-Stage Model
The Five-Stage group-development model characterizes groups as proceeding through the distinct
stages of forming, storming, norming, performing and adjourning.
1. Forming stage - The first stage in group development is characterized by a great deal of
uncertainty about the groups
purpose, structure and leadership.
2. Storming stage The second stage
in group development is
characterized by intragroup conflict.
3. Norming stage The third stage in
group development , characterized by
close relationships and cohesiveness
4. Performing stage The fourth stage
in group development, during which
the group is fully functional.
5. Adjourning stage The final stage in group development for temporary groups,
characterized by concern with wrapping up activities rather than task performance

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Temporary groups with deadlines dont seem to follow the usual five- stage model. Studies
indicate they have their own unique sequencing of actions (or inaction):
1. Their first meeting sets the groups
direction
2. The first phase of group activity is one
of inertia
3. A transition takes place exactly when
the group has used up half its allotted
time
4. This transition initiates major changes
5. A second phase of inertia follows the
transition
6. The groups last meeting is
characterized by markedly
accelerated activity.
A set of phases that temporary groups go
through that involves transitions between inertia and activity this pattern called punctuated-
equilibrium model.

Group Properties: Roles, Norms, Status, Size, Cohesiveness and Diversity

Group Property 1: Roles
Role A set of expected behavior patterns attributed to someone occupying a given position
in a social unit.
Role Perception An individuals view of how he or she is supposed to act in a given
situation.
Role Expectations How others believe a person should act in a given situation. In a work
place, one looks at role expectation through the perspective of the psychological contract
an unwritten agreement that exists between employees and employer.
Role Conflict A situation in which an individual is confronted by divergent role expectations.
Zimbardos Prison Experiment
Aim - To investigate how readily people would conform to the roles of guard and prisoner in
a role-playing exercise that simulated prison life.
Procedure To study the roles people play in the prison situation.
Findings The simulation proved too successful in demonstrating how quickly individuals
learn new roles. The background allowed them easily and rapidly to assume roles very different
from their inherent personalities and no prior training to those roles.

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Group Property 2: Norms
Norms- Acceptable standards of behavior within a group that are shared by the group members.
Performance Norms Examples how hard members should work, what level of output should
be, how to get the job done, what level of tardiness is appropriate.
Appearance Norms Dress code, unspoken rules about when to look busy.
Social Arrangement Norms With whom to eat lunch, whether to form friendships on and off
the job.
Resource Allocation Norms Assignment of difficult jobs, distribution of resources like pay or
equipment.
The Hawthorne studies - Researchers began by examining the relationship between the physical
environment and productivity. As they increased the light level for the light level for the
experimental group workers, output rose for that unit and control group. But to their surprise, as
they dropped the light level in the experimental group, productivity continued to increase in both
groups. In fact, productivity in the experimental group decreased only when the light intensity had
been reduced to that of moonlight.
Conformity - The adjustment of ones behavior to align with the norms of the group. Conformity
to social norms is higher in collectivism cultures, but it is still a powerful force in groups in
individualistic countries.
Reference Group Important groups to which individuals belong or hope to belong and with
those whose norms individuals are likely to conform.
Deviant Workforce Behavior - Voluntary behavior that violates significant organizational norms
and, in so doing, threatens the well being of the organization or its members. Also, called
antisocial behavior or workplace incivility.

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Group property 3: Status
Status-a socially defined position or rank given to groups or group members by others.
Status characteristics theory-A theory that states that differences in status characteristics create
status hierarchies within group.
What determines status? According to status characteristics theory, status tends to derive
from one of the three sources:
1. The power a person wields over others.
2. A persons ability to contribute to a groups goal.
3. An individuals personal characteristics.

Status and Norms: High status people are often given more freedom to deviate from norms than
other group members. High status people are also better able to resist conformity pressures than
the lower status peers. Research indicates than bringing high status members into a group may
improve performance, but only upto a point, perhaps because they may introduce
counterproductive norms.
Status and group interaction: High status people to be more assertive group members. They
speak out more often, criticize more, state more commands, and interrupt others more often. But
status difference actually inhibit diversity and creativity in groups because lower status members
tend to participate less actively in group discussions.
Status and Inequity: it is important for the group members to believe the status hierarchy is
equitable. Perceived inequity creates disequilibrium, which inspires various types of corrective
behaviour. Large differences in status within groups are also associated with poorer individual
performance, lower health, and higher intentions to leave the group.
Status and stigmatization: The status of people with whom you are affiliated can also affect
others views of you. People who stigmatized against can infect others with their stigma. This
stigma of association effect can result in negative opinions and evaluation of the person
affiliated with the stigmatized individual, even if the association is brief and purely coincidently.

