Unit 2 Conflict Management PDF

UNIT 2: Conflict Management and Stress Management. Conflict Management –Define Conflict–Conflict, and Competition–Changing Views of Conflict–Traditional and Current views of Conflict –Nature of Conflict – Levels of Conflict – Sources of Conflict – Functional and Dysfunctional...

UNIT 2: Conflict Management and Stress Management. Conflict Management –Define Conflict–Conflict, and Competition–Changing Views of Conflict–Traditional and Current views of Conflict –Nature of Conflict – Levels of Conflict – Sources of Conflict – Functional and Dysfunctional Conflict – Effects of Conflict –A Model of Conflict –Assertive Behaviour – Interpersonal Orientation – Facilitating Smooth Relations.  Define Conflict In literal sense conflict implies opposition or controversy, disagreement or clash. Conflict is a process in which an effort is purposely made by one person or unit to block another that results in frustrating the attainment of the others goals or the furthering of his or hers interest. Breakdown in the standard mechanism of decision making. E.g. An employee gets promotion but has to relocate to an unknown city. He is in a state of dilemma and is not able to make any decision. Conflict is any situation in which 2 or more parties find; themselves in opposition. E.g. Marketing department in a company wants more funds for advertising but finance department does not accept the demand of extra funds. The term conflict is used to describe : 1. Scarcity of resources, policy differences between individuals. 2. Stress, tension, anxiety..etc. 3. Perception or Awareness of conflicting situation.  Competition and conflict Max Weber (1968) wrote: ‘A peaceful conflict is “competition” in so far as it consists in a formally peaceful attempt to attain control over opportunities and advantages which are also desired by others.’  Competition and Conflict Competition Conflict Unconscious process Conscious process Impersonal process Personalized process Continuous process Intermittent process for a brief duration Attention on the goal Attention on the competitors (opponent) themselves Non-violent May involve violence or threat of violence Regard for norms (rules and regulations of No regard for any norms competition)  Nature of Organisational Conflict 1. Conflict arises due to incompatibility of two or more aspects of something 2. Conflict occurs when an individual is unable to choose among the available courses of action. 3. Conflict must be identified and expressed. If no one is aware of the conflict then the conflict does not exist. 4. Conflict represents deliberate behaviour. If interference is accidental there is no conflict. 5. Conflict is different from competition. In competition both parties try to win, but they do not interfere with each other. On the other hand , in a conflict one party interfere in others efforts. 6. Conflict is inevitable, It is inherent in all social relations. Changing views of conflict  There are different views of conflict. They are: 1. Classical or Traditional View: According to classical approach, conflict is abnormal phenomenon which is always undesirable. It induces negative outcomes such as anger, resentment, confusion, lact of cooperation etc. It disrupts the smooth functioning of an organisation. Therefore conflict must be avoided at all cost. The classical writers believed that conflict is bad or harmful and indicates malfunctioning in an organisation. 2. Behavioural View: The human relations expert believed that conflict is natural phenomenon in organisation. It is inevitable because an organisation is composed of people having different values, goals and perceptions. But conflict is harmful and should be resolved to maintain good human relations. 3. Interactionist or Modern View: According to modern writers , conflict is not only inevitable but also necessary for effectiveness of an organisation. An organisation that does not have conflict lacks diversity, excitement and drive. Conflict stimulates curiosity and creativity. Conflict is needed for personal and social change. It is the task of the group leader to allow conflicts to keep group active, self-critical and creative. However, he must keep conflicts under control to avoid their harmful consequences. Effects of conflict-Positive (Functional) and Negative (Dysfunctional)  Positive Effects of Conflict in an Organization Social Change, Decision Making, Reconciliation, Group Unity, Group Cooperation, Inspire Creativity, Share and Respect Opinions, Improve Future Communication, and Identify New Members. FUNCTIONAL –Positive  Negative Effects of Conflict in an Organization Mental Health Concerns, A decrease in Productivity, Members Leave Organization, Violence, Distract Primary Purposes, and Psychological Problem. DYSFUNCTIONAL-Negative  The process of conflict Functional Conflict Latent Percieved Felt Manifest Conflict Conflict Conflict Conflict Dysfunctional Conflict Stage 1: Latent Conflict When two or more parties need each other to achieve desired objectives, there is potential for conflict. Other reasons of conflict are interdependence, different goals and ambiguity of responsibility. They do not automatically create conflict, when they exist-they make it possible. Latent conflict often arises when a change occurs i.e. organizational change or