HBO Final Lecture - Conflict And Negotiation (2024-2025) PDF

NATIONAL COLLEGE OF BUSINESS AND ARTS Bachelor of Science in Business Administration Department Taytay, Rizal FINAL LECTURE ONE Subject Code: HBO Descript...

NATIONAL COLLEGE OF BUSINESS AND ARTS Bachelor of Science in Business Administration Department Taytay, Rizal FINAL LECTURE ONE Subject Code: HBO Description: HUMAN BEHAVION IN ORGANIZATION Term: First Semester Period: Final Period Academic Year: 2024 - 2025 Prepared by: Joel R. Felizardo CONFLICT AND NEGOTIATION The Nature of Conflict Conflict in organization can be defined as nay situation in which incompatible goals, attitudes, emotions or behaviors lead to disagreement or opposition between two or more parties. Types of Conflict Constructive Conflict Constructive conflict is a healthy, constructive disagreement between two or more people. It can benefit the organization by means of following: 1.​ The production of new ideas, learning, and growth among individuals 2.​ People engaged in constructive conflict develop a better awareness of themselves and others 3.​ Working relationships are improved when two parties worked through their disagreement 4.​ Morale Is improved when tensions are released and problems solved in working together 5.​ Constructive conflict can lead to innovation and positive change for the organization 6.​ Increased productivity may be expected Destructive Conflict Destructive conflict is an unhealthy, destructive disagreement between two or more people. An example are two employees who are unable to work together because of interpersonal hostilities. This conflict can decrease productivity and job satisfaction and contribute to absenteeism and job turnover. Levels of Conflict 1.​ Intrapersonal Conflict This is a kind of conflict that a person faces internally, as when an individual experiences personal frustration, anxiety, and stress. Types of Intrapersonal Conflict A.​ Approach-approach conflict Occurs when an individual must choose between two parties and equally attractive alternatives. For example, Leticia is making a choice between an impending promotion as manager of his company or an opportunity to work and settle in the United States. B.​ Avoidance-avoidance conflict Occurs when an individual must choose between two negative or equally unattractive alternatives. For example, Lettie is being asked to accept training, and experience irrelevant or a transfer to another town too far away from her family. C.​ Approach-avoidance conflict Occurs when a person must decide to do something that has positive and negative consequences. For example, Letty is offered promotion but she will have to work from 10:00 PM to 6:00 AM. 2.​ Interpersonal Conflict This conflict occurs between two or more individuals who are in opposition to one another. Types of Interpersonal Conflict  A.​ Substantive conflict Occurs when there is fundamental disagreement oven ends or goals to be persuaded and the means for their accomplishment. Example: Two persons are having disagreement on the merits of extending credit to customers. B.​ Emotional conflict This involves interpersonal difficulties that arise over feelings of anger, mistrust, dislike, fear, resentment, and the like. Example: Letty and Carl continually disagree over each other’s choice of office décor and wall paint. C.​ Substantive and Emotional conflict​ This is the combination of the two types of interpersonal conflict. 3.​ Intergroup Conflict This conflict occurs among groups in an organization. This type of conflict may also be sub-classified as either substantive, emotional, or both. An example of this happens between the marketing and accounting department. The disagreement usually occurs as a result of some expenditures that the marketing department considers as necessary in achieving the sales target of the company, but which the accounting department does not consider acceptable. 4.​ Interorganizational Conflict Conflict that occurs between organizations. It is most commonly referred to the competition and rivalry among firms operating in the same markets. An example is the disagreement between two giant telephone companies on various issues such as encroachment on each other’s assigned areas of operations and interconnections. Sources of Conflict​ 1.​ Structural Factors The sources of conflict may be attributed to structural factors which refer to the nature of the organization and the way in which work is organized. A.​ Specialization When people specialized in their jobs, they become less aware of the tasks that others perform. Example: a person who works all day inside his airconditioned office as a credit specialist will have limited knowledge about the difficulties of the job of the field salesman. A conflict may occur if the opposing views are provided with an opportunity to be exposed. The root cause of the conflict may be traced to specialization of their respective jobs. B.​ Interdependence When two or more unites depend on each other in completing their respective tasks, work interdependence exists. It can also arise when all the groups involved are given too much to do. Conflict may occur if dissimilar rewards are given to workers doing evenly distributed work. C.​ Common Resources When an organization’s resources are shared by two or more parties, a potential conflict can be created. The possibility of conflict becomes greater when the resources becomes scarce. For example, the use of five company vehicles is shared by various units of the company. When the activities of the unites are doubled, a conflict may occur. Resources may include funds, personnel, authority, power, and valuable information. D.​ Goals Differences Different work units sometimes have goals that are incompatible. When this is the case, conflict is not far behind. An example is a bank that has a unit assigned to dispose assets acquired by the bank. If the unit is expected 100 percent performance within a year and the unit receives acquired assets more that it can handle, conflict becomes a possibility. E.​ Authority Relationship How the superior and the subordinates feel about each other may sometimes be a cause for conflict. Some people can take authoritarian boss, but some cannot, and this may create conflict. F.​ Status Inconsistencies In some companies, managers have certain privileges like the free use of company cars, flexible work schedules, the use of company telephone, cell phones privileges, parking space, and the like. If these are not available to non-managerial employees, resentment and conflict become possible. G.​ Jurisdiction Ambiguities  When a part of the company’s overall tasks is left without a clear indication on who should be responsible. For example, handling customers complaints was not assigned specifically to any employee of the organization. 2.​ Personal Factors These factors comprise of another broad category of the causes of conflict. These factors are the result of individual differences which include: A.