Group property 4: Size

Social loafing is one of the most important findings about the size of the group concerns. Social
loafing is the tendency for individuals to expend less effort when working collectively than
alone. It directly challenges the assumption that the productivity of the group as a whole should
at least equal the sum of the productivity of the individuals in it.
How to prevent social loafing?
1. Set group goals, so the group has a common purpose to strive toward;
2. Increase intergroup competition, which focuses on the shared outcome;
3. Engage in peer evaluation, so each person evaluates each other persons contribution;

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 4. Select members who have high motivation and prefer to work in groups; and
5. If possible, base group rewards in part in each members unique contributions.

Group property 5: Cohesiveness

Cohesiveness is the degree to which each group members are attracted to each other and are
motivated to stay in a group.
How to encourage group cohesiveness?
1. Make the group smaller.
2. Encourage agreement with group goals.
3. Increase the time members spend together.
4. Increase the groups status and the perceived difficulty of attaining membership.
5. Stimulate competition with other groups.
6. Give rewards to the group rather than to individual members.
7. Physically isolate the group.

Group property 6: Diversity

Diversity is the extent to which the members of a group are similar to, or different from, one
another.
Faultiness is the perceived division that split groups into two or more sub groups based on
individual differences such as sex, race, age, work experience and education.

Group decision making

Strengths of Group Decision making: Groups generate more complete information and
knowledge. They offer increased diversity of views. Groups lead to increased acceptance of a
solution.
Weakness of Group Decision making: Group decisions are time consuming because group
typically take more time to reach a solution. There are conformity pressures. Group discussions
can be dominated by one or a few members. Group decisions suffer from ambiguous
responsibility.
Effectiveness and Efficiency: Group decisions generally more accurate than the decisions of the
average individual in a group, but less accurate than the judgements of the most accurate. In
terms of speed, individuals are superior. If creativity is important, group tend to be more
effective.
With few exceptions, group decision making consumers more work hours than an individual
tackling the same problem alone.

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Groupthink and Groupshift
Two by-products of group decision making have the potential to affect a groups ability to
appraise alternatives objectively and arrive at high quality solutions.
1. Groupthink: A phenomenon in which the norm for consensus overrides the realistic
appraisal of alternative courses of action.
What can managers do to minimize groupthink?
a) They can monitor group size.
b) Managers should also encourage group leaders to play an impartial role.
c) Manager should appoint one group member to play the role of devils advocate, overtly
challenging the majority position and offering divergent perspectives.

2. Groupshift: A change between a groups decision and an individual decision that a

member within the group would make; the shift can be toward either conservatism or
greater risk but it generally is toward a more extreme version of the groups original
position.
The shift toward polarisation has generated several explanation.
a) The decision makes the member more comfortable with each other and, thus, more
willing to express extreme versions of their original positions.
b) Group decisions free any single member from accountability for the groups final
choice, so a more extreme position can also be taken.
c) It is also likely that the people take on extreme positions because they want to
demonstrate how different they are from the outgroup.

Group decision making techniques

The most common form of group decision making takes place in interacting groups.
Interacting groups: Typical groups in which members interact with each other face to face.
Brainstorming: An idea-generation process that specifically encourages any and all alternatives
while withholding any criticism of those alternatives.
The following two techniques go further than brainstorming by helping groups arrive at a
preferred solution
Nominal group techniques: A group decision making method in which individual members
meet face to face pool their judgements in a systematic but independent fashion. Specifically, a
problem is presented and then the group takes the following steps:
1. Before any discussions takes place, each member independently writes down ideas on the
problem
2. After this silent period, each member presents one idea to the group. No discussion takes
place until all ideas have been presented and recorded.

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3. The group discusses the ideas for clarity and evaluates them.
4. Each group member silently and independently rank-orders the ideas. The idea with the
highest aggregate ranking determines the final decision.

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 CHAPTER 10- UNDERSTANDING WORK TEAMS

Why Have Teams Become So Popular?

- They are a better way to use employee talents.
- They are more flexible and responsive.
- They can quickly assemble, deploy, refocus and, disband.
- Teams are an effective way for management to democratize organizations and increase
employee motivation.