change in personal goals. Stage 2: Perceived Conflict This is the stage at which members become aware of a problem. Incompatibility of needs is perceived and tension begins as the parties begin to worry about what will happen. But no party feels that it is being overly threatened. Stage 3: Felt conflict At this stage parties become emotionally involved and begin to focus on the differences of opinion and opposing interests. Internal tensions and frustrations begin and people begin to build an emotional commitment to their position. Stage 4: Manifest Conflict At this stage parties engage in actions that help in achieving their objectives and disrupt that of others. Conflict behavior varies from the subtle, indirect and highly controlled forms of interference to direct, aggressive, violent and uncontrolled struggle. e.g. Strikes and lockdowns. Stage 5: Conflict outcome The conflict finally results in an outcome which may be functional or dysfunctional. If handled well, the result is functional conflict. If mishandled, the consequence is dysfunctional conflict. As conflict proceeds through stages, resolution becomes difficult. The parties become more convinced that the conflict is win-lose situation. It is usually easier to achieve win win outcomes when the conflict is recognized early before frustration and negative feeling set in.  LEVELS OF CONFLICT-Sources of conflict 1. INDIVIDUAL CONFLICT INTRA-INDIVIDUAL CONFLICT INTERPERSONAL CONFLICT 2. GROUP LEVEL INTRA INTER 3. ORGANISATIONAL LEVEL INTER INTRA  Intra-individual conflict This refers to the conflict within an individual. This arises from frustration, numerous roles which demands equal attention but is not always possible to devote, goals having both negative and positive aspects, cognitive dissonances and neurotic tendencies. Conflict from frustration i.e. frustration occurs when a motivated drive is blocked before a person reaches a desired goal by barriers which may be overt (external) or covert (internal) External barriers e.g. floods, power failures and breakdown of transportation. [Non-social] e.g. forcing a child to study science or denying the child the pleasure of watching television [Social barriers] Internal barriers: Personal limitations and disabilities which prevent one from achieving their goals. Internal barriers e.g. weakness, physical disabilities, lack of skill. They are more lasting then external barriers. Deficiency with direction NEED DRIVE BARRIERS GOAL Reduction of drives Deficiency 1. Overt and fulfils 2. Covert deficiency Defense mechanism 1. Aggression FRUSTRATION 2. Withdrawal 3. Fixation 4. Compromise INDIVIDUAL LEVEL CONFLICT Intra Goal Conflict- Approach-Approach, Approach Avoidance, Avoidance-Avoidance and Multiple approach-avoidance conflict. Role Conflict –Person-Role, Intra, Inter sender, Intra-sender.  1. INDIVIDUAL LEVEL CONFLICT 1. Intra individual confict The conflict which arises within an individual is known as intra-individual conflict. They are of 2 types: a. Goal Conflict Goal Conflict arises when an individual is attempting to achieve a goal that has both positive and negative features or when an individual faces 2 or more competing goals. The individual feels dissatisfied as his expectations are not met. This may lead to friction between individual and organisational goals. Goal Conflicts are of 3 types : 1. Approach Approach (2 attractive) 2. Approach Avoidance (+ and -) 3. Avoidance Avoidance (2 unattractive) 4. Multiple approach avoidance [Several possibilities for action, each having several desirable and undesirable features].  b. ROLE CONFLICT A role is a set of activities expected of a person holding a particular position in an organisation. There are 3 types of roles: 1. Expected- expected from others 2. Perceived –what the person thinks he should perform 3. Enacted-actually behaves Role ambiguity: The individual is unclear about the job duties and responsibilities expected from him. There are 4 forms of role –conflict. 1. Person –Role Conflict: This kind of conflict arises when the behaviour expected from a person is incompatible with his own value system. 2. Inter-role conflict: Such conflict occurs when an individual is suppose to play multiple roles which are divergent. e.g. manger expects him to do overtime while family expects him to come early. 3. Intra-sender Role conflict: This is conflict when an individual is expected to perform a task which he is not capable of doing due to lack of adequate time and resources. e.g. Librarian asks to buy rare books from approved book stores but these books are available only with roadside book sellers. 4. Inter-sender role Conflict: Such conflicts arise when an individual faces conflicting expectations from different groups. E.g. managers expect supervisor to be strict while workers expect him to be liberal.  c. Cognitive Dissonance This can lead to intra individual conflict. It happens when the individuals recognize inconsistencies in their own thoughts and or behaviors. Such inconsistencies are stressful and uncomfortable, leading to intrapersonal conflict. Employees seek to remove inconsistencies by changing thoughts and or behaviors or obtaining more information about the issue that is causing dissonance. It remains a source of conflict till it is removed.  