ALTERNATIVE DISPUTE RESOLUTION (DIPLOMA ALISON)

MODULE 1: UNDERSTANDING CONFLICT

 Conflict is a process that involves people disagreeing.
 Similar to how conflicts can range from minor to major, negotiations vary in terms of their
consequences. A high-stakes negotiation at work might mean the difference between a company’s
survival and its demise.
 One million workers (18,000 people per week) are assaulted on the job in the United States alone!
 There are three types of conflict that can arise within an organization:
1) Intrapersonal conflict
 Intrapersonal conflict arises within a person
 There are three types of intrapersonal conflict: Difference in roles, role conflict and role
ambuiguity
2) Interpersonal conflict
 Interpersonal conflict is a type of conflict between two people.
 Interpersonal conflict often arises because of competition or because of personality or values
 Keeping conflicts centered on ideas rather than individual differences is important in avoiding a
conflict escalation
3) Intergroup conflict
 Intergroup conflict takes place among different groups such as different departments or divisions
in a company; between union and management; or between companies, such as companies who
supply the same customer.
 Departments may conflict over budget allocations, unions and management may disagree over
work rules, and suppliers may conflict with each other on the quality of parts.
 Merging two groups together can lead to friction between the groups – especially if there are
scarce resources to be divided among the group.

Is Conflict always bad?

 A moderate amount of conflict can be a healthy (and necessary) part of organizational life.
 ALTERNATIVE DISPUTE RESOLUTION (DIPLOMA ALISON)
 To understand how to get a positive level of conflict, we need to understand its root causes,
consequences, and tools to help manage it.
 The impact of too much or too little conflict can disrupt performance.
 If conflict is too low, then performance is low.
 If conflict is too high, then performance tends to be low.
 The goal is to hold conflict levels in the middle range, between high and low. While it might
seem strange to want a particular level of conflict, a medium level of task-related conflict is often
viewed as optimal, because it represents a situation in which a healthy debate of ideas takes
place.

 Research focusing on effective teams across time found that they were characterized by:
1) Low but increasing levels of process conflict (how do we get things done?)
2) low levels of relationship conflict with a rise toward the end of the project (personal
disagreements among team members)
 Personal conflicts, such as personal attacks, are never healthy because they cause stress and
distress, which undermines performance. The worst cases of personal conflicts can lead to
workplace bullying.
3) Moderate levels of task conflict in the middle of the task timeline
 Task conflict can be good in certain circumstances, such as in the early stages of decision
making, because it stimulates creativity. However, it can interfere with complex tasks in the long
run
 ALTERNATIVE DISPUTE RESOLUTION (DIPLOMA ALISON)
 At Intel Corporation, all new employees go through a four-hour training module to learn

“constructive confrontation”. The content of the training program includes dealing with others
in a positive manner, using facts rather than opinion to persuade others, and focusing on the
problem at hand rather than the people involved. The presence of this program indicates that
Intel understands the potentially positive effect of a moderate level of conflict. [7]