Differences Between Groups and Teams-

Groups Teams
Work Group- a group that interacts primarily Work Team- a group of whose individual
to share information and to make decisions to efforts result in performance that is greater
help each group member to perform within his than the sum of the individual
or her responsibility. (share information) inputs.(collective information)
Their performance is merely the summation of Individual efforts result in level of
each group members individual contribution. performance greater than the sum of those
(individual accountability) individual outputs. (Individual and mutual
accountability)
No positive synergy that would create an Positive synergy through coordinated effort
overall level of performance greater than the
sum of the inputs. (neutral-sometimes
negative- synergy)
Random and varied skills Complementary skills
Work team is a subset of a work group; team members are constructed to be purposeful (symbiotic)
in their interaction.

Similarities Between Work Groups and Work Teams-

- They have behavioural expectations of members, collective normalization efforts, active
group dynamics, and some level of decision making.
- Work groups and teams are called upon to generate ideas, pool resources, or coordinate
logistics like work schedules.
- Extensive use of teams creates the potential for an organization to generate greater outputs
with no increase in inputs.

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Types of Teams-
There are four common types of teams-

1) Problem Solving Teams-

i) Groups of 5 to 12 employees from the same department who meet for a few hours each
week to discuss ways of improving quality, efficiency and the work environment.
ii) Rarely have the authority to unilaterally implement any of their suggestions.

2) Self-Managed Work Teams-

i) Groups of 10 to 15 people who take on responsibilities of their former supervisors.

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 ii) Select their own members, and evaluate each others performance.
iii) Supervisory positions take on decreased importance and are sometimes even
eliminated.
iv) They do not typically manage conflicts well. When disputes arise, members stop
cooperating and power struggles ensue, which lower group performance.
v) When members feel psychologically safe- conflict is actually beneficial and boosts
performance. When economic rewards were dependent on input from their teammates,
performance improved for both individuals and team as a whole.

3) Cross Functional Teams-

i) Employees from about the same hierarchical level, but from different work areas who
come together to accomplish a task.
ii) Many organizations use horizontal, boundary-spanning teams for decades.
iii) Advantages- effective means of allowing people from diverse areas within or between
organizations to exchange information, develop new ideas, solve problems and
coordinate complex projects.
iv) Disadvantages- difficult to manage, early stages of development are long, takes time to
build trust and teamwork.

4) Virtual Teams-
i) Teams that use computer technology to tie together physically dispersed members in
order to achieve a common goal.
ii) Challenges- less social rapport and direct interaction between members, leaving some
feeling isolated.
iii) Virtual teams are better at sharing unique information, but they tend to share less
information overall.
iv) For virtual teams to be effective, managements should ensure that-
trust is established among members,
Team progress is monitored closely,
Efforts and products of team are publicized throughout the
organization.
Multiteam Systems- A collection of two or more interdependent teams that share a superordinate
goal; a team of teams. Their activities are interdependent and success of one depends on success
of others.

CREATING EEFFECTIVE TEAMS-

When considering the team effectiveness model, keep in mind that-
1- Teams differ in form and structure.
2- The model assumes teamwork is preferable to individual work; if individuals can do the
work better, then we dont require teams.

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Key components of effective teams-
1- Resources and other contextual influences that make teams effective
2- Teams composition
3- Process variables- events within the team that influence effectiveness.
Team effectiveness in this model includes objective measures of the teams productivity,
managers ratings of the teams performance, and aggregate measures of member satisfaction.

CONTEXT: What Factors Determine Whether Teams Are Successful-

Four contextual factors related to teams performance are- adequate resources, effective
leadership, a climate of trust, and a performance evaluation and reward system that reflects team
contributions.
1- Adequate resources-
Every work team relies on resources outside the group to sustain it.
A scarcity of resources directly reduces the ability of the team to perform its job
effectively and achieve its goals.
One of the most important characteristics of an effective work group is the support
the group receives from the organization, including timely information, proper
equipment, adequate staffing, encouragement and administrative assistance.