d. Neurotic Tendencies These are irrational personality mechanism that an individual uses to create inner conflict. e.g. The manager uses excessive controls and strict rules to control the employees because he distrusts the employees. These neurotic tendencies further causes conflicts as the employees feel distrusted. They try to settle score to protect themselves from further abuse. This makes the managers to further distrust the employees and impose more vigorous and strict controls. INDIVIDUAL LEVEL CONFLICT INTER Personality Differences. Perceptual Differences. Different Value systems. Differences in Power and status. Scarcity of resources.  Interpersonal conflict Conflict between 2 or more individuals is called interpersonal conflict e.g. 2 people competing for the same job. 1. Personality differences: When an outgoing (extrovert) and in-going (introvert) persons interact, conflict arise between them. 2. Perceptual differences: 2 or more individuals may perceive the same issue in opposite ways. 3. Difference in value systems: Due to clash of values. E.g. Chief engineer emphasises quality and durability whereas production manager stresses on simplicity and low manufacturing cost. 4. Difference in power and status: Unequal distribution e.g. conflict occur when a low status waitress in a restaurant gives orders to high status cook. 5. Scarcity of resources-people compete for scarce resources.  Inter individual conflict Transactional Analysis, Johari Window, Stroking and life positions seek to explain the phenomenon of inter personal conflict. 1. Transactional Analysis: When two people interact with each other there results a social transaction. The analysis of social transaction is called transactional analysis. 2. TA was introduced by Eric Berne 3. The advantages associated with TA are: a. The basics of TA are simple to learn. b. The validity of TA is demonstrable. c. It provides a means for reducing the amount of bad feelings experienced by an individual. d. It increases efficient use of time. e. Helps promote effective communication. f. It is applicable at home as it is at work. Ego States: Basic to TA is the assumption that a person has three ego states i.e. parent, child and adult. They stimulate, monitor and control individual behaviour. The ego state is not related to the age of an individual. He further states that a person can change ego state depending upon situation and modify his behaviour. Berne states, “Although we cannot directly observe these ego states, we can observe behaviour of an individual and can infer which of the three ego states an individual is transacting at a particular moment”. Parent Ego Parent Ego refers to the personality attributes like value, attitude and behaviour of parent like people, inherited by a person when he was child. This behavioural pattern becomes basics for behaviour as individual copy parent figures like teacher, father, mother, brother or any other person who is elderly and displays an advisory behaviour, which is copied by a child and subsequently displayed in his lifetime when such situations arise. Parent ego can be of two types. (a) Nurturing parents Nurturing parent ego is characterized by over protectiveness, helpful, distant, dogmatic, indispensable and upright parent behaviour. When such behaviour is displayed to a child, he inherits the same pattern of behaviour. (b) Critical parents Critical parents ego state is characterized with the behaviour, which is hurtful, waging finger at the other and conveys displeasures. The behaviour is strict which usually quotes rules, laws and has great reliance on successful people Adult Ego Adult Ego is based on reasoning, seeking from subordinates and providing information. A person having adult ego views people equal, worthy of undertaking any job and responsible. They behave rationally and think logically. Physical signs can identify their behaviour, which displays controlling type. People with adult ego, verify their behaviour and update their parent and child ego continuously. They block parent and child ego state based on experience. The person updates data to determine what is valid thus he controls emotional expression. Adult ego is considered to be valid ego state comparatively. Child Ego Child ego state is inner feelings, experience and adaptation. Person having child ego generally displays creativity in his action. He conforms to the situation and people who interact with him and displays anxiety, depression, dependence, fear and hate. Child ego can be perceived by observing an individual who displays physical signs like silent compliance, attention seeker in certain situations he displays temper, tantrums, giggling and coyness. The individual thinks non-logical and wants immediate action on various issues. Such behaviour is formed unto 5 years of age by accepting inputs of behaviour of various individuals around in childhood days. Child gets a social birth and inherits various patterns within the child ego state. These are:- (a) Natural Child Natural child generally displays following behavioural pattern Affectionate Does what come in the way Fearful Self-indulgent Self-centered and aggressive. (b) Adaptive child Adaptive child is psychologically trained in obeying instructions from parents though not to his liking and does whatever because parents insist to do so. It has the tendency to get involved in NOT OK transaction. Rebellion, frustration becomes part of his personality. (c) The little professor The little professor is intuitive, creative and manipulative. He believes in magic and uses this ego state with adult ego state and achieves good interpersonal relationship. He responds to non-verbal communication and play hunches. He is imaginative.  