​ Skills and Abilities The varying levels of skills and abilities can cause conflict in organization. For example, experienced workers who have a deadline to beat or quota to produce will find it hard to work alongside new and unskilled workers. Also, when the supervisor does not posses the technical skills required in the performance of tasks in his particular unit, workers may develop a negative attitude towards him thus, conflict may happen. B.​ Personalities People do not think, feel, look, or act alike, and these personality differences can cause conflict. Conflict-causing personalities may be described as follows: ​ The aggressor. This type of person is a verbal bully and who is likely to shout, thump the table, or point the finger in order to emphasize his point. He causes unhappiness and friction within the group and may become involved in a one-on-one confrontation with another member of the group. ​ The passive aggressor. He manages to block progress at every turn. He never volunteers to do anything, never puts forward any ideas or suggestions of his own and never works as hard as he is capable of doing. ​ The chronic absentee. This person makes repeated absences from work. ​ The negative person. This person is always critical of other people and their achievements. A variation of the negative persons is the one who foresees failure in every suggestion. ​ The chatterbox. This person often comes into a workplace full of gossip or inconsequential news, and detract or disrupt workers from their production activities. ​ The do-nothing person. He does not want to do anything because he is scared of making a mistake. This forces others to do what he is supposed to do that can really cause conflict in the group. ​ The unreliable person. This person wants to do liked by others and because of this, he agrees to do what everyone asks. He even volunteers to do undertake further tasks and to help any of all of his colleagues. Because he gets himself overloaded with work, he ends up unable to do most of the tasks he set himself to do. ​ The time-waster. This is the person who thinks company time can be spent for his own personal benefit like using it for personal telephone calls, preparing a shopping list, playing computer games, or do online selling. ​ The resentful person. This is the person who always feel resentment. What he does negatively affect others. His feeling of resentment is a result of any or all of the following: o​ Personal dislike of a certain person o​ Bigotry- prejudice against a particular race or culture o​ Prejudice against women o​ Prejudice against younger people C.​ Perceptions Conflict caused by differences in perception may occur when the employee output or performance cannot be measured accurately, the perception fame will come into play. For instance, when a teacher is perceived by his supervisor as the most effective and rewards him with a promotion, conflict occurs when the other teachers disagrees with the perception. D.​ Values and Ethics An example of this is when a new employee works hard as expected by his superior, he may be regarded by the old workers as trying to do something that may expose their shortcomings. Let’s say the old workers are producing quantities that they think would be enough to keep them employed by the company. If the new worker will exceed that predetermined production quantity, conflict may occur. E.​ Emotions Uncontrolled emotions can cause conflicts among workers. For instance, a worker just had a violent quarrel with his spouse, his anger may spill over his work area. This first incident may be forgiven, but when it becomes a habit, a conflict may be in the offing.  F.​ Communication Barriers When communication between the workers is not effective, a requisite for conflict is laid out. One of the barriers to effective communication is language and an example may be provided. For example, a worker, is directly under the supervision of his manager who is an Englishman. The worker barely understands the language of his superior and because of this, he thinks his performance will be affected. Nobody in his group could help him, and he feels frustrated and helpless. Stages of Conflict 1.​ Latent Conflict Latent conflict is the stage in which factors exist in the situation which could become potential conflict inducing forces. Four basic types of latent conflict are: ​ Competition for scarce resources ​ Drive for autonomy ​ Divergence of goals ​ Role conflict 2.​ Perceived Conflict This is the stage when one party perceives the other to be likely to thwart or frustrate his or her goals. The case, in which conflict is perceived when no latent conflict arises, is said to result from the parties misunderstanding each other’s true position. Such conflict can be resolved by improving communication between the groups. 3.​ Felt Conflict Felt conflict is the stage when the conflict is not only perceived but actually felt and recognized. For example, A may be aware that he is in serious argument with B over some policy. But this may not make A tense or anxious and it may have no effect, whatsoever, on A’s affection towards B. The personalization of conflict is the mechanism which causes many people to be concerned with dysfunctions of conflict. In other words, it makes them feel the conflict. There are two reasons for the personalization of the conflict: ​ The inconsistent demands on efficient organization and individual growth which is caused within the individual. Anxieties may also result from crisis or from extra- organizational pressures. Individuals need to vent these anxieties in order to maintain internal equilibrium. ​ Conflict becomes personalized when the whole personality of the individual is involved in the relationship. Hostile feelings are most common in the intimate relations that characterize various institutions and residential colleges. 4. Manifest Conflict Manifest conflict is the stage when the two parties engage in behaviors which evoke responses from each other. The most obvious of these responses are open aggression, apathy, sabotage, withdrawal and perfect obedience to rules. Except for prison riots, political revolutions and extreme labor unrest, violence as a form of manifest conflict is rare. The motives towards violence may remain but they tend to be expressed in less violent forms. 5. Conflict Aftermath The aftermath of a conflict may have positive or negative repercussions for the organization depending upon how the conflict is resolved. If the conflict is genuinely resolved to the satisfaction of all participants, the basis for a more cooperative relationship may be laid; or the participants in their drive for a more ordered relationship may focus on latent conflicts not previously perceived and dealt with. On the other hand, if the conflict is merely suppressed but not resolved, the latent conditions of conflict may be aggravated and explode in a more serious form until they are rectified. This conflict episode is called ‘conflict aftermath.’ Conflict resolution has been added as an additional box in the figure to elucidate the conflict aftermath is a direct function of the results of the conflict resolution style adopted and exercised in any given situation.