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2- Leadership and Structure-
Agreeing on the specifics of work and how they fit together to integrate individual
skills requires leadership and structure, either from management or from the team
members themselves.
Team members absorb many of the duties typically assumed by managers. A
managers job then becomes managing outside the team.
3- Climate of trust-
Members of effective teams trust each other. They also exhibit trust in their leaders.
Interpersonal trust among team members facilitates cooperation, reduces the need
to monitor each others behavior, and bonds members around the belief that others
on the team wont take advantage of them.
Team members are more likely to take risks and expose vulnerabilities when they
believe they can trust others on their team.
Trust allows a team to accept and commit to its leaders goals and decisions.
Trust levels that are asymmetric and imbalanced between team members can
mitigate the performance advantages of a high overall level of trust.
4- Performance evaluation and reward systems-
Individual performance evaluations and incentives may interfere with the
performance of high performance teams.
Management should modify traditional, individually oriented evaluation and
reward system to reflect team performance and focus on hybrid systems that
recognize individual members for their exceptional contributions and reward the
entire group for positive outcomes.
Group based profit sharing, gainsharing, small group incentives, and other system
modifications can reinforce team effort and commitment.

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TEAM COMPOSITION category includes variables that relate to how teams should be
staffed:-

Abilities of Members- Part of a teams performance depends on the knowledge, skills and
abilities of individual members. A teams performance is not merely the summation of its
individual members abilities. However, these abilities set limits on what members can do and
how effectively they will perform on a team.

Personality of Members- Teams that rate higher on level of conscientiousness and openness
to experience tend to perform better. Open team members communicate better with one another
and throw out more ideas, which makes teams composed of open people more creative and
innovative.

Allocation of Roles- Teams have different needs and members should be selected to ensure all
the various roles are filled. Put your most able, experienced and conscientious workers in the
most central roles in a team.

Diversity of members- The degree to which members of a work unit share a common
demographic attribute such as age, sex, race, educational level or length of service in an
organization is the subject of organizational demography. Although newly formed culturally
diverse teams underperform newly formed culturally homogenous teams, the differences
disappear after about 3 months.

Size of teams- Most experts agree keeping teams small is a key to improving group
effectiveness. Experts suggest using the smallest number of people who can do the task.

Member preference- High performing teams are likely to be composed of people who prefer
working as a part of group. When people who prefer to work alone are required to team up, there
is direct threat to the teams morale and to individual member satisfaction.

TEAM PROCESSES
The final category related to team effectiveness includes process variables such as member
commitment to a common purpose, establishment of specific team goals, team efficacy, managed
level of conflicts and minimized level of social loafing.

Common plan and purpose- Teams that consistently perform better have established a clear
sense of what needs to be done and how. Effective team shows reflexivity, i.e. they reflect on
and adjust their master plan when necessary.

Specific goals- Successful teams translate their common purpose into specific, measurable and
realistic performance goals. Specific goals facilitate clear communication.

Team efficacy- Effective teams have believe in themselves and believe they can succeed,
which is called team efficacy. The greater the abilities of team members, the more likely the
team will develop confidence and the ability to deliver on that confidence.

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Mental models- It is the team members knowledge and beliefs about how the work gets done
by the team.

Conflict levels- Relationship conflicts, based on interpersonal incompatibility, tensions and

animosity towards others, are almost always dysfunctional. When teams are performing non
routine activities, disagreement about task content, called task content, stimulate discussion and
can lead to better team decisions.

Social loafing- Members should be clear on what they are jointly responsible for on the team.
How organizations can create team players?
Selecting: Hiring Team Players
When hiring team members, see that candidates can fulfill their team roles as well as technical
requirements.

Training: Creating team players

Training specialists conducts exercises that allow employees to experience the satisfaction can
provide. Management had to focus much of its efforts on team building.

Rewarding: Providing incentives to be a good team player

An organizations reward system must be reworked to encourage cooperative efforts rather than
competitive ones. This doesnt mean individual contributions should be ignored, rather they
should be balanced with selfless contributions to team.

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 CHAPTER 13: POWER AND POLITICS

Power- A capacity that A has to influence the behavior of B so that B acts in accordance with
As wishes.
Dependence- Bs relationship to A when A possesses something that B requires.

BASES OF POWER
I. Formal Power
II. Personal power

Formal power can be further classified into:

a. Coercive power- A power base that is dependent on fear of the negative results
from failing to comply.
b. Reward power- Compliance achieved based on the ability to distribute rewards
that others view as valuable.
c. Legitimate power- The power a person receives as a result of his or her position
in the formal hierarchy of an organization.

Personal power can be further classified into:

d. Expert power- Influence based on special skills or knowledge.
e. Referent power- Influence based on identification with a person who has
desirable resources or personal traits.