Analysis of transaction One of the barriers of communication is crossed transaction. TA is a technique for examining the nature of interpersonal communication between the two individuals and to analyse its effectiveness. Every piece of conversation is treated as a transaction. For example when A talks to X it is one transaction and when X replies to A it is another. Each transaction of an individual emanates from parents ego, adult ego or child ego state. As stated earlier, parent ego state (P) is authoritarian, the adult ego state (A) is rational and logical in approach and lastly the child ego state (C) is impulsive. (a) Complementary Transaction Complementary transactions are those communications where stimulus and response (S—R) is from identical ego state. Message from one person gets almost predicted response and the transaction is parallel. There are nine such complementary transactions:- (i) Adult – Adult Transaction Both individuals are transacting from adult ego state. The stimulus and response are based on logical thinking and rationale. This type of communication is considered most ideal in any organization. There is least chance of conflict among the workers. See figures below (ii) Adult – Parent Transaction In adult – parent ego state, manager speaks from adult ego state which is rational and backed by rules and regulations while the employees speak from the parent ego state which is authorization, is not likely to smooth in the long run. Parent ego state (workers) will try to control and dominate the manager. The employees may develop hostile attitude towards the boss. See figure below (iii) Adult Child Transactions: This type of transaction is effective if child ego is of little professor category where employees can work with certain amount of creativity. Manager in this type of situation has to keep guiding and tolerating childlike behaviour of employees which is characterized by loose control, and lot of fun and enjoyment, which is not productive for the organization. (iv) Parent – Parents transactions: Parent ego state is characterized by admonitions, rewards, and work by rule, praise and punishment. If both i.e., the manager and employees have the above characteristics of ego state, the stimuli and response will be dominating from either side. While manager would put forward his ideas, the employees would reject it and put up a fresh idea and would want to be accepted by the manager. Manager will have to take up a nurturing parent attitude for transaction to be fruitful and thus have a productive communication. See figure below: (ix) Child – Child ego state Such transaction is not good for the organization. This organization even can be called as leaderless. Manager with child ego dominant is more of a liability to the organization. Performance of the organization will be poor, no growth, no new ideas, and lithargy will prevail in the system. In such situation, the manager should be replaced. See figure below  Johari Window Johari Window Joseph Luft and Harrington Ingham have developed a model to look at one’s personality that can be known and unknown to self and known and unknown to others. The concept known as Johari Window is shown in Figure below. It is a technique to analyze and improve interpersonal - Transaction. (a) Open Self: Open Self is known as Public area. This quadrant indicates information about self is known to oneself and also to others. The information relates to feelings, motivation and behavior of an individual, which he is willing to share with those whom he comes in contact. The individual behaves in a straight forward manner and is sharing. In an organizational setting, because of the openness of the individual the chances of conflict are reduced to minimum. (b) Blind Self: This quadrant is related to information is not known to self but known to others, who interact with you, know more about you. This is known as blind area. It is important that an individual should reduce blind area to the minimum by interacting with people more intimately and by asking questions about self. For example, an individual may not be aware of the fact that he is extremely task oriented and employees do not like it. In other words, others know and perceive the individual as a hard taskmaster and dislike him because of this. This is blind area that a person is blind to the fact that he interacts with others in the professional manner. This situation is likely to create an unpleasant atmosphere in the organization. Individual therefore should reduce blind area and increase public area. This will reduce conflict situations to a great extent in interpersonal behavior. (c) Hidden Self: Certain aspect of personality has formed this quadrant. Self knows information but others do not know it. There are certain aspects, which are private. Individual therefore does not want to share it with subordinates and wants to keep hidden. The area is also called Private Area. (d) Unknown Self: This area is characterized by facts unknown to the self and to others. This is dark area, which is not pregnable. There is nothing much that can be done about it. It should be an endeavor to improve upon one self by obtaining feed back from others about self. Individual should carry out improvement and perceive one self correctly so that one perceives each person in the right manner. There are certain factors to improve Interpersonal relations. (Public Area) GROUP LEVEL CONFLICT INTRA INTER Incompatible goals, task interdependence, resource sharing, reward system, difference in values and attitudes, joint decision making, distortions in communication.  