What is Conflict?

• Interpersonal conflict: the process that occurs when one person, group, or organizational subunit frustrates the goal attainment of another.

Causes of Organizational Conflict?

• Group Identification and Intergroup Bias
  • Intergroup bias occurs because of self-esteem. Identifying with the successes of one’s own group and disassociating oneself from outgroup failures boosts self-esteem and provides comforting feelings of social solidarity.
• Interdependence
  • When individuals or subunits are mutually dependent on each other to accomplish their own goals, the potential for conflict exists. Interdependence can set the stage for conflict for two reasons: 1) it necessitates interaction between the parties so that they can coordinate their interests, 2) interdependence implies that each party has some power over the other.
• Differences in Power, Status, and Culture
  • Power: If dependence is not mutual, but one way, the potential for conflict increases.
  • Status: status differences provide little impetus for conflict when people of lower status are dependent on those of higher status.
  • Culture: When two or more very different cultures develop in an organization, the clash in beliefs and values can result in overt conflict.
• Ambiguity
  • Ambiguous goals, jurisdictions, or performance criteria can lead to conflict. Under such ambiguity, the formal and informal rules that govern interaction break down.
• Scarce Resources
  • Differences in power are magnified when resources become scarce.

Types of Conflict

• Relationship conflict: Interpersonal tensions among individuals that have to do with their relationship per se, not the task at hand.
• Task conflict: disagreements about the nature of the work to be done.
• Process conflict: disagreements about how work should be organized and accomplished.

Modes of Managing Conflict

• Avoiding: a conflict management style characterized by low assertiveness of one’s own interests and low cooperation with the other party.
• Accommodating: a conflict management style in which one cooperates with the other party, while not asserting one’s own interests.
• Competing: a conflict management style that maximizes assertiveness and minimizes cooperation.
• Compromise: a conflict management style that combines intermediate levels of assertiveness and cooperation.
• Collaborating: a conflict management style that maximizes both assertiveness and cooperation.

Managing Conflict with Negotiation

• Negotiation: a decision-making process among interdependent parties who do not share identical preferences.
• Distributive negotiation: win-lose negotiation in which a fixed amount of assets is divided between parties.
• Integrative Negotiation: win-win negotiation that assumes that mutual problem solving can enlarge the assets to be divided between parties.
• Distributive Negotiation Tactics
  • Threats: Threat consists of implying that you will punish the party if he/she does not concede to your position.
  • Firmness vs. Concessions: Sticking to your target position, offering few concessions, and waiting for the other party to give in.
  • Persuasion: verbal persuasion or debate is common in negotiations (technical merits & fairness of opponent’s position)
• Integrative Negotiation Tactics
  • Copious information exchange: most of the information exchanged in distributive bargaining is concerned with attacking the other party’s position and trying to persuade them of the correctness of yours.
  • Framing differences as opportunities: parties in negotiation often differ in their preferences for everything from the timing of a deal to the degree of risk that each party wants to assume.
  • Cutting costs: If you can somehow cut the costs that the other party associates with an agreement, the chance of an integrative settlement increases.
  • Increasing resources: Increasing available resources is a very literal way of getting around the fixed-pie syndrome.
  • Introducing superordinate goals: superordinate goals: attractive outcomes that can be achieved only by collaboration.
• Third Party Involvement
  • Mediation: The process of mediation occurs when a neutral third party helps to facilitate a negotiated agreement. Mediators do almost anything that aids the process or atmosphere of negotiation. The mediator can also intervene in the content of the negotiation, highlighting points of agreement, pointing out new options, or encouraging concessions.
  • Arbitration: The process of arbitration occurs when a third party is given the authority to dictate the terms of settlement of a conflict.