What creates dependence?

i. Importance
ii. Scarcity
iii. Nonsubstitutionality

POWER TACTICS
Ways in which individuals translate power bases into specific actions is called power tactics.
Research has identified nine distinct influence tactics:
1. Legitimacy- Relying on your authority position or saying a request accords with
organizational policies or rules.
2. Rational persuasion- Presenting logical arguments and factual evidence to demonstrate a
request is reasonable.
3. Inspirational appeals- Developing emotional commitment by appealing to a targets
values, needs, hopes and aspirations.

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 4. Consultation- Increasing the targets support by involving him or her in deciding how
you will accomplish your plan.
5. Exchange- rewarding the target with benefits or favours in exchange for following a
request.
6. Personal appeals- Asking for compliance based on friendship or loyalty.
7. Ingration- using flattery, praise or friendly behavior prior to making a request.
8. Pressure- using warnings, repeated demands and threats.
9. Coalitions- enlisting the aid or support of others to persuade the target to agree.

Sexual Harassment- Any unwanted activity of a sexual nature that affects an individuals
employment and creates a hostile work environment.

Politics: Power in Action

Political behaviour- Activities that are not required as part of a persons formal role in the
organization but that influence, or attempt to influence , the distribution of advantages and
disadvantages within the organization..

The Reality of Politics

Most decisions have to be made in a climate of ambiguitywhere facts are rarely fully objective
and thus are open to interpretation people within organizations will use whatever influence
they can to taint the facts to support their goals and interests. That, of course, creates the
activities we call politicking.

Factors That Influence Political Behavior

1. Individual Factors-
High self-monitors
Internal locus of control
High Mach personality
Organizational investment
Perceived job alternatives
Expectation of success
2. Organizational Factors-
Reallocation of resources
Promotion opportunities
Low trust
Role ambiguity
Unclear performance evaluation system
Zero-sum reward practices
Democratic design making
High performance pressures

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 Self-serving senior managers
Political behaviour leads to favourable outcomes like rewards and averted punishments.

HOW DO PEOPLE RESPOND TO ORGANISATIONAL POLITICS

Perception of organizational politics leads to decreased job satisfaction, increased anxiety and
stress, increased turnover and reduced performance.

Defensive Behaviours- Reactive and protective behaviours to avoid action, blame, or

change.
Avoiding Action
Overconforming- Strictly interpreting your responsibility by saying things like The
rules clearly state... or This is the way weve always done it.
Buck passing-Transferring responsibility for the execution of a task or decision to
someone else.
Playing dumb- Avoiding an unwanted task by falsely pleading ignorance or inability.
Stretching- Prolonging a task so that one person appears to be occupied.
Stalling-Appearing to be more or less supportive publicly while doing little or nothing
privately.

Avoiding Blame
Buffing- It describes the practice of rigorously documenting activity to project an image
of competence and thoroughness.
Playing safe- Evading situations that may reflect unfavourably. It includes taking on only
projects with a high probability of success, having risky decisions approved by superiors,
qualifying expressions of judgment, and taking neutral positions in conflicts.
Justifying-Developing explanations that lessen ones responsibility for a negative
outcome and/or apologizing to demonstrate remorse, or both.
Scapegoating-Placing the blame for a negative outcome on external factors that are not
entirely blameworthy.
Misrepresenting-Manipulation of information by distortion, embellishment, deception,
selective presentation, or obfuscation.

Avoiding Change
Prevention-Trying to prevent a threatening change from occurring.
Self-protection-Acting in ways to protect ones self-interest during change by guarding
information or other resources.

Impression management- The process by which individuals attempt to control the impression
others form of them.
Impression management (IM) techniques-
Conformity- Agreeing with someone elses opinion to gain his or her approval is a form
of ingratiation.

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 Favors- Doing something nice for someone to gain that persons approval is a form of
ingratiation.
Excuses- Explanations of a predicating-creating event aimed at minimizing the apparent
severity of the predicament is a defensive IM technique.
Apologies- Admitting responsibility for an undesirable event and simultaneously seeking
to get a pardon for the action is a defensive IM technique.
Self-Promotion- Highlighting ones best qualities, downplaying ones deficits, and
calling attention to ones achievements is a self-focused IM technique.
Enhancement- Claiming that something you did is more valuable than most other
members of the organizations would think is a self-focused IM technique.
Flattery- Complimenting others about their virtues in an effort to make oneself appear
perceptive and likeable is an assertive IM technique.
Exemplification- Doing more than you need to in an effort to show how dedicated and
hardworking you are is an assertive IM technique.

