Group Conflicts and Negotiations Summary PDF

Chapter 10 Group Conflicts and Negotiatons A. Introduction: Conflict is defined as a process that begins when one party perceives that another party has negatively affected something that the first party cares about. Conflicts may be a difference between what is expected and what really happens.Co...

Chapter 10 Group Conflicts and Negotiatons A. Introduction: Conflict is defined as a process that begins when one party perceives that another party has negatively affected something that the first party cares about. Conflicts may be a difference between what is expected and what really happens.Conflicts may be over expectations, roles, goals, view points, interests, competition for the same resources, opportunities, positions, markets, etc. Conflicts can be inter or intra – personal , group or organization.  The traditional view was that Conflict was undesirable, dysfunctional, destructive and irrational. They should be avoided.  The modern view is that conflicts result in constructive competition and enhance individual and organizational competitive ability. They are desirable to certain extent.  The interactionsists view is that conflicts which contribute to enhancing functional performance are desirable and those which hamper relationships and functional performance are undesirable.  Dysfunctional conflicts are based on ego states and self-centeredness of the members contributing negatively to group performance.  Process conflicts are concerned with formation, structure and process of group tasks and performance. They are desirable.  Functional conflicts enhance group thinking, skill sharing, creativity and increase constructive group performance.  Relationship conflicts are related to interpersonal relations and are mostly dysfunctional. B. Intra-Personal Conflict: They arise due to Number of competing needs and roles, Different ways in which drives and roles can be expressed, Barriers which occur between drive and goal and Attachment of positive and negative aspects of desired goals. 1. Conflict due to Frustration:Frustration occurs when a motivated drive is blocked before a person reaches a desired goal.Barriers which stand as an obstacle may be inward or outward.Frustration normally triggers defense mechanism in a person.Defense mechanisms include aggression, withdrawal, fixation and compromise. 2. Goal Conflict:Goal conflict occurs when a goal has both positive and negative features or there are two or more competing goals. The types of goal conflict include:  Approach – Approach conflict: A person is motivated to approach two or more positive but mutually exclusive goals  Approach – Avoidance conflict: A person is motivated to approach a goal and at the same time avoid it. the single goal contains positive and negative features.  Avoidance – Avoidance conflict: A person is motivated to avoid two or more negative but mutually exclusive goals. He may not choose either of them and may leave the situation. 3. Role Conflict:Role is defined as the action performed by the person to indicate the occupation of his position. Role reflects person’s position in social system with accompanying rights, power, obligations and responsibility. A person has several roles in the society. Role perception is how the employee thinks about his behaviour at work.Managers have role conflict due to:  Managers have play the roles of superior, subordinate and colleague.  Managers have to change roles quickly to work at different levels  Managers experience role conflict as people with whom they interact have different expectations from his roles and he cannot meet all expectations without limiting some.  In some organizations roles are inadequately defined. Employees are not sure of playing their roles and this leads to role ambiguity. C. Interpersonal or Intra-Group Conflicts Transactional Analysis:  It is an analysis of interactions between two or more people.  The main areas are explained through Ego states, Transactions and Stroking. 1. Ego: It is a hypothetical construct and helps to explain complex dynamics of human personality. There are 3 ego states- Child (C) ego, Adult (A) ego and Parent (P) ego.  Child (C) ego: An individual acts like an impulsive child. Characteristics include being submissive, adaptive, emotional, joyful or rebellious. Child ego can be classified as Adaptive: people listen to others and adapt as per the situations and Free: people do not accept any responsibility.  Adult (A) ego: An individual acts a matured person. Characteristics include being cool-headed, rational behaviour, calculative, objectivity, fairness, logical choice, gathering and analyzing information.  Parent (P) ego: An individual acts like a dominating parent. Characteristics include protective, loving, controlling, critical, directive, commanding, etc. It can be classified as Critical parent: They criticize others activities and Nurturing parent: They are supportive 2. Transactions between Ego states: i. Complementary Transactions: The message sent or behaviour exhibited by one person receives appropriate and expected response from another person’s ego state. Conflicts do not arise. They include:  P-C Transaction: Superior is the parent and subordinate is the child. Subordinate follows orders of superior. Done in routine activities and decisions.  A-A Transaction: Superior and subordinate both are adults. Both think rationally. This is done for strategic decisions.  C-P Transaction: Superior is child and subordinate is parent. Used by powerful subordinates and superior listens due to compulsion or fear of threat. ii. Crossed Transactions: The message sent or behaviour exhibited by one person is reacted to by an incompatible or unexpected response from another person’s ego state. They are sources of interpersonal conflicts. Occurs between P-A, P-P, A-C AND C-C. To avoid this either of the parties or both the parties have to change their ego sates.  If the situation is routine then one in A should shift to C and convert the P-A interaction to P-C transaction.  If the situation is strategic then one in P should shift to A and convert the P-A interaction to A-A transaction. iii. Ulterior Transactions: This involves at least two ego states on part of a person. The individual may say one thing but mean another. The transactions are very complicated and result in interpersonal conflict. They damage the psyche of the two parties and relations. Situation – Transaction Match: transaction should be compatible to situations to produce positive functions and relations.  The assumption that A-A transactions are best is not correct. A-A transactions are appropriate only for strategic and important situations that require knowledge and expertise of other party.  A-C transactions can be used for routine manager and subordinate interactions.  Managers can be in nurturing parent ego when subordinates are in adaptive child ego state and situation needs counseling.  Managers can be in critical parent ego when subordinates are in free child ego state and situation needs turnaround. 3. Stroking: It is recognizing presence of others.It may be positive, negative, sarcastic or mixed. The Johari Window:It is based on the fact that certain things that a person knows about himself and certain things are unknown. This also holds good for the other person also. On this assumption four cells are identified which are open self, hidden self, blind self, and undiscovered self.  Open self: Person knows about himself and about the other persons. This results in openness and compatibility and little interpersonal conflict.  Hidden self: Person knows about himself but not about the other persons. Person hides his true feelings and attitudes. It results in potential interpersonal conflict.  Blind self: Person remains blind about himself but other people know about his behaviour. Person may be unintentionally irritating and hurting other’s feelings. This situation is prone to high interpersonal conflict.  Undiscovered self: Person does not know about himself and about the other persons. Results in misunderstanding and potential interpersonal conflict. Strategies for Conflict Resolution:  Complementary transactions in transactional analysis.  Moving towards open self or self-disclosure and feedback in Johari window model.  Emotion management  Management through reason and action.  Lose-lose strategy: Both individuals lose. Different approaches include compromise, pay-off, use of arbitrator and resort to bureaucratic regulations.  Win-Lose strategy: one party wins and other loses.  Win-win strategy: Aim is at solving the problem and not beating the other party. D. Inter-Group Conflicts: They arise due to Overlapping roles, Absence of cooperation, collaboration and understanding, Competition for same facilities, Resource crunch, Lack of open minded approach, More concern for group goals rather than organizational goals and Resistance to communication. Strategies for Conflict Resolution:  Avoidance: keep the conflict from surfacing  Diffusion: deactivate the conflict  Containment: allow conflict to surface and discuss and resolve the issues  Confrontation: bring out the issues and let the groups reach a solution  Win-win situations: Try and work out a win-win solution to satisfy both groups  Information sharing: Groups should allow members to share information  Free flow of communication: Groups should allow members to communicate with other groups  Trust and confidence: It should be there within the group and with other groups  Team building: Interdepartmental teams encourage people to focus on organizational goals