Intra Group Conflict Intra-group conflict means conflict between members of the same group. It is similar to interpersonal conflict except that the person involved in the conflict belong to a common group. When an intra-group conflict becomes serious or intense, the group may be divided into 2 sub-groups. Therefore an intra-group conflict may lead to inter-group conflict. Intra Group conflict may arise due to following reasons: 1. When the group faces novel problem. 2. When new values are imported from the social environment into the group.  Inter-Group Conflict Inter-group conflict refers to conflict between different groups in the organisation. The main sources of Inter group conflict are as follows: 1. Incompatible goals: When the achievement of one groups goals interfere with another groups goal, conflict arises between 2 groups. E.g. Management and labour. 2. Task Interdependence: In an organisation, one group or unit often depends on another for information and resources. As this interdependence increases the possibility of conflict increases. 3. Resource sharing: Competition for larger share of resources can lead to conflict. 4. Reward system: When incentives are based on individual group performance but task are interdependent, different groups many come into conflict. 5. Differences in values and attitudes: Different groups have different values and attitudes which can lead to conflict. 6. Distortions in communication: When communication between groups is blocked misunderstanding and clashes may arise. 7. Joint decision making: Higher level coordination is required for joint decision making. ORGANISATIONAL LEVEL CONFLICT INTRA INTER  Inter Organisational Conflict Conflict between 2 or more organisations is known as inter-organisational conflict. Such conflict promote unity among members of an organisation. Inter-organisational conflict can arise only when a. Each organisation is considering the other organisation in decision making. b. The 2 organisation affect each other. Management –Government: Conflict between business and government can arise over consumer protection, labour exploitation..etc. Management –union: Conflict between management and labour can occur in form of strikes, lockouts..etc. Inter- Management: Managements of different organisations may compete against each other to enhance their respective positions in the industry. E.g. disputes over advertisements, price..etc. Inter-Union: Unions may compete for recognition, jobs for their members. Union-Government: Union may face action from government due to illegal activities Such as violence, illegal strikes..etc.  Intra-Organisational Conflict Horizontal or Functional Conflict: Conflict between employees or departments at same level of authority is called horizontal conflict. Vertical Conflict: It means conflict between superiors and subordinates. Line and staff conflict: Line managers feel that staff oversteps its authority. Line people resent staffs highly academic and untested iideas. Line managers dislike to take advice from younger staff specialist. Line managers consider staff as unnecessary. The staff in turn view themselves as experts. Conflict resolution model Avoidance One or both parties could avoid facing the conflict. The situation pertains to un-cooperative and unassertive behaviour on the part of parties involved. A Party may avoid facing B Party. When situation reaches a point of negligence by A Party, B Party may take advantage of the situation. By avoiding, the individual might side step, postpone or even withdraw from the conflicting situation. This strategy is useful when issues involved in conflict are of a very minor nature or when more important issues deserve attention. This strategy suits a manager whose power base is very low and there is no chance of satisfying one’s own concerns. Avoidance strategy should be applied when one feels that people in the organization should cool down so that the issue can be handled at a latter date in a better psychological environment.  The issue can also be postponed if additional information is required to be obtained. Avoidance is a poor strategy hence if someone else is able to handle the situation of conflict more effectively, should be allowed to do so. Managers having high score on avoidance as a strategy of conflict management, may suffer from delayed decision making and hence the loss to the organization. Those who have a low score on avoidance thereby wanting to attend to every single issue may spend lot of time on every trivial issue, hurt people’s feelings and stir hostility in the organization that should be taken care of.  