Implications for managers

Increasing the dependence of others
Gaining unique knowledge or skills
Minimizing ones own dependence
Acquiring useful bases of power
Using effective power tactics
Avoiding coercion

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 CHAPTER 14
CONFLICT PART NOTES

Definition
A process that begins when one party perceives that another party has negatively affected (or is
about to negatively affect) something that the first party cares about. Conflict occurs whenever
disagreements exist in a social situation. In conflicts interaction becomes interparty disagreements.
The TRADITIONAL VIEW OF CONFLICT indicates that conflict must be avoided since it
provokes malfunctioning within the group.
The INTERACTIONIST VIEW OF CONFLICT shows that conflicts can be a positive force in a
group to perform effectively and is absolutely necessary for the group.

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 Types of conflicts

Task Conflict Relationship Conflict Process Conflict

Conflict over contents and goals Conflict based on interpersonal Conflict over how work gets done
of the work relationships

Loci of Conflict
It shows where the conflict occurs.
Dyadic Conflict Conflict that occurs between two persons
Intragroup Conflict Conflict that occurs within a team. For example, honest disagreement
between team members
Intergroup Conflict Conflict between different groups or teams.
Intergroup conflict is conflict that takes place among different groups. Types of groups may
include different departments or divisions in a company, and employee union and management, or
competing companies that supply the same customers.

The Conflict Process

A conflict process deals with five steps that help alleviate friction, disagreement, problems or
fighting. The five steps are:
1. Potential opposition or incompatibility
The first stage of the conflict process is called potential opposition or incompatibility. In this
stage, there are potential areas of conflict that could develop, and they consist of communication,
structure and personal variables.

Communication: Insufficient exchange of information and noise in the communication channel

are all barriers of communication and create conditions for conflicts. Potential for conflict increases
when either too little or too much communication takes place. The channel for communication also
has an influence on the conditions causing conflict.
Structure: Size and specialization act as a force to stimulate conflict. The larger the group, the
more specialized their activities, the greater the likelihood of conflict. E.g.: Quality control
department is concerned with improving the quality of products while marketing department is

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 concerned with selling large no of goods and increasing the revenue. This diversity of goals also is
a source of conflict.
Personal variables: This includes the value systems each person has and personality characteristics
each possess. Difference in value systems are a source of conflict, as they result in disagreement
between members of the group.

2. Cognition and Personalization

When one of the factors mentioned in the potential opposition stage actually materializes
as a conflict, then stage two occurs based on cognition and personalization. During this
stage, the perception of conflict arises between the parties.
This step in the conflict process is important because it is in the step the parties decide what
the conflict is done. Awareness by one or more parties about the existence of conditions
that create opportunities for conflict to arise is called perceived conflict. Emotional
involvement in the conflict creating anxiety, frustration and enimity is called felt conflict.
Positive emotions help in finding solutions to solve conflicts while a negative emotion
enhances the conflict.

3. Intentions
These are the decisions to act during conflict. There are five conflict handing intensions. They
are:

Competing: (assertive and unco-operative): It is a desire to satisfy ones own interest

regardless of its impact on the other party. It includes desire to achieve ones own goal
at the sacrifice of others goal, attempting to convince others that your conclusion is
correct and attempting to make someone else accept the blame for the problem.
Collaborating (assertive and co-operative): It is a desire to satisfy all the parties. It
includes attempting to find a win-win situation that allows both parties goals to be
achieved.
Avoiding: (unassertive and uncooperative): It is a desire to suppress a conflict. It
includes ignoring the conflict and avoiding others with whom one disagrees..
Accommodating (unassertive and cooperative): It is a willingness to place the
opponent's interest above ones own. It includes sacrificing ones goal to maintain other
party's goals..
Compromising: It is situation in which each party conflict is willing to give up
something. There is no clear loser or winner.

4. Behavior
The fourth stage is all about behavior, or where the conflicts become visible through yelling,
fighting or crying. This is usually the most difficult stage because major issues have to be resolved.
Strikes and wars would be an extreme example of this stage.
5. Outcomes
The action-reaction between conflicting parties results in two kinds of outcomes.

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 Functional outcomes: Conflict results in improved performance of the group. It
improves the quality of decisions, brings about creativity and innovations, encourage
interests and curiosity among group members.
Dysfunctional outcomes: It reduces the effectiveness of the group. It is as a result of
uncontrolled opposition. It leads to destruction of the group. It reduces group
communication and group coordination.

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