Managing Workplace Conflict

MGTS3602
Dr Momo Kromah

Lecture 6: The Climate of Conflict

Last Lecture………

 Diagnosing and Analysing Conflict

▪ Stop, Think, Listen and Communicate (S-TLC)

▪Goals

▪ Model of Conflict Analysis

▪ Power, Status and Conflict

Lecture Objectives………….

• Defining Climate

• Climate Characteristics

• Climate Variables and their effects on Conflict

Interactions

• Emerging Issues for Climate in Conflict and

Conflict Management
Climate
 What is climate?

▪ The relative enduring quality of a social unit that is

experienced in common by members and arises from and
influences their interaction and behaviour (Folger et al.,
2005)

▪ Represents the prevailing temper, attitudes and outlook of

a dyad, team or organisation

▪ Team members collective perceptions of the events,

practices and procedures or the behaviours that get
rewarded, supported and expected in a particular locale
(Schneider, 1990)
Climate characteristics

• Not (always) psychological

• Experienced in common by members – through

interactions

• No one person is responsible for creating

climate

• Relatively enduring
• Persists for extended spans of time and does not change with every change in interactions
(Tagiuri,1968)
Climate and Conflict Interactions
• Climate is important for understanding conflict
interactions because it provides continuity and
coherence to mutual activities

• Allows team members to:

• ascertain their general directions and what it means to be a part
of the group,
• what actions are appropriate and how team members are likely to
react and
• what other information is necessary to guide peoples behaviours
and to help them understand the social unit.
The Influence of Conflict on Team Climate
Task conflict
• Team cohesion

Process conflict
• May promote a perception of climate of unfairness (Ayoko &
Pekerti, 2008)

Relationship conflict
• May be linked with a climate perceived as suspicious,
distrusting and hostile (Faulk, 1982)
• Climate of dissatisfaction, absenteeism and turnover
• Unsupportive and negative climate
The Influence of Psychological Climate on
Conflict
Psychological climate include:
•An atmosphere that encourages individuals to identify and
bond with a given physical space such that he/she can
claim ownership or belongings on the space i.e.
territoriality, privacy etc.

•Conflict may arise when territories are threatened e.g. in

open plan offices (see Ayoko & Hartel, 2003).
Climate and Conflict Interactions

• Climate dictates the attitude to conflict

• Drives how conflict should be managed

• Lends to definite tone of interchanges that can accelerate

destructive cycles or preserve productive approach to
conflict
Climate and Conflict Interactions
People use their sense of climate to gauge the
appropriateness, effectiveness or likely consequences of
their behaviour

The prevailing conflict climate of a conflict situation colours

members interpretation of one another, thereby
encouraging certain types of behaviour and reinforcing the
situational climate
• E.g. making attributions

What about effects of interactions on climate?

• Multiplier effects and critical incidents
Conflict Climate Variables
 Dominance or authority relations
▪ E.g. is power concentrated in the hands of a few or shared, how
important is power in decision making?

 Degree of supportiveness
▪ Are people friendly or intimate with one another, can people trust
each other? Do members tolerate disagreement?

 Sense of relational identity

▪ Does the team have a definite identity?
▪ Do people feel ownership of accomplishments

 Interdependence
▪ Can all gain if they cooperate or will one’s gain be another‘s loss?
Are people pitted against each other?
Conflict Climate Variables contd
Psychological Safety
• Team members’ sense of safety and comfort (or the lack of) in team
interaction patterns
• The security to participate in team processes without fear of negative
consequences to self-image, status and or career (Kahn, 1990).

Collaborative Communication
• Communication that aspires to find a mutually satisfying solution to a
problem or conflict
- Assist team members to approach conflict with a common goal
- Reduction of animosity and negative emotions that often accompany conflict

Conflict Management Norms

• Regular behavioural pattern in managing conflict within the team
• Cooperative vs competitive norms
• Pre-conflict and post-conflict norms
Conflict Climate Variables contd
Trust
•Trust as an attitude held by one individual, the truster,
toward another individual, the trustee (Spector & Jone, 2004)

•Trust can be defined as the willingness to risk, increasing

"one's vulnerability to another whose behaviour is not
under one's control" (Zand, 1972)

•Trust in individuals is an expectation or belief that actions

from another party will be motivated by good intentions.
Individuals take a risk in this belief because the other
party may not act out of benevolence (Whitener et al., 1998)
Conflict Climate Variables contd
• Types of trust relationships
• Deterrence-based trust (calculus-based)

• Based on consistency of behaviors i.e. people will

follow through what they promise they will do.

• This is sustained by threats or promises of

consequences that will result if promises are not
maintained

• Involves contracts, bureaucracy & surveillance

Conflict Climate Variables contd

•Knowledge-based trust
•Occurs when a person has enough information about
others to understand them and accurately predict their
behavior

•Increases dependence and commitment among parties

•When conflicting parties expect extended relationships,

they are more likely to cooperate with customers,
colleagues and suppliers but not with competitors (Sondak &
Moore,1994)
Conflict Climate Variable contd

Identification-based trust
•Based on complete empathy with another person’s desires
and intentions

•Trust exists between people because each person

understands, agrees and empathises with and takes on
the others values due to emotional connection between
them. Thus they can act for each other (Lewicki & Bunker,
1996).
Conflict Climate Variables contd
Hierarchical Relationship or Category based trust.
• Occurs when individuals from a specific group of an organization
might place high trust on each other simply because of their shared
membership within this group (Kramer,1999)

Trustee Gender
• Trust levels are higher within the same gender (Keller, 2001;
Williams, 2001)

• Trust is linked with ethics and morals (Tyler & Kramer, 1996) and
these terms are used to describe trusting behaviours (Kipnis,1996)

• Ethics research indicates women are perceived to be more ethical

or trustworthy than men (Jones & Kavanagh, 1996; Paterson &
Kim, 1991).
 Other emerging climate issues in the nexus
between climate, conflict and conflict
Management
Relational transgression
• Forgiveness
• Apologies
• Reconciliation

For more details please see:

• Course texts: Folger et al., (Ch 7); Cahn & Abigail (Ch 5)
• Also see: Ayoko, O.B. 2016. Workplace conflict and willingness to
cooperate: The importance of apology and forgiveness, International
Journal of Conflict Management, Vol. 27 Iss 2 pp. 172 – 198
• Other relevant readings on the course BB.
Recap
• Climate dictates the attitude to conflict

• Drives how conflict should be managed

• Lends to a definite tone of interchanges that can

accelerate destructive cycles or preserve productive
approach to conflict.
Further readings

Ayoko, O.B. 2016. Workplace conflict and willingness to cooperate:

The importance of apology and forgiveness, International Journal
of Conflict Management, Vol. 27 Iss 2 pp. 172 - 198

Cahn, D.D & Abigail, R.A. 2007. Managing Conflict through

communication. Pearson, Sydney

Exline, J.J., Baumeister, R.F., Bushman, B.J. Campbell, W.K. &

Finkel, E.J. 2004. Too proud to let go: Narcissistic entitlement as a
barrier to forgiveness. Journal of Personality and Social
Psychology, 87(6): 894-912.

McCullough, M.E., Worthington Jr., E.L. & Rachal, K.C. 1997.

Interpersonal forgiveness in close relationships. Journal of
Personality and Social Psychology, 73(2): 321-336.