Competing This strategy may be adopted when other strategies of conflict resolution are not workable. Competing is also useful in emergencies where quick decisions are required. In this strategy power must be used unilaterally as a weapon when unpopular decisions like termination, pay cuts, layoffs, cost cutting and enforcing discipline are required to be taken. This strategy is based on win-lose principle of managing conflicts. The managers who are high on power base have an added advantage in using competing strategy because people from opposite side would not dare confront a person who is so powerful. There is a tendency that managers using this strategy should be careful about ‘yes’ men around them. They should identify conflicting situations and take bold decisions based on win-lose strategy. On the other hand there are managers who are low on competing mode, are likely to feel powerless in many situations. Not realizing that though they have power but they are not comfortable using it. By trying to use power, one could enhance one’s achievement. Another drawback in scoring low is that such individuals find it difficult to take bold stand on various issues concerning organizations. In situations when a manager is very low on ‘concern for the people’ may postpone vital decisions on matters pertaining to subordinates that may be detrimental to organizational effectiveness.  Collaborating Strategy of collaboration involves attempt of one party to work with the other party in cooperative manner and find solutions to the problem for mutual benefits. The strategy involves identification of areas of disagreement, examining the issue in greater detail and a workable solution arrived at, which is for mutual benefit. This strategy signifies when two sets of solutions are important for both parties to be compromised. Hence finding integrated solution become imperative. This strategy signifies joint efforts, gain for both parties and integrated solutions arrived at by consensual decisions. People high on collaborating, they have to be concerned about how they spend their time and other organizational resources. Collaboration is time and energy consuming. Not all situations need collaborative solutions. Over use of collaboration and consensual decision-making may reflect risk aversion tendencies or an inclination to defuse responsibility. When people score low on collaborating, they may fail to capitalizes on situations, which would benefit immensely from joint problem solving. Also by ignoring the concerns of employees, decisions and policies may be evolved, which make the organizational members both unhappy and uncommitted to the system. The strategy attempts a win— win solutions to their goals.  Accommodating In accommodating mode a person scarifies his own interest for accommodating other person’s interest. It is form of selfless generosity, obeying other person’s point of view. This mode is usually adopted when other person’s view is stronger, you want to achieve goodwill and indicate that you are reasonable. This strategy of conflict resolution is important when you want other person to give at a later date when it favours you. When people are high on accommodating score they might be differing too much to the wishes of others and pay very little attention to their own ideas and concern even though they may realize that they are not getting the attention they deserve. This might even lower one’s self esteem in addition to depriving on the influence, respect and recognition from others, since it negates the potential contribution that individuals are capable of making to the organization. While individual low on accommodating score, they should start thinking about whether they lack the goodwill of others and whether others perceive them as unreasonable, uncompromising, rigid and demanding.  Compromising In conflict situation, compromising is a mode when both parties try to find out some expedient, mutually acceptable solution that sacrifies both the parties partially. In compromising, there is no clear winner or loser. None of the party is fully satisfied as they ration the object of conflict and accept the solution which is not complete to either of the parties. In compromising, there is a possibility of an atmosphere of ‘gamesmanship’ in the work environment. There is also a possibility of compromising on certain principles of behaviour which is not desirable. Values, ethics, principles and long term objectives of the organization must be protected while adopting compromising. When people are tough to compromise, they find it hard to make concessions and land up in power struggle that must be avoided. Compromising policies can easily be adopted when competing or collaboration strategy fails. Research indicates that people have underlying disposition to handle conflict in certain ways. Especially individuals have preferences among the five conflict handling intensions. Their preferences tend to be relied upon quite consistently, and a persons intensions can be predicted rather well from a combination of intellectual and personality characteristics. When confronting conflict situation, some people want to win it at any cost, some wants to find an optimum solution, some want to run away, others want to be obliging, and still others want to “split the differences”.